Author Topic: Good ol' Big Lake (Read 8863 times)

Rdrash · « **Reply #30 on:** Dec 27, 2008, 10:51 PM »

Slow day on the lake today. One fish at 24.5" and saw officer Hightower with a nice Cusk he confiscated from a guy using a treble hook.

frydaddy · « **Reply #31 on:** Dec 28, 2008, 01:16 AM »

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a cusk?

travisj88 · « **Reply #32 on:** Dec 28, 2008, 02:46 AM »

Quote from: frydaddy on Dec 28, 2008, 01:16 AM

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a cusk?

burbot
Travis

BuschWhacker · « **Reply #33 on:** Dec 28, 2008, 03:10 AM »

Cusk? never heard that name, AK native?? Used to call 'em eelpout in Minnesota. Anyway, I live on Big Lake, and bait means anything artificial from WD 40n to worms, no bait ,scents etc., on your single hook artificial plug. (Question here about artificial scented plastics, ie Berkley Power Baits, et.al) but wouldn't want to get into an argument with the troopers, as they can be real pr**ks on the lake. They're out hunting go-fast snowmachiners for DUI's and will pick on fishers if they can't meet their quota, or have nothing better to do. Good fishing on Big Lake, just watch out for Ranger Bob, and the Go-Fast's.

Drifter_016 · « **Reply #34 on:** Dec 28, 2008, 10:35 AM »

Quote from: BuschWhacker on Dec 28, 2008, 03:10 AM

Cusk? never heard that name, AK native??

I think it's an East Coast name for Burbot.

Where I live they call them Losh.
Either way they all taste the same.

Rdrash · « **Reply #35 on:** Dec 28, 2008, 01:16 PM »

Quote from: frydaddy on Dec 28, 2008, 01:16 AM

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a cusk?

I just like to call them that, I do alot of cussking after they manage to swallow my bait/lure all the way down there gullet. On another note yesterday though officer Hightower assured me that biglake was indeed a two line lake someone had mentioned to me earlier in the day that it was single line only. Another interesting commment he made was that you could have two single hooks on the same line as long as they were not attatched to the same hook anchor on the lure such as if you cut the bottom trebble off of a jigging minnnow.

frydaddy · « **Reply #36 on:** Jan 02, 2009, 12:57 PM »

I'll be out on Big Lake this afternoon and evening, fishing for some char and burbot. If anyone else is out there, I'll be in a quickfish 6, just past burnt point, on the right in an extended cab chevy. Stop and say Hi. Go Vikes!

frydaddy · « **Reply #37 on:** Jan 04, 2009, 02:31 AM »

Good day fishing out on the lake today. Didn't catch anything noteworthy, but caught 7 char and one nice rainbow. Had two LARGE fish inhale my jig, but missed 'em both. Oh well. It was really, really, really, cold out there today. 39 below this morning when we started fishing. At 40 below the plastic windows in a quickfish six, will snap in half. I guess they're not made for 40 below.

Saw some crazy dudes out fishing without a fishhouse........could n't believe it, right about then I realized that I was just as crazy. I can't believe that I talked my wife and kids into going.

darkhousefisher · « **Reply #38 on:** Jan 04, 2009, 03:09 AM »

Quote from: frydaddy on Jan 04, 2009, 02:31 AM

At 40 below the plastic windows in a quickfish six, will snap in half. I guess they're not made for 40 below.

Quick fish 3 do also, found that out today, lol. Looked on Eskimo's web site, $8.00 per window, which isn't too bad, but they ship UPS Ground so it's $22.10 for shipping. If you order one window or ten windows, shipping is still $22.10. So if you decide to get some replacements, let me know and maybe we could combine orders and split shipping costs.

frydaddy · « **Reply #39 on:** Jan 10, 2009, 08:18 PM »

Went out to Big Lake today and was hoping to find some warmer temps along with a 34" char. $:-\$ Officer Hightower said that it was -28 on the lake this morning. Crazy thing is, it didn't feel too bad. I don't have a very good report to share with you guys. Saw alot of 8-12" char and rainbows, but I try to keep a lure on that's too big for them to bite. Had one monster come in. Not sure how large, but looked like 28-30" and FAT. I hooked him, and lost him after a couple minutes. Word of warning.....keep an eye out on the regulations for Big Lake, as its possible there could be a ban on chumming, as well. Officer Hightower said that there's just too many idiots out there keeping a bunch of fish. By the way, When I asked if there are many people practicing catch and release, he stated that most of the chummers kill all their fish, and I was probably the only one on the lake that's practicing catch and release. Come on people.....if you want to eat fish, go kill some stockers. Use some common sense, leave the brood stock in the lake.

Slickfish · « **Reply #40 on:** Jan 11, 2009, 11:53 AM »

Hello everyone!
Im new to this site and fairly new to ice fishing. I live in Anchorage but have a cabin ( its probably actually more like a house ) on biglake so I'm out here all the time. Just wanted to say hello to all the people ice fishing out here on biglake. My friend from Minnesota and I fished yesterday off Burnt Point. A hell of a day... Got a late start then we blew up the drive belt in the Polaris Ranger on the way over there. Anyways we finally got there and set up but didn't have any luck at all. Going to try something diffrent today. Well I'm loaded up and ready to hit the ice. Have a good day and good luck!

If you see a Polaris Ranger with 4 tracks on it that's me. I'm using a quickfish 6 house. Feel free to stop and say hi, but please dint do the " Ranger" knock on the tent..lol

Barleydog · « **Reply #41 on:** Jan 11, 2009, 12:12 PM »

Frydaddy, Good point on releasing fish! Those big fish will at least become a great memory for the next guy. As for the char being broadstock? I was informed they don't reproduce, thus making them expendable... That still doesn't produce big fish like C&R methods, (which is your point!)

I look at it this way... Those big char taste like carp! They're mealy, and have the flavor of an old flathead catfish... If your going to keep a char, make it one of those little 3-5 lb. fish. They taste decent on the grill "if" your in a pinch.

frydaddy · « **Reply #42 on:** Jan 11, 2009, 10:45 PM »

Barley, I could be wrong, but I believe that the dollies and char in Big Lake are at least partially Native to the lake.....there's creeks going in and out of there, along with natural salmon runs. So, wouldn't that mean they are able to spawn?

tjm · « **Reply #43 on:** Jan 12, 2009, 03:55 AM »

ive seen those big dollies miles up meadow creek and even as far as lucille creek chasing the reds up....not sure if they spawn or not but they definitely go up into the creeks...

AKFISHRIPPER · « **Reply #44 on:** Jan 12, 2009, 11:11 PM »

Quote from: Slickfish on Jan 11, 2009, 11:53 AM

Hello everyone!
Im new to this site and fairly new to ice fishing. I live in Anchorage but have a cabin ( its probably actually more like a house ) on biglake so I'm out here all the time. Just wanted to say hello to all the people ice fishing out here on biglake. My friend from Minnesota and I fished yesterday off Burnt Point. A hell of a day... Got a late start then we blew up the drive belt in the Polaris Ranger on the way over there. Anyways we finally got there and set up but didn't have any luck at all. Going to try something diffrent today. Well I'm loaded up and ready to hit the ice. Have a good day and good luck!

If you see a Polaris Ranger with 4 tracks on it that's me. I'm using a quickfish 6 house. Feel free to stop and say hi, but please dint do the " Ranger" knock on the tent..lol

I've had very minimal luck on burnt point in the past. I think its because there is no structure, to many people fish it and all the vehicle traffic that goes so close by. I've had my best luck on the flats near the fish creek outlet.

Barleydog · « **Reply #45 on:** Jan 13, 2009, 05:36 AM »

Sorry gents! I stand corrected on the stocked fish. Me was thinking of another big lake on another planet!

I'll just step aside while you discuss a stupidity punishment. :embarassed:

Tinman · « **Reply #46 on:** Jan 13, 2009, 10:13 PM »

I've seen it in print several times that Big Lake char are a bit of an oddity. I remember reading that the lake has the southern-most run of naturally occuring wild char in Alaska. I always hope to catch and release wile fishing the lake but now and then one takes the hook too deep and has to be kept. RdRash and I have let a BUNCH of the big ones go over the years though. Quick camera shots and back down the hole. I wouldn't mind if that became a regulation as they do taste terrible. I'm not a fan of any regulations but that is one I wouldn't mind seeing put in place. A replica wall hanger is just as good if not better than an actual skin mount. They do last a lot longer I hear.

Frymomma · « **Reply #47 on:** Jan 14, 2009, 11:30 PM »

Well, the Husband drug me out of the house and into the car to head onto the Glen Hwy to Big Lake this morning! Since it was too icey for the kids to go to school or for us to go to work....We decided it was never too icey to go fishing. We had a great day of fishing. Went to our normal spot on the Lake. We were hoping to get a nice Char to start us off on the Iceshanty derby. When we got there our under water camera wasn't working. So, we were forced to fish Caveman style

Even without seeing them, we still managed to have a good day. Well, I did anyways

I picked up four. Husband one. Son two. Sizes ranged from 22-26in. We decided that we were going to try our first small Char on the grill. My Husband wasn't too happy about it, OH WELL.

darkhousefisher · « **Reply #48 on:** Jan 15, 2009, 12:27 AM »

Congrats on some nice fish!! How bad was the overflow?

Frymomma · « **Reply #49 on:** Jan 17, 2009, 10:50 AM »

Can anyone give me a quick report on the overflow on Big Lake??? I would like to go out this morning. Thanks in advance

Barleydog · « **Reply #50 on:** Jan 17, 2009, 12:33 PM »

Nice fish Frymomma and Fry-son! That snowman has the best poise of all!

fishbum · « **Reply #51 on:** Jan 18, 2009, 09:02 PM »

Heading out to the lake tomarrow wondering whos going to be out there.

akicehole · « **Reply #52 on:** Jan 18, 2009, 09:27 PM »

Ill be there

AKFISHRIPPER · « **Reply #53 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 12:18 AM »

Me too. At night look for the green quickfish 6

frydaddy · « **Reply #54 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 03:12 AM »

Took some friends out that had never been ice fishing, or driven on hardwater before.

I forgot to mention to them that there would be alot of overflow......haha! should've seen their faces when we took off across the water. After we made it across to the other side of the lake and they got out of the vehicle they had the same expression as those people that were standing on the wings of that airplane in the Hudson River a couple days back.

HeHe....anyways, had a good day fishing for all. Caught about a dozen or so nice char, one rainbow, and also managed to get the first burbot of the year. They have some tube jigs down at the Sportsman's sleeperhouse that I was trying for the first time, and they worked extremely well. With the skirt, they must be at least 4" long. I had luck with glow/orange and glow/white. Used 1/4 oz glow leadheads. Kinda large, but I like to bang 'em on the rocks, and I'm not really interested in catching alot of the 12-14"ers. Frymomma caught a 25" burbot about an hour after dark using one of those dumb looking, huge, Storm minnows with White/glow and red eyes.

I should probably quit teasing her about it, but I'm kinda tired of being outfished. Used pro cure salmon roe for chum, and one container of the red shrimp. Pretty much same routine we always do. If there's anyone out there that's looking to have a little more success out there, I'd have to say get a camera or a flasher. That's the difference. Once you use your camera a few times, you learn the little tricks that it takes to trigger a bite, and it also helps immensely to see the bite. Alot of the strikes you get are imperceptable. Some people might call it cheating, but you still have to land 'em, and are also still hard to hook. Other days, you would swear that there isn't a fish in the lake. I punched around 40 holes one day, and only saw one 10" fish. The spots that I've had the best luck in are rocky bottoms that are on the contour breaks between 20 and 35'. The bigger ones seem to cruise the troughs, but have no problem coming up to ambush. Fish seem to move on and off of the rocks all day long feeding. I've tried fishing the same type of breaks that are sand and mud with limited success. There is no "sure" time of the day, although the first half of the day seems to be best. I hope some of this information is helpful, and please remember to catch and release. I don't share this information for someone to go out and slaughter a bunch of fish. Peace out.

Slickfish · « **Reply #55 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 06:16 PM »

Props to anyone that was out on Biglake this weekend! I was out there as well and it was kinda like my holes connected the lake to the lake ontop of the ice! At least it was warm this weekend. I fished in the cove that the Islander sits on. Out about 150 yards from the big brown A-frame ( the other family cabin ) I remember fishing there with my uncle many years ago and reeling out some prety big fish. After 2 hrs without a bite i left. My ice auger took a crap so i headed back into town...to Jewel lake..lol!!!!

The forcast for the next week at biglake is calling for 20's during the day and teens at night so next weekend might be a little better as far as the overflow situation goes.

fishbum · « **Reply #56 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 09:01 PM »

Nice burbot frymomma. The Syndicate was out with a few rookies today and we did well lost two burbot one in the lower 20's and one monster that we couldnt turn the head on. now we need a vidio recorder to prove it. always somthing we did git in to a few nice char though.

jkw · « **Reply #57 on:** Jan 20, 2009, 12:53 AM »

how is the ice on big today? think i can drive my truck on it okay? just wanna make sure

frydaddy · « **Reply #58 on:** Jan 20, 2009, 12:57 AM »

Looks like you had a good day out there, fishbum.

Beautiful char. We headed out there ourselves, for a couple hours today. Frymomma hooked one about 3 seconds after stepping out of the car in an old hole we drove up to. She was using that rediculous storm minnow that she's been killin' 'em on. It ended up being a healthy looking 25" er. My youngest son had a great day fishing. He caught his first burbot of the year, and it was fun to watch on the aqua vu. It s t r e t c h e d up to grab his airplane jig. He missed it once, and did a nice job jigging it back in, nailing it the second time. No problems at all getting him started in the hole, and did a great job fighting it. Frymomma let him use her gloves to hold it for the picture, so it looks kinda crazy. $:-\$

P.S....soon going to need an extension in places ....or maybe a boat....who knows

.
32" burbot

fishbum · « **Reply #59 on:** Feb 02, 2009, 02:08 PM »

Went to the lake this weekend the fishing was great. Akicehole should be putting up the new pics soon. Saturday was much better than sunday for us but we still got into them. Sunday just seemed to be more sniffers than bitters. Did anybody elts hit the lake?

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Author Topic: Good ol' Big Lake (Read 8863 times)