Blackstrap 2013/14

[Finnegan]

Same type of day for me yesterday. Tons of fish on the camera. Perch (small and jumbo), walleye, and pike. The odd perch would kiss the bait but that was it. Tried pretty much everything in the tackle box to no avail. Lacklustre season for me as well this year.

[Tguns]

She was a tough go the last couple days with the cooler weather. Got out Saturday briefly on the north end in the middle of the afternoon, the sunshine was welcomed and the perch were biting fairly steady. The bite was so light I had to just hand bomb the line and I missed quite a few. Never got any bigger than a 8" either, just using a small lead jig with a minnow head/tail. I took off work early yesterday and headed back to the Strap for the evening bite, I initially tried the North end but there was no way I was sitting there with no gloves on in that wind waiting for another 8" perch so I picked up and moved down the lake along the east shore. Right away I got a nice 2 lb walter , and after that a few bites but didn't land any more. I ended up fishing the Strap more often than I actually wanted but due to lack of time and convenience it just worked out that way. It took me well into the second half of the season to consistently find any fish on this lake. I found some nice walleye spots but never found anything of size, in fact the 2 lb I got yesterday was my biggest out of that lake all year. I found Evan's road to be the best spot for pike of all the areas I tried and landed a 38" pike there early in the season. I never was skunked on blackstrap but I had many cold days catching only 1 or two fish. Fun lake, definitely a tough bite but I enjoy exploring. Cheers to a great year boys.

[GreatWhite]

Decided to take Monday off and fish Blackstrap for the last day of the season.  Generally speaking the last day can be some of the hottest action you will find all winter.  Plus 5, lawn chair and a sun tan was what I was hoping for.  Not this day.  -18 and howling east wind.  Started out fishing a spot that I frequent quite often during open water.  Drilled holes from 5ft out to about 17ft.  Typically I will burn a full tank of auger gas before trading it in for a fishing rod but the wind was bitter cold and the ice was crazy thick!  Been a while since I've saw that much ice.  Not alot of fun drilling holes with 5' +  of auger.  Did a quick test of the holes and it seemed the one in 10ft was producing marks on the Lowrance. We popped the shack up and fired up the heater.  In no time we were cooking deer sausage and catching the odd perch and small walleye.  Not fast and furious like I had hoped for.  The whole time I am thinking we should have set up deeper.   Then a truck rolls up and a nice gent shows us his pail of jumbo perch.  Now thats what I'm looking for!  He confirms that yes they were caught in the deeper water.  We pack up the shack and head over quickly to where the action had occured.  It didn't take long before the rods were getting yanked down the hole and the Lowrance confirmed we were on the spot.  Once we had the shack up the fish cooperated for about another hour.  Then they decided to window shop.  Come up have a look and go back down.  This went on all day.  All perch were very large females staging for the upcoming spawining season.  With that being said we sent them back to the bottom in the hopes that the kids will enjoy the same experience in future years.  Ended up with about 9 jumbos and a few average walleye.   

I have to thank the fellow who came over to share his success with us.  Definitely turned an average day into a typical memorable March 31st day on the ice.  Moral of the story...   Keep pounding holes until your on top of them!!  Can't wait for open water.

 

[Water Wolf]

Nice first report GreatWhite.
Good to see you did get into some nice fish in the end.

P.S. Welcome to the SK. part of IceShanty.

WW

[deringer]

nice work. good t see there is some people out there tat don't mind sharing. thanks to everyone for ay tips or tricks o here or on the ice. hope to run into a few people on the open water. is there anywhere you guys go to to be able to keep in touch over the summer

[BigO]

I used to fish the Strap a pile in the winter but find it needs to rest. I moved on to a few different options this winter and even though a longer drive have enjoyed the outings.