I got on the ice before 9:00 and found nobody else on the ice. It was glorious with no wind at all and no tracks in the new-fallen snow. After a couple of hours a guy came out in his little car but had trouble going back up the access ramp so I don't recommend it. Some of the wheel ruts from last weekend filled in with snow melt and you can't see them well enough to avoid them. When I stepped in the first one my heart skipped a beat, thought I was going through. I had to stay away from the rock ledge and set up out in deeper (12') of water; you can see a line of my tip-ups in the background. The ice is a lot softer now, too.
No pike today but the perch bite started right in and was one-right-after-another all day, literally! What you see in the pile is only 1/4 of the perch I kept; I gave 3 times that to two Quebecers that came out late morning and, of course, they studied me for awhile then came over and sat right next to me. They were using a red bibbet and having little luck except for a few 4 inchers. Then about noon the bite slowed down and one of them hooked a northern on his little light line and he lost it. Then the bite came back fiercer than ever and mostly bigger (8-9"). And I mean fierce, too, lots of times they bit before my spoon had a chance to get to the bottom and I didn't think I'd have time to take a snack break and when I finally did they were still biting and I spilled the oil from my smoked oysters all over.
It was a very peaceful and quiet day except when somebody sent their drone over head; I kept wanting to swat a mosquito, seemed like it was right in my ear. Then the Quebecers had a home-made auger that was on a weedwhacker motor (that also sounded like a mosquito) that needed a sharpening 'cause it took them a long time to drill a 4" hole. Imagine someone weedwhacking right next to your hammock when you're trying to take a nap in the back yard... Anyway, they were nice guys and wanted to see my rigging and I gave them a few minnows to help them out. Is that illegal?
This next one is of a big vee of geese headed north. Does that mean winter is nearly over? Or do they have open water north of there?
The perch at Tabor's Point are really very clean with few parasites. I took a pic of this one that had that fish cancer (leukemia?) First one this year and I hope the last. Cold nights coming next week should keep the ice for awhile longer if this rain doesn't melt the top too much. Hope the water doesn't get murky; don't care for white perch...
