=

[AkDan]

=

[The Common Man]

Bummer about your camera.  How big was the Laker? Congrats!

[groundsluice_pete]

But WHERE'D ya catch 'em?

[Barleydog]

Congrats Dan!  I was torn between fishing Harding this weekend or the river...  Man your killing me!  Now it's a toss up. 

[Barleydog]

The Tanana does "chew-up" the auger blades.  I use a chipper blade, which seems to last longer than a straight blade.  I try to bring along a lansky sharpening kit to put an edge on blades once they start to dull.  A little touch up seems to help. 
Tuesdays and Weds. are work days for me....  Kinda sucks, I'd take a weekday off once in a while!  We'll have to play it by ear, and hook up.
Have you fished Paxson?  I have on several occasions, and did ok.  Big burbs and the lakers are decent, but not huge.

[Hungry4Fish]

I'm headed to the Lake Louise system to try for a big laker this coming weekend. Unfortunately, the partner I'm going with will likely be more interested in riding around than fishing, but that's okay. He has been around that country a lot by snowmobile, and I'll likely get to see a lot of country.

Did well at Figure 8 Lake last week. Caught 20 pike in about 4 hours. Lots of fish are coming out of there. They must be laying on top of each other down there. They were like clones; all between 25" and 27". I wonder what they're eating. I know that lake has freshwater shrimp, but I would think that pike would prefer fish dinners. Maybe the lake is also full of sticklebacks, or something.

If I could figure out how to attach pics I'd show our pike catch from last week.

[Barleydog]

Sorry AKDan,  I just read your reply to your last post....  Did you fish on Saturday?  I did manage to get out and over to Harding Sat. afternoon.  Man what a waste of time!  That lake has my number something fierce!  No problems catching nice fish in the summer, just can't ice decent fish in the winter.  We spent the afternoon til' 8:00 pm.  NOTHING!
I have an old Jiffy that works well.  It's clutch just took a dump on me this weekend.  Guess it was time after all the torqueing around and different operators mis-handeling it.  The fix is easy enough, a chimp could repair it!  Still, I feel it's much more reliable than my finicky SM!  Funny story!  My partner was bragging about his newish SM.  He pulled the handle, (on the third pull), and the cord snapped!  Had to laugh, but it left him a little embarrased.  He replaced the new SM issued string with some high quality parachute cord which I'd believe will hold up even better. 

Hungry4fish, Let us know how you do!  Great lake for lakers...  Hope all goes well.   Congrats on the pike.  If you need help with posting pics, IM me and I'd be glad to help.

[Hungry4Fish]

Well, the Lake Louise fishing trip over the President's Day Weekend turned into a long party and series of snowmobile rides. The weather was phenomenal - in the high 20's and even low 30's, and plenty clear and sunny. It was the first time I've been out in the Nelchina Basin in February and didn't fight minus 20 or colder temps, so I don't feel too bad for the trail riding and lack of fishing.

I only caught one small burbot the whole weekend.

The best news is that I got access to a cabin on Crosswinds Lake to use for free, so we're going back out there the weekend of March 4th to haul in fuel and "stuff", and to do some more serious fish chasing. Then the plan is to hit the lake again as soon after ice-out as possible, as that's when we hear the fishing is best.