I was up for January 1, 2 and 3 fishing with 3 buddies while staying at anglers trail resort. The accommodations were pretty damn nice and our hosts were pretty good too. Over the 3 days we fished all but two of there permanent shacks they provide. We didn't fish the pike one in the first bay and we did not fish the next closest one to the lodge. There was a large heave running north south just at the eastern side of the second island. The well traveled trail through the snow to the shacks ended at the second last shack and at the time they had recommended no trucks to cross the heave. We crossed it with a snomobile to fish the farthest shack the one day. However just before we were leaving that shack to try another one we encountered a group that had drove over the heave with a hatchback suzuki or subaru. There was at least one spot where the heave was level between both sides, that is where we crossed with the sled and i believe they had followed our tracks out and crossed at the same spot.
The fishing wasn't the hottest in the world for my group and it didn't seem like it was too crazy for most of the other groups we talked too. On the last day we got skunked we talked to a guy who had caught 7 that day so i believe our technique played into our luck while fishing, although i still do believe it was a bit slow while we were there. Could possibly be related to the intense cold spell we had while there, or possibly we caught them on off feeding days while we were there.
We hooked on to about 4 (maybe 6 one day) lake trout each day for the first two days. But we had a few get off or lost them at the hole. I am not used to fishing in a permanent shack and it was pretty high up above the ice so it made getting the fish out of the hole a bit harder than normal. We got all of our lake trout bites on 2 oz white tube jigs with the exception of maybe one on a bionic bucktail. I kind of got the feeling that 2 oz tube jigs might be a little too big and i switched to a 3/8 oz head with a 2-3 inch body and managed to successfully bring in a 7 lb lake trout and get it on the ice. The 3/8 oz hook though definitely seemed a lot flimsier than the solid 2 oz. I was however worried that the 2 oz hook might have been too big and possibly even too blunt to hook up smaller lake trout or burbot. We did however manage to catch a lot of burbot and even smaller ones on the 2 oz heads though so maybe its all in my head.
But i cannot for the life of me find any where to locally pick up or even order online from a familiar vendor (cabelas, basspro, fishing hole, canadian tire, wholesale sports) any tube jig heads between 3/8 oz and 2 oz. I am thinking a 1 oz hook would be perfect. Does anyone know where i could pick some up??
I can find these 1 oz ones
https://www.gitzitinc.com/main/en/joomshopping/product/view/11/90.htmlAnd these 3/4 oz ones
https://www.gitzitinc.com/main/en/joomshopping/product/view/11/93.htmlAlthough those 1 oz ones are a little different than i am used to with the 2 oz, where the lead is longer and slimmer.
I was advised by the guy we talked to who had good luck that he uses the "cold lake special" from what i can tell it is made by a guy in alberta and maybe only sold at wholesale sports in edmonton. Its a 1 oz tube jig with a stinger treble hook. It sounds perfect! I may even just add stinger hooks to my 2 oz and that would probably increase my rate of getting fish on the ice. I know with my bionic bucktails, almost always its the stinger treble hook that gets them.
Also while reading on the iceshanty forums i came across a tip that could possibly be interesting. Some people were using chunks of alka seltzer and putting it in the tube part and im guessing it makes a stream of bubbles pop out of the tube, possibly attracting the attention of a laker. Does anyone have any experience doing this and perhaps could comment on how well it works?
On the plus side we did manage to catch a ton of burbot and man are they yummy! A lot of them had eggs in them too.
I would definitely go back to la plonge again this winter and stay at anglers trail. I might even consider going up there in the spring for some laker action while they were up in the shallows. All the lake trout we caught were about 6-8 lbs which was really awesome! My only concern would be the size of the lake on windy days. I imagine that even though the north doesnt typically get the wind we get down in the south, it wouldn't take much of a wind to make the big part of the lake pretty wavy?
I seen on a fishing saskatchewan video that you can fish the beaver river near beauval from a boat. Where would someone launch? Near the bridge by beauval? Would a 17.5 ft (with 40 hp tiller) aluminum polar craft fishing boat be too big to launch and navigate the river with? Is the depth generally pretty consistent and can you travel a reasonable ways up and down stream on the river pretty safely without running into hazards?
Thanks for any help!
edit - adding picture of one of the lakers i caught!
