Well, I finally got to go up to the lake I've been trying to hit for first ice -- a lake which produces walleye all year long, but has yet to reward me with one through the ice. If not for my trip to Cuba a couple weeks back, I think I would have been walking on 3-4 inches of nice clear ice, over 7-8 FOW. Instead, I got up there after 2.5 feet of snow had fallen. Luckily, the minus 25C nights turned what would have been a slushy mess into about 8 inches of frozen slush and 3-4 inches of solid clear stuff underneath.
After losing a couple pounds of sweat shovelling the roof on Sunday morning, my lovely wife and I headed out around 2:00pm, brimming with confidence, hoping to be ready for the sundown walleye bite, and finally get my first walleye through the ice. No live bait, but an assortment of jigs and spoons had us eagerly setting up over the last spot I caught walleye in the fall.
Jessy was using a cheap spoon (imitation tingler) in a rainbow pattern, pretty much swinging it back and forth when she nailed this fat little perch.
She went away to warm up, because the snow was soaking through her jacket and chilling her. I suppose she thought her work was done, because, she never came back
I stuck around, checking out the local wildlife...from a distance
As it started to get dark, I actually had two quick and ridiculously light bites -- but missed 'em
Could these have been the walleye I've been looking for? Who knows...but...by the end of this winter, I will have one on my side of the ice! 'Till next time....
