Out & About.

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,
On Valentine's Day my mom, aunt, uncle, a friend and myself got together for a bit of fishing fun on Echo Lake.
It was the first time we have tried Echo this season but though we would try along the North side of the lake as
it was easy access by the Calling Lakes center via the ploughed road.

We set up along the drop off from 7 to 46 feet.
I saw no fish in the shallows but saw a few perch on camera in the 40 foot area.
It was quite hard to see at that depth.

One angler came by on skidoo and he said he had iced a few burbot just down from the Fort San, but he said that's not
what he was looking for, so found it to be a poor day.

The temps were not that bad with -10 deg C /14 deg F and mostly sunny skies.

Over the afternoon we had a bit of multi species action.
The first species was this guy.

A 6" perch.

Next came the ciscos / tullibees.


This was the big one was 16" and 1.6 lbs.




My uncle also hooked one that was 15" and 1.4lbs.


The last species for the day was this chunky, 23", 4.3lb walleye.


My buddy also had a strike on a large bait and set line, but it just gave a good tug -of- war with the bait and wasn't hooked.
By the looks of the teeth marks in it it must have been a large pike.


My uncle and I also went fishing on Feb. 17th.
We went to a new lake we have never ice fished before, Good Spirit Lake.

It was a nice on the ice with temp around the -6 deg C /21.2 deg F mark most of the afternoon.

We first tried to get on at the Provincial Park but it was walk out or snowmachine only.

The 9 deer we saw seemed to be the only active members in the park,lol.

They were so quiet and you could get within a few yards of them.

We asked at the main office in the park where would be a good spot get on with the truck, but they were unsure and said to just try walking out.
I than asked an attendant at the local gas station and he knew exactly where to get on and told me what he felt would be the 2 best areas to get on, Sandy Beach and Burgis Beach.

It took a bit of time, but we found a nice cleared road on the East side of the lake at Sandy Beach.

We set up in the group of shack in 3 feet of water.

There was a good number of minnows and other aquatic life on the camera but no game fish.

I did hook into one pike about an hour and a half into the fishing.

A 1.3 lber.

My uncle also had one roll of on him under the ice.

Only a few of the other anglers around iced fish, mostly smaller pike, but I did see one guy
ice a tiny walleye.

One angler that I chatted with said he had fish going by him all afternoon( only 50 yards from us), but could not hook one.

They were just ripping the minnows off with out even touching the hook.

He said he saw smaller pike and walleye, but one large burbot came by at sunset.

Another angler said that a nice 10 lb pike was caught in this area a few days ago, but over all its been really slow for him this winter.

Hearing how the fishing been for everyone I talked to, I was happy with the results at both lakes, and hope to try them again.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi guys,

On Feb.19 my uncle decided to see if the burbot spawn was underway.

It was a dark and windy day at Pelican Ponte' on LML.

We fished from 3:00pm - 6:20pm.

There were only a few anglers to the West of Pelican Ponte' and one group joined us
on the point a few min after we set up.

The first fish came within the hour, a 8.4lb burbot.




Over the afternoon a few anglers stopped by only one group from the West of the point has some action.
They caught a pike, walleye, perch a few ciscos and 2 small burbot. 
All the rest I talked to caught no fish at all.

On the camera I only saw the burbot that I hooked, and a whitefish.

Just before we packed up I had another hit, and another burbot was iced.

This one was 7.1lbs.

Both fish came on my homemade Water Wizard fishing lure, this one is a dropper rig with a yellow and green sparkle hat.


We left the ice to the sound of the owls hooting and the coyotes howling.

WW

[perchfinder]

seemed like a great time out enjoying the outdoors! thanks for sharing water wolf

[engineman]

Looks like some good fishing! Those Water Wizards are something else, it must be nice to catch a fish on something you made yourself. I was wondering if there is a road from regina beach to pelican pointe, or how you get on there. Any info would be appreciated.

[Water Wolf]

Thanks perchfinder & engineman.

engineman,  We got on right at Pelican Ponte'. The trail near the boat launch but, we found it to be slow tough trail.
We also had a large truck so that would not help.

Most of the folks I saw did follow a trail to towards the Regina Beach area so I think you could get on there
but, not completely sure either.


Hi all,
I gave Echo Lake another try on Sun. Feb.21st from 2:30pm - 7:00pm.
It was another nice day with sunny skies and hardly any wind.

There was lots of action below the ice on the camera, and I saw fish off and on all afternoon.
I saw 3 walleye {1 good sized one}, 8 pike {2 of which were real dandy's} 3 white suckers, countless perch and a cisco/tullibee.
The perch, pike and suckers slowly swam about, but the walleye were moving fairly fast and the speediest of all was the tullibee, they really move.

One walleye was going to go for my lure but a pike came along and spooked it, as well as the perch in the area.
The two bigger pike found my fish shaped camera more interesting then the lures I threw at them.

One even went so-far as to bump and tap at my camera 3 times.
I got a good look at it's whole body as it pressed up against and rubbed along the camera.
I wounder if the pike could feel a charge or someting through it's lateral line and pores under it's chin and on it's head.

The action above was alot slower for me, but I did finally ice a perch and cisco.

It was 8".

The cisco was over 16".




I did have a few other taps from the perch, but before I could set the hook they spit the lure out.

I did get to see the cisco strike.
He hit it hard and fast.

Both fish went back to fight another day.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,
We tried LML again on the afternoon of Feb. 27th and fished until dark.
It was a sunny day but a bit breezy.

I saw 1 pike. 1 burbot and 1 whitefish on camera.
The pike took a strike but I lost it just under the ice.

We did hook into one burbot at the end of the day.

It was 6.5lbs.

It seems the burbot spawn is not on yet.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi guys,
My Uncle and I made it out to Whitesand Lake for a few hours on March 3rd.
A cold wind was blowing across the lake chilling things down a fair bit.

We set up in and within 20 min my uncle had a strike, but lost the fish just under the ice.

The fish were fairly active. I counted 5 pike, 1 walleye and a fair amount of sticklebacks.

Of the 5 pike 2 were not to bad of a size and one tried to snack on the fish shaped camera.
All I saw was the jaws open up and then teeth and gills as it tried to swallow the camera head first.
The pike gave up when it found it to be too hard to eat.

The fishing was a bit better than usuall and in the end we caught 3 pike.
1 for my uncle.


2 for me.

This one was a real lunker,lol.

This pike hit on a Water Wizard lure with an orange and gold hat.


I hope the increase in fish activity continues.

WW

[canada]

great posts,
nice fat4.3 walleye!!

[Water Wolf]

Thanks Canada.
I see by your posts you have been having good luck North of PA.
Good fishing to you.

WW

[canada]

Yeah WW, it is always a great season up here.
You should make the trip and try it out.
I can pass some nice info on to you.
You may never want to leave the N. ha ha

[Water Wolf]

I like the North with it's tall trees, many lakes and numerous wildlife.
It's is defiantly a great place to hunt and fish, and just to get away from it all.
I find hard sometimes to leave that area when you find a good spot.

WW

[canada]

Thats the truth,
My wife and were out sat am, fishing by 9.  We finished around 12 and caught about 25W and 1P btw us.
Kept 4 nice eating size, plus the pike.
Beauty day out!

[Water Wolf]

Way to go Canada and family, nice pile of fish and a good feed to come.

I was out on Sunday and it was a dandy day to temp wise and fishing wise(see below).

Hi all,

My uncle and I went back to Whitesand Lake yesterday{March.7th} with above freezing temps and sunny skies.

We got to the lake and found it to be a lot busier than usual. Lots of folks out enjoying the great weather.
Most already had a fish or two.

We set up in our usual spot and not long in my uncle had a tap and then one rolled off on him just under the ice, it was a pike.

In the end between the 2 of us we iced 7 nice pike, 3 for my uncle and 4 for me.


I landed the big one of the day at 6.4 lbs.

This was also the only fish I saw on camera,but, it was the most aggressive one I have seen this winter.

This fish came in and struck my lure, got off and then came in and grabbed the camera.
It spit the camera out and attacked my lure again, and again got off.
It then spun and slapped the camera with it's tail and swam off.
Now I though it would leave at this point, but it turns on a dime and came full speed right at the camere hitting it hard.
For a moment the screen went completely gray.
I look over to see my cord and moving as it runs off with the camera.
The pike finally lets go and the camera came back on, but the picture was flickering really bad.
I could just make out the fish's image as it made one last lunge at the lure, I set the hook and after several drag pulling runs we iced the pike.
Man, what a nasty fish.

The camera has a few teeth marks right in the clear plastic outer lens along with a few scratches and chips.
What worries me is the condensation that formed after the attack.
I will let it dry out and see what happens, only time will tell.

Another one from the day.


The end results.


We are going to have some friends coming over for a fish fry tonight.
There should be enough for everyone.

WW

[canada]

nice job...that last pic is great!!!
good for you!!

[Water Wolf]

Thanks Canada, I though it was the best to show them.
It's interesting how they can vary in color and spot size even from the same lake, every one is unique.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,
Here is my latest adventures, I must say it was March madness.

Day 1.
Pelican Pointe', Last Mountain Lake, March 13th.
The weather was sunny with some wind, the temp was above freezing.

My uncle and I met up with a few members from the Sask form and we had a good visit.
There were lots of fish caught too, between all the Sask. members and there family and friends there were 25+ burbot iced.

My uncle I had 5 burbot while the other members were there and after everyone left my uncle iced one more as we were packing up.


In the end we both caught 3 burbot. {last one caught after photo taken}


The biggest one of the day was a 7lb, 29" male burbot.


Day2.
Pelican Ponte', LML, March 16th.
The weather was again sunny with a bit of a wind and a few degrees above freezing.

This time the was not a sole on the lake and we made our way to the spot we were at before.

The action was hot below the ice.
On camera I counted 50+ burbot traveling in schools of 2 and 3 but the largest school had 10 in it.
I also saw 10 whitefish picking up items on the bottom, 1 white sucker and a large pike on patrol.

The action was also not to shabby above the ice either, in and in the first hour we iced 9 burbot with 3 double headers.

After and hour and a half the action cooled right off and you had to work to get them hit, but in the end we both got our limit of burbot plus I released 2 more and lost 4, my uncle only lost 1.


95% of the burbot were male, I wonder if they guard the females in some way and get rid of any thing that goes near them,
or are they the first one to the spawing grounds.


This was the largest burbot was 7.6lbs.


They averaged between 3.2 to 6.3 lbs.


As a bonus I also iced this whitefish at 5.8 lbs, a new personal best.



This pike was another bonus at 11.4 lbs and 34".
It was a fat and healthy looking fish.

It went back to fight another day. 

Over the afternoon two residents from Pelican Pointe' joined us for an hour and a half and we all had a good visit.

So all in all it's been a wild 2 fishing days for me with lots of action, plus I got a chance to meet a few new folks who I see on line but now can put a names and voices to the faces and user names.

Good luck to everyone for the remainder of their ice fishing season.

P.S -

WW

[spoxick]

Definitly first ones to the spawning grounds if you only got jiggy once a year you would go early too lol

[old man of the sea]

Looks like you had two awesome days WW. I really enjoy your posts so keep them coming.

[canada]

Nice fish/pics/post!
Congrats on the trip way to finish the season strong!!

[Water Wolf]

Thanks spoxick, old man of the sea and canada.

"spoxick, Definitely first ones to the spawning grounds if you only got jiggy once a year you would go early too lol"
LOL, that's for sure.

I am glad your enjoying the posts old man of the sea.
I hope to have at least one post left in me for this season, we will see.

Yeah canada, glad the fishing is finally picking up.

I am not sure how to top that trip next time out, but we will try.

For me getting out and enjoying the day is good. The fish are always a bonus, no matter how many show up.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,
Well it's that time of year when the ice fishing season is coming to and end, for me it was March 29th.

My uncle and I made our last trip to LML and Pelican Pointe' for one more try at the fish there.

It was a warm day with mix of sun and cloud and a strong wind, blowing in many spring migrants like,
crows, sea gulls, bald eagles, Canada geese, lesser Canada's, snow geese and ducks.

We also saw a dark fighter jet come ripping by at mach 1.
He was gone in a matter of seconds, probably bound for the Moose Jaw base.

While we were there we met spoxick as he was leaving, nice to meet you again.

There was not to bad action below the ice and over the afternoon I saw 30 burbot, 8 whitefish, 4 pike and a cisco.

In the end we got 5 and lost 5.

This was the big fish of the day. 8)


A fat 11.7 lb pike and 3 feet long.
She went back to fight another day.

This burbot was the longest at around 31.5"


The final results.

Burbot1- 6.2lbs, burbot2- 6.2lbs, burbot3- 4.6lbs and the pike was 5.6lbs.

In the end the bite and burbot spawn has slowed alot, but it was still a great way to spend an afternoon and I am happy with my season ender.

Good luck to everyone in their last days of the ice fishing season.

WW