I went today - can't go twice in a weekend or I'd go with you. I went by myself again since I couldn't convince my brother to go out in the wind!
This was my third trip and third skunk...but I'm not discouraged, just excited for breaking the slump one of these days! I had dropped a line a few minutes earlier and was working on getting myself situated...happend to look down the hole and there is a huge head hanging under the ice for just a second then it was gone. So I'm making progress - now I have actually seen a fish there with my own eyes...maybe next time I'll catch him!
I tried shallow today (deep last time) just left of the salcha boat launch and had no action at all except the one I spooked before I was even ready. I would have moved by lunch if it wasn't so cold outside!
While fishing I had some guys in a subaru wagon stop by and ask if I could bore them some holes. Turns out they were all students - one from norway, one from denmark, and one from sweden or switzerland I forget. It was kind of neat to chat with them for a minute - one of them said he'd never seen a gas auger or a 10" bit before! Then I showed him my 2 foot extension that I didn't have installed and told them about the big fish in the lake that you can't git through a smaller hole...they seemed impressed. I told them to wander over and sit in the shanty for a while if they got cold, but they stayed in their car most of the time and then left after a couple hours. I was plenty warm in the quickfish, but actually left my coat on for one of the first times. I also used one of the ice screws for the first time - just one in the upwind corner along with covering the skirt with snow when I set it up was enough to keep it solid all day.
it was a good day fishing...don't let the wind stop you, get out there! (I'll admint it was really really cold breaking down...really cold!)
