Hi Y'all,
Well I teamed up with my buddy Glen(well apparently he's not my buddy cuz according to him I have no friends...lol) and his good friend Mark for a trip to Kenora for some Whitefish. I did the trip last year with them and was dying to get back there....whitefish are just awesome...bite light, but when you set the hook...AWESOME, they are no slouches!
After a quick stop so I could swap a heater at the store for a Big Buddy heater and Glen and Mark could get their Timmies we headed off to the lake.
Mark had decided to drive out, he's nuts! But there was plenty of good ice.
It was pretty warm out by comparison to the last 3 weeks or so...first time it’s been above -20 Celsius really.
We got to the same spot we fished last year, and we were all set up in no time at all, despite the 'warm' weather I set up the 'Taj Wabigoon' as Glen describes my fish hut, just so it was there if needed.
MARK DROVE THE TRUCK OUT 
SET UP THE ‘TAJ WABIGOON’
Things were pretty quiet at first, fish wise, lots of perch showing on the bottom but nothing much bigger.
I started fishing the bottom, bouncing a small gold/brass shiny Northland jig with a Power bait micro tube. I got a really small perch, that was it.
The guys and me were using combinations of jigs, Swedish pimple type jigs/small flash spoons, rattlin' jigs with minnows (dead...as no live bait allowed), micro tubes, waxies, I even tried powerbait 'Fishfry' on a jig.
It wasn't until I lifted the jig 10 feet off the bottom before I saw the first Whitie come almost vertically up from the bottom , felt the light tap...set the hook, and pulled up an average size one. This was followed not long afterwards by another.
MY FIRST COUPLE OF WHITIES THIS YEAR 
Next Glen got in on the act....Landing the 2 biggest whities of the day.........we were still waiting for Mark to join in :whistling:
GLEN GOT THE 2 BIGGEST OF THE DAY(the spoon is 19”)
I got a couple more before it went quiet for a bit. I decided to use the lull to set up and try out my new heater.....WOW...is it ever nice......it was toasty in the hut in no time at all....but it was still pretty warm out, and it felt plain unsocial to sit in there.
Glen got one more, then I got a couple more, then the wind picked up, and the snow started to come down, Mark was already in and out of the truck with the engine running, and Glen disappeared into the 'Taj Wabigoon' to eat his lunch in the warmth.
By the time Glen re-emerged, my hands were frozen...I decided to go in just to warm up.
What a difference sitting out of the cold wind, on a comfy bench seat with a heater on....and I started to catch fish too......I think it helped that I could take my gloves off and have a finger on the line to feel the really light bites.
It still amazes me the lightness of the bite from such a relatively large fish.....but its kinda what I like most about fishing for whitefish...just such a contrast from the really light bite to the heavy THUD when you strike and set the hook.
I WAS GETTING QUITE A FEW SITTING IN THE HUT 
I was definitely getting the most bites, and I think all agreed it was because I was cheating...lol,....because I was the only one with a fish finder...definitely helps!!
I am really getting the hang of the fish finder now I think. I did not have it last year when we were there...and I was eagerly awaiting to try it out now that I’d had it a while and was getting better at using it. It certainly is a lot of fun...like fishing Xbox...lol.
FISHING XBOX (the line on the graph at 35’ is my jig)
THE FISH LINES ON THE GRAPH IN THE ABOVE VIDEO WERE SMALL STUFF…..LIKE THIS GUY.
It was just waaaaaaay to comfy in the hut . I had not come out of the hut for around 15-20, although the door was slightly open and I could hear the banter between Mark and Glen.
By this time I had iced three more fish. One of them was slapping about on the ice, and because of the heater, there was a lot of water on the surface inside the hut.
The fish was making a slap, slap, squelch noise......next thing all I hear is Glen shouting over from outside and laughing....." what the hell you doing in there...sounds like your sp@#kin' the monkey!” Damn that was funny...I was PMSL for about 5 minutes straight...as were Glen and Mark.
TOO FUNNY 
After another quiet period in which Glen got one or two more Whitefish and I got 2 or 3 more Tulibee , from what I could tell from the noises outside, Glen had hooked into a nice fish....Mark and I ran over to check it out..
OOOOPS!
By now it was around 2:30, and though we always say we'll clean the fish as we go, we left it late again, Mark and Glen got stuck in....I stayed quiet and let them get on with most of it :whistling: but guilt got the better of me and I made a token effort. I got one more before we called it a day.
HARD WORK WHEN THEY”RE FROZEN
GLEN GOT ANOTHER ONE
I GOT ONE TOO
We packed up and headed off. On the way back we stopped to chat to the guys who we had met at the landing, they also had a few, so we chatted a bit and then took off again.
MET SOME OTHER FISHER FOLK WHO WE ALL KNEW FROM ANOTHER FORUM
I was falling some distance behind the truck....did not wanna get too close....lol...when it happened....the fricken snowmachine started to rattle, and just stopped. I thought it was the belt, so got off to have a look.
Mark got all the way to the landing before he realised I was not following, and by the time they got back I had kinda come to the conclusion that it was not the belt...Mark and Glen both thought it was a broken chain....well lucky the ice was safe enough for the truck, cuz mark was able to tow the sled back.
What really sucks is that I have already had some bad news regarding my new sled as described in my post the other day, the worst thing is this was my uncles sled...boy do I feel bad.
THIS SUCKS
Anyway, Glen had kindly arranged for us to have a fish fry at his house with his family, we got to share his sons birthday cake celebration too which was neat, and we had a few more laughs around the dinner table.....whitefish done in beer batter is AWESOME!!!!
GREAT DAY OUT, CAUGHT FISH, ATE FISH, LAUGHED LOTS...don’t get much better than that
Tight lines all
Simon
