I'm counting down the days before show season starts. My fishing will be severely limited until April so I am making the most of what I have left
The plan was pike on the cove for the better part of the day and switch over to crappie late in the afternoon and into the night.
I met Andrew at 5:45 and was drilling holes less than 20 minutes later. We had a great sunrise on the cove and got to watch a couple of bald eagles patrol the cove for a minute before continuing south.
Sunrise flag
We had a few flags early but were never able to stick any fish. I've seen a lot of reports on this board with guys using Arctic Warriors. I decided to give them a shot this year but with only one on the ice it's always a crap shoot. I my fingers were crossed that I would finally get a fish on the Warrior. I was in a slump with the pike but we were in a completely different part of the cove so hopes were high... We had put or time in so in my mind, we were due! Around 8, I hear bells jingling and looked up to see the flag on one of my Heritage flying. When I stuck the fish my initial thought was that something had run me into a log crib... Until the fish took off. The run lasted less than 2 seconds and POP!
The fish chewed through my 50lb leader. I was furious! After 5 minutes of swearing and kicking snow I tied another rig on and got back to work.
It didn't take long for the next flag. Andrew saw the Warrior get get and was yelling for me to get my a$$ over there. The tip of the rod on the Warrior down in one of the holes and the reel was screaming. I opened the bail to allow the fish to run while I set the drag and the stuck the fish hard. Fish on!
It was a BLAST fighting a good fish on rod and reel through the ice.
Not a half hour later the bells ring and the real screams again... This one wasn't as big but I couldn't have cared less. Fishing with Arctic Warriors is addicting!
I got one more fish on a tip up. It was the smallest of the day but after the dry spell I had been in I wasn't complaining.
We hung out till 2 or so and I dropped Andrew off at his truck and waited for Jimmy to show up for the evening session. We were back on the ice by 3 and headed out for some deeper water. On the way out, I noticed a flag up where we wanted to set up. I realized that my son had left a tip out from the day before and it had been tripped. It took some chiseling but we managed to free the tip up and sure enough, I still had some line on the spool and the fish was still there
I was surprised to see that the perch wasn't hooked very bad. Some minor surgery with the hemostats and it swam off down th hole. No skunk for the night crew!
After arming the tip ups with lights, we set up in 15 to 20 feet of water with the baits suspended at various depths. It didn't take long for the flags to start popping... We had a 6 crappie or so on the ice in no time. We were so busy for a little while, I almost missed out on the sunset... Almost...
We had a pretty good breeze blowing after dark so we hauled some wood out and got a fire going. We set some potatos wrapped in foil on the fire and chilled for a while. It sure was relaxing out there. I almost fell asleep in my chair...
The action really died down after 8 so we packed it in. A hot sower and bite to eat, I was in bed before 10. Needless to say, I slept like a rock last night
