Well, I had another memorable day and had the lake almost all to myself, had one other guy across the way. I was fishing blind no electronics, just jigging thru the ice after I drilled an "Alaska Monster hole"
. I was fishing the "golden time" and landed a whopper. Biggest Lake Trout for me to date weighing in at 28lbs and 36 inches. The biggest fresh water fish I have caught yet, definitely through an ice hole. It is even bigger than any salmon in the rivers that I have reeled in. Put on a real good fight that lasted a few minutes, it seemed like an eternity. When I got the fish near the hole, all I saw was this large magnificent fish from the bottom of the hole, looked like a "shark"
from my point of view. My arms were feeling it in the end too. I only had one bad feeling after keeping it, I found that it was a female full of eggs
. I have only taken two fish out of this magnificent lake so far and the rest have been all C&R
I gave a fillet to the lady who gave me the free ice shanty I was fishing from, it was the least I could do since it is a nice portable and in really good shape. The rest I will probably smoke since the meat is nice and oily and a very nice texture. Too bad the tourney is over
it would have placed well. At least I will get some certificates from the state for my fish I have been catching
.
This has been a challenging lake to fish in the winter for many and I have been lucky thanks to my fishing buddy AkDan for confiding in me the techniques acquired to to have good success thru trial and error, hard work and a lot of patience
. One tradition I have learned from my wife
a long time ago and we are both passing down to our daughter; we always say thanks to an animal or fish by giving it an offering to keep the luck alive, we do this with any wild creature we harvest.
I am thankful for everyday I am able to go out and enjoy this little slice of Heaven I call home; Alaska. Here's to many more successful days in the future
.
Thanks to all the IS members for all your useful info and for letting me share my memories afield, and helping to pass on all we have learned to our future fishing ones.
Sincerely
Brad, the "Fishinin Fireman"
