Mark Knapp 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 With at least 14 inches of ice, it was finally time to start ice fishing. We put a small house out on Birch lake and fished the rest of the day. Two of us caught over seventy five fish the first day and kept three of the 18 to 20 inchers. Then we put the big house out on Quartz lake and four of us caught over a hundred and kept three respectable fish and a smaller one the that was injured. Many more nice fish were caught and let go. We kept three between 17 1/2 and 20 inches and one injured, smaller one. We are going again soon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MuskyFlyGuy 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 Mark, Terrific report. A lot of fun for the four of you and it looks like you have some mighty fine eating there. Tom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeezy 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 Boy does that sure sound like fun!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Poopdeck 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 Your holding out on us, what was the secret bait? The only ice I’ve seen so far was the ice I put in my red wine on Christmas. Glad to see your able to enjoy the icehouse. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cphubert 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 I got to move Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philly 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 That looks so much more comfortable than the bottom up 5 gallon bucket set on top of the sled I used as kid, to sit on when I was ice fishing. Nice fish. They use to stock some of the lakes we fished with rainbow trout, but mostly we caught panfish, chain pickerel and the occasional bass or walleye. and certainly not the quantity of fish you caught. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Knapp 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 14 hours ago, Poopdeck said: Your holding out on us, what was the secret bait? The only ice I’ve seen so far was the ice I put in my red wine on Christmas. Glad to see your able to enjoy the icehouse. Hi Poop, We make our own baits. I cure three different things, salmon eggs, baby shrimp and squid in commercial salmon egg cure. They are not mixed. In Alaska we are allowed to fish two poles while ice fishing and I like to fish one baited jig on a bobber while I jig a hand tied jig without bait in another hole. These fish have seen it all before so the big ones usually take bait very carefully or not at all. They haven't seen my hand tied jigs before, for the most part, so they are not reluctant to bight them. Most of the big fish we catch are not caught on bait while most of our overall catch is on bait. Here's a trick I learned, we microwave the shrimp first to make them tougher, ( you know that over-cooking meat makes it tougher) then we cure them. They stay on the hook real good. many fish get frustrated trying to knock the shrimp off the hook. When frustrated they get careless, kind of like me. Talk to you again soon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Knapp 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2022 Thanks you guys. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Knapp 0 Report post Posted January 3, 2023 107 fish on Sunday with Cassie and other friends. Shhh..... don't tell anybody. Cassie's Mom caught the biggest one, a 20 incher. The two smaller ones were kept because they were injured. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites