Got out on Lake of Bays for 3 days last week before the rain storm hit, Sunday (Jan 5) Monday (Jan 6) and Wednesday (Jan 8). Was a rough few days of fishing. The first day I lost two nice lakers, one due to the reel freezing up. Second day I lost a whitefish at the hole and also broke a rod. Third day, feeling cursed, I returned with my girlfriend determined to get one on the ice. After a morning of staring at a blank sonar screen, we finally had a school of lakers show up under us, acting incredibly lazy. They were interested but they would not commit. Finally I convinced one to bite, and surprisingly it made it onto the ice. The curse was broken! As soon as it came out of the hole we immediately knew why they were being so lazy, it’s stomach was nearly exploding with 1-2” smelt, couldn’t eat another bite. We weren’t able to convince any more before they moved on and we called it a day around noon, ending the day on a high note.
At the time, where I was, there was 4-5” of clear black ice. I don’t know about the rest of the lake. I don’t know what the conditions are like now after the warm temps and rain. All safety precautions were taken, spud bar, picks floater suit, etc. checking the ice every step.
Lake of Bays Jan 5-8
