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Member No.: 15418
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Just travelling home after a great couple nights camping out on the ice at deep water point. Our bungalow (@SSIC) was cancelled for the weekend, and we couldn’t resist to haul our own gear out by heel-toe express, leaving the ATV’s at home due to ice conditions. Granted there are some sketchy areas of the lake right now, we checked out DWP and seen lots of huts out there, we followed the foot traffic out to fishing grounds and had no reason to believe that this specific area of the lake was moderate to high risk.
We set-up in 32 fow, we were on 4-5” of black ice when we arrived. The walk out was not enjoyable due to the 3-4” of slush under a fragile crust, but the walk back was a breeze after a weekend of freezing temps and crackling ice. Some fairly significant cracks were observed on the way back and it seems the ice is really starting to build this week. Nice easy pull on the way back after the slush thankfully froze beneath the crust.
My son has really enjoyed perching on Simcoe for a couple years, this was his first nip trip, he really wanted to catch one of these walleyes (thru the ice) that Dad’s been talking about. Well, he did just that, Uncle Russ and I spent the first 24 hours taking notes as he pulled eye after eye through the ice with his Clam pink lightning leech flutter spoon that he picked out from Bass Pro with the gift card he got for Christmas. Two walleye of which, were both in the slot (17.25” and 17.5”) just 10 minutes apart. 4 of the 6 keepers were also caught by him, 1 each for Russ and I. He was also the only one to ice multi species, pulling up the perch and cisco. Quite the little angler, there’s no doubt he will be buckling up on future trips to Nipissing. I don’t think the smile has left his face since he caught his first Walter.
We caught:
44 Eyes (6 in slot) 3 Cisco 1 lonely Perch
Buckshots, gloshots, puppet minnows, vibratos, split shot hook n’ lively minnow deadsticks, etc for some reason just weren’t doing it for us as they have year after year. I was doing well with a wonderbread leech flutter spoon tipped with minnow head, Russ was nailing them with frostbite’s frosty clownfish crank bait. Balance of them were small pink/yellow/orange jig heads tipped with minnows. Very little success on tipups and jawjackers most of them with active jigging, usually striking with a slow rise after target separation/gap closed.
Awesome trip, will be back next weekend, booked with our amazing outfitter SSIC, really hoping conditions prevail for them, but if not, we will be roughing it with our gear again!
Group: Members
Posts: 141
Member No.: 15418
Joined: January 24, 2018
I went to bed last night after catching many eyes 15” to within mm’s of the slot, woke up this morning, pulled my hole cover, yawned, dropped the wb leech spoon down (around 9am) and within a couple minutes, from the cot, there I was finally on the board adding our limit #6 Eye (17.4”) what a great start to the day (thank you fishing gods). The rest of the day today was very slow, significantly less marks, and only 4 eyes from morning to 2pm. Hopefully the afternoon bite was good for the many anglers that were out with us today (we could see 50+ huts).
Group: Members
Posts: 60
Member No.: 15243
Joined: January 13, 2018
QUOTE (Fishberg @ Jan 08, 2023 - 05:29 pm)
Just travelling home after a great couple nights camping out on the ice at deep water point. Our bungalow (@SSIC) was cancelled for the weekend, and we couldn’t resist to haul our own gear out by heel-toe express, leaving the ATV’s at home due to ice conditions. Granted there are some sketchy areas of the lake right now, we checked out DWP and seen lots of huts out there, we followed the foot traffic out to fishing grounds and had no reason to believe that this specific area of the lake was moderate to high risk.
We set-up in 32 fow, we were on 4-5” of black ice when we arrived. The walk out was not enjoyable due to the 3-4” of slush under a fragile crust, but the walk back was a breeze after a weekend of freezing temps and crackling ice. Some fairly significant cracks were observed on the way back and it seems the ice is really starting to build this week. Nice easy pull on the way back after the slush thankfully froze beneath the crust.
My son has really enjoyed perching on Simcoe for a couple years, this was his first nip trip, he really wanted to catch one of these walleyes (thru the ice) that Dad’s been talking about. Well, he did just that, Uncle Russ and I spent the first 24 hours taking notes as he pulled eye after eye through the ice with his Clam pink lightning leech flutter spoon that he picked out from Bass Pro with the gift card he got for Christmas. Two walleye of which, were both in the slot (17.25” and 17.5”) just 10 minutes apart. 4 of the 6 keepers were also caught by him, 1 each for Russ and I. He was also the only one to ice multi species, pulling up the perch and cisco. Quite the little angler, there’s no doubt he will be buckling up on future trips to Nipissing. I don’t think the smile has left his face since he caught his first Walter.
We caught:
44 Eyes (6 in slot) 3 Cisco 1 lonely Perch
Buckshots, gloshots, puppet minnows, vibratos, split shot hook n’ lively minnow deadsticks, etc for some reason just weren’t doing it for us as they have year after year. I was doing well with a wonderbread leech flutter spoon tipped with minnow head, Russ was nailing them with frostbite’s frosty clownfish crank bait. Balance of them were small pink/yellow/orange jig heads tipped with minnows. Very little success on tipups and jawjackers most of them with active jigging, usually striking with a slow rise after target separation/gap closed.
Awesome trip, will be back next weekend, booked with our amazing outfitter SSIC, really hoping conditions prevail for them, but if not, we will be roughing it with our gear again!
Stay safe out there everyone - tight lines!
That great news and sound like you guys got some good time on ice I’ll be there meeting my brother in the am
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Alittle surprising that you didn't get a bunch of perch seeing that you were in the deeper water.Usually 26' gets you the walters and 30'+ gets you perch.At least years back that was the case.
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Joined: January 01, 2014
Nice going guys! I may have to use you as a guide in the future.Headed out again today to measure the ice. So frustrating having to cancel groups that have been booked for a year. I'm glad you still made it out there.
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Joined: March 22, 2013
What a great report thanks for sharing..... Good on you guys for the change in plans, getting your stuff all together, and showing up. Memories for a life time for your boy! 6 more sleeps!!!!
Group: Members
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Member No.: 15418
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Cheers everyone; I was hesitant to post a report knowing that many people haven’t been able to get out due to the ice conditions, but I feel this area is safe, accessible by foot and is a great alternative to Callendar bay for those interested to get out and fish with some basic gear.
Keeping fingers crossed for rapid ice building across the South shore for all the outfitters this week!
Group: Members
Posts: 141
Member No.: 15418
Joined: January 24, 2018
QUOTE (SSIC @ Jan 09, 2023 - 08:41 am)
Nice going guys! I may have to use you as a guide in the future.Headed out again today to measure the ice. So frustrating having to cancel groups that have been booked for a year. I'm glad you still made it out there.
Cheers Garnet!
We are rooting for you. It was nice to get out and prove to ourselves that a couple nights is doable in the pop-up portable huts, but the experience with an outfitter, the quality service, accommodations and care from the team at SSIC makes for a trip on an entirely different level. If the ice conditions do not support the launch of the bungalows this weekend, but are sufficient for ATV/SLED travel, I’ll be in touch to see if there is an opportunity to utilize accommodations on shore, and support the business in any way possible.
Fishing Lake Nipissing
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Lake Nipissing Outdoors - Fishing Forum : Fishing Tips, Current Conditions, Fishing Reports & more! Fishing Lake Nipissing & Area
January 6th to 8th Ice Camp, Deep Water Point
