Boy's trip Feb 20th and 21st.

My youngest son flew in from Alberta on Wednesday night to take his first ever Nipissing hardwater trip. We headed to the cottage Thursday afternoon and than fished Friday (20th) and Saturday (21st). Our group included myself, my oldest son, my youngest son and my SIL.

Friday the temperature was only -2 but the wind was brutal. Checked it many times through the course of the day and it was consistently 45 km/hour sustained and gusts to 75 km/hour. With 4 of us we were still able to get the 650 setup and tied it to the 2 snowmobiles on the sides taking the most wind. That shelter always amazes me. It is 9 years old and still handles wind like that with no issues as long as you have enough hands for setup and takedown.

Friday setup tied off to the snowmobiles:



Friday we fished for 4.5 hours and came off the ice early due to an approaching snow event. Combined with the wind gusting to 75 we wanted to be off before visibility became an issue. Riding conditions were great with no crack issues, no slush and minimal drifts. We ended up with 35 fish in the 4.5 hours. The 35 included 27 jumbos, 7 walleye with one in the slot and a relative hog of a pike at 32 inches and 9.1 pounds.

Typical Perch:



Youngest son's first ever Nip walleye:



SIL with the slot eye:





The 9.1 lb pike landed by yours truly:



Saturday the temperature was about the same and it was overcast most of the day but the wind relented and conditions were mostly calm. We fished 7.5 hours but the bite was slower and we only landed 31 plus my SIL caught a clam. Split was 21 Jumbos, 9 walleye - no slots, one hammer handle pike and a clam.

The clam:



Hammer Handle:



So weekend total was 65 fish in 12 hours of fishing. Not as good as we have done earlier in the season but more than enough for a good trip and good memories.

Think you did alot better then most as bite has been slow.The last storm front i was in started completely calm but in seconds it came in with a vengeance,My eskimo took flight in driving snow and things got ugly. Surprised you didn't have to nail yours down with anchors.

It was anchored in addition to being tied to the sleds. All apron anchors used and apron buried in 6 inches or so of snow.

figured it had to be or it would have air lifted in that wind.
P.s. maybe day two you could have shifted over,
maybe you caught most on day one,
then again why mess with a good thing and your holes are already waiting,
besides i hear fish swim.

sounds like a great trip and experience with family, like most of say no about the fish caught more about the experience. By the way SIL needs to find a brush

Glad to see you back out catching fish with your family.

good to see you back in action also nice to see your family made it out
lots of memories made there I enjoy your reports
thank you

Good catch!

Looks like a new derby machine ready for your next event lol….

Great read as usual Joe- that Outbreak looks spacious!

And he was inside - that's how strong the winds were

On a more serious note. I've never thought about fishing in such strong winds since I usually fish alone or if with family, then it can be even more difficult having to look after everyone at the same time. I noticed that you guys tied the straps in the centre of the popped-out walls to the snow machines at a more horizontal level. Do you find that to be better in getting the shelter to hold in the wind? Not having done this, I would have tried to get those straps angled more downwards (i.e., so that the snow machines would be closer to the shelter and the straps tied down more....if that makes sense?). Since I don't use a snow machine, those straps would be to anchors and so would be angled more either way so I guess I am asking if I should be trying to extend those straps as far as I can so the anchors can be further away from the shelter (i.e. more horizontal) or closer to the shelter (more downward angled would be better?

Great adventure and catch, and set-up, always enjoy your posts. Hope your head, body and sled are better.

personally I would think out further with more of an angle is better. Just looking at other things like towers they put guy wires out further to .

And he was inside - that's how strong the winds were

On a more serious note. I've never thought about fishing in such strong winds since I usually fish alone or if with family, then it can be even more difficult having to look after everyone at the same time. I noticed that you guys tied the straps in the centre of the popped-out walls to the snow machines at a more horizontal level. Do you find that to be better in getting the shelter to hold in the wind? Not having done this, I would have tried to get those straps angled more downwards (i.e., so that the snow machines would be closer to the shelter and the straps tied down more....if that makes sense?). Since I don't use a snow machine, those straps would be to anchors and so would be angled more either way so I guess I am asking if I should be trying to extend those straps as far as I can so the anchors can be further away from the shelter (i.e. more horizontal) or closer to the shelter (more downward angled would be better?

If using ice anchors instead of machines the further from the hut and closer to horizontal the better. Ice anchors fail most easily when the applied force is vertical i.e perpendicular to the ice surface. Closer to the hut makes the angle of applied force closer to vertical and the anchor is more likely to pull out. Further out makes the applied force more parallel to the ice surface and you rely more on the shear strength (as opposed to the tensile strength) of the anchor setup.

Think of it this way - to pull an anchor out you need to pull up not sideways. Pulling sideways will take much more force to make the anchor come out.

Great to see you are back out fishing. Fun trip with family is the best!!

Nice pike too