Started my laker fishing on friday 25th after my exam. Hit the ice at shanty bay around 11, and set up the hut way out of the way from everyone in 101 FOW, only to find the hut was broken and one of the poles ripped through the bottom corner. finally got it setup by 11:30 and was immediately disappointed. Never marked a single fish for the next hour, but didn't want to move because i finally had the hut set up despite the goofy pole. Left the hut and moved to 107 FOW and hooked up on the drop. Lost the fish before i got to see it, but I was starting to feel better about the day. Action was still slower than I wanted, so I made one more move to 116 FOW. Hooked up within 3 minutes and landed my first laker of 2013, a nice 31-32 inch pig! went back to get the hut to try and hide that I was on fish, but it was to late. By the time I had the hut set up, another group of 3 setup right beside me. Didn't even matter, as I never went 5 minutes without hooking up until I left about 2.5 hours later. Ended the day with 12 fish (11 lakers, 1 whitefish) 3 being 30+ inches and fat.
Saturday, went back to roughly the same spot away from the crowds and they were on fire again. Lost count early on in the day, but figure we were in the 25-30+ lakers and 2 whitefish by the time we left at 1:30. Everyone around us was catching tons of fish as well, so we figured it'd be a little more crowded on sunday. Came home to see all these reports of awesome fishing in kemp and made the call to go elsewhere as we knew it'd be a zoo
Turns out we weren't wrong. Drove down line 2 just to see and it was PACKED! People everywhere! Drove a little further down ridge road, to try out towards the main lake, and it looks like we made the right choice. We set up in the same depths, with about a km between us and the next closest person. It started slow compared to the day before, but still turned out to be a good day, with some big fish. Landed 10-12 lakers and 1 whitefish (which hit 30 feet under the ice). My dad got his new Pb, a 34 inch fatty, and I landed one that was almost identical in size shortly after. My dad also broke off on what was by far the hardest fighting fish we've ever seen. After a good chunk of the fight, and a huge long run, I decided to film it with my phone, and have 5 minutes of good footage of this fish peeling line like its nothing that ill add if I ever figure out how to edit/post it.
All fish were caught on swammers, mini swammers, or tubes. White did most of the damage.
End result:
Total: 50-55+ fish
Avg size: 6-8lbs
Biggest: 34" and BEEFY (16-18lbs)
smallest: 2.5lbs
Naturals: 75%
Stocked: 25%
as it turns out, we are the worst fish pic takers in the province...
Decent fish from friday
laker report jan 25-27
