What to do in the winter??

Hang with a fishy crowd.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Nir
Posts: 220
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:50 pm
Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada

What to do in the winter??

Post by Nir »

How about a little ice fishing!?!

Drove up north this weekend to a friends place in Authier-Nord, Québec. The plan was to go ice fishing most of the weekend wich is what we did!

The drive from Gatineau, QC to Authier-Nord, QC:
Image

On friday, we fished on lake Macamic. It was quite cold, and we were happy to have a shack to shelter from the cold. We managed to catch a couple Walleye and kept 6. We were fishing with 15 lines.

Lake Makamic
Image

View from inside the shack with a friend checking the lines
Image

First Walleye of the weekend (Stizostedion canadense)
Image

Image

One of my nicest walleye of the weekend. (Sander vitreus)
Image

On Saturday, the fun started! We went to fish on the river Wawagosic. It is located in the Bay James territory. It was also pretty cold with some pretty intense wind. But we had the forest to shelter from the wind. We installed maybe 30 lines. We caught about 30-40 fish, mostly Walleye. Only 3 walleye were kept. We also kept 5 northern pikes including a nice 8 lb one! Good day.

This is the lake and river Wawagosic:
Image

Dom and Jo catching some nice fish
Image

Me with their catch! hehe
Image

Saturday night, intense filleting...
Image

Image



Now Sunday... Oh boy, I was not mentally prepared for that. My friends had to drag me at the end... I didn't want to leave!!

By far, best winter day of my life!! The weather was amazing. About 50 F, no wind and not a cloud in sight!! But the fishing, holy cow!! We drove up to Lake Wawagosic, and then did a couple miles on the skidoo. We were alone on the lake and we stayed there from 11 to about 6 pm. The final count was close to 70 northern pikes all in the 3-4 lb range with only 4-5 smaller than that. 70 pikes!! We couldn't keep up with the fish, and eventually had to reduce our number of lines from 21 to 15. Crazy! We had built water holes to keep those we caught alive. We had kept 31, chose 20 and released the rest. The 20 pikes we kept were filleted. Hmmm the pike in the north taste good!!

Photos:

View after arriving on the lake
Image

When we arrived on the lake, Ben started drilling the holes, I was installing the lines and Dom was installing the minnows. He was lowering the first line in the water and he didn't even get the time to let the line go that he had this 3 lb pike at the end. A good start to day!
Image

Lines installed the fun started!
Image

Building a well to keep the fish alive
Image

First pike of the day for me
Image

A nice 4 lb 14 oz one
Image

And another one
Image

3 big ones
Image

Putting the well to good use
Image

You gotta love being on a lake with that weather and with plenty of nice fish! Can't beat that!
Image

Eventually, we had to build a second well...
Image

The girls put their effort into this snowman
Image

31 pikes that we kept throughout the day, the final selection was 20 so 11 got lucky and were released
Image

Sun going down... and the end of a wonderful day!
Image

The 20 pikes filleted and packed! We ate a few and winter pike is amazing!! Better than walleye if you ask me.
Image
User avatar
KingCam
Posts: 1020
Joined: April 11th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by KingCam »

I am SO jealous of you right now! For three distinct reasons.

1) I've always wanted to go ice fishing.

2) I've always wanted to catch a pike

3) I'm ridiculously hungry right now, I love fresh fish, and those packages of pike fillet look insanely good right now.

Thanks so much for sharing these photos, I really enjoyed it. Congrats on the awesome fishing trip :beer:
User avatar
Nir
Posts: 220
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:50 pm
Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by Nir »

KingCam wrote:I am SO jealous of you right now! For three distinct reasons.

1) I've always wanted to go ice fishing.

2) I've always wanted to catch a pike

3) I'm ridiculously hungry right now, I love fresh fish, and those packages of pike fillet look insanely good right now.

Thanks so much for sharing these photos, I really enjoyed it. Congrats on the awesome fishing trip :beer:
Glad you enjoyed, I love ice fishing... But when the fish is biting like that and the weather is simply perfect... It's like paradise!
User avatar
Andy Avram
Posts: 897
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:37 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by Andy Avram »

Ice fishing has never interested me (too cold) but catching pike like that may change me mind. Nice fishing trip! I was a little south of you in Remigny this past fall for grouse (which was excellent) and duck (which was fair) hunting, along with some fishing (which sucked).

Andy
User avatar
Nir
Posts: 220
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:50 pm
Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by Nir »

Andy Avram wrote:Ice fishing has never interested me (too cold) but catching pike like that may change me mind. Nice fishing trip! I was a little south of you in Remigny this past fall for grouse (which was excellent) and duck (which was fair) hunting, along with some fishing (which sucked).

Andy

I'm not a huge fan of Ice Fishing either, but I have to say it's hard to not change your mind after an episode like that. Also, with the very mild weather... It was far from being cold...

So! Hunting in Quebec I see! That is very cool!! Remigny is a couple hours south of Authier-Nord and I have heard many times that fishing is not as good in the Temiscamingue... Way better in northern Abitibi, that's where the pike and walleye are! I'm supposed to go Grouse hunting there in the autumn.
gretzkyrh4
Posts: 661
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 12:17 pm
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Great post Nir! I took up ice fishing for a few years in high school (the last time I lived far enough north for such activities), but never had a day like that! It was usually just sitting out in the cold freezing while you waited for a flag to shoot up on one of my tip-ups. I think my best catch was a single crappie once. Don't quite miss sitting around on cold ice all day, but I'd love a freezer full of pike & walleye fillets.

Chris
User avatar
Tim Borski
Posts: 1855
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
Location: FL Keys
Contact:

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by Tim Borski »

Nir, you're killing me, man! I'm an ice fisherman trapped in the FL Keys.
Growing up, I lived for those warm, late-ice days in March when the beer was cold and the flags were flying! Brings back a ton of great memories.

I thoroughly enjoyed this post; many thanks for taking the time.
:thumb: :thumb: :beer:

Tim
User avatar
KingCam
Posts: 1020
Joined: April 11th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by KingCam »

Tim Borski wrote:[...]trapped in the FL Keys.
Out of context or not, I've never heard anyone say that before in my life. :lol: :crazyeyes:
User avatar
Tim Borski
Posts: 1855
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
Location: FL Keys
Contact:

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by Tim Borski »

KingCam wrote:
Tim Borski wrote:[...]trapped in the FL Keys.
Out of context or not, I've never heard anyone say that before in my life. :lol: :crazyeyes:

Yep, I might not have thought that one through. :lol:

Thanks again for a great post, Nir!

Tim
User avatar
Nir
Posts: 220
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:50 pm
Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada

Re: What to do in the winter??

Post by Nir »

Tim Borski wrote:Nir, you're killing me, man! I'm an ice fisherman trapped in the FL Keys.
Growing up, I lived for those warm, late-ice days in March when the beer was cold and the flags were flying! Brings back a ton of great memories.

I thoroughly enjoyed this post; many thanks for taking the time.
:thumb: :thumb: :beer:

Tim

Well, I am glad you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making the post!!

I am not a big fan of winter, but I would be sad if days like these were not possible anymore. Spring, summer and autumn are definately better seasons for me, but I must admit I am kind of looking forward to next year ice fishing season! If you ever make it to Canada, let me know and we can head out on the ice to catch some pikes and walleye!
Post Reply