LATE ICE ON LITTLE BAY DE NOC - MI

Dateline: Little Bay de Noc near Gladstone, MI, 3-14-09

SEE THE “NOTES” AT THE END OF THIS PIECE FOR AN EXPLANATION OF THE TERMS USED HERE. THIS REPORT CONTAINS DETAILS ABOUT TWO ICE FISHING TRIPS ON SUBSEQUENT SATURDAYS.

I spent the morning chasing perch today, with fairly good results. Stopped at Bay View for wigglers, 2" minnows, waxies, and spikes before sunrise. Two of us drove north, heading out from the yellow gate access. We set up in 13' of water over the old weedbeds, The final tally was 22 keepers for about fifty fish landed. No real jumbos, but the ones we kept were just right for eating. The best presentation was a single wiggler on a thin wire hook and split shot at first, but changed to a single waxworm on the same rig later. I caught a few nice perch using a one-inch soft plastic crayfish in brown color on a 1/32 ounce jig - no live bait. We had to pay extremely close attention due to very light hits. We missed many, many fish the just fooled around with the bait. We each missed fish that felt heavier, but I'm not sure what they were. As a side note, the entrance road is very rutted and the shallows close to shore were in bad shape but passable with 4WD. Won't last much longer even if the ice out on the bay is over 30" thick.

Dateline: Little Bay de Noc near Gladstone, MI, 3-21-09

Today's perch expedition was almost a re-run of last weekends trip. Started at Bay View with fresh waxies, wigglers, spikes and 2" minnows. We walked out from yellow gate and set up in nine feet. The walk was not too strenuous. Some bad ice near shore. Road leading in is badly rutted. We had the camera and set it up in the shallows. Almost immediately, a walleye stopped for a look, followed by a pike. We tried for perch a while longer, but got no takers. Too many predators. After that we trudged out to fifteen feet and saw perch right away. We were one-half mile from shore. I'm sure because we drove to this spot previously and measured it on the trip mileage screen. The bite was fairly steady and we landed probably forty fish with ten keepers. Another walleye stopped by, but the perch returned quickly. We didn't have much time, so we started taking in lines. As the last waxworm and small jig combination was about to be reeled in a large pike head showed up on the screen and he inhaled the tidbit. My friend Duane had a strong two-second pull, one head shake, and it was all over. The pike snipped the line as they usually do in this situation. It was a great way to end the trip! Again, finesse presentation was necessary. Perch would grab only tiny jigs or plain hooks with a single waxie, or three spikes. They would not take minnows, and just played with wigglers. We could see them biting and re-acting to our baits. Good learning experience.

Notes:

“Bay View” is a local baitshop in Gladstone, MI owned by a friend, Chris Wahl.

“Spikes” are common maggots, used as ice fishing baits.

“Waxies” or “Waxworms” are beemoth larva, and look like white grubs found in lawns during warm weather.

“Wigglers” are hexagenia nymphs which look like tiny one-to two inch scorpions. They don’t bite, and are commonly used as ice fishing bait.

The camera I refer to is an underwater camera that is lowered down to bottom and allows the fisherman to watch his baits on a five-inch, black and white screen. You can see fish approach and hit your baits.

“4WD” means a four-wheel drive vehicle.

“Yellow Gate” is a public access point north of Gladstone, on Little Bay de Noc in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

On the 3-14 trip, Duane and I drove my truck directly out to the ice fishing destination on the ice and setting up the gear was easy. By 3-21 the ice had deteriorated near shore and we had to walk out to the spot pulling our gear on flat-bottomed ice sleds.

DEALING WITH ETHANOL-BASED FUEL PROBLEMS

DEALING WITH ETHANOL-BASED FUEL PROBLEMS


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SHORT TRIP FOR WALLEYE

SHORT TRIP FOR WALLEYE

Dateline: Little Bay de Noc near Escanaba, Michigan; 2-28-09


I had very little time to fish today. A friend and his son visiting from Wisconsin had just three hours to tag along this morning, as we took a stab at some walleye action on the Bay.

After setting up and with travel time we would have about two hours to tempt the walleyes I know from experience frequent this area in the late season. We stopped at Bay View Baitshop for a non-resident license and some three-inch shiner minnows. I had an all-terrain vehicle available from another friend who lives near the mouth of the Escanaba River, and I had a freight sled we could pull behind the machine, so we fished there.

My friend sat on the cargo rack on the back of the ATV, and his son sat in the sled along with the gear we would need to fish with. The permanent shanty we would use was located just north of the river mouth, so we headed out on a slow, bumpy ride across the ice.

A powerful wind storm sculpted the bay with great snow drifts just two days prior to this trip. Looking at some of these natural creations as we entered the bay made me hesitate to blast through them on the machine. Off to the north, lay a long line of snow dunes that looked like a frozen scene from the Sahara. Eastward, spiked snow drifts looked like miniature mountains. Scalloped snow swirls to the south reminded me of icing on an angel food cake.

An unexpected development earlier in the week gave my confidence a boost. Officers from the Department of Natural Resources broke up a large-scale poaching ring running two thousand feet of illegal nets nearby that may have been hauling out hundreds of fish daily. Apparently, the poachers had been working at night. We knew our catch rate had been down this season in this area, but we did not know why. This unexpected bust could only help our fishing.

The shanty was set along an underwater slope leading to the actual river mouth. Logs, boulders, ship staves, and many other objects that had washed down with the current provided bottom cover. I set my friend up with a Jigging Rapala tipped with a minnow tail, and rigged a slip float for his son, set at two feet above bottom. By letting the jigging lure fall to bottom and bouncing it there several times a cloud of sediment would raise up, which can attract passing fish. After bumping bottom several times, the lure is raised up about three feet and jigged at that level. I used a similar tactic with a bright orange lure while he used a “clown” colored style (white, with red and blue spots).

Within the first hour my friend landed a 25" slab sided walleye from 24 feet of water. The fish was very chunky and solid for this length. We could see it coming up from the depths in the Bay’s ultra-clear water. I gaffed the fish since trying to grab one that size at the hole by hand often lets them escape. Before the two-hour time frame was up we missed one additional fish that hit but failed to hook up solidly. Action was slow, but at least we managed one very nice fish.

Later at home I filleted it and found it was a large male. Its stomach was empty, which surprised me since it looked like it must have been stuffed with gobies or something. I’ll be returning to the river mouth this week to see if normal fish movements resume now that the nets have been removed. This is the first year the walleye season has been extended until March 15 here in the Upper Peninsula, and I’m happy to take advantage of it. Meanwhile my friend was returning to the Rhinelander area with the fillets packaged and in a cooler. He intended to cook them later that evening.


Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

OBSERVATIONS FROM MICHIGAN

OBSERVATIONS FROM MICHIGAN
By: Ray Hansen

This is a great time to head for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The lakes are frozen and getting out to the perch, whitefish, walleye, pike, and burbot spots is easy. This year, walleye and pike season extends until March 15.

Ice fishing in relatively balmy temperatures of 20 to 35 degrees is common at this time, as are late season snowfalls that cover some potentially dangerous spots. Keep your eyes open and fish with a friend at all times. Wear a set of ice picks, and carry a length of rope where it is easily accessible. Having said that, as of this writing in late February, the ice I fished on the north end of Little Bay de Noc a couple days ago was still thirty inches thick. Most anglers are still driving trucks out on the ice, but that won’t last too much longer. Think safety first as the season extends into March.

Keep your tackle selection light and portable. A size two Swedish Pimple spoon loaded with spikes (maggots) will catch perch all day. A couple rods, one small box with a few different color spoons, a skimmer, a locator, your bait, and a sled to pull along is just about all you need.

Deer are everywhere, looking for a change from the woody browse that keeps them alive during the winter. I have them in my yard daily, scrounging for tidbits I feed the local turkey flock with.

Logging operations cutting white cedar and other trees attract many whitetails. Deer eat the cedar tips like it is cotton candy. Maple and oak tips, poplar, and some osier dogwood rounded out the feast. Deer eat these things all winter long, but the difference here was that they could get to the tender tips of new, younger branches once the trees are down. Normally, they are restricted to standing on their hind legs and browsing up as high as they can reach during the winter in areas where no cutting takes place. They can’t reach the best browse in this way.

Turkeys flock everywhere. I honestly saw some birds gathered in groups of fifty or more. I watched a neat “parade” of the big birds at my friend Duane Deno’s house in Gladstone, Michigan. Here the turkeys wander the neighborhoods, trotting from one bird feeder to another looking for any spillage. Some people feed them whole kernel corn, and all Duane had to do was rattle some dried corn in a plastic bucket to get them to approach within six feet or so. I have had a flock numbering about sixty birds in my yard in Cornell, Michigan but most days about twenty show up.

Finally, the Escanaba River is still frozen on the mid to upper stretches, and cross-country skiing is possible along the main channel. Traversing this beautiful waterway is like stepping into a “coffee table” style photo book. Each bend and turn presents a new vista, and when I walk along a portion of the river with a lone eagle soaring overhead I realize it doesn’t get much better than this.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

BIG PERCH POTENTIAL IN THE U.P.

BIG PERCH POTENTIAL IN THE U.P.
Premier Upper Peninsula Panfishng
By: Ray Hansen

Lake Gogebic is one of the largest inland bodies of water in the state of Michigan. Running in a north – south orientation, it extends over twenty miles in a long, narrow span of waters that consist of great shoreline related weedbeds, and massive flats in the fifteen to twenty-five foot range. While it holds walleyes, pike, smallmouth bass, and various panfish species, possibilities for big perch pulls anglers from throughout the Midwest. This is one of the few places I know of that can produce mounting-sized perch as large as two pounds on occasion. Its location in the western part of the Upper Peninsula places it in an ice fishing, snowmobiling,and winter sports paradise.

I’ll never say that catching big perch is consistently easy on this body of water, although it can be. A look at the many photos of pot-bellied panfish tacked to the walls of local baitshops will have you sharpening augers and rigging rods.

Since these fish are nomadic, roaming the deeper flats during the winter and vacuuming bloodworms, larva, minnows and small crayfish off bottom, you normally need to move frequently until you locate a school of biters. A portable shanty, especially one pulled behind an ATV, lets you check lots of territory, while running a locator to pinpoint potential hotspots. Most local lodges offer lake access, and state maintained access points at parks are found in several locations. I’ll pass along some website information later in this piece.

Since you are going to “run and gun” for panfish, I recommend a rig that lets you “shoot” a bait down to the deeper flats quickly. Set up a short spinning rod (18” – 24” in length) with a small reel spooled with tough, thin, four pound test monofilament line. Tie on a size two or three “Swedish Pimple” spoon, using the small treble hook it is packaged with. Impale a “wiggler” (mayfly larva) on one hook point, and add two “spikes” (maggots) on each of the remaining hook points.

Using a “combination” bait like this offers a solid advantage: if a perch hits the wiggler but fails to hook up solidly, the wiggler is almost certainly pulled off the hook. With the spikes still there however, you have a “back-up” bait that continues to work for you. Add that to the spoon’s natural attraction and ability to get down to the “strike zone” quickly, and you have a winning combination. You need this kind of advantage while prospecting for perch.

Try the following websites for more information about the Lake Gogebic area: www.uptravel.com; www.lakegogebic.com; and www.upnorthfishing.com. Once this lake locks up solidly with safe ice, winter fishing opportunities can extend through a much longer season that waters found further south. You’ll enjoy the experience!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

SOUND OF FORMING ICE

SOUND OF FORMING ICE
By: Ray Hansen

Sounds like one of those conundrums doesn’t it? The sound of forming ice. Like the sound of one hand clapping, or the proverbial tree falling in the forest if no-one is there to hear it. But ice does make a sound when it forms, and I have heard it.

I was hunting deer during the mid-November rifle season on the Stonington Peninsula in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in a semi-remote part of the Hiawatha National Forest. Temperatures hovered between zero and ten below for three days, under absolute dead calm. This area juts out into Lake Michigan and is surrounded by the big waters on all sides.

Earlier that year I scouted this section of forest, and pulled together some logs, dead pine branches, leaves, sticks, and other debris into several ground blinds where I could sit to take in the silence and watch for deer. I liked being partially concealed – I needed to remain undetected to have any chance against super-sensitive whitetails.

This was a place where a few big, wise bucks used the vast woodland to stay safe. No farm fields concentrated deer anywhere within miles of this spot. Only some logged areas might attract animals, and bucks would be making loops through the woods in search of does during this time of the annual rut. That was just about the only way they would make a mistake, and the only chance I had to see one that offered a clean shot was to park myself in a place they might cross.

So I sat, hour after hour, bundled in multiple layers of cold weather gear. An adult doe and two young deer were hanging around, and I hoped a buck would show to check her out.

Sometime late on the first day, I became aware of a low, constant sort of rumbling sound. I could not pinpoint where it originated from, but that was not unusual in the big woods. I first speculated that it was a county road grader far off in the distance. I thought it might be rolling along the gravel roads on the peninsula at a slow, steady creeping speed to grind down the “washboards” these dirt roads developed over time.

By the second day, I abandoned this theory, because the sound remained constant and I still could not tell which direction it came from. A grader would have moved by this time. The rumbling continued, broken only by the occasional hooting of great horned owls, and the lyric, almost mystical variety of calls created by ravens soaring through the frigid air just above tree-top level.

On the third day, a realization slowly enveloped me: I was hearing the ice form out on the big waters of Lake Michigan. The open water on the bays lay flat calm and exposed to the air with its deadly freezing temperature. Ice crystals formed immediately, and the almost imperceptible swells caused by tiny tides, currents, and other natural water movements cracked, stretched, and splintered the forming skim ice. The sound was that of the fracturing ice crystals amplified by thousands of acres of freezing water surrounding the peninsula I hunted on.

The one - and probably only - set of weather conditions that provided freezing water, combined with a lack of competing sounds, prevailed long enough to allow me to hear and finally identify its source. And to me, it was a chance to witness the sound of The Universe going about its business.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009

CHUMMING FOR FISH

CHUMMING FOR FISH
By: Ray Hansen

Chumming – using some type of bait or scent at attempt to attract fish to a certain spot – has been used by winter anglers for many years. I’ve seen some fairly unusual practices, and others that were simply clever.

Old-timers on the Fox Chain-O-Lakes in northeastern Illinois (and many other places, I’m sure) would eat hard-boiled eggs while fishing, and drop tiny pieces of egg shell into the water. Others swore by sardine tails dropped into the hole after eating the rest of the oily treat. I’ve also seen anglers eat sardines and save the tin with oil in the bottom. This was placed on the ice, and their lures dipped in the oil before fishing with them.

Using the “sardine scent” was a precursor to the practice of using commercially available fish attractant scent commonly sold in baitshops. In fact, some anglers squirt scent of one sort or another on their ice fishing lures as a standard practice. They hope that releasing the scent triggers a feeding response in nearby fish. A related practice is to place a sponge inside a small wire mesh enclosure and tying a heavy line to it. This is lowered down to bottom occasionally, in hopes of arousing fish to bite.

A trick I’ve used many times is to squirt scent into a storage container of “old-fashioned style” oatmeal flakes. The “salted” flakes are then tossed into the water a pinch at a time. They swing side to side while sinking, and release scent while dropping. Both the motion and aroma may be attractive to fish. They eat it too. I’ve found it in perch cleaned after ice fishing.

Sometimes things get a little silly. Life-long friend Duane Deno and I recently dropped a few tiny pieces of his home-made venison sausage to the water while perch fishing on Little Bay De Noc in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We made a respectable catch, and of course he took credit for the feat, claiming that his sausage “was totally irresistible to fish” and that it would be “irresponsible for us to use more than a tiny amount, since every fish for hundreds of yards around would crowd into our spot”.

As strong as the bite was while we fished, I’m not sure he was totally wrong!

So chumming can add to the enjoyment you receive from a day on the ice. You do need to check local regulations however. Some places have restrictions on what is allowable, and of course you need to exercise common sense.

And bring along some venison sausage!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009