Last year a few of us decided to start an annual trip to do a little ice fishing and get away from home. Last year we rented a sleeper out of Izaty's. The shack was very nice but the fishing was a little slow. We managed to catch enough fish to have one meal on the ice and to take a small bag of fillets home. All in all a good trip.

This year we rented a sleeper from Jerry Brandt's operation. After going to his home office to check in, we found a note that said he was at the bar having lunch and that we should meet him there. Who were we to pass up a beer at 12:30 on a Monday? We headed to the bar and eventually got checked in and headed out to our shack.

The shack was about two miles out on a rock reef in about 25 feet of water. We dropped lines then dropped the camera. Small perch in the four inch range surrounded our baits. Mostly staring in amazement but sometimes nibbling a little. The occasional Sculpin would also make a feeble attempt to take our baits before scurrying back to the bottom. To say the fish were in a negative mood would be an understatement.

We talked with plenty of locals. The general consensus was that the fishing had been poor all year. Refreshing to hear as opposed to the "you should have been here last week" that you normally get, but still not encouraging for our current trip. Thats what beer, cards and the radio are for I guess.

The fishing was tough. Over the course of two full days we caught 3 keeper sized perch (in the 11 inch range) and a bunch of the four inchers. Just so we could get a snack to taste, I did clean up 6 or 7 of the 4 inchers and the keepers. They tasted good. It was just a lot of work to clean those little guys. Next year we will go further north to Winnie. After two years of struggling for a bite, I think we will go for more fish.

Here are a couple pictures from the trip.

 
 Dad with a crayfish he caught. We actually lost a couple others right at the ice.


Ray showing off a couple lunkers.


Passing time between bites.