Gull Lake, Jan 28th 2014
 

Thanks to the help of some of the members on this forum I had some good luck my first day on Gull, but man did we WORK HARD for the fish, we drove on from brownlows and setup just near brownlows the first time we set up ( near the hut with the trees in front of it) (Saw one whitefish and a bunch of TINY perch) but caught nothing and after another 45mins we saw nothing so we moved up more towards the north end of the lake, caught one decent perch there, then we stayed for another hour and caught only a few tiny perch so we moved back to brownlows, seems that was a good idea! So we get there and catch a bunch of keeper perch, and smaller perch, SO after I release one of the smaller perch (2-3 inch) my dad decides to put a jig and smelt down the hole since he was tired of catching perch, a BIG pike comes in and eats the 2-3 inch perch I just released, swims away for a bit, (my dad said it'll be back) no doubt two minutes later he comes back munches on the jig with the whole smelt and we waited until he got it in his mouth good before we set the hook, and we hook it! We brought it up on the medium action rod with 6lb test and luckily not the ultra light with 4lb we used for perch, ultimately we caught the one big pike and almost our limit of perch (8) we caught all the perch on a yellow and a copper wire worm (without maggots) saw a bunch of whites pulled up by other groups (and a nice burbot) but not by us, but I am more than happy with what we ended up catching! Thanks again guys for the help!

Couldn't submit picture of perch sorry

Sounds like you made out alright and had a good day on the ice!

It's always a success when you hit up a new lake and manage to catch something!

Congrats & good for you for working at it, especially rewarding when you work for it & then get rewarded :acigar:

Nice fish!

congrats! sounds like a fun day on the ice!

Good job nice to hear first time out was a success:)

thanks for all the comments guys, just so you guys know the pike was released to grow bigger and be caught another day, don't really like to keep pike anyways because of all the bones

Sweet, good to know, heading there this weekend for a night on the lake, how was the ice?

I am on gull as we speak at birch bay. Drove on no probkems 14-16 inches of ice.

How is the fishing? Yesterday was slow, only managed 3 perch in the morning

Super slow. Saw a pike got a perch haven't seen a white. Boooo ohh and just saw a burbot.. wouldn't come in though

x2
Been here since 9 pm. Little burbot last night, pike this morning - he back swimming, and a good burb this afternoon. Seen nothing else either.:thinking-006:

Yep my worst day at gull this season

Headed there on Monday for the night! Here's to hoping that we get many bent rods in the time that we are there. I would love to see about another 3 feet of snow, this has been the strangest winter in years.

Just got back from Gull, was at Brown-lows, huge drift to the entrance, couple of trucks stuck, but once on the ice good driving, must have punched 20 holes, finally got my white around 10, in 11 feet of water and a bunch of 4 inch perch, they kept following me all day.

Never seen so many whites at gull. But not taking much. Kids got the first one early while I was making breakfast. Proud father here. Now 13 hours later he's sitting here jigging trying to get a jack or burb.

And yes c&r release everything except whites and decent sized perch.

Burbs are outta season till March 31st as of last night just to remind all fisherman.

that's the thing that confuses me about the new regs for gull and simular lakes. we are currently still on the 2013/14 fishing season licences till the end of march, the new burbot regs are for the 2014/15 season. i thought we would be still under the old regs since its not printed on the current 2013/14 regs. i didn't think the burbot regs would kick in till next seasons ice fishing and licence renewal in april 1 2014/15? i am not sure so i may try and ask a CO about this. lol. is a fishing season interpreted april 1 to march 31 or jan 1 to dec 31?

As you said your best bet is to call a CO

I just had a look on line and as i understand it Burbs are closed starting March 1st that was according to the 2013 regs. Hope this helps

Have fun out there

i just looked and reread the 2013/14 regs and didnt realize feb 1 to march 31 is 0 for the burb. i thought it was going to kick in in 2014/15. lol good to know now

seen a ridiculous amount of feesh today, more whites today than past 5 trips combined was wild. would come in from a distance fast but turn last minute wheather still, twitched, ect. managed a 20" but that was all.

seems their schedule has changed 8 to 10 and 1 to 3 saw majority over the last two days at these times

i have noticed the same thing when ice fishing whites even in the southern lakes that the jigging will bring them in from a far then the turn away at the last second. the only thing i have changed is my wire worms are on a basic J hook and when i changed the style of the hook and used one that had a more pronounced curve in the back and it brought them in close enough to kinda nudge it with their nose but still would not take it.

Where in the regs did you see that? I can't find nothing that says they are closed Feb 1st.
Do they make these regs harder to find and understand just so that they can fine honest people?

Look right under GULL LAKE in PP2....it is no harder to find than any other previous year.

Apr. 1 to May 14 and Nov. 1 to Dec. 10 – CLOSED
May 15 to Oct. 31 and Dec. 11 to Mar. 31 – Walleye limit 0; Pike limit 3 over 63 cm; Perch limit 5; Lake Whitefish limit 3; Burbot limit 2 (Burbot limit 0 Feb. 1 to Mar. 31).

It's there.

LC

How did everyone make out on gull this weekend? ?

They are seeing your line. Switch to lighter fluro line.....and stay away from the cheap fluros...they are garbage in winter.

Last year I was doing quite good on the whites.....but for some reason I decided to switch to a fluro that was on sale for 1/3 the cost of the most expensive ones. Well guess what happened.......same as your experiencing.....went from catching to watching. I thought it was something else and tried all sorts of hooks and tricks to only catch a few. By season end, having a few beer and discussing things......it finally dawned on me.....crap line and they were spotting it and turning where as the guys that were laying the lure out to the side and on the bottom were still catching.

6lb max......4lb is a bit light and they tend to break it every third fish, plus goodbye to it when a jack hits. The ideal would be 5lb fluro for ice.

Hey mike in use 4 or 6 fluoro even up north with david. If they break you off your drags not set right or your horsing them. I taking weekend off for fishing but we should get out.. whites should be on real hot in next two weeks.

Occasionally the bigger ones come in like rockets and catch you off guard. The 6 never fails.....4lb fluro is a bit weak on any white over 3lbs to get them up the hole.......buggers seem to do a turn right there.

I hope to make it to Wilson's Saturday.

Ya I guess. To each they're own