Cold Lake Report - Ice, Logs, and Pelicans.

[Levy]

Went to Cold Lake Sunday night. Thought it would be ice free and nice. It was about 23 degrees at shore when we launched within the first 500 m we had our jackets on and could see our breath. Ice chunks everywhere and could not locate the lakers, nor could we get to our spots further out on the lake. We trolled jigged and casted for about 5 hours in the open areas. Nothing on the fish finder, and no bites. We switched it up and tried for pike and managed one 60 cm pike in a shallow bay. Spotted one hog in the shallows but it was not interested in biting. On the way back to the launch we stopped for a while and marked a few fish in 160 feet of water and caught one 60 cm laker at 150 feet just as the sun set. We also found an injured pelican someone thought would be a good idea to shoot. It had two bullet holes in it. Looked like 22. Fishing was slow but it was still nice to hit the water.

We also hit two small submerged logs and saw around a dozen trees floating. This time of year the martineau brings a lot of debris into the lake. Putting a hole in your boat and sinking out there would mean certain death without a life jacket. Just wanted to give a heads up for those of you thinking of fishing the lake soon.

[Levy]

I will add we were fishing the North and North West parts of the lake which i would expect to have to least amount of ice cover as the prevailing winds are from the North West and were blowing from that direction sunday.