Sylvan Lake report

[tmaxx]

Well i headed out today to sylvan as i usally go out to gull lake. Punched a couple of holes and got shack set up seen on white swim by then another going by pretty fast one hour later. No luck. So i decided to move a little more south of where all the shacks were by some holiday trailer. The water was around 20' deep no weeds only sand. Is that to deep im not to sure. I dont have much luck ice fishing as i dont know where to go i just wanna catch a fish im about cnr. I just love fishing but no luck this year. I have better luck in the ocean. Im looking at going out again tomorrow how deep should i be. I always changing hooks from wire worms to tear drops spoons. I must be doing something wrong. If not fish.

[Zip-in-Z]

Hola Amigos, back from a month in Mexico, developed temporary blurry vision & look and feel like a brown/round coconut. Didn't get out deep sea fishin this time, plans got cancelled, disappointing. All & all great vacation!

Got back out for the first time this morning, my GPS was giving me some grief and it took a while to find one of my spots. Old Jiffy started on the second pull, noticed the ice is about 6-8" thicker and solid. Got set up put the camera down and no weeds anywhere, must of been off my spot, ended up on a flat sand/silt bottom in 22-23 fow, deeper than I normally fish. Seen a few Whites in the distance inhaling bugs or stuff off the bottom, then one came over for a look, circled a couple times & inhaled my wire worm, iced & released.

After than, caught 4 small walleyes had one nice one that was interested but wouldn't commit. I love a challenge, it was fun but frustrating watching the walleye swim up to the presentation, stare & stare then drop it's dorsal fin put it in reverse and disappear. Didn't see that many fish in the area I was sitting over today, most were quite neutral, you needed to ensure your bait looked appealing to trigger a strike. Packed up at 2:30 have to go back to the City, back next week.


Zip


Nice but No Fish



Dead Camera Battery = Booster Cables

[BobLoblaw]

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

Hola Amigos, back from a month in Mexico, developed temporary blurry vision & look and feel like a brown/round coconut. Didn't get out deep sea fishin this time, plans got cancelled, disappointing. All & all great vacation!

Got back out for the first time this morning, my GPS was giving me some grief and it took a while to find one of my spots. Old Jiffy started on the second pull, noticed the ice is about 6-8" thicker and solid. Got set up put the camera down and no weeds anywhere, must of been off my spot, ended up on a flat sand/silt bottom in 22-23 fow, deeper than I normally fish. Seen a few Whites in the distance inhaling bugs or stuff off the bottom, then one came over for a look, circled a couple times & inhaled my wire worm, iced & released.

After than, caught 4 small walleyes had one nice one that was interested but wouldn't commit. I love a challenge, it was fun but frustrating watching the walleye swim up to the presentation, stare & stare then drop it's dorsal fin put it in reverse and disappear. Didn't see that many fish in the area I was sitting over today, most were quite neutral, you needed to ensure your bait looked appealing to trigger a strike. Packed up at 2:30 have to go back to the City, back next week.


Zip


Nice but No Fish



Dead Camera Battery = Booster Cables

You'll slay 'em next time!

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by BobLoblaw

You'll slay 'em next time!

Hahaha BobLoblaw ... In my previous life, I may have been the Knight who did in the Dragon, now I’m tagged for life .... R.I.P. Poor Dragon .... no more Slay'n!



Zip

[snortwheez]

Was out on Sylvan last week trying to find some whities with no luck for me and my bro.
We did end up with 2 eyes and 1 burbot that got torpedoed back down the hole.
Seen 2 whities caught the 5 hrs we were there.

[slivers86]

Ill be up to sylvan on the 23rd of march. Im staying in sunbreaker cove, and wondering if anyone has any advice - i've read through the forums and it seems like a slow area.

Anyone fished it lately? any luck?

[Zip-in-Z]

Beauty day, lots of people, lots of snow so guys with cars are staying close to the ice roads, if you have a 4wd you can still explore most of the lake, just watch for drifts. The snow crust plus ice thickness is almost at the point you need the auger extension.

Moved the shed 3 different times from 12 - 22 fow, over silt/sand & then just off a weed bed. Slow morning, iced 2 baby Walleye seen a few Whites hunting but they never gave me an opportunity, went home for lunch. Returned in the afternoon with the camera, moved to deeper water, picked up after 3:00 pm, caught a small Jake the Snake & 5 small Walleye that preferred wire worms over jigs or spoon's. Whites came in & out & showed little interest, didn’t see any big fish, nor any perch or Burbs, plan to spend the week out at the Lake, most likely will explore new areas after the weekend crew goes back to work. Forecasting +9 on hump-day!



Zip ...

.

Beauty Day on Ice



Measure twice cut once = 27 1/2"


Green Treats


Where's your big sister ?

[Zip-in-Z]

It's been a fun couple days, it's nice and quiet during the week, spent some time exploring new areas down RR #20 & RR#23, seeing lots of fish of every species, trying some new tricks that have been quite productive. Got a few more days of fishing before I head back to the city.

This was interesting, I put on a fresh minnow on a jig, and a Walleye & White had a race to get it while it was dropping to the bottom. Walleye won but only chewed 1/2 my bait off, kept it on & the White came back and inhaled it, re-baited with just the head, got another & another for about 45 min. then they all vanished.




Zip ....






Kept a fat one for the Mrs for dinner, & enjoying Happy Hour!

[Zip-in-Z]

After spending too much time fishin Norglenwold off Rustic Road, I decided to explore new areas on RR 23. The weather earlier in the week was great, it was easy to spot holes from the weekend crew & chip out 1-2” of ice, dropped the camera down to have a look at the bottom & check the depth.

I found fishin in 16-18 fow or less was quite productive, I could clearly see the bottom & presentation, there were days when the Whitefish/Walleye were so camera shy they wouldn’t come close, pulled up the camera & within a few minutes, I had Whites swimin around my presentation. They wouldn’t always bite, that’s when I started changing up and that got them interested enough to inhale the offering. Moved 75 Yds up the sand bar to 7 fow over grass bottom, seen fish come in & out, but no interest, surprising, tried shallow again on another day, same old, see fish but wouldn’t bite.

I found the fish were quite active between 1:30 – 3:30pm and then again just around dusk. I use a quick snap vs directly tying on a jig, wire worm or small wetaskiwin blade, they work great & IMO don’t affect the presentation. The dark wire worms out produced any of the lighter colored ones. As well, I caught a number of Whites with a jig and minnow head.

I always work 2 rods, when things slow down I put a flashy jiggin spoon on with a piece of orange survey tape, sometime with a minnow or not, the orange tab also serves to keep the minnow on the hook. I’ve caught every species on my jiggin spoon AKA …“Fish Call” or at least it brings them in and they have a choice.

Watching aggressive fish on a camera is fascinating, and then there are those days when they will just suspend and watch, this is when the camera helps, drop the presentation into the sand silt & twitch it a bit until you get a puff of silt/sand rise from the bottom, that usually gets them in for a closer look. After that snow/wind we got & the weather changed later in the week the walleye wouldn’t touch the bait unless it was sitting motionless, then they would come over stare and then inhale it right off the bottom.

I didn’t go out today, yesterday was slow on one of my favorite spots, no Whites but caught some small walleye and took some pic’s of a Leopard Burb that came in for a look see, then swam away never to be seen again.

I was fortunate to catch fish every time I got out, just had to keep moving & switching presentations to trigger a strike. Overall, I kept 3 Whites for the Mrs. to have with dinner …. I’m allergic to fish, can’t eat them, Pike are the worst, I get all congested from the smell & if I don’t wash immediately with soap the slime makes my hands swell up. Shore lunch normally consists of beans & Course Ham-Garlic Kubasa over a fire … yum-yum! Guess I'm a fish addict that enjoys the sport & the outdoors.

Heading back to the city tomorrow, hope to get out again in a week or so. Here’s a few Pic’s of stuff I used or talked about.



Zip ….

Easy Quick Snap's

Dark over Light

Dark with Spots On Bright Day

Pick a Blade

Fish Call & Bait Tab

See Thread - Keeping Holes from Freezing Overnight


Leopard Burb

Nice Camo

Hello & Good-Bye

HwY 11A Turn Right

Another A/O Member in the Crowd.

[allaboutmathews]

Great post Zip! Looks like you have pretty near tried everything out there! We used to have all kinds of luck out there a few years ago, but the last couple of years have been pretty crappy to say the least! We have caught 15-20lb pike out of there and quite a few whitefish.... the last two years we may have cought a couple pound pike and a hand full of whitefish between all of us! Great job anyways, and you are deffinatly a persistant fellow! I on the other hand, dont have the patience to move all over the lake and try everything in the tackle box for a few fish! Does anyone know if the ling are spawning out there yet? That was always fun to watch!

[Rob S]

Blowing and blustery in the morning. Afternoon cleared up nice, put up the shack aaand this :-)

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Blowing and blustery in the morning. Afternoon cleared up nice, put up the shack aaand this :-)

Well done Sir ... she looks like she has a bit of .... Kiss me I'm Irish, too!



Congrat's Zip ....

[bwackwabbit]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Blowing and blustery in the morning. Afternoon cleared up nice, put up the shack aaand this :-)

Good ole Sylvan Snot Rocket.

[Zip-in-Z]

Took me a while to get motivated, Env Cda said it was -26, got out by 10:00 & stayed for 3 hrs, watched some guy in all-wheel drive car get hung up in the drifts until his buddies came to rescue him.

Ice was really cracking this morning, sounded a bit like thunder, after one crack/boom the water in my holes moved up/down. I was surprised to see the ice has sunk, water was at least an 1" perhaps a bit more over the ice.

I was out from the main town-site not far from the 2 shacks out there. When I packed up, the snow all around my tent was mushy due to the flood water ... not an area you want to try.

It was slow, caught 1 walleye, & seen a couple whites, try a different spot tomorrow.



Zip ...

[Zip-in-Z]

Went out in the afternoon to RR#23, was surprised to see so many people fishin the area just to the right of the lake access road. As I drove on the ice there was a convoy of trucks/trailers hauling shacks off, it reminded me of the Ice Road Truckers on the Contwoyto road up to Ekati, Diavik & Snap.

Entered a way point into the GPS, got to my spot to find some guys are within 30 ft of it so decided to move further down & a bit shallower. Got set up put the camera down & did this location ever look good!

Fished from 2:30 - 6:00ish, caught/iced 12 walleye, seen one big pike and a few White's hanging around but none would take any of my presentations. Just by chance, I found a "Spot-on-Spot" there were Walleye cruising a small area, no monsters, largest measured 16". Saved a new way point, plan to give this spot another try during the week & hope to fish out my white BIC lighter.



Zip .... here's a few pic's, enjoy!

[ogre]

Great post, Zip. We still need to meet up once before open water comes upon us.

[briverb]

You outfished me. Was out on Saturday. Landed one small pike, one white.

Was amazed at how much snow and ice is out there. Thought I was going to need an auger extension.

Heading back out tomorrow.

[Zip-in-Z]

What a gorgeous day, decided to hit RR#23 again, still looking for some nice fat Whites, got set up in my spot and had a visit from another A/O member, we had a good visit then back to fishin. Had a bunch of small Walleyes hanging around but very few Whites.

Decided to go exploring and tried some of the holes where people were fishin on Sunday, tried 4-5 different spots from 6 - 23 fow, no Whites, went back to my spot at 4:30 & caught another bunch of Walleye's & decided to pack it up at 6:30.

On my way out I stopped to talk to the only other fellow on the ice, he was also packing up, there was blood all over the place, I asked if he was hurt, then he pulled out a bag full of big fat Whites, he got his limit! Gramps was a friendly chap, told me he'll be 75 at the end of the week, said it was his first time out this winter & was looking forward to a fish fry with his Mrs. I really admired him, after our chat I figured out what I was doing wrong .... will make the necessary adjustments and give-her-hell tomorrow!

Highlights today ... snagged a R/W & got my BIC back ....



Zip ....








.

[Rob S]

Nice catches off the bottom, are Red Devils native to this lake?
Ill stop out with my stick and line tomorrow too, see what aint bitin :-)

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by ogre

Great post, Zip. We still need to meet up once before open water comes upon us.

Tks ... FYI my "Spot-on-Spot" was within steps of where I captured you that day, you should come back this weekend, I'll have the entire area mapped out & fresh holes ready & waiting for you & your crew. Bring the rubber boots & sun screen, forecast says your Easter Bunny will melt-melt-melt!



Zip ...

[kinwahkly]

Hey i know that old timer Gramps, he showed me the thumper lure they used to catch whites at Sylvan.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by kinwahkly

Hey i know that old timer Gramps, he showed me the thumper lure they used to catch whites at Sylvan.

Perhaps it was the same fellow .... drove a White truck with cap, think it was a Chev, I remember his auger blade was a shiny chrome, we talked about various lures he said he didn't like Thumpers as they snagged the whitefish, he showed me the wire worms he was using, told me they always produced .... all I could do was smile & agreed! I imagine I'll see him again this week ...




Zip ....

[Zip-in-Z]

Another blue sky day over Sylvan, back to RR23 to see if Gramp's left any behind, went out 15 paces deeper from where he was & got set-up around noon. Had two other A/O members join me, found the fish spooky today, most likely because I was in 4 fow the guys were a bit deeper they seen more just cruise'n around.

The ice was thicker at this area, 4" snow crust & 30" ice had to use the extension, if your planning on getting out on the weekend, plan accordingly.

Need a change of scenery, going to try Gull tomorrow ....



Zip ....

[slingshotz]

Hows the access on and off the lake? Thinking of trying one last time this weekend before it closes.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by slingshotz

Hows the access on and off the lake? Thinking of trying one last time this weekend before it closes.

Shouldnt be a problem

[TJG]

Starting to get soft in the afternoons. Run off is going to make it rough.

Originally Posted by slingshotz

Hows the access on and off the lake? Thinking of trying one last time this weekend before it closes.

[Z7shooter]

still good to drive on?

[lakerman]

Fished sunbreaker last gew days hardly anyone out dove on everyday walleyes and whites all caught and released mostly saw a beauty jack try to eat a walleye i was pulling up called in some poachers who were keeping burbs and walleye and didn't give a dam when i informed of the regs a co will be visiting

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by lakerman

Fished sunbreaker last gew days hardly anyone out dove on everyday walleyes and whites all caught and released mostly saw a beauty jack try to eat a walleye i was pulling up called in some poachers who were keeping burbs and walleye and didn't give a dam when i informed of the regs a co will be visiting

Very nicely played, thank you :-)

[fish99]

Originally Posted by lakerman

Fished sunbreaker last gew days hardly anyone out dove on everyday walleyes and whites all caught and released mostly saw a beauty jack try to eat a walleye i was pulling up called in some poachers who were keeping burbs and walleye and didn't give a dam when i informed of the regs a co will be visiting

they are stealing from the rest of us good job on the report