End with a bang!

SNAPFisher · #1 03-29-2020, 08:18 PM

Tough year. First trip out was awesome. Even the 2nd. Pigeon kicked my arse in between. Managed to get 4 really fat whites this year but took more trips than 4....

Decided to hit Sylvan for the first time today. The plan was to go out with a bang. Got a bit off track in the fog and got there way later than planned. Starting fishing around 9 a.m. in the fog. Didn't matter because the fish were on! Had whites cruising through every 5-10 minutes. Didn't take long to land my first 3. Lost many too. Did some hole hopping to finish off and get my other 2. C&R'd whites from then until about 2 p.m. Landed about 25 of them. Lost close to that many. I was busy!! Non-stop action for sure.
Only other fish I saw were 2 small walleye....meh.
Great day to finish off with!

Cleaned and cooked them up with garlic butter, olive oil and salt and pepper. Side of rice. Just plain awesome! Great season ender. Tamed a bit of the Pigeon sting....

roper1 · #2 03-29-2020, 08:29 PM

Great way to end the ice year!! Here's hoping we get to play open water sooner rather than later. Well done!

OL_JR · #3 03-29-2020, 10:14 PM

Nice work some great eatin there for sure

RACKER · #4 03-29-2020, 10:27 PM

Great job on having a strong finish to your season.Your persistence paid off.Nobody is better at catching whites than you.I just wish that you could have had better luck at Pigeon.Was looking forward to some 7lbs jumbos.Thanks for posting all ice season.

slough shark · #5 03-29-2020, 11:11 PM

Man you did way better than I did yesterday, I was out at 8 until 3, saw 3 whites, hooked 2, caught 1 and hooked a small walleye that got off by the hole

SNAPFisher · #6 03-30-2020, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RACKER

Great job on having a strong finish to your season.Your persistence paid off.Nobody is better at catching whites than you.I just wish that you could have had better luck at Pigeon.Was looking forward to some 7lbs jumbos.Thanks for posting all ice season.

Me too

But that is fishing right. I don't know if they numbers just continue to drop or I just wasn't were they were. I like to hope for the later, and, they have moved from where they normally were the last two years. I did a lot of exploring mid-lake fishing 23 all the way to 33 FOW. No place was hot. Best was from about mid-Jan to mid-Feb. March was a ghost town. I think I put in about 6 trips of no whites and 3 that scored. Biggest was 5.1.

Stinky Buffalo · #7 03-30-2020, 07:34 AM

Nicely done! Love those pics.

Been a while since I had a decent haul of whites. Just haven't been going out as much over the last few years.

58thecat · #8 03-30-2020, 09:50 AM

What was your lure etc...we got'em here in cold lake and might give them a go....just need a little what works assistance?

SNAPFisher · #9 03-30-2020, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 58thecat

What was your lure etc...we got'em here in cold lake and might give them a go....just need a little what works assistance?

If you are talking Sylvan, gold or silver spoons. They are aggressive for anything that shines. Any lake that has a decent minnow base should be the case. For Cold L. I would think with all the bait that it would ring true there as well. I imagine you could fish it in shallow or deep.

Williams has some good ones:
https://www.cabelas.ca/product/31451...-fishing-spoon

Zip-in-Z · #10 03-30-2020, 11:36 AM

Mr Snap .... nice work, wish I was out on the ice today, but still in jail.

Did they get that truck out ?

Cheers

D.

58thecat · #11 03-30-2020, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

If you are talking Sylvan, gold or silver spoons. They are aggressive for anything that shines. Any lake that has a decent minnow base should be the case. For Cold L. I would think with all the bait that it would ring true there as well. I imagine you could fish it in shallow or deep.

Williams has some good ones:
https://www.cabelas.ca/product/31451...-fishing-spoon

Thanks snap....just jig'em suttle I take?

SNAPFisher · #12 03-30-2020, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Thanks snap....just jig'em suttle I take?

Movement is key. Jigging constantly is a given. This is why I prefer visually fishing for whites with spoons as it is an "active" technique. Unlike good ole boring wire worms. What really got them going yesterday was lifting the spoon up to the bottom of the ice and letting it flutter down to 12 - 6 inches of bottom and then begin jigging. Most of the hits were watching the white chase the spoon down and hit it once you started jigging, or, they would come in after a drop within 30 seconds to hammer it. If I was doing the odd drop, you could sit there jigging for a long time. Also, I would change it up and sometimes only lift a few feet, let if flutter for a foot down, stop, jig, flutter another foot...you get the idea. Very active style of fishing and far from subtle. I'm sure this combination technique got me the big numbers rather than if I had just jigged in place. I'm sure I would have got fish but not nearly as many as I did.

FYI, tried on a jigging jaw jacker as well with zero luck. In fact, my JJ with or without the jigging base, caught me exactly zero whites this year.

SNAPFisher · #13 03-30-2020, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

Mr Snap .... nice work, wish I was out on the ice today, but still in jail.

Did they get that truck out ?

Cheers

D.

Thanks Zip. I'm not sure. Got on at Sunbreaker but I believe this was in a different area that it happened? Do you know for sure? That or it was near there and they got it out. I didn't see anything obvious and tons of vehicles on the ice. I still went on skidoo. Some trucks got stuck off the beaten path too.

Zip-in-Z · #14 03-30-2020, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Thanks Zip. I'm not sure. Got on at Sunbreaker but I believe this was in a different area that it happened? Do you know for sure? That or it was near there and they got it out. I didn't see anything obvious and tons of vehicles on the ice. I still went on skidoo. Some trucks got stuck off the beaten path too.

From previous Sylvan threads the truck went down in the Pam Bay area, I imagine the towing company got it out.

D.

58thecat · #15 03-30-2020, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Movement is key. Jigging constantly is a given. This is why I prefer visually fishing for whites with spoons as it is an "active" technique. Unlike good ole boring wire worms. What really got them going yesterday was lifting the spoon up to the bottom of the ice and letting it flutter down to 12 - 6 inches of bottom and then begin jigging. Most of the hits were watching the white chase the spoon down and hit it once you started jigging, or, they would come in after a drop within 30 seconds to hammer it. If I was doing the odd drop, you could sit there jigging for a long time. Also, I would change it up and sometimes only lift a few feet, let if flutter for a foot down, stop, jig, flutter another foot...you get the idea. Very active style of fishing and far from subtle. I'm sure this combination technique got me the big numbers rather than if I had just jigged in place. I'm sure I would have got fish but not nearly as many as I did.

FYI, tried on a jigging jaw jacker as well with zero luck. In fact, my JJ with or without the jigging base, caught me exactly zero whites this year.

Thx...gonna give it a whirl.

swampy45 · #16 03-30-2020, 07:07 PM

Solid way to end the season SNAP!

HuyFishin · #17 03-30-2020, 08:28 PM

Very nice whites!!