New year, same great Lesser Slave action!

[NSR Fisher]

Well it seemed like the super moon as well as the start of a warming trend really turned on the bite!

Me and another forum member "sportman" ended up heading out to Lesser Slave lake to do some ice fishing. We had an absolute blast and got along well, so nice to see this forum full of great people like him :-) I have yet to have a bad experience while meeting up with forum members!

So the morning started off a balmy -31c, the set up was a bit of an ordeal but we managed to get settled by about 9:30 AM. We accessed the ice at Spruce Point and drove a couple kilometers out towards the deeper basin. We ended up setting up in 27 feet of water, about half way down the steep drop to the mid-lake basin.

I was marking fish on my graph right away. I got the crazy idea to try a deadstick with a slip bobber, and quickly learned its almost impossible to keep the hole ice-free even inside the tent with a heater going haha! While I was messing with the bobber deciding whether or not to just hang a jig, I had a fish take my minnow while the bobber line was in my hand. I set the hook and hand lined in my first fish of the day, a skinny little 20 inch pike. Ended up with another couple of those small little pike before the action died off a bit.

We decided to have lunch and some coffee just after noon, and after that the fishing really picked up. Back in my tent, I was watching several large marks come up and investigate my jig, never really committing though. I decided to go with a more finesse presentation and tied on a large chartreus/gold Slender spoon. Right as I dropped it down a walleye came up and smacked it. I didn't even get a chance to jig it, he slammed it on the drop. I guess you can say I found what they wanted at that moment! Within about 45 minutes I ended up slamming another nice Walleye, this one I had to work on for quite awhile, he would come up, look, then swim away. Finally I tried just holding on the spot and just lightly wiggling it before holding it really still, and he just couldn't resist that quivering action of the spoon. The tasty minnow head wiggling in front of his nose probably helped too!

Ended up finishing off the afternoon by catching a little whitefish on the same large 2 inch slender spoon! I had him chase the spoon from about 25 feet all the way up to 10 before he finally hit it! I still can't believe he got that treble in his mouth! Poor guy, it really messed up his face. I also had a large pike get off right at the hole, his head was massive and filled my entire 10 inch hole. I was pretty upset haha!

Hopefully these pics work! For reference my ice rod is 28 inches long.










I will definitely be heading back sometime this winter!

[RavYak]

That is a cisco not a whitefish, you can tell by the different mouth structure. I caught one up there last winter too, same thing chased a slender spoon darn near up to the surface before he finally took a swipe at it.

[rubberboots]

Great pics & story! Thanks for sharing!

[NSR Fisher]

Thanks for the heads up RavYak! Damn. I guess that means I'm still searching for my first white....


As an aside, you can guess why the Walleye we're hanging around that drop off :-) (hint: They love cisco's)

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by NSR Fisher

Thanks for the heads up RavYak! Damn. I guess that means I'm still searching for my first white....


As an aside, you can guess why the Walleye we're hanging around that drop off :-) (hint: They love cisco's)

I imagine lots of people catch cisco and don't realize they aren't whitefish. I have caught them out of a couple lakes so far and I know they are in a few more, mostly up in the N/NE part of the province.

Not sure if you keep fish but one thing to know is that cisco from what I have read area almost always infested with parasites. The one I kept was no exception.

[NSR Fisher]

I put that Cisco back. I have also heard before that Cisco's are usually infested with parasites. Good to know that I made the right decision to put it back without even knowing why it was the right call haha! I would hate to keep a fish only to find out the meat is pretty much inedible after you've already killed the poor thing.

[SNAPFisher]

Nice looking wallies there. congrats!

[7magtime]

Good job, looks like a fun trip! How much ice was there and were there any heaves? Any shacks out there yet as well? Thanks!

[NSR Fisher]

About 20 inches of ice give or take a few, guys were close to bottoming out their auger in some places.

There were shacks out where we were, and the heave wasn't hard to cross at all. Very well paved trail near Spruce Point.

There is a huge heave near Joussard though, and a few trucks as well as a Bob cat fell victim. Stay aware of changing conditions!

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by NSR Fisher

About 20 inches of ice give or take a few, guys were close to bottoming out their auger in some places.

There were shacks out where we were, and the heave wasn't hard to cross at all. Very well paved trail near Spruce Point.

There is a huge heave near Joussard though, and a few trucks as well as a Bob cat fell victim. Stay aware of changing conditions!

Appreciate the update and information!

[SamSteele]

We got out to the Narrows yesterday as well. Walleye were biting, but lightly. We lost a lot at the hole. Still a good day! Ice was around 24-28”.


First fish of 2018!







SS

[7magtime]

Nothing beats a great day out with the family SS, well done!!

[NSR Fisher]

Nice pics SS! And yeah other than the one solid hit when I first switched to the Slender Spoon the Walleye were pretty skittish. The second keeper size one I got took probably 20 minutes of effort to land. He would come, sniff it, and leave. Again and again I would see the same mark come up on my sonar. Eventually holding it dead still convinced him it was safe to bite, haha.

How deep were you fishing SS?

[NSR Fisher]

BTW SS, the pike in your first photo looks a lot like the one I lost right at the hole!

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by NSR Fisher

Nice pics SS! And yeah other than the one solid hit when I first switched to the Slender Spoon the Walleye were pretty skittish. The second keeper size one I got took probably 20 minutes of effort to land. He would come, sniff it, and leave. Again and again I would see the same mark come up on my sonar. Eventually holding it dead still convinced him it was safe to bite, haha.

How deep were you fishing SS?

We were fishing in 20 FOW give or take. I found consistently jiggling the lure and slowly coaxing the fish to rise with the bait would make them take it best. Once I got one to take it I would quickly bait up and drop back down. Ended up getting 3-4 back to back that way.

Most of our success was on a jighead with a flutter blade on the back, tipped with a minnow. We got a couple on the Northland buckshot spoon and a couple on the Rapala Rattlin' Rap shown as well. I've tried slender spoons in the past, but when I'm fishing deeper I like to have a bit more weight to get down quicker.

SS

[NSR Fisher]

Originally Posted by SamSteele

We were fishing in 20 FOW give or take. I found consistently jiggling the lure and slowly coaxing the fish to rise with the bait would make them take it best. Once I got one to take it I would quickly bait up and drop back down. Ended up getting 3-4 back to back that way.

Most of our success was on a jighead with a flutter blade on the back, tipped with a minnow. We got a couple on the Northland buckshot spoon and a couple on the Rapala Rattlin' Rap shown as well. I've tried slender spoons in the past, but when I'm fishing deeper I like to have a bit more weight to get down quicker.

SS

I find the largest size of Slender Spoon is usually enough to get down during ice season. Open water with wind and waves, not so much.


I had a lot of fish come and check out the rattle rap I was using for a bit, but they just wouldn't take it. I was doing the same thing with it usually, just bouncing it on the spot and slowly working it up when I got a mark come and check it out. I was using a fire tiger color one though, maybe they wanted something a bit more natural looking.

The pike I had get off bit a Northlands buckshot spoon, haha.

I actually love those jig heads with the little flasher blades on them, I never thought to try them ice fishing though! I will definitely try that next time.

[Mike_W]

Ill take all the ciscos you can catch they make great bait ......not in this province of course.