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Catch-n slabs on ice


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I forget the day but it's the last sat. of the month.

We have a good 6" of ice.The snow is coming down sideways.

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Rick & I hit BSL this morning at 7.

There was no snow at the time.

The barometer was 30.27 and falling.We drilled holes along the mud bar

and instantly marked fish up to 6 foot off of the bottom which was so different from yesterday.

Yesterday they were pinned to the bottom or a foot off.

I knew it was going to be a better day ,however being BSL's bite is better with the sun the bite was still slow.Having fish higher was promising though.

I was thinking if we could stick it out until the pressure dropped ,but by the time it did the fish disappeared.

I worked many holes and hardly marked a one.

So anyways I get this email a few days ago from George.

He says I'd like some help understanding my Vexilar and I'd like to fish with you.Well I could not resist the opportunity to help a guy out.

About an hour after we got there George comes walking up.

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a very amicable guy for sure.

It amazes me at how many great guys I've met through these online forums.

We spent a few minutes talking about reading the Vexilar and gain settings.

I rig him up with the jig and we proceed to fish.

I had a few smaller ones before he got there and then I tag this slab.

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Soon after Scott say ya baby!

check out this one.

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I was proud to see how he used what we had talked about and caught his 1st 13" slab on his jig.

You can see how finicky those fish were with the placement of the hook.

Mine had just a piece of skin up front.a loose drag kept me from pulling that one loose.

Here's George's mule ....see where the jig is.

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A few minutes goes by and although the fish we were catching were about 5-6 feet from the bottom I see a flicker on the bottom.Ya just gotta love

a flasher.

So I drop down to it and after 3 seconds I lifted a foot.The signal separates from the bottom.OOOOO here it comes I'm thinking.I lifted another foot and the fish came up and barely popped my spring. I reared and once the fish got half way up it really started fighting.I loosened my drag a skosh more and worked this guy up my hole.

08iceseason031.jpg

I had George shoot another pic for me.

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We left at noon ,but by all accounts it was a great day and George was still catching fish.

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A couple of questions. Where is the mud bar? What size jigs were working for you? Did you try any live bait? Do you still sell THE jigs. I found an order form on your website. Thanks.

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CK,

One more question. What type of bobber is that? I am guessing it is very sensitive with the small jigs. Thanks again.

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Well here we go getting into trouble....

The bar is on the n.end of Bill Horn Bay.

There are a few manufactures of this spring I like to use.

It's the flat steel version.

I cut most of it off leaving 3". 1" is on the rod with 2" hanging off.

I'll use thread to wrap the spring onto the rod and coat with clear nail polish which acts like glue.

Know this.....it is illeagle for me to sell jigs on this site.

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CK- I fish a little south of aitkin, in kanabec county. Do you fish around there? I'll be heading out all day saturday with a friends or two. If the ice is good It would be great to catch a couple slabs with some people from FM...let me know

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Sorry Bud,I'm booked for 2 months already on our local lakes.

Your welcome to join in anytime.

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Well not this weekend but maybe in the future...What lakes you guys usually on maybe I'll make it out and meet a couple people from FM cool.gif

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A couple of times people have gotten blasted for using lake names, so if you read real close some of the entries, you can figure out where. Crisco lake has more clarity than Lard though.

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A couple of times people have gotten blasted for using lake names, so if you read real close some of the entries, you can figure out where. Crisco lake has more clarity than Lard though.


that's cause criso is made from corn whereas Lard is made from fat.........up on crisco creek where slabs are caught all week.He says's a jigger is all I ever saw there.

I think you need to be a deadhead to get that!

I've got a group hitting the Horn Sat.& Sun.I'm hoping for a good turnout and a low barometer.

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You bet.I've got customers already booked as far away as Kentucky.

I'm also doing alot of teaching on the ice to forum fisherman for nothing.

There's even some people who have cabins on the lake that can not find or catch crappies that I've helped.

Plaisted and Arness are 2 of them.

Big Sandy Lodge has gotten a few reservations from some of my customers.The Meadow Inn in McGregor is seeing some extra business as well as Willey's plus there's other business seeing some extra business.

Tom's Bell Horn Bay Fish house rental has been getting calls too.

So in the end I'll take a bashing from some locals who think it's their lake and how dare I ,but really I hope I'm doing more good than bad.

I do know that there are a bunch of lurkers that will go there too on their own.I do see a bunch of guys getting skunked.BSL is a tougher lake to fish if you do not know how to downsize.

They will never be back ,but there are a few that will listen to some of my advice and do well.

So really as to fishing out the lake with all of it's holes I think is highly doubtfull,but I do think about that.

I'm asking everyone to dish back those bigger slabs.

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i alway want to try bsl for slab after readin ur post for almost year now it sure got me itchin to try bsl for slab. i had tried for them in spring few time but cldnt find them. mayb on those wknd ur at bsl can u let me know mayb i can tag along n bsin for few mins n share a beer or 2?.

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Quote:

14+ and thick..


Quit talking about your fish house boyfriend on here. laugh.gif

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They do have nice shoulders!

Hitting it tommorow,OleMatty......anytime,just leave the beer at home,you'll be too busy fishing .

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GM is just angry and bitter because he is going to become the newest member of the "can't hook em club" in the fish house on BSL this year..

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I agree.. all the crappies I have seen out of BSL are very healthy. The coloring on them is really nice too.

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I guess you'll never really know if you're not invited in the nice warm house. Better get that portable ready.

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Sounds like you guys need to get on the ice to rear some slabbers.

I'll be thinking about on on my 1st one.

Stay tuned for the report from today after 4.

It's 5:30 now and the coffee's a brewin!

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Hammer lake where the slabs are hitting hard. Im on the way there in about 60 seconds.

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You know it. Unfortunately, I need to put in some family time so I can take a few long weekends later in the season. The wife is still sore over the 10 days I was gone deer hunting.

Plus, I'm getting tired just thinking about pulling my sled in all this snow. Should be enough ice for me to take the wheeler next time out.

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Well I'd like to say everyone drilled limits and the fish seemed on the verge of just jumping out of the hole into the bucket,however

with the pressure at 30.30 and rising I knew the day would be tough.

George snaked out 3 but for the rest of us when you mess with the bull you get the Horn!

We start out with my quad not hooking up in 4 wheel and it was cutting out .14 below did not help the situation.

We all managed to make it out and got set up.

As Bobberdown was banking in my house he went through to the hip.

325 lbs on 1 foot put him through,unreal!

There was 7" of ice but there was so much water on top it weakened the ice.

Man down!

That was the only thing that raised the excitement level.

There's only 2-3 days in a whole winter I'll walk away from the Horn skunked.Today was 1 of them.

I moved a few times and did mark fish next to the bottom ,but to get anything to look was near impossible.

The drag off was a drag and I'm glad to be home although still sweating from the grueling workout.

Had you given me a choice I'd still have gone.

You can't catch anything in the lazyboy ,but a good snooze.

That's the next destination.

If the pressure is this high tommorow,I'll take a page from today's lesson and stay home.

On a side note there are guys begging to go swimming.

I saw a few sleds cruising the lake.

They are sooooooo asking for it.

There was a guy on the main lake I think in 32 foot of water and he had drilled a hole .It was 5"thick so he moves out a bit further and drills a hole only to bust through.

He did get out ,but his auger is now structure.

Be carefull out there.This snow really messed that ice up.

With out the snow we could have close to a solid foot of clear strong ice.

As it stands 7-8" of very questionable ice.

It's going to take some severe cold temps to make things any better.

Now where's my dew and lazyboy?

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Quote:

On a side note there are guys begging to go swimming.

I saw a few sleds cruising the lake.

There was a guy on the main lake I think in 32 foot of water and he had drilled a hole .It was 5"thick so he moves out a bit further and drills a hole only to bust through.

He did get out ,but his auger is now structure.

Be carefull out there.This snow really messed that ice up.


Well it happened and if not for a miracle we would have have had one DEAD snowmobiler on BSL.

We were just getting on the road to drive home Saturday evening right at dusk when we came across a volunteer Firefighter on the road he flagged us down and asked where the guy was in the Water we looked out into the middle of Billhorn Bay toward the south end and noticed 3 people spread out about 50 yards apart from each other and a guy in the water.

It seemed like forever but they got him out of the water using a rope as soon as he made it to shore we transported him back where we were staying and got him out of his cloths by that time the Ambulance arrived and they did tempature reading on him and it was 91 degrees so they decided to Air-lift "helicopter" him to Aikten hospital.

This guy is lucky its an absolute miracle that someone saw him go in on this part of the lake and had the courage and knowledge to get him out of the frigid water.

Like Keith said the Lakes are not safe for cross country ATV/Snowmobile travel yet.

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It's amazing the chances some people will take for a bit of fun.

Just because a sled can do 80-100 mph it's still dangerous on the ice.

Hopefully this thread will wake a few up and key some others to wait.

I had scouted out the area we fished and the weekend before it was safe.

The snow changed everything even though it has been very cold.

Please travel with someone else in these early days while ice fishing.Most of the ice can be good ,but 1 mistep and you could get very wet and possibly die without help.

As much as I love fishing.....no slab is worth checking out this early in life.

Be carefull guys.

That was a great thing you guys did PB.I wish our fishing could have been better today.It was great to see you and BD today.I've missed you guys.

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"that's cause criso is made from corn"

CK.......think it's actually cotton seed oil........invented around the depression era as a cheaper sub for lard.... wink.gif

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Quote:

"that's cause criso is made from corn"

CK.......think it's actually cotton seed oil........invented around the depression era as a cheaper sub for lard....
wink.gif


You got me Dan.

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Just showin off CK wink.gif......

You guys are right about the ice bein a mess! Same thing down here.....not fun stuff.

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It's 13 below with a barometer of 30.44 and rising.

I'm staying home painting jigs today.

Maybe the Vikes can keep me in the game for the 4th weekend in a row.

Go Vikes!

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