January 16-18 Tomahawk Trip

I only catch monsters

 My friend Mike at work owns a lake place on Muskellunge Lake in Tomahawk, WI.  For the last few years he has been gracious enough to invite a bunch of co workers up for a guy's weekend. This year, my buddy Kevin (pictured above) convinced me to bring some fishing equipment.

We had never been out on this lake before, so I just followed my own advice from my last blog.  We set up some tip ups 2 feet off the bottom in 4-10 feet of water.  After getting bit a couple times on one in 7 feet of water, we moved all our tip ups to this range.  At about 3:00PM a flag popped and line started peeling out.  Kevin pulled the flag and caught his personal best northern pike.  I was impressed by Kevin's ability to play out some line, get the right angle, and pop a perfect hook set into this beauty.

It is important to note, this was my first real attempt at pike fishing without steel leaders.  This guy bite on a tip up rigged with 30lb fluorocarbon line and despite taking the hook well into its mouth, it did not cut the leader.  We had 5 tip ups out, and the only one that never got bit was the one with a steel leader.

Ice Fishing Has Arrived!

Ashippun Lake on Friday

Most people I know are not excited that winter has finally arrived, but if you are an ice fisherman you are.  It is important to note that I much prefer soft water fishing to ice fishing, but in Wisconsin, you have to adapt.

To ice fishing's credit, the same allure still exists...Can you solve the multi-variable puzzle required to locate and catch fish?

There really are two ways to enjoy ice fishing.  The causal and the serious.

Casual Ice Fishing:

1. Buy some tip-ups and shiners
2. Find some weeds in 3-10 feet of water
3. Set the tip ups 1-2 feet from the bottom
4. Start the grill and drink some beers while waiting for a bite

Nagawicka Lake on Saturday

Serious Ice Fishing:

1. Buy an ice shanty
2. Buy multiple Vexilar units
3. Buy a power auger
4. Buy a portable GPS
5. Read fishing reports like crazy
6. Buy tip ups and shiners
7. Buy jigging poles and a variety of jigging lures
8. Drill dozens of holes and move dozens of times until you locate fish and get some bites
9. Repeat process when the fish move on.

Serious ice fishing is a lot of work, and does not assure success.  And to be fair, I kind of still suck at it...but that is the draw to continue doing it.  One of these days I will hit the mother load.

I will say, this year for Xmas, my loving wife purchased me an Aqua Vu underwater camera.  Now I can identify pods of fish as they come.  In clear water, I can even watch them bite.  It is amazingly fun.  Below is a video of the camera in action CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO