The winter releases its icy grip and reaches into the earth…
… as the days grow longer and the sun finds way to lighten cold darkness.
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Seven days coming this week of high temps in the teens, it was only luck by good timing that this past weekend of primo icefishing weather fell on some days off from work.
Last Wednesday Grant returned my call with much enthusiasm, to join up come Friday morning and hit the road to 31 Mile. No plans… just jump in the truck with Big Red, head north to PQ, find shelter and food along the way, then return at some time on Sunday. The only real goal was to have fun picking cucumbers while beating off the lakeroaches.
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FRIDAY.
Around noon we’d made it to Maniwaki after breakfast in Gracefield, secured a room in a local hotel, shopped the SAQ and grabbed some snacks on route to the lake. The drive in to Baie Davis is a tonne easier on the axels than through the Boucette route.
We were quick to offload the bike and make haste down the lake several miles. First stop in mind had not treated us well the year before, but Grant had confidence in it. After drilling a half dozen holes, I dropped line first and iced a whitey before the lure hit bottom. It was game on!!!
Initial fish were nutz in the area. Grant was quick to play too. Perch mixed in with whiteys and lakers, the sticks warmed up fast. Easily my best afternoon ever fishing whiteys.
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Two hours to slow on the first spot, by 3:00pm we began moving around and drilling out new areas. One particular point we named the Nursery held a number of smaller OOS lac troots, but the final spot referred to as Huddy’s Island, coughed up the big whitey of the day.
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A solid five hours fishing, we returned to Maniwaki to later feast on both the food and our smoking waitress at the Rialdo. By 9:30pm we were dead asleep.
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SATURDAY.
Days prior to our arrival at 31 the lake got pelted with a huge rain making quading conditions perfect. A big snowfall the week before that, the snow-pack was now reduced to nothing. A person could ice-skate the entire lake it was that smoothly frozen over.
Grant noticed first how little pressure fishing spots had received. This would bode well. Previous years, vehicles would be out cruising the lake, but not this season. Black ice in MOST spots was only 6-8 inches, with the odd area having up to 10. Since the rain, the newer white ice on top was anywhere from 4-6 depending. We saw the odd smaller vehicle on the lake, but the non-idiots were on ATV’s. Having a snowmobile would suck balls out there too… no grip to rip.
5:15am wake-up we nabbled down a full breaky at the hotel, hit the Tim’s for jambon and suisse sandwiches and were fishing by 8:00am. Day started cool at -14C but was supposed to warm to -4C and get windy. Grant kicked off the morning with an… alrighty then muthafiznakah!!!
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It took awhile of fishing through lakers and several relocations to finally tap whitage. Zipping around on the bike for me was half the joy. 31 Mile is a freaking monster long lake yet, Big Red could cruise it pretty quick under the present conditions. Forgeting the time is easy too, it’s an exceptionally beautiful area to lose yourself in. Grant and I hopped all over the place smacking fresh fish, taking pics and having fun. A few double-headers made the day even better but the whiteys remained trickier to find on this day.
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We surely took good doses of down time from the fishing.
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The morning bite had been so wicked right through into about 2:30pm when strong southwinds began to blow. The fish and day went chill with that as everything seemed harder to motivate. Grant and I put in the last hours ducking and tucking into spots where the winds found us harder to reach.
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Back at Rialdo’s that night, we “somehow” managed to get that same waitress again. Grant and I wanted to have her for dinner but we both settled for “chicken.”
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SUNDAY.
Spent the final day an entire hour behind the times. Clocks ahead we never knew nor cared, we were on the ice at some hour and remained on the ice until some hour. The morning was fast and furious as we had rediscovered some whitey whereabouts but, by 11:00am the bite tapered off in the warming sun. The afternoon was to hit a high of 12C and for the remainder of the week following, 31 Mile will be taking a blast of teen high temps and days of rain. Unless walking or swimming the lake next weekend, Grant and I knew this could likely be it for anymore 31 fishing. The coming few weeks with work, for me this may be it for the ice entirely. What a helluva trip to finish the season.
Grant again had the hotstick early, icing a few whites while I dropped a couple. The fish needed a little more coaxing than we had experienced on Friday, and some different lure changes for us finally found each with better working presentations.
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The day wouldn’t be without incidentals too… yet they were less active, maybe sensitive to the warming weather changes ahead. Still, they like micro-shit and so the odd grease would gobble a turdy-tot and come topside.
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Once that late morning arrived Grant and I got ansy to start experimenting with some totally new locales… “rumored spots” as they were. We hit the road awhile picking up nada at the new before retreating back to rested holes. Through the early afternoon, we picked at fish here and there while taking it easy and soaking up the hot sun.
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Planning on calling it a day early, the lake getting soupy now but yet finally giving the ATV some traction to grip, we booted’er at 52mph down towards the truck to fish out the last hour or so. Kindly, the move rewarded us with some extra whitey-snacks to end the tour on.
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Never a dull time with Grant, what a rad slay!
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Bunk
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