Erik's fishing rants

Did some scouting today on my lunch break for more local ponds to fish. I went to one I found on google maps that looked like it could be pretty good, boy was I wrong! I went out on the dock/walkway thing, water was shallow at about 1-2 feet deep. Water was very very muddy and brown. I noticed a ton of fish in there, but they were all goldfish! damn goldfish took over the whole pond. So I guess im going to go back with the kids so they can go shiny hunting.

 

Well that sucks. I'm trying to get out a couple more times to fish, but right now too much maintenance work around the house plus other property i own before the colder wetter weather sets in.

 

Yep, totally going to sink this bad boy.... I got a small battery for it from a old jump pack. If all else fails I may build some pontoons for the back just to give me a little extra load capacity. But im going to try it out soon. I can also drop some weight in gear that I bring... a few lbs worth of anchor, a few lbs of fishing lures, only bring 2 rods, maybe I could lose some weight too.

 

Relocated the control for the trolling motor, it fits perfect into the rod holder next to the seat. Now I just need to figure out steering, Im either going to put a broom handle on a lever on the right side, or go all out with cables and levers. But first I need to see if I can steer with just the paddle, if I can then there is no reason to build the rest of the steering system.

 

First test run of the kayak trolling motor went rather well! The motor ran for about a hour before the battery was dead, but with such a small battery it only had enough power at speed 5 to keep me from drifting in the wind.

So, I am going to try again with a larger battery next time, but until then I am going to make myself a diy power pole anchor for the rear.

But on the fishing side of things, I got 3 bass all in the 2.5-3lb range. But I also got 4 bobbers that I found floating around, and a popping frog lure that I saw up in a tree. The frog was on like 80lb braid, so not sure how the person wasnt able to get it out (or how they got it in there as the tree branch was a good 25 feet above the water.) When the fish stop biting, I like to do a lap around the lake in the kayak to collect bobbers, worm containers, and bottles.

 

Did some fishing today... caught a whole ass rod/reel/crankbait... Its a 71% brand combo, pretty cheap, the squarebill is also a cheap wallmart special. But it still works, I cast it out a few times. Going to clean it up a bit, maybe use it at the river since its a heavy power rod.

 

Got some new toys today at fleet farm... well really just one, but its a 8 foot telescoping crappie net. Rubber netting that wont get hooks stuck, wide enough for even larger fish, and the netting in it is small enough that I can catch minnows with it!

So, we took it down to the river with my minnow bucket, 2 scoops and I ended up with about 30 minnows! Going to do some fishing at my favorite lake in a few days, so Im going to hit the river first and get a bunch of minnows. I hope to catch some of the shad from the river too and toss those out for some larger fish.


Oh, and while at the river I finally used my giant magnet a few times. Got 23 hooks, 3 jig heads and a couple paddle tail swim baits.

 

Been on vacation, just got back yesterday. Been catching up on a lot of maintenance pulling the boat and dock out. Worst year ever for zebra mussels attaching to the boat bottom....3'' thick worth. Big big job removing them...like scraping epoxy. So much tedious work i've decided put the boat up for sale once i've cleaned it. Spoke with several other residents with boats...all the same. The lake association claimed they could not secure the permits from the state this year to treat the lake for the mussels...everyone is pissed. Even the local stores and boat marina here is out of hull bottom cleaner, and muriatic acid. They are backed up with fouled boats. Worst part i was just told by an association member its going to be the same next year. My current boat is a mess, been fixing blisters in the hull bottom created by this. Trying to beat the winter freeze.

 

Well looks like open water season is done for me. Past few times ive got nothing, all the fish have moved out of reach of the docks and shore into the deeper water. Guess I will get all my ice gear organized and ready for hard water.

On a related note, I picked up a small cast net this morning to go get some bait from the river. I was hoping to get a few shad, but just got a bunch of minnows, still nice to have the net though.

 

Ok I lied, Im going out saturday on the kayak... its going to be 35-40 degrees out. So yeah, guess as long as there is open water me and my kayak will be going out.

So now I need to unbox my open water fishing stuff.

My kids have covid, im like 90% sure I have it too and ive been trapped in this house with 2 kids alone for 3 weeks. Time to hit the water, temperature be damned.

 

Met up with a random person from reddit today for some kayak fishing. The water at the boat launch was half inch thick ice already, but there was open water on the other end of the lake. I tried my best to use my kayak as a ice breaker, but after about 20 minutes I had only made it 20 feet from the bank. So we dragged the kayaks to the other end of the lake and launched there.

Caught 2 of my personal best bass today, I didnt have my scale, but they were way bigger than my other ones. One of them I could put my whole fist in their mouth (I have huge hands). If I had to guess on a weight I would say around 4.5 on the smaller one and nearly 6 for the bigger one.

The small one I got on a lunkerhunt tail spin that I was trying to catch crappie on, the big one I got on a jointed rapala balsa extreme that I was trying to catch walleye or pike on (it was my heavy rod with a flouro leader)


Big one


Smaller one

 

Great bass!

 

Nice larry!

 

Well my new fish finder has been delayed I ordered a ice fishing bundle that I can use on my kayak in the summer. Was supposed to show up today, but the tracking number has changed to "pending". Hoping for friday!

 

My ice fish finder came in a little bit ago, Got it all setup and put into its bag. Right now I am trying to figure out the best way to organize my ice sled. I am thinking of building a platform for it with little doors that open up like a little bass boat.

I also found some nice milk crates in the trash can at the park down the road, so I grabbed them, washed em up and put them into my sled to hold some of the things that just flop around in there right now. My ice house currently doesnt fit very well in my sled, it sticks out a bit as its longer than the sled it, but if I put a deck on it then I could just strap the tent ontop of that, get rid of my bucket and use the sled as a bench.

 

Haven't gone through your thread (literally just found it) but I run two sleds in tandem to help solve this problem. One of them is a Smitty sled with all of my larger items strapped down to it with bungee cord and the other holds the remainder of my gear.

Very pumped for this ice fishing season, still waiting on my new sonar to show up. You should make your way up across the border to lake Winnipeg now that things have opened up.

 

I've thought of pulling 2 sleds, but I tow with a fat tire motorcycle and Im not too sure I can pull 2 with it. Though I might give it a try, if it doesnt work then its time for a 4 wheeler.

I would love to make a trip past the boarder for some ice, biggest problem I run into right now is that my only fishing buddy will not go on ice (or kayak) for some reason. So the only time I have company is bank fishing. Though I did make a friend on reddit that I went kayaking with a little bit ago.

I cant wait for ice season to finally start here, the weather has been teasing us by being below 30 at night, then in the 40s-50s in the day. So ice is yet to be safe enough, but we have a nice cold snap right now and some snow, so hoping we get some thick ice soon....

 

Any pictures of your setup? Assumed you were walking on. Fat bike motorcycle sounds sweet. I'm pumped to finally drive onto the ice this season when my taco finally comes in.

We just started getting safe ice up here in Manitoba. Finally had my first outing this past weekend.

 

This is the bike that I use, I also tow the kids around on a sled with it (had to build a extended mudflap so I dont cover them in snow). I have a new set of tires and wheels on the way, there are metal studs in the tires for ice driving. I have a set of kids skis that I want to ratchet strap to the front tire to make it pack the snow infront a little better so I am not pushing the snow so much.


I cant pull the sled by hand very well, I have some spine damage, so I need a motorized way to drag my sleds.

 

That's pretty cool. Seems like that would work well early season. We usually get enough snow up here that tracks are pretty much a requirement if you want to go off the beaten path.