Well it has been too long since my last post. My focus on ice fishing this year has been on walleye. Fishing a stretch of the Ottawa River, we have caught well over 100 walleye this season. The slot size is 15.8″ and a limit of 5 fish. This being said, we were excited to catch smaller then average walleye to enjoy in the frying pan.
What has astounded me is how time sensitive the walleye bite is. Literally, 95% of all fish were caught between 7am and 9am, then from 6:30 pm to 8pm.
Last night being officially my last day ice fishing before spring ice out. We walked onto the ice nervously using a trusty 6ft to create a safe path within the first 20ft. Once past this thin area, the ice was still about 12″ thick of white ice. The weather is calling for 10′C and rainy all weekend meaning it will be too risky to head out again.
Using a variation of spreaders, spoons, floating jigs, and minnow tipped hooks, we enjoyed some quick action beginning right on time, 6:40pm.
The action continued as we went 4 for 6, losing a couple on the tip-ups. It was a great way to end the early 2009 ice fishing season, bringing home two keepers to snack on after a great evening on the hard stuff.
Bring on spring crappie!
Tight lines,
Christine
Our ice has been gone for about a week or so. The Bay froze entirely this year, which is pretty rare.
Looks like you had a good last night. Glad it was fun.
By: Kristine Shreve on March 25, 2009
at 9:01 pm
Hi Christine – Glad to see you posting again. Those are some good looking Walleye. Sounds like you had a very successful winter season. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
By: Mel on March 26, 2009
at 11:01 pm
Thanks for the comments! I’m not in that 2 weeks of in between seasons. Hoping the rain and warm weather keeps up, and the spring crappie bite is hot!
By: christinecope on March 26, 2009
at 11:38 pm
Hi Christine! Just found you on Twitter and slipped over here to your very fine blog. Wow! Are You the Fisher Girl or what? And to think you catch all those fantastic fish just a little upstream from me.
Great notation about how punctual Walleyes can be. I’ve seen that myself and fish after work a lot because of it. What did those eyes hit?
I’m going to tour around in here for awhile but I’ll be back with a few more comments in the near future. Thumbs up to You girl for being So into this fabulous sport slash art of Fishing! You Rock!
lb
By: larry on March 27, 2009
at 1:24 am
Hello Larry,
Thanks so much for finding my blog! Love finding other locals in the twitter and blog world.
The walleye came on a variation of spoons, floating jig heads, spreaders, and just a simple hook and minnow. All were tipped with live bait, and most came on set lines but a couple active ones were jigged up as well.
Now it’s just all about waiting for the ice to melt away, and for the beautiful Ottawa River to open up in all areas.
Christine
By: christinecope on March 27, 2009
at 2:11 am
Hi Again CC!
Thanx for adding me to your growing list of favorite blogs!
I’m totally honored and stoked to be a part of Your Fishing/Outdoorsy World, Snagthis. As I mentioned before, You RocK!
I’m lookin’ forward to gettin’ into a Crappie bite very soon, here on the Rideau, the way the weather’s been going lately.
LarryB
By: larry on March 29, 2009
at 3:59 am