Monday, January 3, 2011

pistakee bay- first fishing trip of 2011

Double header fishing, I made it out mid day and fished 2 lakes yesterday. I started on Long Lake which actually is one of the closest lakes to my house that I have never fished. Started on Long around noon and fished the southernmost point from 8 feet out to 16 feet. Water was super clear and marked only 2 fish in the 15 holes that I drilled. Worked up and down and in and out from that point and finally decided that 2 hours was enough to devote to something new (that wasn’t panning out) and decided to travel to some more familiar water. Long was crystal clear water and even through the ice I could see the bottom standing in over 8 feet of water. I figured this clear water might be best left for an overcast day or a night trip. Being so close to the house I will devote some more time in the next month getting to know Long Lake.

I headed back to Pistakee Bay to make something out of my free time. Arrived at 2:00pm and plugged half dozen holes around the shallows surrounding Coon Island. Searched for some bluegills roaming the flats but after 30 minutes I switched gears to deeper water.

2:30pm in deep water (14-16 ft) started to mark big schools of fish right off bottom. Coaxed half a dozen bites from the roaming schools which all turned out to be drum…

pistakee lake drum
Around 3:00pm the big schools of drum seemed to die off! Marks were coming in around 8-10 feet. I adjusted my fishing depth and instantly started to hook up on some crappie! 

pistakee lake crappie
Left for home around 5:00pm. The bite really turned on between 3:00 and 5:00 and was able to land 6 crappies and 2 white bass between those 2 hours as well as the half dozen drum from earlier. Timing seemed to be everything and thank God for ice flashers, it came in handy for honing in on those suspended crappies!

pistakee lake white bass

8 comments:

  1. Found your blog thanks to Facebook. Was cool to see your posts on the Root and Pike. From 1995 to 2004 I used to come down from MN to fish the Fall Salmon run on those rivers and I made one Spring trip for Steelies on the Root that was a bust.

    I'm adding you to my blogroll and am now a follower as well.

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  2. Never a dull moment Blake, great post! Just checked out Pistakee Bay on Google Earth & I'm jealous of your backyard.

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  3. This ice fishing thing sounds like hard work, but looks the reward is pretty decent! -stephanie

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  4. Thanks Basspastor

    John- not to sure if we have better fishing then you guys up in Toronto?

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  5. Great site will be checking back weekly.

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  6. Good post. Nice to see the results after your determination won out! The pictures really show the variety available to you. Especially liked the Crappie picture.

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  7. Michael, thanks for finding us

    Mel- I love to keep bouncing around til it all seems to come together, thanks bud!

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  8. The white bass is my favorite! Looks like a good time...

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