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Friday, February 10, 2012

the whitefish of green bay

Day 1-


With a true passion for all of the different fish found in Wisconsin, me and Neal are always ready to chase a new species no matter where they may reside. This past weekend we spent not one, but two days chasing whites on the vast expanses of frozen water found just outside of Dyckesville Wisconsin.

ice fishing whitefish
With our very first few steps on to the frozen bay, it was easy to see where the congregation of people were setting up camp. Hundreds of shanties grouped together in a semi circle, some set up  just a few short feet from one another, formed a new city on the ice. With big group fishing on community holes not really being our scene, we set up about a half mile outside of "shanty town" more towards the shallows.

another nice green bay whitefish
To say that the fishing was easy would be a lie. With everything new there seems to be a healthy learning curve with catching whitefish. With a high sun and blue bird skies, the consensus from the people we talked to was that the bite was tough all around. The two greatest equalizers we had were staying mobile and fishing tip downs.

be sure to bleed out your catch for best taste
We rotated holes frequently and revisited the same holes that produced over and over again. While most people were hunkered down we spent the entire day shifting gear and blazing trails. Above and beyond fishing our butts off, not one other group we came across was fishing tip ups or tip downs. It seemed like they were married to their jigging rods. What a shame, the tip downs fished with rosy reds just off bottom resulted in nearly one third of all our fish and put us just shy of our two person limit.

neal with our near limit, is that a mullet?
Stay tuned to see how we fared on day number 2...

9 comments:

  1. Can't wait to hear about day 2. I'm headed up there in about 2 weeks to give it my first try!

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    1. its a blast, can't wait to see how you do...

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  2. looks like a good day to me! I've caught whitefish while fishing for trout out west, they aren't the prettiest fish in my opinion.

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    1. no not so pretty, kinda like a big minnow? they sure pull harder then a bluegill!

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  3. Looks like a hell of a lot of fun! I know some people don't like catching those things, but I never seem to mind. well done. looking forward to day 2

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    1. they are good table fare, neal is smoking them tomorrow!

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  4. Way to slam those whities guys! Funny how some get set in their ways and don't recognize the success others have by being adaptable. Was that a smile behind the balaclava?

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    1. kinda odd nobody fished tip ups or tip downs out there... a smile? maybe not haha

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  5. Great pics! Looks like the new camera is working out great!

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