Dec 1 not so many years ago a buddy and I headed south of town to try a day of fishing. One degree above zero when we left. Was to hit mid to upper twenties maybe a possible 30. Launched out of the low water ramp (via the pasture) at Beaver Bay. I pushed the boat out into the water and hopped in. Fog everywhere. We started heading out to the 'spot' in the wrong direction. Thank goodness for GPS. The 'spot' was on fire. Before he got set up in the bow I had a double going. Handed a rod to him and we proceed to lose both!!!!
What happened after that was phenomenal. Did I mention that we ran into a very thin sheet of ice in several places on the way to the 'spot'. He was having some problems hooking up in the bow vertical jigging but what I found out is if i dragged the jigs, they would not let go. So both my jigs were pitched back 30 or 40 feet and rods placed in the rod holders. I'd let 'em load up and pull one at a time out of the holder. I couldn't keep up. Many doubles by myself!! It was a blast. Fish were football like in the 16 -21" range. Da Man in the bow figured it out too. Think it got to 27 degree that day after i heard it on tv later that night. But it really wasn't bad with just a gentle breeze on the water.
Another year, more recently the both of us teamed up and put in at the rifle range. Water was down and made for a tough launch. With as cold as it was we decided to leave the rig on the ramp thinking no one else would show up. Barely got to catching and another rig shows up. HORN blaring cause we were blocking the ramp (fishing right across from it). Talked with the two strangers and agreed to put both of them in our boat and proceeded to have a pretty good day. With limits and the cold we called it a pretty fun day.
There's fun to be had out there in the cold. Word to the wise however, you may be the only ones out there so be very prepared for anything. We had a little mishap at the launch in the second story. Put the boat/trailer in a little too far and the spare on the trailer hung up on a sandbar crossing the launch. So we had to remove the spare to be able to pull the trailer out after launching. We decided NOT to pull the trailer out of the water so as not to freeze up the ramp for when it was time to leave.
I would always carry sand/salt in buckets in the back of the pickup in case there were ramp issues and ice. Ya never know!! It can be well worth your time, those cold days on the water.
What happened after that was phenomenal. Did I mention that we ran into a very thin sheet of ice in several places on the way to the 'spot'. He was having some problems hooking up in the bow vertical jigging but what I found out is if i dragged the jigs, they would not let go. So both my jigs were pitched back 30 or 40 feet and rods placed in the rod holders. I'd let 'em load up and pull one at a time out of the holder. I couldn't keep up. Many doubles by myself!! It was a blast. Fish were football like in the 16 -21" range. Da Man in the bow figured it out too. Think it got to 27 degree that day after i heard it on tv later that night. But it really wasn't bad with just a gentle breeze on the water.
Another year, more recently the both of us teamed up and put in at the rifle range. Water was down and made for a tough launch. With as cold as it was we decided to leave the rig on the ramp thinking no one else would show up. Barely got to catching and another rig shows up. HORN blaring cause we were blocking the ramp (fishing right across from it). Talked with the two strangers and agreed to put both of them in our boat and proceeded to have a pretty good day. With limits and the cold we called it a pretty fun day.
There's fun to be had out there in the cold. Word to the wise however, you may be the only ones out there so be very prepared for anything. We had a little mishap at the launch in the second story. Put the boat/trailer in a little too far and the spare on the trailer hung up on a sandbar crossing the launch. So we had to remove the spare to be able to pull the trailer out after launching. We decided NOT to pull the trailer out of the water so as not to freeze up the ramp for when it was time to leave.
I would always carry sand/salt in buckets in the back of the pickup in case there were ramp issues and ice. Ya never know!! It can be well worth your time, those cold days on the water.
