Wind, Snow, and More Wind

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Weather: Windy, Snow, and cloudy
Moon Phase: 2% Moon
Location: Fish Lake
Bait: 6" tube jigs tipped with carp minnow for macks, and 3" white tube jigs tipped with carp minnows for splake and rainbows
Ice Conditions: 8" of clear ice, with 2" of snow on top
Who Went: Ed, JJ, Me
This was going to be one of our big trips of the year. Heading to Fish Lake for the weekend and staying in the Kinder's motor home. The trip started well, leaving Friday after work and making good time getting to the lake! The minute we got there we suited up for some night fishing! We walked out onto the ice and found 70 feet of water with fish everywhere on the finder. Problem was they were not hitting. I got one light bite and JJ finally landed this small splake.

With another 30 minutes and no bites, we decided to call it a night and get some sleep for the all day event tomorrow! This is where things took a turn for the worst. I started getting that itch in my throat! Ah oh, not now, no way! Yep, I was sicker than a dog! Just to premise this, I have been sick the whole month of January with it slightly going away and then coming back as soon as I think I am rid of it! I didn't sleep a wink! I had a sore throat and my head felt like it was going to explode all night! To make things worse, when we finally woke up, the wind was blowing and there was a fresh 3 inches of snow on the ground!

I stumbled into my clothes and out onto the ice. It was snowing hard and the wind was blowing right in my face! Sick as I was, I now started wondering if I was even going to make it through the day. I got set up to fish, and soon after, JJ and his dad made it out onto the ice. I tried hard to focus on my mack fishing, but the weather conditions and sickness made it tough! I only saw a few fish near the bottom that might have been potential macks, but had no takers. I did land this splake on my second pole.

We could all see splake on our fish finders but they didn't bite often. JJ moved into shallower water at about 40 feet and then started catching some splake and a couple rainbows.

Ed tied his record by catching 4 fish. They were all splake between 14 and 17 inches long.

It snowed on us most of the day and the wind continued to get worse. I took some video of the clouds flying by us overhead to give my readers an idea of what our conditions were like.

We kept some fish on this trip and as we caught them, we would pile them up around Ed's ice fishing shanty. The eagles must have taken notice cause as I was sitting there, a monster Golden Eagle came swooping in. I yelled at JJ to get his attention and just as he turned to look, the eagle dive bombed it straight at Ed's tent and stole one of our fish. It was well worth losing a fish to see him close up! It happened so fast I didn't have time to grab the camara dang it! I did get a pic of his buddy , a Bald Eagle watching us from a distance a top this pine tree. At about 12:30 the weather and my sickness took a turn for the worst. We decided to call it a trip! Anyone who knows me will know how bad I felt to leave a weekend trip early, but I just didn't have it in me. The weather reports told us it was only going to get worse! Fish Lake and I have a love hate relationship as I hate the weather it can produce, but the fishing can make it worth the bad conditions. Before we left I took some good scenic shots of Fish Lake. Now I just have to get rid of this sickness. It's starting to cut into my play time and that can't happen!