Curmudgeon had the opportunity to go out fishing today and decided to try new territory in the quest for 'gills. Moved 500 feet south from the last location which was weedy up to the bottom of the ice with the bluegills hiding and drilled a bunch of holes. Dropped down the old standby from Sunday's bluegill extravaganza and noted in the hole as the tiny tungsten dig dropped that this was not the same type of terrain. About 9 feet deep and all the weeds were fairly flat on the water. Plus, now that the snow was gone, the sun lit it up underneath and visibility was excellent. Almost immediately a bluegill was looking at the little jig and then he sucked it in . That caused the instantaneous reaction by the Curmudgeon of setting the hook and yanking the bait right out of his mouth. He just floated there wondering why something was in his mouth and then gone like pulling a tablecloth off of a fine china-laden dining room table. Clearly that left a bad taste in his mouth and on a second attempt of puppetry, he swam away unamused.
So, jig some more, try to draw attention and sure enough, there was another fish, only this time, MUCH larger. A four pound northern pike was studying the tiny, #16 jig. Then he backed up and suddenly lurched forward, hitting it like he wanted to kill it really hard. Instinctively, the Curmudgeon set the hook with the light action rod and ridiculously small jig for a fish this size, not to mention the 2 lb. test line on the reel.
We fought like crazy and despite such light gear, his head came to the hole and in one second he would have been on the ice. But instead, he smartly opened his mouth and shook his head really hard and the #16 jig popped out like a BB out of a Red Rider. Got the jig back with nary a nick in the line.
With that, the Curmudgeon decided to move because fishing bluegills in this hole was going to be pointless for a while. So, to a hole 100 feet away he went and didn't see a 'gill or a perch. 'Nother northern. Move again. 'Nother northern. After a while, the thought came to be, why hunt sunnies when the northerns are hunting sunnies? Time to start hunting the hunters. Put on a #3 Yellow Dace Chubby Darter and work Darter magic and BLAM! Another nice northern was on. Get him out on the ice, unhook and return to the water. Jig some more and the really breath-taking northerns of Jasper Lake made their entrance. At this point, the Curmudgeon didn't want to damage any of them since it's not the season so he switched to his favorite splake rig which is a gold Gem-N-Eye with single hook and a Berkley Micro in chartreuse color threaded on. Excellent swimming action and flash on the underside of the ice. Let it stop swimming and hang. Then twitch it so the multitude of little legs and wings tremble saying "I'm helpless, afraid, easy, and very tasty."
Out of the north he powered through the water to that neato-jet jig and with mouth open, he scooped it up like a hungry pit bull on a steak. It was about 5.5" wide across the back and about 40" long and peel out line, he did. There was no stopping him and he swallowed that jig too far into his mouth. The 6 lb. test line on that Frabill walleye rod went "plink". Had to be at least 12 lbs. Re-rig up and move holes.
In the next hole, a 6 lb. northern with a distinctive underbite like our Pekinese Cookie came in to study and contemplate. He swam out of view but then came back as they so frequently do. At this point, you try to wiggle the jig "somehow differently" for his next pass. Since you are fishing through an 8" hole in the ice, there are not a lot of alternative moves available, but back he comes. Only this time, he brought his girlfriend - or maybe brofriend - who knows? Pretty hard to tell. Anyway, his partner had a bump in his stretched out stomach that was clearly visible to be a sunfish in his belly. From above, the northern looked like he swallowed a flying saucer. He or she, wasn't too hungry. Off they went. Move to another hole again.
Caught about a 4 pound, very healthy northern and landed it on the ice. Moved again.
There were several holes in the ice that the Curmudgeon had drilled over the past week plus today's holes so there were lots of choices over a wide region. The last hole attracted what appeared to be a 1 pound sunfish. He was
huge and grabbed the micro on the jig and put the whole thing in his mouth. Then, he couldn't fit the hook in and shook his big head back and forth like a wannabe piranha. No luck. He couldn't break off a chunk, so he spit it out. Cranked up really fast, grabbed the bluegill rod and dropped the tungsten jig almost on his head. He ignored it an swam away. Went back to the Gem-N-Eye and Micro since that is what the huge bluegill wanted but couldn't have. Suddenly, a one foot long perch came in to look a the Gem-N-Eye. She was pregnant and just under 4" across the belly. She looked at the jig, hesitated, and left nonchalantly. It was only then that the Curmudgeon saw the reason why.
Directly under the Curmudgeon's butt on the ice was a massive northern looking curiously at the jig. Maybe 15 lbs of bluegill killer was holding still and analyzing the peculiarity before his big, round, fish nose. He moved forward, turned his head and took in the frantically dancing jig with his big fish eye for many seconds. The puppet master above was forgetting to breathe. That was a
big fish. You could fit the fist of big man in his mouth.
And, the reason that big fish are so big is because they are not stupid. He rolled his head to the right, pectoral fins fanned out, and gave a big kick with his mighty (and very large) tail, and away he went.
All told, the Curmudgeon iced 2 sunnies, 4 small perch, plus 4 northerns ranging from two to four pounds which were released unharmed. He saw at least 18 different northern pike cruising in an area 150 feet wide by 600 feet long. They are snacking on sunnies right now. That means better genetics and bigger fish for the future. Yayyyy!
That was 3.5 hours well spent.
CC
