Fellas: 2018

GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER -- ENCORE OF THE "WOLF PACK"

The classic post-weekend pose -- four strong . . . after playing 2017 shorthanded, we were back to full strength!

THE BASICS --
Dates: March 15-18, 2018 (latest ice trip we've taken, to date)

Water: Lake of the Woods

Location: Northwest Angle

Outfitter: Angle Outpost (Red Fox Ice Fishing) -- Jason and Lisa Goulet

Fishermen: Michael Collins, John Groppoli, Nick Schwarz & Eric Kraus ("The Wolf Pack")

Accommodations: Sleeper & Adjacent Day House
Time on Ice: ~50 hours

FISHING STATS --
Waypoint: Lat. 49°17'34.52"N, Long. 94°53'4.57"W
Depth: 16 ft. (Sleeper); 17-26' in Day Houses (25-26' near Garden Island)
Number Caught: 99 (ELK and MC forgot to add their last two fish to their clickers before photo)
Notable Catches: While numbers were down from historical average, quality was up. Probably 2/3 walleye to 1/3 sauger; 7 or 8 'eyes over 19.5" (slot fish) with the biggest two right around 24" (MC and Grops); decent number (~12) in the 14-18" range; some good quality saugers (keepers from 12-17"); just one perch, but a bruiser (13") caught by Norm; one lone tulibee (ELK) and one eel pout (~7-lbs) on a rattle real in the mid-evening on Friday (Norm). Six northerns (Grops - 1, MC - 1 on tipup, and ELK - 3), only all but one (32", ELK) were 20-25". MC had another good sized northern on for a short run after it hit a Chubby Darter right under the ice. Grops probably had the largest number of slot walleyes. ELK caught one quality walleye Saturday night after dark (9:30PM).

(1) View from the Sleeper entry door; (2) The original "Bracketology"; (3) Grops with a solid slot fish taken from the Day House; (4) Normie with our lone perch football; (5) Solid northern (32") caught on a plain hook and 4-lb test line;
(6) The infamous red shirt strikes again: ties MC's personal best at 23.5"

OTHER NOTABLES --
ELK landed about 9am. Picked up within minutes of landing. Decent amount of open water when flying in. To Osakis by ~12:30, not much snow. MC almost had a coronary because he misplaced his passport. Ann bailed him out, literally at the last minute. It was in her purse. Grops and ELK met her at grade school to deliver it to a shaken MC. Took our time to Warroad. Once again, beautiful around Itasca. Saw some deer and swans on drive up, but not as many as last year. Revisited pizza bar near public launch in Warroad (~6:30pm). Hastily filled out NCAA brackets and took in first round. Great food and lots of laughs. Stiff necks because TVs mounted too high. CanAm Inn (negotiated to $80) a decent upgrade over Super 8, but no one slept particularly well. Up and out to meet outfitter by 9am. Enjoyed introducing Norm to Lisa. A little ping-pong to stretch, some Legos, and then out on the ice with Jason and his 2-year old German Shepard (a real lap dog). Continue to be impressed by the equipment -- now up to nine bombers!

Jason's newest addition to the fleet easily accommodated
eight fishermen and all our gear (not to mention the driver
and two big German shephards)

Fishing was fairly slow throughout (no fish in Sleeper on Friday till 4pm), but definitely benefited from low light early and late. Day house ~100 yards away. Jigging with Chubby Darters and all the usual suspects produced pretty aggressive strikes. No pattern on what was working best. ELK finally caught some on jigging Raps with no minnow (after 20+ years fishing with them). Dead stick with plain hook -- old reliable -- somewhat consistent, too. Not as many really small (5-7") walleye, but lots of 12-inchers over course of trip. Tried a couple day houses 10 miles further out ("near" Garden Island) on Saturday from ~10am to 6:30pm. Very slow with totally awkward group (only other fisherman) sharing the bomber ride. Group included "Mr. Chow." First time fishing after daylight savings -- could fish from 6:45am till almost 8:00pm with light in the sky. Stars were amazing. Cloudy Sunday morning, but very sunny otherwise with ~6" crusty snow on lake. Tons of ice (~48"). Ate like kings, per usual (Norm resumed familiar role while Grops returned to fritter detail). Fun to talk about future of Jonti-Craft and group up on the marsh. Good playlist of tunes during the day (thanks to Norm and MC). Pretty low-key in evenings. A couple fish and some Lift Bridge craft beers. Grops treated us to Hangover and Hangover III on old car DVD player.

(1) New paint job on an old rig; (2) Flaaaag! MC strikes again, per usual just before the bomber arrives to pick us up;

(3) Norm with a pout destined for the fryer (4) Grops with yet another solid slot fish; (5) The essentials of a northern

cold cut sandwich -- including chips, just the right pickles, and of course, spray butter

Save #2 (rod/reel, left) and #3 (rod holder, right) out of 17' of water and the 19" culprit (middle) that initiated
the Sunday morning chaos (hit ELK's line and landed out of Norm's chair)

Sunday morning was memorable not because of numbers -- of fish at least. MC and Grops fished the Day House and Norm and ELK fished the Sleeper. All were marking decent numbers of solid looking fish (an exception for the weekend), but couldn't get much to bite. The Day House did manage a few -- a couple slot fish and an eater. Norm couldn't get anything going. ELK witnessed his bobber rig as it was yanked down the hole (while he was straying for a fritter) and Norm immediately set the hook on what he assumed was another in the school. It turned out to be the same 19" walleye. Norm reeled ELK's rod up the hole (Save #1) and ELK landed his fish. Norm got the assist and the photo (see middle photo above). Just as the dust settled from that fiasco, ELK set the hook on the biggest fish of the trip -- a 32" northern (which also hit the bobber rig . . . a tiny, plain black hook with a minnow). Midway through that fight, it swept right and took another of his rods down the hole. What appeared to be gone forever was miraculously snagged using a jigging Rapala (see above left and right -- Save #2 and Save #3). MC joined in the action when he lost his rod/reel down the hole when he was attending to his tipup northern. ELK tried to see if lightning could strike again, but to no avail -- the third rig of the morning was a sacrifice to the lake gods.

We were off the ice by 1:30 and back to MC's by ~7:00. Listened to Second Round most of way back. Nice, quick visit with Ann and girls. MC, Norm, and Grops split 13 'eyes, 12 saugers and Norm took perch and 'pout. First time in a while we didn't eat fish on ice. Catch was slow and sunset was late. Had pizza and bacon/"floating eggs" for dinners instead. ELK stayed at Tom's Sunday night and flew out earlier than originally planned (~11am) on Monday. Lots of laughs, per usual. Committed to Winnipeg for 2019 -- will be here before we know it!

Cold start Friday morning, but warm enough for some bucket fishing, especially Saturday

The "unofficial, official" tally -- true final numbers should have been ELK: 30, Grops: 25, MC: 24, and Norm: 20 --
for a grand total of 99 fish; probably our lowest fish total ever at LOTW, but still some quality fishing