After a very usually warm fall season, Tunkwa has finally frozen over, with 4-6″ of good ice in the protected back bays. We have not ventured out onto the main lake to check the ice, but this cold snap should get it set up safely soon.
Fishing the shallows through the ice has been nothing short of fantastic! Fish or schools of trout can be seen cruising under the ice hole, and in the shallows its not too hard to observe them. They are aggressive, most times coming straight in to hit your presentation, just a few were coming in, looking first, swimming around, then hitting. Large schools of this springs stocked trout can be seen coming in, and it’s not unusual to have half a dozen trout around your line. It’s best to try and pull away from these little guys(12″), and wait for a bigger tout. Landing the large trout, once they get to the hole, is a challenge, I broke one off, and had another break a jig hook trying to get them through the hole….no such thing as a net for ice fishing!

The trout definitely would come over to your area after some aggressive jigging of a spoon, worms tipped on a jig worked, but doing a little bit of experimenting, I found a 1″ black plastic tube bait, or a weighted balanced leach, worked as well. When they’re aggressive, esp. under the first ice, it doesn’t matter at times.

Yesterday, I got to try out my new Rapala flip-up Cruzer ice hut, was I pleasantly surprised! The sun shining down on it kept it very warm inside, and being able to ‘black out’ all the light, looking down the hole watching the fish react, was just an incredible experience, added a whole new dimension to the ice fishing. If your into the ice fishing, it is one item worth investing!

See you out there on the ice!

A limit kept for the smoker, with lots of catch and release fishing!.