Ice Fishing Eh

[DanaM]

Kyler dats a nice bass Our ice is really strange this year, warm days and cold nights are making heave and buckle creating unsafe ice for trucks.
I don't drive on the ice anyway but theres been lots of vehicles thru the ice this year. My son had to pull a guy out off the landing yesterday the front of his truck broke through.
We should have ice through March into April but not sure this year

[John K]

Here's one for ya Dana, a monster Crappie !

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[DanaM]

whollywuheh dats a beauty John
its bigger den dis one do eh

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[John K]

Ha ! I caught one like that this weekend, and was thinking about you   

[Jude]

Reminds me of fishing a lake up around Fairbanks AK, when I discovered the trout were too small for my #4 hooks.  Only managed to snag one 4" long monster the whole morning, while the rest of them nibbled the salmon eggs off my hooks

[Steve Cover]

Reminds me of fishing a lake up around Fairbanks AK, when I discovered the trout were too small for my #4 hooks.  Only managed to snag one 4" long monster the whole morning, while the rest of them nibbled the salmon eggs off my hooks

Back in the 1980s when I was flying the bush in Alaska, we were working a camp on the edge of Wein Lake about 60 miles West of Fairbanks before the spring melt.

We never caught a trout in our attempts at ice fishing.... A couple of the crew did catch a Burbot or two.  Ugliest fish in the lake, but fried up pretty well.

Also, there is a reason, Ice Fishing is not encouraged in salt water...



Take Care,

Steve

[John K]

LOL ! Nice one Steve  

[DanaM]

Seen that one on youtube Burbot are damn good eating ifin ya know how to cook them, they are a fresh water cod
and therefore very oily, we always boiled em and ate them like lobster dipped in butter mmmmmm

[El Destructo]

Well Dana...if you would have called them Lawyer's ...I would have known what the hell you were talking about..... ...never in all my Years back Home...heard them called Burbot...heard them called a lot of bad Names...but not that.... ...and they do eat good...if cooked tight...and the Caviar is quite good too....and I bet the Hide would look good on a Bow too........

[Jude]

I found out the problem was that the Chena lakes are so shallow that they pretty much freeze solid every winter, then they restock every spring.  Tried fishing the streams up there, but saw more grayling than anything else, and you can't keep those.  Heard there's good pike fishing up in Tanana Flats, but never made it up there.

[El Destructo]

I ain't seen a Grayling since the One My Great Grandfather had mounted fell apart from Age...Michigan used to be loaded with Gayling...but they are now Extinct to the State due to Overfishing...Logging....and the Introduction of Non-Native Trout Species wiped out the only chance they had to Survive...and what a Shame that is too...They were such a Beautiful Fish to see

[Steve Cover]

I ain't seen a Grayling since the One My Great Grandfather had mounted fell apart from Age...Michigan used to be loaded with Gayling...but they are now Extinct to the State due to Overfishing...Logging....and the Introduction of Non-Native Trout Species wiped out the only chance they had to Survive...and what a Shame that is too...They were such a Beautiful Fish to see

Grayling are tasty too.



One of the handy coincidences of being contracted to supporting a survey crew in Alaska, was that we went to areas that few people ventured into because the great hunting and fishing areas were hundreds of miles closer to the populated areas than we were.

Also, there was usually about an hour and a half wait for the surveyors to mark out and set their monuments.  In the Brooks Range, the safest landing areas were usually gravel bars on a stream.

So, while the surveyors toiled, I would catch an release fish.  Several areas I had to bend down the barbs on my hooks, because I was catching fish on every cast and was looking for an easier way to release them.

Occasionally, I would keep one for dinner, but most fish were released.

Trying to get as much out of a season as we could, we would follow the melt off north in the spring and follow the snow line south in the fall.

We tried Ice fishing in several lakes, but often had no luck in the smaller ones.  Like Jude said, I believe they froze solid during the winter.

Steve

[DanaM]

Beautiful fish Steve, the Michigan DNR tried reintroducing the grayling but it failed
Someday I will get to Alaska

[Jude]

Grayling were catch and release only in the management area around Fairbanks, so they are even having trouble up there; very sensitive to environmental disturbance.  I left AK in 2007, cause the Army wouldn't let me stay   Wish I could get back up there, despite the -40^o and lower temps.

[stickbender]

     Hey der Dana, they have dem Burbots in Montana too ya know......So what is da best way ta cook em hey?
How bout broiling dem with butter (real butter) and lemon, or lime juice, salt and pepper, and a Little garlic, and onion powder?
Ya tink dat would suit em fer dinner? I wonder where they get the names for some of these fish?  Burbot......sounds like a tribe on the steppes of Russia!   Scrod, mmmmm, doesn't that sound delicious  ......hake.....mmm huh, yeah, that sounds likely to taste good, was that the name of a fish, or did you just cough?   ......Hey, what kind of fish is this, ......Hake.   what ?.....   Haaaaake, snorrrt, awwggghh, patootie!  Oh, Hake, never heard of it....are these fish good to eat?  Huh? I didn't hear you, I was busy clearing my throat....oh, those, yeah, you can eat em.....I wouldn't, but you can.....                                                                                 Wayne