Report - 1.18.2016 - Frozen Tundra also known as Blackwater

[coheasion]

I hope I was the only idiot out there today bait fishing in crazy wind and sub-zero wind chills.  Fought the cold and the wind until about 9:30 this morning and came up with one 29 inch fish.

I actually marked a LOT of fish this morning and wanted to jig for them but the cold and wind made it nearly impossible :-(

Quick question - any suggestions on how to un-freeze the cast net from the bottom of the boat?    I have a pile of ice with netting material and lead weights mixed into it.

[irons]

That's dedication right there!

[mwardncsu]

If you go out tomorrow then I'll give you man-cred points - today was a warm-up

Pour a bucket of water over the cast-net to thaw it out..... then ice-skate to the front/back of the boat after removing the net but the new water freezes

[drag4striper]

That's hard core fishing dude. Did you see any caribou when you were out. Ha 

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2016 10:31:23 GMT -5 coheasion said:

I hope I was the only idiot out there today bait fishing in crazy wind and sub-zero wind chills.  Fought the cold and the wind until about 9:30 this morning and came up with one 29 inch fish.

I actually marked a LOT of fish this morning and wanted to jig for them but the cold and wind made it nearly impossible :-(

Quick question - any suggestions on how to un-freeze the cast net from the bottom of the boat?    I have a pile of ice with netting material and lead weights mixed into it.

Someone has the bug. I did the same thing when I started. 2 years ago around new years I had at least 3 inches of ice on the bottom of my boat and an infinite number of freeze dried peanuts. I love seeing your dedication to our sport.

First things first, never let the net sit in water. Keep it on top of a rubber mesh rug. One that you can pick up and dunk along with the net. Second, wear some thin cotton gloves underneath your cleaning gloves or you will not have use of your hands ever again. Finally, be very careful and if you fall in... Don't panic! You can still swim with all that gear on. Getting back out of the water is when you will notice the weight of the water.

Go get them gizzards!

[Gator]

You were not the only one out there today. I received a text from another guy earlier on the BW. I Love being out there in this weather. You will not see too many others, that's for sure.

[Brian]

Did you get checked by the game warden?

[coheasion]

Hi Yam - yeah I definitely have the bug.....and some Yam rubbers are next on my shopping list after throwing that net bare-handed a half dozen times this morning....brutal cold....pretty sure the lead line was made out of razor blades.

And of course I mean rubber gloves for all you gutter minds out there ;-)

And...I believe I may have found the mongos in the mouth of a creek this morning....but their depth coupled with the wind and my frozen fingers meant they were safe for another day. Take a look at the screenshot below and let me know if you think these were mongos/dollar bills or just a bunch of peanuts.

[coheasion]

Nope....no game warden...never saw another boat

[mwardncsu]

those look like larger bait based on the downscan - not used to looking at a Garmin, but given the target sepertion it looks like larger bait - small gizzards & alewifes will be more like a cloud on regular sonar and smaller dots on downscan.

However, I'd not toss the net there - that bait is holding all in the submerged brush.....

[coheasion]

Hi mward - that was my thoughts as well...looks like bigger bait to me. And I try and avoid throwing into treetops/brush...the bait was thick like that for quite a distance in the creek until the depth got less than 30 feet.

Another questions....I assume it is typical for the back of the creeks at this time of year to be colder than the main bodies of water? Each creek I went into got colder the further back in you went. I assume this is why the fish head back out and school back up?

[Deleted]

I can't say with any degree of accurateness what those are. Heck I cant read other peoples electronics even if they have exactly the same unit as I. But man..I'm getting to the point where I can tell the difference between money makers and mongos on my own stuff.

Remember...the yam rubbers will be the end of your hands in this weather if you you don't use a cotton liner. You are actually better off with bare hands than solely rubber gloves when the temp is below 32.

[mwardncsu]

Had someone ask me the other day in a creek if the bait he was marking was big bait or small - I rode over it with my electronics and thought I knew, but as I told him - sometimes you just gotta throw and find out

[coheasion]

Jan 18, 2016 15:07:08 GMT -5 Yam said:

I can't say with any degree of accurateness what those are. Heck I cant read other peoples electronics even if they have exactly the same unit as I. But man..I'm getting to the point where I can tell the difference between money makers and mongos on my own stuff.

Remember...the yam rubbers will be the end of your hands in this weather if you you don't use a cotton liner. You are actually better off with bare hands than solely rubber gloves when the temp is below 32.

Got it

[archenemy]

I agree with mwurd that it looks like big bait but I have yet to see that many mongos in one place. Albeit very tempting I wouldn't waste a throw in today's conditions on that.

When I see 10-30 nicely separated marks not all stacked up like a tree I let her rip.

That's just me.

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