Fishing 2020

Mark Knapp

Mark Knapp

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
4,421
Posted Today, 07:30 PM
Ice fishing for rainbows with home tied ice flies.
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We've been catching about 40 a day, and keeping some of the bigger ones. The biggest so far was a 21 1/2 inch fish. We're only allowed one each over 18 inches per day.
 
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Got out on the creek lookin for trout today, caught one decent brook and figured out the limitations on wading in muck boots. Fixing to head back out this evening to see if I can get some more. Carried my Spyderco Para 3 LW and been loving it!
 
Ice flies, huh? That's new to me, and I tie my own flies as well. I imagine you've got a bit of weight on it to take them down. Nice setup you got there.
 
WalkTheEdge said:
Ice flies, huh? That's new to me, and I tie my own flies as well. I imagine you've got a bit of weight on it to take them down. Nice setup you got there.
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Yep, they usually have a tungsten bead head or they are tied on a jig. Many times they are just tied with a few wraps of lead wire. I post pictures next time around.
 
KPhi752 said:
Caught a decent brook that appears to be a holdover from last spring. It was the only fish of the evening.

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Went earlier this mornin as well, and got a decent picture of my little slice of paradise.

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Nice little brookie, nice place too.
 
Meanwhile back in the cold white north, here's what we are doing.
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We caught about 40 fish on Monday, these were some of the biggest, two 23 inch rainbows. We also kept some others for eating, and some that were hooked bad.
 
These are snapshots taken from the videos of my last trip to Quartz Lake to fish for Rainbows, Char, Silvers and Kings.



I caught about 70 fish, including a Quartz Lake slam, at least one of each species. The fish ranged from about 10 inches to 23 1/2 inches, with the four biggest being over 20 inches, three char and a 22 inch rainbow.



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I caught 10 doubles.



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The 22 inch rainbow.



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At times I could see up to 20 fish at a time under the house.



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Some of the hand tied ice flies I used.



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It was a fun day. We're allowed two poles while ice fishing but at times it was so busy I could only fish one pole at a time.
 
Took some friends from Ohio ice fishing for rainbows this week end. We fished for two days and while the fishing was a little slower, we had a great time.



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David with his first rainbow and his first fish through the ice ever.



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We caught about 20 fish on Sunday and kept three for eating. The biggest was a 20 inch rainbow. We spent the night in the cabin at Quartz and had a wonderful trout dinner. On Monday we only caught about 7 fish but still had a lot of fun with each others company.



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Here are some of the ice flies we use, these are all built on lead head jigs. On the left are bait fish imitations. About half of the fish I catch are caught on these. In the middle are cased caddis patterns with one emerger. Many of the fish we catch have caddis in their stomachs. Caddis look-a-likes can be effective at Quartz Lake. The rest are all impulse or instinct patterns. They don't look like anything in particular but are intended to induce a bite with color and movement. White, chartreuse and salmon-egg red are the most effective colors in many of our trout lakes. The marabou and flash chenille add movement and sparkle. I usually fish one rod with an imitation pattern and no bait while I fish a second rod with an impulse type jig and bait.



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Some other effective flies. The top row are snail patterns. Almost all the fish we clean have snails in their stomachs. Some days the fish are almost only keyed on snails. In the middle bottom are midges, they can also be very effective. Bottom left, another impulse inducer.



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Snail patterns at the vise.
 
Went fishing again this week end, this time with my bud Steve. I've been playing with wormy bugs. I tied up a bunch of different stuff but on this trip I tried out a caddis looking thing I tied, It's a cased, bead head caddis with his butt sticking out of the case.



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I call it the "Bare Butt Caddis".



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And it works.



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We had a great time, and caught about thirty fish, and kept just a few to eat.



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Looks like Steve had a good time too.



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This was my biggest on this trip, a twenty incher.



Already making plans for the next trip.
 
Some of my buds with 28 of the 60 rainbows and stocked salmon we caught on Sunday. They have some hungry fish eaters at home. Nothing huge this time, most of the fish we kept were in the 16 inch range.



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6 of thirty. It's warming up up here. We are seeing daytime temps. over freezing now. Only a month and a half to ice fish left.
 
lambertiana said:
What is the fish that is second from the right? I haven't seen markings like that before.
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You are the second person to ask about that. I am very sorry to tell that it's not very interesting at all. That is the pattern from the milk crate that we put the fish into when we are keeping them. I usually flip them over so the pattern doesn't show but this one was curved wrong. It's just another rainbow. Boring right.
 
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