Chequamegon Bay part 2

On Sunday we woke up at the same time, hit the bait shop again, and then drove over to a spot Scott recommended on the western shore of Chequamegon Bay.  This time we were on our own, and we had to hike quite a ways to reach the 50+ feet of water that Scott told us would be good for lake trout and whitefish.

About a half mile from shore, we came upon a massive crack in the ice.  Wind, water currents, and thermal expansion cause the ice to crack, pull apart, and push together.  These cracks can be very dangerous to cross, so Brad and I took our time selecting the safest spot.  No fish is worth dying for, so if you find yourself in a situation like this and don't feel comfortable, don't feel like you have to cross it.  There are fish in the shallower water closer to shore as well.

We checked the depth every couple hundred yards, and when we marked 56 feet we stopped and set up our gear: four tip-ups rigged with fresh shiners and two additional holes for jigging.  Using light mono line in 56 feet of water was a bit more challenging than in 30 feet of water, especially with the water current that comes in from Lake Superior and circles the bay.  We couldn't use our smallest jigs, but we wanted lake trout and whitefish, so heavier spoons were preferred anyway.  Before long, we began catching smelt close to the bottom.  They're extremely fun to catch!

Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax)

Brad also caught a few smelt, but I could tell his attention was divided between jigging and keeping an eye on the tip-ups.

Late in the morning one of the flags finally popped up.  Brad was on it in a heartbeat, and after waiting a few seconds to make sure the fish was pulling line, he set the hook and pulled it in.  He was pretty darn happy when he put his first burbot on the ice.  Nice work Brad!

Burbot (Lota lota)

We reset a few of the tip-ups with smelt instead of shiners, and then we got back to jigging.  I focused on doing big upward sweeps, letting the spoon flutter back down, and repeating.  The technique payed off when my rod bent over and I reeled in a nice lake trout.  It was a keeper at 22 3/4 inches.

Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

The action was heating up, because the next thing we knew, two tip-up flags went up at the same time!  Brad pulled the first fish up, another burbot.  I pulled the second fish up, our third burbot!

The nice thing about ice fishing is you don't have to worry about putting your fish in a cooler!  Our haul for the day was one lake trout, three burbot, and two smelt.  We caught quite a few more smelt than that, but they went on the tip-ups as bait.

Right before we packed up our gear to leave, I got one more hit on my jigging rod.  I could tell during the fight it was a smaller fish - it turned out to be another splake.  It was the same size as the one we caught the day before, so I bet they were stocked at the same time.  It wasn't big enough to keep, so back through the hole in the ice it went.

Splake (Salvelinus namaycush X Salvelinus fontinalis)

By noon we had all of our gear packed up and loaded onto the sled.  The hike back seemed to take less time than the hike out, maybe because it was warmer and we were feeling good from our successful day.

The view from shore speaks for itself.

It was a long drive back to Peoria, but we made it without any issues.  The next morning I cooked up the two smelt for breakfast.  I cut off their heads and tails, gutted them, and then fried them whole in butter.  After I flipped them over I added two eggs to the pan to complete the meal.  They were much better than I was expecting.  I wish we had brought more home!

Thanks again to Scott for all the help you gave us, and thanks to Brad for being my road trip buddy!

Chequamegon Bay part 1

My trips in January and February were fun, but I was itching for a new species for my lifelist by the time March rolled around.  It was really exciting when plans came together to do another ice fishing trip to northern Wisconsin, this time to Chequamegon Bay by the town of Ashland.  My friend Brad got the ok to go as well, so after a half-day of work on Friday, we hit the road for Ashland.

On Saturday morning we stopped by the bait shop when it opened at 6am and then met Scott, a friend of a friend, at the town's boat ramp.  He took us out on his snowmobile, which saved us a full hour of walking one way.  Thanks Scott!

Modern Human (Homo sapiens)

The first thing we did was set up four tip-ups with shiners that we bought from the bait shop.  We added split shot to the lines and put our baits fairly close to the bottom.  We had 14 inches of ice, and my Vexilar said we were in 30 feet of water.

Once the tip-ups were set up, we sat around and jigged small lures tipped with wax worms.  My target was rainbow smelt, but honestly we were happy with anything.  Our first fish came on one of the tip-ups.  It was a splake, which is a hybrid between a lake trout and a brook trout.  They're stocked by the DNR, and the easiest way to ID them is to check whether or not the adipose fin is clipped off.  If it's clipped off, then it's a splake.  Also, the yellow spots on their sides are more round and uniform than the blotches on the sides of lake trout.

Splake (Salvelinus namaycush X Salvelinus fontinalis)

Jigging was really slow unfortunately.  We fished this spot almost all day and didn't catch a single fish jigging.

Brad caught the second fish on one of the tip-ups.  It was a yellow perch, probably not what he was hoping for, but a fish is a fish!

Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens)

It was a gravid female with quite the appetite.

Towards the end of the day Scott made the executive decision that we needed to move spots.  We fully supported his decision, because fishing was incredibly slow, and the smelt were nowhere to be seen.  We all piled on the snowmobile and pulled the gear across the bay to a new spot.  It was a good call, because at our new spot we started marking fish near the bottom right away!

I caught a few dinky perch while Scott caught several smelt right beside me.  I wanted one so badly!  All of the sudden, the small fish disappeared from the flasher screen.  Scott and I agreed that a predator was probably moving through the area, and sure enough we saw a really big blip near the bottom.  The next thing I know, my jigging rod doubles over and I have whatever it is on my line!  A minute or two later, we pulled a 27 1/4 inch burbot through the ice.

Burbot (Lota lota)

I bet he was eating the smelt that I was trying so hard to catch, haha.

After catching the burbot I moved to a new hole where I saw a lot of small fish near the bottom.  I practiced getting fish to come off the bottom and follow my jig up towards the surface.  It was a technique I've heard other people talk about but had not tried myself.  Finally, after the sun disappeared over the hills, I hooked up with a smelt.  Success!

Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax) - new hook & line species #322

After the first one, they just kept biting.  Shiner tails and wax worms both worked well as bait.  I think I caught seven total on Saturday.

Before long it was completely dark.  We packed up our tip-ups and the rest of our gear and headed back to the boat ramp.  We thanked Scott by giving him a box full of Illinois beer (which unfortunately is not as good as Wisconsin beer).  It was really generous of him to take us out, and I hope someday I'll be able to return the favor by taking him to one of my fishing spots.

Chain of Rocks and Baldwin Lake

We had an unbelievable warm streak in February with highs reaching into the seventies.  This got me pretty excited, so naturally I had to go fishing.  All my friends told me, "Yes Ben, but the water is still cold!"  I refused to be dissuaded though, so I woke up several hours before sunrise on Saturday and hit the road for St. Louis.  My plan was to fish the Chain of Rocks on the Mississippi River.  Perhaps the shovelnose sturgeon would be biting again (see my post from last September).

Fast forward six hours, and I was driving away from the Chain after not catching a single fish.  I saw other people catch one shovelnose and one shorthead redhorse, but that was it.  A lot of walleye fishermen came and then later left disappointed.

I salvaged the day by driving down to Baldwin Lake, a power plant cooling lake an hour south from Chain of Rocks.  I've heard good things about hybrid striped bass and blue catfish, so I was curious to see it for myself.

I walked along the shore until I reached the no trespassing sign near the discharge.  There was a pretty good current running parallel to the shore.  However, when I put my hand in the water, I was surprised to find that it wasn't warm.  I cast out a fish finder rig with a nightcrawler, and within seconds I had a small channel catfish on the line.

Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

After three more similarly sized catfish, I switched to lures to see if I could catch a hybrid striper.  I started off with my usual two jig setup.  I felt a few tiny bumps that didn't quite feel like bites, and eventually I discovered what was causing them when I pulled in a snagged threadfin shad.

Threadfin Shad (Dorosoma petenense)

I switched several times between spoons, swimbaits, and jigs.  After hundreds of casts I finally got a good hit on one of the white jigs right next to shore.  It turned out to be a very fat white bass, probably a prespawn female.

White Bass (Morone chrysops)

I hoped the bite would pick up after that first fish, but it did not.  The weather forecast showed storms headed my way, and I had a long walk back to the parking lot, so I packed up.  One good fish is good enough for me!

On Sunday I got up early again and gave Chain of Rocks another try.  I didn't have high hopes for catching fish, so I took some scenery shots instead.

I found some ancient hieroglyphics on one of the rocks.  Not sure what it means.

Around noon I packed up my gear and met up with a high school buddy who lives in St. Louis.  We went for a walk across the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge just upstream from the Chain.

It was neat seeing the Chain from a different perspective.

When we got to the Missouri side of the river, we really got a sense of how big the Mississippi is.

I'll return for those shovelnose sturgeon, but I think I'll wait until the water warms up a bit.

Clinton Lake spillway buffalo

On my way home from Champaign, I stopped at the Clinton Lake spillway to see if anything was biting.  I had fished it once before, and I remember catching quite a few black crappie.  I arrived a few hours before sunset to find several people already there.  They weren't catching crappie, but they were getting walleye on live minnows.  I tried a few swimbaits and jigs that looked similar to their minnows, but I didn't get any bites.

Right as the sun was setting I accidentally snagged a number of gizzard shad with the small jig I was using.  They weren't snagged randomly though; they were all hooked very close to the mouth.  For those of you who don't know, gizzard shad has been my nemesis for over half a decade.  I've tried for them in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, but they always refuse to cooperate.

The last one I caught / snagged looked like the hook might have been inside the mouth, but before I could see for sure it flopped off the hook onto the ground.  There's no way I'm going to count it on my lifelist.  I need to be 100% sure it's a fair hooked fish.

Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum)

The next weekend I returned to Clinton to make another attempt at the shad.  I thought maybe they would bite at sunrise, so I left Peoria early so I could be at the spillway as the sun came up.  I tried a super tiny jig, a #20 hook with a bit of neon green plastic, and a #20 hook with small piece of bread.  The shad did not make an appearance.

As I was packing up to leave, a teenager hooked into a big fish.  He was using light tackle, so it took him a while to land it.  When he got it to shore, we saw that it was a large bigmouth buffalo.  Everyone congratulated him, which put a big smile on his face.  He dragged the fish up onto the bank, and then took a large rock and hit it on the head.  Not good...

I walked over and congratulated him again on catching the buffalo.  He said thanks, grinning ear to ear.  I asked him how he planned to cook it.  He replied, "Those f*$&ers are nasty as sh#$, I don't eat them."  I kind of figured he'd say something like that, but I didn't want to make a scene, so I said, "Yeah they're awesome aren't they! Isn't it great that we can catch these big native fish here?"  He wasn't sure what to say, so I followed up with, "They taste great too, once you deal with the bones." He told me I could take it, so I did.

Bigmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus)

Giving up on the gizzard shad, I returned home.  The buffalo weighed 23 pounds.  I would love to catch one this big someday!

I filleted it, leaving the ribs on the fish.  In hindsight, I should have filleted it so the ribs stayed with the meat, because I planned to smoke it.  Bones are easy to deal with in smoked fish.  I did remember to leave the skin on the fillets, because you can let the skin burn without worrying about ruining the meat.

Next I cut the fillets into pieces and boiled a pot of brine on the stove.  The brine consisted of filtered water, brown sugar, sea salt, fresh garlic, and several different spices.  I cooled the brine in the fridge and then poured it over the pieces of buffalo.

The fillet pieces soaked overnight, and the next day I fired up the grill and smoked them for five hours.  I kept the temperature low, around 130 to 140 degrees for the first four and a half hours.  For the last half hour I raised the temperature up to 160 to make sure the fish was cooked all the way through.

Buffalo is a great fish for smoking.  The meat is firm and flaky, and the small bones can be easily picked out while you're eating it.

It's really such a shame that rough fish have such a bad reputation in the midwest.  I'm not saying everyone has to enjoy cooking and eating them, but at the least they should be respected.  If you don't plan to eat a fish, you should release it, simple as that.

I vacuum sealed the majority of the smoked fish and ate the remaining pieces over the following week.  My friends even came over for fish tacos featuring Clinton Lake spillway buffalo.

Native fish are not trash, regardless of what species they are.  Let's treat them with respect.  If you catch one, be it buffalo, gar, pike, walleye, or crappie, please either eat it or let it go.  Set a good example for the younger generation.  These fish are our heritage, and we want them to be here so our children and grandchildren can enjoy them.

Oh and gizzard shad, I will catch you one day!!!

Winter fishing in Champaign County

I almost let January pass by without catching a fish!  On the last day of the month I decided to fish one of my friend Jeff's spots in Champaign, IL.  This winter has been unseasonably warm in Illinois.  The high was 60 that day, but the water still felt awfully cold through my chest waders.  The spot isn't the most scenic in winter, but as usual I had it all to myself.

Usually I fish with bait, and as a result I often worry that my lure fishing skills are getting rusty.  This was a good opportunity to leave the worms at home.  I started out with a small inline spinner.  Striped shiner was my first fish of 2016!

Striped Shiner (Luxilus chrysocephalus)

Next I switched to a christmas tree colored curly tail jig.  It turned out to be the color of the day.  Usually I stick with white because that's what works well below spillways for fish like crappie and white bass.  I wonder if the christmas tree color reminds them of crayfish.

Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu)

They just kept hammering it!

A smaller jig caught the only creek chub of the day.  This is pretty typical for this creek.  You won't catch them very often, but when you do they're good sized ones.

Creek Chub (Semotilus atromaculatus)

I worked my way further downstream to shopping cart pool.  My friend Jeff came up with the name.

The deeper pool had rock bass mixed in with the smallmouth bass.  They were really agressive.

Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris)

This creek is full of longear sunfish, but honestly I was pretty surprised when I caught one.  They usually don't bite until the water warms up spring.

Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis)

I got one green sunfish towards the end of the day.  Their numbers used to be much higher when the water quality was poorer, but now they are outnumbered by the other sunfish and basses.

Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)

Since the fish were biting well, I tried out a few lures that I have never used before.  One was a rattle trap.

It worked!  First fish on a rattle trap.

Next I tried a spinner bait.  A rock bass and a smallmouth bass both hit it.

It seemed like a good idea to end on a high note, so after my spinner bait bass I packed up and made my way home.  Thanks again Jeff for sharing this spot with me!