My first pike through the ice!

I spent the better part of today chasing walleye (naturally) with some friends on the Bay of Quinte. I marked lots, but didn't seem to impress them enough to entice a strike. In my blog yesterday, I wrote a list of things I would like to accomplish while ice fishing this year. (Here's the blog link: I'm back in the game... and with a challenge!)

One of my goals was to catch a pike through the ice, because I hadn't ever done it. Well, today I did it!

This fish was a mere flicker on my flasher, and seconds after seeing it below me it SLAMMED my spoon! It was pulling drag, and when I got it to the hole the first time it took one look at me and tried it's best to take off again. I got it up to the hole the second time, landed it, and got my friend to come over and snap this photo. This pike put up a good battle, and I would really like to target pike in the future and catch more! For me, regardless of the fact I didn't catch a walleye today - it was still a successful day crossing another fish off the ice list and spending time on the ice.

Another day on the ice tomorrow, hopefully I will have another photo to share :)

Have a great weekend!

Ashley

I’m back in the game... and with a challenge!

FINALLY, my first post of 2012 and it feels really good to be back at it. This year the ice fishing season is about 4 weeks behind what it was last year. With the drastic up and down temperatures, the ice formed late this year on the Bay of Quinte. With the steady cold temperatures in the past couple of weeks, I have now been out fishing! I am receiving lots of inquiries on Facebook, Twitter and NationalProStaff asking about how safe the ice on the Bay of Quinte is. I wanted to take the time to address this matter as ice safety is very important to me.  

Please check ice before heading out on any body of water!! As I stated above, the weather has been changing so drastically and ice must be checked thoroughly. Please use caution regardless of what you read in an ice report. Forums and social media are a great place to find out about ice conditions, but never rely on them. Please be safe!!

This year I decided to come up with an ice fishing challenge for myself. Here it is:
1) Catch a walleye that takes 2 hands to hold (come on, double digit!)
2) Catch lots of lake trout!
3) Catch my first whitefish (haven’t caught one at all!)
4) Catch a pike through the ice (haven't done that yet)
5) Target perch and crappie (and catch ‘em!)

Now for my first report of 2012:
Location: Bay of Quinte, secret spot  ;)
Ice conditions: 9 inches thick, no snow cover, slick
Wind: 57kms/hour
Target species: walleye
Water depth: 39 feet

I met my friend Jeff (Quinte Ice Fishing Team) prior to 7am so that we could be on the ice for first light. Jeff drilled holes to check ice thickness all the way out to our location. It was very windy, so using the slush (from drilling holes) on top of the skirt around the outside of the huts kept the huts locked down on the ice. After I got my flasher, heater and rods set up, it was go time!

I started with a size 7 Perch Jigging Rap tipped with a minnow. I dropped down and marked a fish on my flasher within minutes of jigging a few inches off bottom. This fish was tight to bottom and began to rise for my bait. I lightly twitched and raised the bait up and the fish followed. As the fish moved closer quite quickly, the image on my flasher grew and it was a big red mark! As I continued to pull the bait away, the fish pounced forward and struck! I set the hook and it felt a beast of a fish on the other end! As I started reeling, my drag was tinging! I KNEW it was a hawg, and seconds into the battle, it freed itself and took my minnow.... so the day started in heartbreak. I was however, optimistic that it would not be the last nice ‘red mark’ on my flasher.

I marked several fish, they were hesitant to bite but got this little ‘cigar’ sized walleye:

I caught 2 little eyes, and then saw a flicker in about 24-30 feet of water. As Jeff said, a lot of bigger fish will be suspended. I reeled up past it and was now using a Macho Minnow (spoon) without tipping a minnow this time. The green flicker grew and changed into a red mark. I really had to work slowly for this fish as it was not impressed by any aggressive movements. I lightly twitched the Macho Minnow to make sure I got some action from the tail, but not too much darting around. The fish came at the bait fast and I pulled away just a bit and got the fish to rise up. A second charge at the spoon and this time the fish took it:

 Finally, I'm back in the game! This fish really restored my confidence. It was the last one I caught for the morning. We left the ice for lunch and came back out, and I kept the Macho Minnow on. Here's my set up:

 

The Shimano Caenan reel has been great for ice fishing! I have it spooled with 20 pound test Power Pro. With the click of a button you can drop your bait down as much or as little as you need to put it right in front of the nose of a hungry walleye. 

The evening was really windy, and began to snow. It's amazing what you don't notice when you're so focused on those fish. I looked out and the ice had a blanket of snow, yet I was warm and cozy in my hut. This was the last fish of the day for me:

I worked this one up off bottom, and coaxed it into a bite. It took a little more convincing, but slow movements were key. The wind and snow would have made it difficult for a good photo outside, so here I am sitting in my hut.

More ice stories to come! Thank you for reading, sharing, and liking!

Ashley Rae

2011 - A Year In Review

I went through all of my fishing photos from the year and created this video, although I know the year isn't over yet. I am sure posting this now will jinx me to go fishing again before 2012 and I will have to add to this, but I am willing to risk it!

Thanks to all in the video, and all behind the scenes that have helped make this past year amazing!!

Quinte Ice Fishing Team (Jeff Chisholm, Paul McTaggart and Joe Pickstock), Ian Ferguson, Bob MacMillan, Lures & Tours (Rosa Sharpe and Charlie Ross), Big Jim and Tammy McLaughlin, Jamie Pistilli, Lenny Devos, Gord Pyzer, Olivier Bibeau, Mark Hamelin, Mikey Fitzgerald, Erik Luzak, Dave Chong, X Zone Tournament Baits, (Mark Kulik), Hobie Kayaks, Jenda Paddlesports, Jeffrey Fortuna, Keeton Eoff, Hayley, Nancy and Jeff Kennedy, Mustang Survival (Krystal Yee), Colin Friel, Walker Downriggers, Mike Snow, Andy Hansen, Bob Spicer, Greg Amiel, Arnaldo De Sousa, PB&J Charters, Napanee Chamber of Commerce (Kathy Medd), the Napanee Guide, Justin Hoffman, Scott Walcott, Bay of Quinte Country, Crowe Video Productions, Victor Cooper, CBC Radio, Outdoor Journal Radio, FishBum Outfitters, Jack Summers, Radioworld, and more..

Special thanks to; Shimano, G Loomis, PowerPro, Bob Mahoney, my family, friends, Chris Harding, my Facebook friends and 'fans', my Twitter followers and National Pro Staff followers, YouTube subscribers and friends on Google+. Thanks to all that send e-mails, comments and messages with words of kindness and encouragement. Thank you to each and every one of you that visit my website (now almost 50,000 hits). And big thanks to those that share my website through social networking!

Cheers to another year of fishing adventures, new friends, new fish and experiences!

Sincerely,

Ashley Rae

Grandpa Rae goes fishing!

Lately my grandpa's fishing stories have been about 'the one that got away' so I realized he was in need of a good day on the water. He'd never expect to go fishing this time of year because he's more of a summer time fisherman, so a surprise fishing trip was pretty easy to pull off. I got ahold of my friend Joe of PB & J Charters that I've fished with quite a few times on open water and on ice. He's kind of a big deal and knows how to get into some serious walleye (he will laugh when he reads that)! Joe has a really nice boat that's fully rigged, heated and really comfortable and fishable, which is perfect for my grandpa who is 78. Joe cleared his schedule for us to fish Sunday!

My dad and I formed a plan for the surprise. My dad asked my grandpa to join him on an early morning road trip for Sunday. My grandpa loves going on any sort of outing, so he didn't even ask questions, he just agreed to go. My dad planned to meet with me at Tim Hortons around 6:15am, and then we would carpool and meet Joe at his boat. I walked into Tim Hortons and my grandpa was surprised to see me. I asked 'are you ready to go fishing?' and he laughed. He thought I was kidding, so he said 'I forgot my fishing pole' and to that I said 'we have you covered'. He finally believed us when my dad explained where we were going. My grandpa was concerned at first because he didn't have any warm clothing, but my dad had it hidden in the truck the night before. After he realized what we had done, he was SO excited and surprised!! The look on his face was priceless.

 

We met up with Joe and broke our way out of the harbor, which was covered in ice! Extreme walleye hunters!

Not far into the morning the first walleye was on:

My grandpa was thrilled at the first fish and said his day was already made. The fish was guessed at around 7 pounds, which was his personal best! His eyes were glued to the rods after that, and he was in awe of the electronics, line counters, planer boards, etc. Things have definitely changed since he began fishing. My dad and I wanted him to land every fish, and I knew Joe would show him a good day on the water!

Just when he thought things couldn't get any better, he got fish #2:

 

9.1 pounds.. his new personal best!

Fish number 3 weighed in at 10.4 pounds erasing the previous personal bests, fish number 4 was around 5 pounds, and fish number 5 was 8.1 pounds!! My grandpa was having the best day!! He lost a couple fish, but was so happy at every fish caught! He beat his personal best 3 times.... until this hawg:

A nice chunk of 12.05 pounds of Quinte gold! The look on his face says it all!

Myself, my grandpa and his personal best walleye - 12.05 pounds! This photo is a framer :)

This last fish was the big one! Joe grabbed the scale and we guessed the weight without seeing the scale.. I snuck to take a look and said 'Grandpa, it's 12.05!' - I'll never forget that look on his face... his words were: 'I won the lottery!'

It's important to pass on the sport of fishing to others, no matter their age or experience. I am lucky enough to have friends like Joe that have the skills and experience that I can learn from. It was really great to give my grandpa the chance to experience Bay Of Quinte walleye fishing at it's prime! I know he will talk about this day for a long time, and he already has plans to go out again.

If I don't post again before Christmas.....

MERRY FISHMAS from SheLovesToFish.com!

Give the gift of fishing :)

Steelhead SUCCESS!!

If you've read any of my recent blogs, or follow along on Facebook or Twitter, then you may know just how badly I've wanted to catch a steelhead! In fact, there is no other fish that I've wanted to land as much. I've been learning how to fly fish over the past couple of years, and in the past 2 months I have been spending some of my weekends chasing after steelhead in several Lake Ontario tributaries. These fish are truly amazing and difficult to catch on the fly! It's a love/hate relationship.

 It was COLD!

I was happy to see ice!

This past Sunday all the elements were against me; the thermometer read -4°C, winds were strong, and the water was chocolatey. The usual pools were barely visible. I saw shadows but couldn't be sure that they were fish. All in all, it was pretty hard to even cast with my guides freezing up and wind messing with my roll casts, but I woke up at 4:15am, drove a fair distance and wasn't ready to call it a day. With a little exploration, my friend and I found a clear, shallow pool holding fish and thankfully the sun was shining enough to reveal that they were steelhead. I really felt that "today was the day". To be honest, it's my usual attitude but something was different about this day. I felt mentally prepared for battle this time. I've hooked several steelhead, but landing them hadn't been successful for me. They go ballistic as soon as I set the hook, and in my previous blog post, I had the longest battle yet but still ended up losing a monster. I've talked to a couple of friends about how to handle landing one and really considered everything going into this day.

Then it happened.

As soon as I set the hook and really had a fish ON... I was totally zoned in. Immediate jumping and thrashing... I was literally in the worst spot to try and land this guy. Trees over head.. and all around to get tangled in, an easy escape route downstream and a fairly wide creek which made it hard to stay behind the fish. My main focus was keeping my rod tip high to absorb head shakes and thrashing... and keeping tension on the fish, yet letting it peel as much line as it needed to on 4 pound test to tire itself out. When I could see the fish slowing down, I pulled it back, and side to side to tire it out even more.


I fought this fish like my life depended on it, until landing it... landing a steelhead!
"ASHLEY! You did it!" 
Another line I will never forget, by my friend Mikey. I am so glad he was there. He's taught me so much about fly fishing and I wanted him to be there for my first steelhead. I have never felt such a mutual happiness over one fish.

My first steelhead

My hands were so cold that they turned nearly as red as my nail polish after releasing this fish, but I was so happy that I didn't care. I got my gloves back on and warmed them up, then took the gloves off to start fishing again. At this point we each had a steelhead landed. Could things get any better? I'm sure most people would be very satisfied... but I saw bigger fish in this pool and really didn't think it was over just yet. I am sure that sounds a little greedy... or maybe it's just what happens after you land a steelhead, but I wanted another one.

I began the day throwing egg patterns, but switched to a nymph after Mikey had landed his first on a nymph. I did have fish chasing the egg pattern, but wanted to try a nymph anyway. It worked for my first fish. The steelhead seemed pretty active, and it was really neat seeing them take our flies. I didn't see the second fish take, it was all while watching the line. Mikey went further up stream and I was alone when it happened. The sun was bright and in my eyes even with sunglasses on. I watched my drift as much as I could until it got past the glare on the water... it twitched so slightly and I set.....

I fought it for a few seconds to make sure it was on before I yelled:

"MIKEY, another one!!!"

I saw him look downstream towards me, but I knew something was up because he didn't come running like before. He had to be onto a fish. I saw my fish come up out of the water and I started shaking. This was a bigger one. After a little while Mikey yelled down to me again:

"Do you need help?"

Immediately I said "No."

I knew this fight could last awhile, so I took my time and I wanted to do it alone. The fish went for cover immediately, but I just kept pulling it away from the trees and got behind it. I did my best not to let it go too far up or down stream, pulling back and walking backwards at the same time to try and control it. I saw a flat shallow area to land it on. I pulled back towards that and jumped on the shore. The fish was giving up, and I got it right tight to the shoreline.. I reached to grab the tail to land it and..

"ASHLEY!"

A splash and bend in his rod and I knew what was up! Mikey had one too!!

My fish took off far when I stalled so I had to work to bring him back in again. Mikey had his landed and came rushing down the creek in time for me to land mine.

Mikey's fish with one of the fly patterns we used

My second steelhead

I can honestly, FINALLY say, "I did it". Many steelheaders say once you get one 'you're ruined'. I will admit that I have been sleeping better at night since, but the days are much longer and really just want to be back at that creek more than anywhere else. It's all I can think about now. I guess I am ruined, but I am OK with that. I just need to go steelheading again soon.... that's the cure.

Special thanks to Mikey, and Naoto, and G Loomis too :)

Ashley