Splake through the ice..

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sam_h
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by sam_h »

Ok guys, little update.

Went out on Dog today from Burnt Hills Road. No joking around with that slush/snow. A good 6 inches of slush under 1' to 2' of snow, it's crazy. Buddy without snowshoes was postholing the whole time. We were boggin down the smitty sled on the way out too.

Anways, we started the day in 25' - 30' of water and didn't mark much. Didn't catch anything either. Moved to 15' on the north end and managed to catch a nice 3# pike, but no splake! Damn. Tried tipups with minnows, spoons (tipped with minnows), buckshot jigs, plastics, rattle cranks, but nothing would bring 'em around.

Don't know whether or not we want to try Dog again tomorrow (this time out of the south access point...I guess there are huts there? and it's a shorter walk?) or head to Loughborough for some lakers.

Cheers
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Tip-up
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Tip-up »

Not sure how much more info one can give you. I wouldn't be detoured and give the splake another go.

Good luck
Last edited by Tip-up on Fri Feb 27, 2015 8:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Doug »

Yep.

The huts you see on the southern part of the lake are set up for pike and panfish, and water depth is fairly shallow, like less than 15 FOW.

Slush on Upper Rideau on Wednesday had frozen, so it is at least "possible" that the slush on Loughborough has as well.

Doug
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sam_h
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by sam_h »

OK, we're gonna try the south end of Dog today, out past the huts to 30' of water. Hoping some sleds have packed a bit of a trail for us!
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Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Doug »

You might go a long way to find 30 FOW in there if memory serves me. That assumes you get onto the ice off Orsmby Road.

If you plan to park at Gilmore Point and head more or less northeast, you should be in deeper water about four hundred yards off the beach.

Good luck to you.

I did not mention previously, mud minnows are not all that good. You are better off with medium shiners. I suspect Noble's Bait Shop in the village of Battersea has some medium shiners, but don't know for sure.

Doug
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sam_h
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by sam_h »

Thanks Doug, only have muds and yeah, I can see the advantage to shiners!

We were planning on gilmour point, see like a shorter walk according to navionics. Heading north east towards the island will get us to 30 in 400m, south east towards the point at the end of valley view lane will be about a 300m walk.
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Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Doug »

sam_h wrote:Thanks Doug, only have muds and yeah, I can see the advantage to shiners!

We were planning on gilmour point, see like a shorter walk according to navionics. Heading north east towards the island will get us to 30 in 400m, south east towards the point at the end of valley view lane will be about a 300m walk.
I don't think you will find deep water off Valleyview Lane. There is a cement dock with a boathouse on that point, and the water is fairly shallow. In fact straight off the point there is a shoal I hit once with my prop. I have not fished the water say a hundred yards off that, but would be surprised if you find 30 FOW..........

Doug
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sam_h
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by sam_h »

Doug wrote:
sam_h wrote:Thanks Doug, only have muds and yeah, I can see the advantage to shiners!

We were planning on gilmour point, see like a shorter walk according to navionics. Heading north east towards the island will get us to 30 in 400m, south east towards the point at the end of valley view lane will be about a 300m walk.
I don't think you will find deep water off Valleyview Lane. There is a cement dock with a boathouse on that point, and the water is fairly shallow. In fact straight off the point there is a shoal I hit once with my prop. I have not fished the water say a hundred yards off that, but would be surprised if you find 30 FOW..........

Doug
OK all on you Doug, gonna head north east, haha. Called Nobles and they have shiners...feeling confident!
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Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Doug »

Good luck to you! And keep a close hold on your minnow lines so you can feel the bites.........

Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Splake_Hunter »

Did you make it out? How's the walk? Definitely some fishable water out past that small island if you walked out from the beach.

Any luck? I've too busy lately and I don't have a feel of what's going on out there. Probably not much due to the snow though.
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Re: Splake through the ice..

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Hey guys got some shiners from Noble's today, awesome shop!

So we walked out from Gilmour Point (I think that's what you call 'the beach'?)..went north east. Only saw one hut right at the launch....was expecting to see a whole bunch of them. Anyways, walked 400m just to the south of the first tiny little 'island' and setup in 32' - 35' of water. Put out a couple tipups and jigged all day.

Caught a perch! Nothing else.

Marked a bunch right off bottom but just assumed they were perch. Wren't hitting anything.

The walk was 10x better than yesterday. Pullin' the sled with snowshoes was 10x easier than yesterday.....can't say much for my buddy cause I was not in his boots...(har har)...but we tried to follow an established sled trail to make it easier on 'em and it seemed to work well. 400m walk out of Gilmour point was wayyy easier than the 500m walk out of Burnt Hills Road. Still a good 2' of powder in some spots but today the slush wasn't slowing us down. It was -16*C + a constant wind though...

So now we're 0/2 on Dog for splake.

Day 1 Caught a pike.

Day 2 Caught a perch.

...

Day3 ....

Splake_hunter dunno if you can chime in with some tips but we're running out of ideas. Didn't see anyone else out there which I thought was weird....ah well...

Will check this thread in the morning (and upload some pics once I get back to my computer ). Cheers!
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Out4trout »

You are at the right depth for perch.
Go shallower for Splake... waaaay shallower!
8-15 ft - with structure, rocks, logs, sunken trees etc
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sam_h
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by sam_h »

Out4trout wrote:You are at the right depth for perch.
Go shallower for Splake... waaaay shallower!
8-15 ft - with structure, rocks, logs, sunken trees etc
Even on Dog eh?
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Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Doug »

sam_h wrote:
Out4trout wrote:You are at the right depth for perch.
Go shallower for Splake... waaaay shallower!
8-15 ft - with structure, rocks, logs, sunken trees etc
Even on Dog eh?
I had a chance to discuss this today with o4t. This has NOT been my experience on Dog, but he had been speaking with somebody who was catching them in shallow water off Hogan's. For sure all of the ice shacks over on the South stretch towards Fiddler's Elbow are set up for pike and panfish, and VERY rarely do they catch splake. That water is in the 8 to 15 foot range, a bit shallower and a bit deeper in places but not a lot.

As I said in my original post on this thread, folks with whom I have spoken have said that success (for splake) on Dog this year has not been good. And late February is always a tough bite. I've been skunked out there lots of times...............

Doug
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Re: Splake through the ice..

Post by Malyon18 »

Was out on dog today, the report of the 1 to 2ft of snow with 6" of slush below it is very accurate lol. If you stick to the skidoo trails you can make it a good distance with minimal effort. Caught some fish however did not get any splake, but we only gave splake an hour of our time.
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