A little while back a few of us on the board made it a goal to catch one of each of the 5 species of inland trout available in our region. Splake, lake trout, brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout. To complete the Grand Slam one would have to catch at least one of each species of trout, the kicker being is to have them all under your belt in one season of ice fishing! Totally possible right?
Since 09' a few of us have come so close to completing the slam. Lakers and splake being the easiest to knock off while bows and brookies proved to be much more tricky and temperamental. At the end of every season there was always one that's haunted and eluded myself and the lads...
The elusive brown.
5 previous attempts for brownies since then have resulted in skunks. Not complete skunks, but trout skunks. The ones that have you thinking to yourself at the end of the day, what the &$@k am I doing out here but leave the lake already planning on how to attack it the next time. Those of you who fish backcountry water as much as I do know the research and work involved finding, and getting to the trout in the winter...you just keep pushing. And then you have to catch'em. I gave up on the browns in recent years to fill a lake trout addiction.
It all changed pretty quick this past weekend during an outing Anthony and I planned back around Christmas with our buddy Tom hopping on board a few weeks ago. Arrived in brown town late last Thursday with high hopes, some local intel and little knowledge of the lake. Some planning was done in the months leading up to the weekend but the final locations were all picked during dinner the evenings before by scouring paper maps, Google Earth and our Navionics.
Fishing was slow over the 3 days fished. We all knew going into the weekend it wasn't going to be a smash fest but felt confident we could figure out a program with the time we had. It wasn't long before 3 Grand Slam cherry's were popped in very short order. A mix of perch and OOS lakers kept things interesting while waiting for flags to pop. It was a morning I won't forget for a while. Had the first fish on before getting all set-up, it was pretty awesome watching the first brown come top side, and more so a relief. Success!
Anthony took first flag that was on Bl8ants homemade Ice Rigger. Similar to the HT Rigger, just with the added 'Luck'
That first trout alone made the weekend, but there were two more Slams to fill and they came quick. I was next up. Hand lining it, the fish fought hard right up until I had it in my hands.
Not long after landing my first brown, the same tip-up fired and it was decided that Tom was get this fish top side and hammer the tripple slammer.
We were fortunate to have had such a magical morning after blanking out on the first day. With winter winding down quick, it was almost looking like another season was going to pass without seeing a brown. A Nor'easter swallowed us Saturday night and right into Sunday, and the fish turned right off.
Trout fishing - It's the way she goes.
Some more pics from the weekend...All fish were released after photos.
Nice bow
Shack was definitely NOT necessary most of the time
Morning people
Fish-Trapped
Andrew
