Brook Lake redemption or revenge?

Post by **plncrzy** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:43 pm

After our somewhat successful trout outing last week, with FishOn, I had to get my Sled fixed and was able to find a part for it in Iroquois. With sled fixed and Holiday time in the bank, I decided to take Friday off and head up to the hills for some more trout action with FishOn.

It was our usual plan, with FishOn picking me and trailer up at 5:30 this time and us heading west to our parking spot. Get the sleds ready and hit the trails!!!!... were almost to our chosen lake â€¦ the one where I hit that tree stump last timeâ€¦.. when TODAY I notice the support bar for my ski is dangling from the side of my machine

â€¦

We Magiever another fix by stealing a washer from a runner on my ski and bolting it on in place.... It worked and off we go!!!!

Immediately, we parked our sleds on shore and we walked onto the lake to start drilling our holes. I drill our first hole with the power auger and FishOn cleans it out and comments, â€œthat ice isnâ€™t very goodâ€, I then take one step back and my right foot goes right through the ice!!!!

I stumble to get back up, turn around take a couple steps with auger in hand and the ice lets go completely below me!!!!

I fall through!!! Lucky for me I am wearing my floatation suit and its done up TIGHT, so no water gets in at ALL!! When I felt the ice give way, I fell backward, so the water only got as far as my thighs as I recall.

I know this is a bad pic and there isnt much reference, but its about 2'X2' in size.Lucky AGAIN for me, my rump was on solid ice

. I quickly got up and walked back toward shore about 20â€™ and drilled a test hole. The ice was GOOD

, so I kept drilling test holes while approaching the danger zone until I was too close to where I fell in and just started jigging.

Well, the fish were going NUTS, I had two lines in and both kept going off at the same time! I must have reeled in 5 spec in the first 5 minutes but most were first years and not worth keeping except for this one.

Then the bite stopped suddenly as specs often do

, FishOn and I discussed leaving and just as we were beginning to pack, a little flurry of activity started on two lines, it lasted about 60 seconds then stopped again. This happened twice over the next 20 minutes before we decided to do some exploring. The rest of the day, well, lets just sayâ€¦ we made a lot of tracks in places that donâ€™t lead to many lakes. We did access another Brooky lake but the ice there was awful as well. Very poor white ice has now formed below the snow cover as a result of all the weight pushing the water on top.

So be carefull out there people! Many of those lakes, especially the sheltered back country ones that may have springs in them have pretty horrible ice on them right now.

Post by **Out4trout** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:52 pm

Nice going on the trout!! Glad you stayed safe - that looked like a close call.
We went for Whities today - and pulled the plug due to slushy ice conditions.

Post by **MLR** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:56 pm

Good to see you made it home. I can't imagine the feeling of falling through, in the back country.

Post by **bl8ant** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:59 pm

wow man, it's a good thing you posted this for people like me, who are not fish'n with float suits!

Post by **ponder** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:08 pm

first of all u are safe , that water looked deep n cold.
now > ever get teased or poked from comrades about wearing a float suit?
thats redemtion

Post by **plncrzy** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:34 pm

ponder wrote:first of all u are safe , that water looked deep n cold.
now > ever get teased or poked from comrades about wearing a float suit?
thats redemtion

Those suits keep you warm too, the only problem is that they dont breath at alll.. but after today... I DONT CARE

we were in 10FOW

Post by **ponder** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:01 pm

hey man the suits dont breath ever-------------u still do
and 10 fow enough to drink standing up

Post by **Haulin Bass** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:29 am

Glad all are safe and thanks for the report. It will make everyone who reads aware of the danger.

Post by **DropShotr** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:46 am

Thanks for the report and pics.

Thats just a bit too scary for me.

Post by **Tip-up** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:44 pm

Thanks for the heads up, my buddy and I actually had a chat about this post on the way up to the lake yesterday. We found much the same thing on some remote lakes in regards to open water and springs. With the weight of all that snow on the ice it's forcing a lot of water topside creating a real mess if the ice too. My pal had tracks on his quad so the slush battle wasn't so much a problem but it will be if we don't get cold weather...was really gushing in some spots. Glad to read there was a positive end to this outing. I'll have my float coat on next trip out if we don't get some cooler weather that's for sure. Nice brookie by the way

Post by **fatluke** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:25 pm

At least you got to stay and fish after the soaker.

Goes to show how the ice conditions can vary from lake to lake.

Nice looking little brookie.

Post by **plncrzy** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 5:20 pm

fatluke wrote: Goes to show how the ice conditions can vary from lake to lake..

And from day to day... I fell through in the EXACT spot where only last Sunday there was 10" of ice... only difference was that we received 15cm of fresh snow on Wed which apprently made all the diff. (maybe me drilling those holes last week made some difference

)

Thanks for the comments and keep it safe.

Post by **wolfe** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:52 pm

I wondered how snow piling up affected the ice...that's pretty scary.

Wearing a survival suit and fishing with a buddy are very good safety calls.

Glad you got into some fun action with the fish.

W.

Post by **Dore** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 9:56 pm

Good job on wearing the survival suit dude ! Thanks for sharing this report