I made a trip to the Haliburton Highlands area to ice fish for Lake Trout, along with another 5 friends. We had the benefit of staying at our friend’s cottage located right on the lake. We arrived at night and it was great waking up to a scenic winter wonderland, since we didn’t have much snow back home in the Niagara region.

From his cottage, we walked out on the ice and drilled our first hole and the Humminbird sonar indicated that we were in 50 feet of water. Then we drilled five more holes progressively closer to shore, about 25 ft. apart. So the depths we fished ranged from about 35 – 50 feet of water. We used a gas auger to drill 10″ diameter holes very quickly and easily.

We were now all lined-up and ready to fish. Between the six of us, we had a variety of different set-ups. We used white jig heads tipped with a minnow, Whistler Jigs tipped with a minnow, various jigging spoons, and the basic hook-line-sinker bait rig. It didn’t take long to catch our first fish; however, it wasn’t a Lake Trout – it was a small Cisco, which resembles a large smelt. After that, the fish Gods were kind to us. We caught our limit of 12 Lake Trout in only 2 hours! The average size was 14″ long with one over the slot size, 26″ long. This was some amazing fishing.

The various jigs all worked well; however, the ‘plain Jane’ hook-line-sinker bait rig was most productive (using 2 hooks). Keeping the minnows lively on the hook and keeping the sinker a couple of inches off bottom was the ticket. For hook-line-sinker bait rig, I was using the Thundermist Bait Rig.

With the sinker off bottom, you can notice the rod tip gently bouncing when the minnows are lively. A lively minnow will get you more hits. If the minnows start to slow down in movement, raising your line slowly up & down will help them move again and also help to attract fish. Many times, right after this slow jigging, the fish will strike. The Lake trout were not very aggressive when hitting, so we had to pay close attention to the rod tip at all times.

Rather than leaving dead & used minnows on the ice, they can still serve a purpose if you squeeze the air bladder and throw them into the hole (known as chumming). There was no water current on this lake, so it was practical to chum in this manner, to help bring fish around the vicinity of our baited lines.

The next day, we went back out on the ice and fished under some crazy weather conditions! The temperature had dropped and we fished during a lot of snow fall. Actually, it was a great experience until we froze. We fished for 6 hours and managed to catch 9 Lake Trout. We released two - one was in the slot size, and the other was over the slot size, 25 1/2” long.

Fish stories from the week-end:

- Losing the biggest Lake trout right at the hole, when the hook broke! (Lesson learned – don’t use cheap hooks!)

- Fish taking a rod & reel down the hole while we set up a tent! (Possibly the biggest one of them all??)

Although Ice fishing might not be for everyone, it is without question, a unique experience. I find it challenging and as long as I give it all I’ve got, at the end of the day, I am satisfied.

All thawed-out,

Phil