Report: In search of rainbows
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:49 pm
I've hit the ice more this year than i ever have before ... It's certainly a lot more work but can be equally as rewarding. I've been in Ottawa for just over three years so i dont exactly have a honey hole yet (for any species) but have managed a lot of exploring.
In terms of weather this past Sunday (the 29th) was the kind of day on the ice that I dream about. It was sunny, warm, no real wind and hard packed snow - hell, it barely even mattered if the fish were biting! I've spent the winter targeting eyes and lakers ... but such a gorgeous day warranted something new - Rainbows!!
Two friends and I packed our gear and were on the water by 9am to embrace some sweater weather. Now i'm not experienced in targeting trout other than lakers and splake (which i target the same way) so we weren't sure about depth, or the required structure (ie on the weed beds or in the rocks ??). We started by drilling one hole each, three holes, (manually) which varied from roughly 8-18 ft of water. No luck for the first hour and half. Drilled two more holes at what we figured would be the 10-12ft range - managed to find some vegetation on the bottom which seemed promising so set up camp there and throw some tip ups in the original holes. Hour and half later still nothing. I drill two more holes and my arms are getting sore at this point. I've tried jigs of varying colour and weight with varying plastics, small spoons of varying colour, tossed down a bead head nymph over the weeds and am starting to get a little discouraged. Through all of this one of my friends hasn't moved or re-tied since he first sat down; of course he yells "FISH ON". You can tell this is a nice fish, and just as the head comes through the hole one guy gets his hands in, tries his best, but the line breaks. Well buddy who was holding the rode throws it aside and, moving faster than he's moved in hours, two hand bear scoops a 26" rainbow out of the hole.
This certainly gets all three of us excited. We all switch back to jigs with plastics that have been soaked in gulp and get to jigging. The one above was the best we saw all day but we ended up landing a few more and they all had some beautiful colours. Even managed a brookie.
Thanks for reading,
Ben
In terms of weather this past Sunday (the 29th) was the kind of day on the ice that I dream about. It was sunny, warm, no real wind and hard packed snow - hell, it barely even mattered if the fish were biting! I've spent the winter targeting eyes and lakers ... but such a gorgeous day warranted something new - Rainbows!!
Two friends and I packed our gear and were on the water by 9am to embrace some sweater weather. Now i'm not experienced in targeting trout other than lakers and splake (which i target the same way) so we weren't sure about depth, or the required structure (ie on the weed beds or in the rocks ??). We started by drilling one hole each, three holes, (manually) which varied from roughly 8-18 ft of water. No luck for the first hour and half. Drilled two more holes at what we figured would be the 10-12ft range - managed to find some vegetation on the bottom which seemed promising so set up camp there and throw some tip ups in the original holes. Hour and half later still nothing. I drill two more holes and my arms are getting sore at this point. I've tried jigs of varying colour and weight with varying plastics, small spoons of varying colour, tossed down a bead head nymph over the weeds and am starting to get a little discouraged. Through all of this one of my friends hasn't moved or re-tied since he first sat down; of course he yells "FISH ON". You can tell this is a nice fish, and just as the head comes through the hole one guy gets his hands in, tries his best, but the line breaks. Well buddy who was holding the rode throws it aside and, moving faster than he's moved in hours, two hand bear scoops a 26" rainbow out of the hole.
- 20150329_124222.jpg (838.85 KiB) Viewed 5445 times
This certainly gets all three of us excited. We all switch back to jigs with plastics that have been soaked in gulp and get to jigging. The one above was the best we saw all day but we ended up landing a few more and they all had some beautiful colours. Even managed a brookie.
Thanks for reading,
Ben
- IMG_0559.jpg (70.51 KiB) Viewed 5445 times
- Capture.JPG (30.88 KiB) Viewed 5445 times
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