Fishing Report (12/23/2011 @ 11:00-4:45) - Wayzata Bay

Got out again for a good portion of the day today. Started on Gray's but was quickly in nothing but perch again and got tired of wasting minnows so I hopped the causeway and went over to Wayzata Bay. Had enough ice to walk everywhere I went, and I saw people walking/fishing around a good majority of the bay, including over by the Yatch club landing. The ice was a bit spotty though. I was on 8+" in one spot, then less then 6" in another. Never saw anything under 4-5", but as I said, it was definitely spotty.

Managed to get a fish worth mentioning finally. Pulled in this ~30" northern around 1:00. Saw another one on the sonar (and could see him down the hole) but he wouldn't bite not matter what was thrown at him. Was fishing in about 12' when I saw the northerns, later moved a bit deeper (As deep as 34') but never had much luck.

This guy gave me quite a run for my money. As soon as he hit, he snapped the tape that was on my reel (The tape that comes standard on a Frabill straight-line combo) so be weary of that happening to yourself if you hook into a nice fish. Spent the entire 5:00 fight holding the reel onto the rod with one hand, while trying to reel with the other.

With that being said, I don't think I've ever had so much fun pulling in a pig northern like this on the ice as I did with that straight line combo. The 1:1 gear ratio, and the fact that the fish can literally take a dive and spin the reel right out of your grip makes the fight an absolute blast. I've had a few issues with tangles so far, but I think that's mostly because I was trying to reel the line out backwards rather than just pull it out like normal fly fisherman do. Since switching to the pull-only method, everything's been just dandy. I really recommend grabbing one of these rods if you haven't already, or at least a fly reel. I saw a decent looking one at Dick's the other day for only $20 that I might go grab if it's any comparison.

Aside from the one fish, I spent most of the day hole hopping and trying to find something steady. I was marking fish every 15 minutes or so, but I couldn't get any of them to commit for the life of me. Also had more than one school of perch move in on me.

I'm hoping I'll be able to give the other end of Wayzata a try next. Probably not tomorrow since I have a family get-together, but maybe on Christmas day.

Still working on perfecting the video making, as I screwed up the audio again and the angle of the video is pretty bad, but literally as I hit RECORD the fish nailed my bait, really wish I would've got the audio of my reaction :/

Video of the fight with the Northern. Comes through the ice first @ 4:14