Not much ice fishing in January for me, with only two ice outings done all month. Finally got back out with my 13 year old son Zev to kick off February. Target species were stocked brook trout. A number of lakes in various regions in Quebec get stocked a few times per year, with various organizations running the stocking programs, which are often tied in with local derbies.
After one such derby on Saturday, my son headed up to fish the lake on Monday, hoping to find some of the trout that managed to avoid getting caught during the derby.
We got onto the lake in question by mid morning. Second hole I drilled produced back to back brook trout for Zev and I.
We then made our way around the area of the lake, drilling and fishing until we ran into a bunch of schooling brook trout in the 14th hole I drilled. Zev managed to pull 8 of 12 trout out of that hole over the next 1/2 hour or so, while I got a few more brook trout out of other holes nearby.
Most of Zev's hit on a small Kastmaster spoon tipped with a mealworm, while I landed a few on a small lipless crankbait. Big surprise was their avoidance of worms still fished on our secondary rods, only one brook trout landed on still fished worms all day.
Weather was amazing, sunny, no wind, and it warmed up nicely enough for us to shed out coats and sweaters for a while.
Unfortunately, we were not able to get to two bag limits, as the last 20 holes I drilled didn't produce a single fish. As well, the brook trout that got stocked were significantly smaller than I have caught there in previous years. That being said, free is free, and beggars can't be choosy.
Looks like we'll be eating well once I'm done cleaning these.
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