Trout Whisperer posted on February 12, 2010 10:19 :: 3365 Views
Ice Fishing for Lake Trout - Full Moon Fever
People, I have been told can act kinda weird during the full moon. The Full moon has been linked to crime, accidents, fertility, and werewolves, among other things. Some people even follow the solunar tables to try and of all things just catch a fish. I mean, can you imagine if a lunar moon table told fish when to bite and when not to?
I didn’t bother with what the whole big round faced moon was up to so once, on the ice, when our spot where nobody ever sets up is packed with portable fish shelters, snowmobiles and as I live and breath a small volleyball net with a shoveled out court I just thought, Only in Minnesota, only in winter do you never really know what’s gonna happen.
So we go pick another spot on the lake and hope for the best. Right off the bat a conservation officer snowmobiles up to us just to make sure we have the right amount of some stuff like licenses and not to much of other stuff like to many lines. Once he was satisfied we set to drilling holes with just one auger and at least I think that’s still legal.
The baits dropped slowly into the clearest water you can imagine and red dashes on the vex screens soared up to get our lake trout offerings dropping into unbelievable depths. But the fish don’t bite. Odd fish for sure. Hmmm. After about four lure changes we start to actually catch fish.
After 22 perch, you don’t generally expect a lake trout, but that’s what the very next fish through the ice was. Then we started to catch smelt. After the smelt passed through it was all over so we packed up and headed for shore. Right then I figured with this kind of day rod serling was going to pop out of a snow bank, and if he would have, I wouldn’t have been too surprised.
We had every intention of catching lake trout. Matter of fact, lake trout, was the first fish of choice when we started the day and in the end we got one. It was a nice trout to be sure, and we sure wished we would have gotten some more, but when the lake gives you big green perch, you take perch. And if the same lake gives you smelt for appetizers well I say take them too.
The weather man predicted snow. It didn’t snow all day. A great big lake trout was caught on one very small panfish jig and the big ol baits we brought for lake trout actually started off catching 14 inch perch. Then we switched baits and lures to quit catching perch and to just catch lunker Lakers only to haul in smelt on minnows of at least a third there size.
Some days don’t make sense, but you end of with fillets anyhow so it pays to keep an open mind with respect to what you will or will not hang on the end of your stringer. I mean who knows, maybe this week all of nature WAS under the influence of the full moon.
The trout whisperer
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