Ice, Ice baby!

ICE, it is THE story amongst fisherman in the north country every spring.  The big question, is it out yet? Well, no...unfortunately, not even close.  However, two positive ingredients are finally on the way:  warmer weather and rain.  Those two elements will deteriorate the ice rather quickly.  According to forecasts, highs this week in the Sandy Lake/Big Hook area will be hovering in the 50's and overnight lows will finally hold above the freezing mark.

A historically cold and snowy winter in NW Ontario caused ice to reach 36+" on many bodies of water.  Coupled with a cool spring, the ice is certainly taking it's time to melt.  Fortunately, the majority of the snow has melted in the bush causing a decent run off.  Photo'd right is a pic along the shoreline at Eagle Lake.  As you can see the ice is still tight to the shore and after a quick stroll across the bay, I estimate about 8-12" of ice still exists.  In the past, ice out on Eagle Lake translated to ice out at Big Hook (250 miles north) about 4-5 days later.

Everyone here at Big Hook is excited and anxious to get the 2014 season underway.  The family here has a bet on when the ice will disappear at Central and throughout the Opasquia Park.  My guess (May 23), Dad (May 24), and Mom (May 20).  I am wishing and hoping to pick up the airplane (good ole XZK) from Winnipeg by next week.  My fingers are crossed that Mother Nature will cooperate and send us some tropical weather over the next couple days.  I'll keep posting photo's and updates as the ice diminishes.

Good luck to those of you who have open water.
-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

Anxious For "Spring."

Weather Woes 

Here in the greater Green Bay area we have witnessed only a small glimpse of spring since March 20th.  The snow is melting, robins have been spotted along with flocks of sandhill cranes and fisherman have been begun bobbing along the Fox River.  However, "spring" is a ways off in NW Ontario.  Just yesterday most of the area was blasted with a massive blizzard.  35-47 cm of snow (10-16 inches)  blanketed an already buried region.  Highways from Winnipeg all the way to Thunder Bay shut down due to the ferocity of this weather system.  

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for NW Ontario as temperatures look to finally creep above the freezing mark. Beginning Thursday temperatures in the Sandy Lake area will be around 37 F.  These warmer temperatures will ensure a massive amount of snow melt and should create high waters for fisherman this spring.

Last spring Big Hook dealt with the highest water in recent memory.  However, within weeks the waters subsided and returned to normalcy.  The gushing rapids created some exciting spring time fishing for anglers.  Walleyes, suckers and pike all flocked to the massive rushing waters for weeks and created some great memories for fisherman.

New tackle for 2014 

Every winter during the sport shows I comb the isles for a new lure to test in the Big Hook waters.  The Echotail from Vibrations Tackle is a fresh addition to my tackle box for the 2014 season.  This blade bait looks like an amazing lure to persuade walleye. These baits are similar to Zip lures, however Echotails are extremely versatile with interchangeable tails. This unique feature provides fisherman the ability to create their own infinite color combinations.  

I am counting down the days to open water.  Hopefully within six weeks I'll be landing the ole 185 on Central Lake.  In the meantime, those of you who have open water....good luck on the water and keep wishing for warmer weather. 

-Nathan 

www.bighookcamps.com 

Ice Road 2014

Dad and I have returned back to the USA for our final round of sport shows.  We are extremely grateful
to be navigating smooth highways after traversing approximately 4517 moguls scattered throughout the winter highway. Posted below is a link to a short video of our winter road travels to Sandy Lake.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t9o915jRSw

Each ride to Sandy Lake and back usually surprises you with numerous unforeseeable challenges.  The first leg of our journey this year was a unique run.  Starting out from Red Lake at 3 am we slowly plodded along the bumpy winding 356 kms to Sandy.  We quickly found out dragging two loaded trailers over the bumpy winter highway proved too much for the straps securing our goods.  Just one hour into the drive we had already busted 4 ratchet straps (so much for the Home Depot special, 8 straps for 18 bucks).  After an adjustment to heavier straps we were well on our snails pace crawl.

Several hours down the road we encountered an extremely slow and rough patch that caused the load in one of the trailer to pitch forward and blow out the front wall.  Stacked in front of the lumber was our reserve fuel (5 jugs) and a case of 10W-30.  Since we drive the majority of the road in the evening it was impossible to tell which bump destroyed the trailer and where our fuel was scattered.  Surely, one of the passing cars we encountered accepted some gifted fuel and we had to accept an unfortunate loss.

In the final 40 kms (24 miles) of our journey, several more incidents occurred.  The metal bands on a ton of lumber broke, scattering 2x6x10 treated wood down the icy road.  Shortly thereafter, a mogul caused that same trailer to jump the hitch.  No problem, an easy fix until we realized the trailer jack was located next to the fuel and oil we lost hours prior.  After digging out a tire jack from one of the trucks we were again rolling.  Not thirty minutes later Dad was on the CB claiming he was hearing a grinding noise.  Sure enough, a strap gave way and a boat we had secured to the top of a trailer was being drug along.  Once again we stopped put on our layers of clothes since it was -37 out and struggled the boat back onto the trailer.

After a 13 hours, we crept into Sandy Lake.  One truck was running on fumes and we were delighted to see a gas station, even with gas costing $7.50 a gallon.  We unloaded our goods the next day and began back down the road.  Taking a chance, we stopped to chat with some crew members doing some routine maintenance on the highway and casually asked if they had seen any fuel jugs scattered along the road.  To our delightment they produced five jugs of gas and a case of motor oil from their trailer.  That put a smile on our faces for the remainder of the drive back to Red Lake.

Stop by the NE Wisconsin Sport Show or the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Show to hear more of our winter road stories.  Looking forward to seeing the looooooong winter end and getting on some open water.
-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

The ice road cometh.

The Ice Highway 

The winter road to Sandy Lake is open for business, and has been for several weeks now.  As you are well aware, most of the north has been experiencing frigid temperatures this winter; the Sandy Lake area has been no different.  Arctic air began hammering NW Ontario in early December and has not relinquished its frosty grip.  Temperatures (not including wind chill) have dipped as low as -42 degrees F. 

Snow accumulation has been minimal due to such cold temperatures.  Little snow and plenty of cold results in ample amount of ice for the winter road.  A minimum of 22" of ice is necessary for transport operation on the winter highway to Sandy Lake. One of the latest reports had most lakes with 30+" of ice.  Thus, semi's full of fuel and building supplies have been shuttling to the remote communities since mid January.  Word is, the ice road is in terrific shape and transport times have been quicker than most years. 

Dad and I are planning our yearly endeavour up the ice highway next week.  Eight new yamaha four strokes, building supplies and propane are just some of the items we are planning on transporting to Sandy Lake.  As usual, I'll bring along the trusty video camera to hopefully capture some entertaining footage.  

Tinely Park Show

Big Hook will be in the greater Chicago area.  Stop by to visit Heidi and I at Tinely Park High School this weekend (Feb 8 & 9).  Visit this link for more show information: www.tinleyparkfishingshow.com/ .  We hope to see you there. 

Good luck on the ice or open water (if you are lucky enough to have some) this winter. 

-Nathan

www.bighookcamps.com