Success or No Success?
That is the question.
Today was another fun learning experience with the family. We (or maybe I) had planned to fish Puntchesakut lake this winter for kokanee. After a quick trip on open water in the spring of 2021, I marked many fish on my Garmin, but only caught one small kokanee. I noticed the water color of Puntchesakut was very similar to Mcleese lake last spring. The water was a tea stained brown color and I also thought I had caught the tail end of the lake turning. Unfortunately, I was not able to return to the lake until today with my very patient family.
Our adventure started with a slow moving household in the morning. I believe it was a glimpse into the future of what having teenagers will be like. To help with the wake up call, I decided to turn on our portable Bose speaker and play some music. Country music did not seem to be working, so I had to step up my game and turn to a top 100 playlist. We took our time with a great breakfast of eggs, ham and sausages to help get us ready for the day soon to come.
A fishing road trip never seems complete without a coffee and tea for the drive. We swung into McDonald’s and picked up our drinks for the drive. Next, we stopped in at Rocky’s for some candy bags and to check out their great selection of fishing supplies and mealworms. I’ll be the first to admit, I have a gear fetish and almost bought a great looking Gibbs Delta Tackle ice flasher. Thankfully, I was able to pry myself away from the tackle isle and off we went.
The drive from Rocky’s to the Puntchesakut day use parking lot took about 30 minutes. While the snow covered trees were a sight to see, the roads were just as white which made the drive interesting as I waiting in anticipation for our truck to loose control on the ice beneath our tires. I even started questioning if there was a shortage of sand in the area (which is highly unlikely). Upon our arrival, the parking lot was not plowed, but had recently been done which allowed us to enter the vacant lot in four wheel drive. My main concern with this new fishery is lake access in the winter. Like Purden Lake, there is no cell reception at the lake, so if we got stuck we would be hiking to the closest residence hoping someone could help us.
We decided to park the truck on the main “road” in the parking lot as we were plowing snow with our front bumper and I did not want to get stuck. We would later watch two other vehicles come and go. One truck even had people get out, come onto the lake as if they were going to fish with all their gear and then they left. I was hoping to help if they needed, but they left just as quick as they arrived.
Once our ice sled was loaded and ready to go, we stopped at the lake edge and pulled out my lake map I printed and studied from Angler’s Atlas the night before. We also had a small family safety meeting before venturing out on the lake to reminder everyone to spread out while walking until we determined the ice thickness.
Every test hole revealed close to the same results which kept us feeling safe. There was 6 inches of soft slush/snow ice. Then, the good ice was measured to be about 8 inches in most locations. My plan was to walk out 250-500ft. I kept reminding everyone that they might “fall” through the softer slush/snow ice layer that remained fairly stable. I told them not to panic if they broke though. Well, guess who fell through and panicked?
While my ice sled was plowing snow, I kept pulling it with some force (and while leaning forward) between test holes. Then it happened!!! I fell through the top layer. It happened so fast and without any notice or sign it was about to happen. I lost my balance and in a split second I lost my mind. The feeling of going for a swim in cold water and an outside temperature of -17 degree Celsius did not appeal to me. It took a few minutes for my heart rate to come down. Then, my family kindly reminded me that I did what I said not too. Funny how that works.
This change in the ice conditions was the wall on our path that I was not willing to have my family climb. The plan in these cases is to back track to a more stable location and set up base camp for the day. Simply put, wet feet can ruin a fishing trip quicker than cold outside temperatures.
I pulled out my range finder I had brought with me and measured our distance from shore. The boys also found it fun to acquire the distance of 95 yards (285 feet) from shore with the help of my range finder.
Setting up camp has become a methodical process. First, I always setup the tent to get us out of the wind. Second, I get the buddy heater going. Third, drill holes and setup our fishing area. Fourth, setup the fish finder and fishing rods. Fifth, get lunch cooking.
We started fishing by 10am and luck would prove to not be on our side. We spent the next two and a half hours watching the odd fish go by which may or may not have been some coarse fish that reside in the lake. Austin, the fish whisperer, caught the first and only fish of the trip. He reeled in one of the smallest rainbows I’ve seen caught in a while. It was so small that it made our 4 inch auger hole look big.
Just when I was loosing hope in the kokanee of Puntchesakut Lake, a school of fish started swimming by our gear. The lake has been stocked for 3 years now. The first two years there were a total of 33,500 kokanee stocked. I was hoping the fish were going to remain thick for the rest of the day. They had finally swam around the lake and this was going to be it. Sadly, the fun lasted an hour and then the finder went dead again. We had lots of “nibbles,” but that was it. The only thing I could think of was that we had a smaller age class of kokanee on us. They must have been the ones stocked in the spring on 2021.
While the day did not go the way I had hoped, I enjoyed every minute with my family. We marked our location with a larger stick we found on shore. Due to the color of the lake water, the boys had fun being boys and covered their mountain of snow with water. The hill of snow was yellow which they quickly named “pee mountain.” Next time (if there is a next time this season) I will try to the right of this marker. I do believe the kokanee in Puntchesakut Lake have the potential to grow into great sized kokanee like those in Mcleese Lake. I am hopeful that this fishery will become popular in both the summer and winter. The potential of having another productive kokanee lake so close to home is exciting.