Today turned into my best day ice fishing Tyee Lake to date.
We were planning on a quick fishing trip to Ten Mile lake this morning, when I got an invite to go to Tyee from Kevin. I had bought some mealworms from Reg earlier last night in preparation for Ten Mile, but I was swayed into wanting to go to Tyee (it doesn’t take much).
After conversation with Sarah, I decided to join the guys on Tyee Lake (last night at 22:30) and try a new spot that I’ve never ice fished before.
I was very excited to be joining a group of seasoned anglers who enjoy each other’s company. There were 8 of us all together and we arrived shortly after 8am this morning. After setting up the tent, I was able to use Reg’s power auger to drill thru the 2ft of ice below me. I have been spoiled twice now with this auger and I’m seriously debated getting one or getting a 4 inch auger, whichever is cheaper (or on sale).
My Big Buddy heater started right away today which was an added bonus to keep the chill out of the air until it ran of propane. I knew I was most likely going to be running out of propane this trip, but I was alright with it because I knew the day was going to be warm. What I learned from this was my 5lb propane tank lasted at least 5 trips with an average of 3 hours of fishing time each trip. This will be my baseline for next year. I will be more diligent keeping my tank full in colder weather.
We started fishing around 845-9am and kokanee were marking everywhere on my fish finder when I was at the current depth they were at. I worked my presentation up and down in the water column and was hooking kokanee anywhere from 20ft down to 35ft. It was crazy to not see anything on my fish finder because I knew they were around. As I spent a few minutes at each depth, kokanee would appear on the screen and it was game on.
I mainly fished my silver Gibbs Gator Spoon that worked well for me last time at Tyee. This time I straightened out the top of the spoon and bent the bottom of the spoon at a more drastic curve. I started with mealworms only, but after about a half hour of no bites I switched to a Shrimp/garlic corn and one mealworm. I placed the corn on the jig first and then the mealworm. The mealworm added more action to the jig as it made the jig twirl when jigged.
By 11am, I had 5 kokanee on the ice, had missed many bites and lost a few kokanee at the hole. All of a sudden, the schools of kokanee were gone as quick as they came. We spent the next two and a half hours taking short breaks and waiting for the kokanee to come back. We tried to catch the few stragglers that did swim by, but had no luck. The bite had turned off.
By 13:00, some of the guys were starting leave. I was bound and determined to catch my limit. I was the only guy left on the ice at 13:30, but then something magical happened. At 13:35, I could still hear the last ice sled of our group being drug away and all of a sudden the schools of kokanee came back around. There were aggressive kokanee at all depths. I had never seen my fish finder light up with fish like this before. I managed to get 2 more kokanee on the ice and lost quite a few others. I also missed many bites. My last kokanee of the day, number 8, was the largest kokanee I have ever caught at Tyee. I had changed my jig out for a Gamakatsu hook with a split shot placed close to the eye of the hook. This setup proved deadly as I was able to hook this monster and enjoy the fight. He went kokanee crazy and was rolling and swimming up fast in the water column. I had a hard time keeping the line tight as it quickly swam up from 50ft.
Tyee lake is a naturally reproducing lake. This lake is one of my favorite kokanee lakes (of course I have at least 5 kokanee lakes that are on my top 5 list). Thankfully there is plenty of lake and fish to go around for the people who showed up today. I will be back for sure. Hopefully sooner than later.