Last Updated: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:22 AM CST
Outdoors : Lake Trout on Big Green Lake
by Mark Walters - Columnist
(An Outdoorsman's Journal) - Hello friends.
About five years ago I received a phone call from an outdoorsman named Randy Norton. Randy had been reading this column in “The Green Lake County Reporter” for several years and was looking for information on how to fish Waubay Lake in South Dakota.
I told Randy Norton who lives near Green Lake, everything I knew about Waubay and when Randy returned from a very successful adventure, he invited me to come fish Big Green Lake with him. This past week I returned to Big Green Lake for a two-day outing with Randy Norton and had a good time doing it.
Monday, February 4
High 30, low 28
My knowledge of fishing for lake trout through the ice is limited, so this two-day experience would be educational as well as fun.
The Norton family has a long tradition of harvesting, or helping harvest, lake trout from Big Green that dates back to the 1930's. To start things off, today Randy and I would fish out of an 8x16 foot shack that is owned by Randy's cousin, Mike Norton. Mike Norton has several fish houses on Big Green and rents them out to fishermen by the day.
I said earlier that I know very little about this sport and those were my thoughts as I dropped a 3/8 ounce jig down a hole that was baited with a piece of cut bait. When it hit the bottom about 123-feet later, I had a hit almost instantly.
I missed that trout but felt pretty good about upcoming events as Randy Norton and I sat in a shack watching Vexilars, jigging for trout and thinking about all of the positive experiences that have been had in the fish house we were fishing out of.
I think it was my third bite before I got a good hook set and connected on my first trout.
When that first trout that weighed maybe 3-pounds hit the shack floor the pressure was off as the skunk was out the door.
I was using Randy's favorite rod and reel combo which is a Quantum bait casting reel that has Power Pro line on it and was on a medium-heavy, action rod.
Our morning was nonstop in your face action in one-way or another. First, it was almost constant trout on the screens of our Vexilars. Second, was getting hit by another snowstorm that forced an early decision for us. Last but not least, came when “Otter” which is Randy's eight-month-old black lab, ate a minnow. The problem with “Otter” eating a minnow was that the minnow was on a hook that was attached to a fishing pole.
Randy Norton called his vet and was told that since it was a very small hook he should have the dog rest and then give Otter a good dose of mineral oil and hope the hook passes.
We caught five trout, of which three were keepers (over 17-inches) and then began the next phase of our adventure.
Randy Norton has his own shack placed over an underwater island that was about 20-feet below the surface and surrounded by deep water. Our plan was to set out tip ups for northern pike and walleye. At dark, Randy would head home and I would spend the night on the ice in Randy's shack, with my dog Ice.
To be perfectly honest we did not have any action when it came to catching fish. At dark I gave Randy a ride to shore, via his Honda four-wheeler.
Even though I own a snowmobile, I have very little experience driving a 4-wheeler and had to have Randy show me how to operate it. When I hit the big time, I will buy one.
Ice and I spent an excellent evening on the ice, even though I did not catch any fish. Randy Norton's ice shack has a woodstove in it and I literally had a cabin on the hard water.
I cooked a Porterhouse steak from a homegrown steer and had almost a pound of asparagus that I grew in my garden last spring.
The next morning, Randy Norton was on the ice at sunrise, I would later find out that Otter had passed the hook and all was well in our world.
The walleye and northern pike bite was non-existent so we headed over to trout water, caught three keepers and then said goodbye until another outdoor experience has us crossing paths once again.
Set the hook!
Sunset
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