Working thru the blizzard

They say that timing is everything, and this past week that was certainly true. I had some clients arrive from Minneapolis Tuesday morning ready for an ice-fishing adventure. By the time we got them settled into their rooms and purchased licences the temp. was already plummeting, and the wind was gaining momentum. Wanting to start things out right, I decided to make use of my wheeled fish houses that I had recently re-located to an island shelf and adjacent open-water hump, about 10km SW on Lake of the Woods via ice road from Kenora, ON. Action was immediate with some nice walleyes coming in small schools to feed around the rock structure. Walleyes of varying size were caught, most on Northland buckshot spoons tipped with a minnow head, with a beautiful 26 1/2" fish topping the day. In the warmth of the houses it was easy to forget that it was near whiteout conditions outside, but the threat of getting drifted in kept me busy driving between the houses keeping an open track.
Day 2 started out right where the first day ended. Wind chills had the temp. pushing the -35oC mark but the action was going strong in at the fish houses. No real big one this day, but a bunch of quality walleyes in the 20" to 23" range. The day was capped off when one of the tip-ups I had set went off and Scott got the thrill of hand lining a 40" northern pike which he handed to Ben for a few quick pics before we released this beautiful giant.
Day 3 was still bitter cold but the wind had finally let up. After a quick stop back at the fish houses to catch the early morning bite, I led the guys into a clearer water area of the lake. Setting up a couple of Otter portable shelters off a steep breaking shoreline we settled in waiting for a Lake trout to cruise through the area. With no action for about an hour we took a quick break for some BBQ burgers and got back to the warmth of the shelters. Almost immediately I hooked into a good fish and quickly handed the rod off to Brad who was fishing beside me in the Otter. After a good 5 min battle, Brad landed a nice 12lb trout. Scott had a good fish on but lost it shortly after, but our time was up and the guys had to return to Minneapolis.
Although the timing couldn't have been worse weather-wise, we made the best of our time and had a fun couple days of fishing.