My weekend with the wild bunch

[jigglestick]

March 26th 2012

Thinking that my 2012 ice fishing season was once again, over prematurely, I was contemplating putting my gear away. then the phone rang.

It was Don Lincoln, from Wilcraft. he asked how the ice was. I told him that I was done, the ice was done. he laughed and asked if I had bunk space for he and a couple associates for the upcoming weekend...I don't know, let me check my calendar...oh yes, I think I can squeeze you in.

Thursday afternoon, they rolled into town. I met them in Deer River and escorted them out to Camp Jigglestick summer quarters. Don was very eager to check out the landings at various area lakes to get a feel for what the conditions were.

First stop was Little Ball Club Lake, which looked to be do-able, but with plenty of daylight left, we ventured on to Cutfoot Souix near Williams Narrows to find that do-able as well. We then made our way to Big Winnie, off of Bowens Rd and decided to put in...or on...or well a little of both.

To our surprise there were a couple of fellows walking in off the ice, claiming that the ice was "done...to iffy". "this was the end".Those are words, Don, Tom,(owner and creator of Wilcraft) and Scott (from Canvas by the stitch) love to hear.

We fired up the machines and made our way onto the rather solid sheet of ice, still then, 12 inches thick or so.

Catching just a few fish before the rain set in, we bunched it and headed for the barn, agreeing to meet early the following morning for my first real taste of Wilcraft adventure.

We chose the smaller lakes for the first day of our adventure knowing that conditions were deteriorating rapidly, feeling that Winnie would hold on for another day or two.

Joined by Bill Powell from Fred's Bait of Deer River, getting to this back woods lake where I had gotten on a good bite of nice crappies just a week earlier, We were greeted by open water as far as the dense fog would allow us to see. As the fog lifted slightly, I could see the edge of the ice sheet.

Don and Scott went out with one machine to see if the ice was firm enough to climb up onto, and it was, barely.

they came back to shore.

The crew readied the other machines and we headed out.

Interesting I have to say for my first outing. It is indeed an experience.

I have been out in boats several times, while there is still ice on the lakes, bumping into the ice and breaking icebergs off, just goofing around, but to actually get as close to rotten ice and actually be able to climb up onto it was quite remarkable. you can learn a lot by seeing the ice first hand and how it reacts.

We were on ice that would not support the weight of a person, were he/she standing on it, yet it not only held two men in a machine and their gear, but we punched holes and fished...AND CAUGHT FISH!

Moving around and testing the ice we found the ice on the first lake had two different stages of ice. The ice that would support us was 3 1/2 inches or so, and grey. the ice that would not was basically black and slush. getting to the exact spot to where we wanted to fish was do-able but we would have been fishing in open water and we wanted to drill holes, so...we made an adjustment to another nearby lake in hopes of some slab crappies.

The next lake looked much better when in fact it was not. the only thing it had going for it was that it was more consistant in measure and condition. when we got out on the ice, it was porous. As we traveled about, water would come up through the ice and as we moved forth the water would go back down.

Some areas we would stop and the water would come up quickly as the ice sheet would sag and we would be sitting in 4-6 inches of water right away. Some places the water would barely come up. In all places, we would here the ice crinkle as we moved. I have to say after I got used to the idea, it was quite fun, especially knowing we were going to be the last ones on that lake for the winter period.

It took to waiting for dusk before the crappies showed up but it was well worth the wait as we finnished off the evening with a dozen slab crappies that went at and over a pound.

Saturday was a new day and a new adventure.

Remember we stacked the deck? I figured the ice would hold out longer on Winnie simply because it was a bigger lake with better ice on thursday.

Our plan "A" was Tamarack point public landing. Rick from Highbanks had found a great bite for jumbo perch in 6 feet of water. He had taken the Airboat out from the resort which had open water now at their landing, out to this location with Mike O'Reiley from Northland Lodge to get on some of these fish.

Our plan "A" was not to be. there were a couple hundred yards of icebergs broken and floating and though it might have been do-able, it looked to pose more problems than necessary.

Plan "B" was to put on where we had gotten on on Thursday and come south across the lake. Crossing the dam on the way, I remembered the landing on Plughat Point, so I raced in there to look and found it in what seemed to me to be in good (enough) shape for the Wilcrafts.

Landing there we had a full house.

This day, joined by Greg Clusiau, Michael thompson, and my son Andrew, there were three machines, two with two passengers each, and one with three. After chugging through the thinner junky ice, we mannaged to get all three on top and across Tamarac bay we went. Again, in the fog, it took us a bit to find Rick, but once we did, we found that in an hour he had filled his limit of big jumbos.

We were soon to do the same.

I will let the pictures show the rest of the story. It was a great adventure and one we will all remember for a long time.

My thanks to Don, Tom, Scott and WIlcraft,for a great weekend of ice fishing, at a time when once again, mother nature has shorted us of some of the best ice fishing time of the year, late March and early April.

This time, Wilcraft gave us the upper hand in mother natures adverse behavior.

[Scupper]

Thanks for sharing Dave. Very adventurous.

Scott

[fivebucks]

That would have been a blast. Nice story!

[Cyberfish]

Great post Jiggle stick! Nice to meet you and your son!

I had a great time. the big one finally bit at the end for me, good way to end the ice season!!

[Rippinlip]

Very nice story line and great way to end the season.

[crappiekid]

wow im jealous! I wish i could afford the wilcraft for the times that we can get in that are risky like this! thanks a great post!!

[McGurk]

How do the JWheelz work for you guys? Any difference in snow or are they simply more paddles for the water?

[jigglestick]

the JWheelz were a big help in the slush and climbing up on the ice. the trickiest part about climbing up was getting a good enough grip on the sheet to pull the machine on top. the jWheelz deffinately helped with grip and an added 150 pounds of floatation. with just one guy in the machine it wasn't as big a deal but with two or three it definately helped...IMHO

[Desperado]

The RED Wilcraft (in these photos) has J-Wheelz; I agree with Jiggle's evaluation of them.

On the BLACK Wilcraft (in these photos) we have what is called "track wheels"

- I think they work better than J-wheelz for grabbing the edge of the ice and "jumping" out of the water onto the ice (instead of "climbing" out of the water onto the ice)

- I also think they work better than J-wheelz in snow.

- They paddle along in the water about the same as J-wheelz

- J-wheelz do still give ya additional flotation