Driving up after our Thanksgiving meal, Andy Gothe and myself were hoping that Vermilion had stayed open and that there was no ice on the lake in hopes of getting one more Musky on the year. We arrived around 10 that night and went down to the dock and noticed that we had open water! But we could see from the moon light what looked like ice 100 yards off from shore, we would have to investigate in the morning. We got up early and we went out in the boat to the ice. It was about 80 yards long, and if we got through it somehow, we would be able to get out into the main lake and fish. After an hour or so of hard work breaking through layers of ice, we made a canal with chisels through the ice sheet and into the main lake. Check out the photo, and also the video of us driving through the Canal we made into the main lake!
As we got out onto the lake, we were already feeling pretty good about ourselves with just getting out to the main lake through the ice. We started casting a rocky point that dumps into deeper water, and with the temperature at about 40 degrees, we were lucky to be able to cast and maintain our warmth. After doing lots casting mixed in with some trolling it was getting close to dark with nothing to show for our efforts...yet. We decided to go back to that same rocky point we started on to finish up the night. With it now basically dark, we said lets finish up the drift and head in, as we got to the end, we said alright time for the infamous "last cast." Andy reeled in his Pounder, and I was reeling in my DoubleDawg when all of a sudden something crushed my bait boatside. "Dude, I got one!" He didn't beleive me, but then he turned and it was obvious that I had one when it was thrashing around right at the boat. After a short fight he netted the fish, and it was an awesome feeling after all that hard work, and fishing all day in the cold. When holding it for pictures I could believe how heavy it was, I knew it wasn't a long fish, but after eating Tullibees all fall, it was defiantly a fatty! A 45 inch is a big fish for many people, but when you throw a 22 inch girth on a fish like that, it looks a LOT bigger! What a great way to end 2011, I can only dream of getting back out there in 2012