First Ice Fishing 2013/2014

After testing out the gear early this week, two fishing friends, Tommy and Josh teamed up with me to drive to Lake Metigoshe right on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota. There is only a tiny portion of this large water body actually in Manitoba but we had heard rumours of potentially large bluegills on the Canadian side. Thursday morning we headed out well before daylight, driving nearly 2 1/2 hours to find ourselves looking for ice access. We easily found a boat ramp but that offered very limited hard water access by truck and only having one vehicle we had no intention of spending precious fishing time shovelling out a stuck truck. As we circled the portion of the lake in Canadian waters we could see several permanent ice shacks on the ice but not where they were taken on. Rather than waste time we headed back to the boat ramp and loaded our gear into our sleds.

This was for me a much simpler process than we had experienced in the last 2 years, we had just sold our large heavy super powerful Eskimo Z71 auger to Tommy so it was his job to haul that beast around, we had bought the new Ion electric ice auger, very light, very powerful and no stress. During our gear test Tuesday Tommy had his nine year old sister with us and she effortlessly drilled a hole through 18" of ice with the Ion. We drilled 30 holes with the Ion electric in -20 C during the test so it performs.

So heading out we had to head around the tip of an island, as we rounded the tip I noticed a large bed of reeds extending well out from the shoreline which was directly opposite a bay. I thought this would be a likely spot so Tommy, eager to play with his new auger fired up the beast (effortless for a spry 21 year old) and drilled a dozen test holes while Josh and I started dropping transducers to see what depth we had and if any fish showed up. We were laughing immediately, fish marks in all holes, we spread out in three different depths to see what depth they were active at. Very quickly Josh nailed a 9.5" bluegill, very excited this young man was (all these guys are young compared to me LOL) as this was his first ever bluegill in 14 trips trying for them, not only did he catch one, it was a Master Angler quality. Tommy then moved out from the shallowest depth to a hole in the same range as Josh, minutes later he landed another Master Angler, our decision was easy from there. We drilled holes on each side of Josh and set up my six man shelter.

Once we were in and organized Josh immediately nailed two more before I got one, I then quickly caught two more and then Tommy got into them. The pattern seemed to be they would circle around coming past us from East to West, I then caught a small snot rocket (Northern Pike) and much to Josh's chagrin threw it back down the hole. He swore I would not get another fish out of that hole - I laughed at him and then immediately hooked up....my HT light action rod was bent over hard and the drag was screaming as I played a beauty...Josh moved my transducer and helped me land a massive 10.5 inch Bluegill that measured better than five inches top to belly...so much for not getting another fish out of that hole I laughed back at Josh...

The afternoon continued with sporadic but thrilling action as the bluegills were very present but not in a feeding frenzy, every hook set was earned by paying careful to our flashers, our rod tips and even the line itself... we learned a few things as well...short shanked jigs out fished regular jigs about 2 -1, as dusk approached glow jigs provoked aggressive strikes and an ultralight rod with a strong backbone is essential to picking up the soft bite...I thought several times how much Doug and Rebel would enjoy this trip. All three of us are now planning a "family trip" with our significant others as all three ladies are avid fisher girls as well...

All in all a great first trip and each trip after will be made in great comfort as Noah is giving me this for Christmas, I am spoiled....

The HT Polar Escape Magnum Shelter is designed for two ice fshermen. This "pull-over" type shelter features a rugged sled, shelter shell that is laced securely to the base sled, two fold-able chair, zippered door, and traveling cover ! The shelter's venting system delivers fresh air to the fisherman.

FEATURES:

• Durable sled base with built-in runners for easy transporting
• Hi-tech pull-over design for easy set-up
• Heavy duty heat absorbing 600 denier material
• 4-way velcro draped window system
• Easily collapses to fit into a car trunk 
• Accommodates four fishing holes for two people
• Includes two fold-able sports chairs, tow rope, and travel cover
• Reflector material on each corner
• Weighs only 85 pounds
• Measures 92" L x 67" W x 65" High Set-Up 

Life should be good on the ice in this bad boy...

Until the next trip,
Geoff

Andrea's Aquarium, Step One

By Andrea Ingalls with Geoff Ingalls

Well after a ton of research, many hours of frustration and driving Geoff crazy, I finally ordered my first sw (saltwater) reef aquarium setup. I decided to go with a Cad Lights 100 gallon Artisan II aquarium. Mine will be in gloss piano black not white.

It is in transit and is scheduled to arrive Dec 27. I found them as I was researching protein skimmers and found some good reviews on the Cad Lights TIA 1220. I liked the fact that it is 1/2" starfire glass (much clearer than regular glass)  with a center overflow (which is what I was looking for) with durso drain with modified herbie style, a 30g sump, refuge light, protein skimmer (went with the upgraded 1220), plumbing, return pump, black cabinet and light hangers. I have read lots of reviews and these systems are supposed to be quite attractive and very quiet. (I know lots of names that make you scratch your head unless you are a reefer)

I have to say that researching saltwater setups and all the various ways to set them up was quite overwhelming for me as I am new in the hobby (only have had freshwater tanks) and just moved to a new area and didn't know anyone who has any sw experience . I knew I wanted a setup with a sump and especially for my first setup I was hoping to find something that already had plumbing etc. I looked at the Red Sea and beside the fact that they are quite expensive, they didn't seem to be very adaptable and I am sure that down the road I would want to have the flexibility to change or expand components. 

My lights have already arrived - I am going with 2 x 120w programmable full spectrum LEDs. 

We went to Winnipeg for a shopping trip on Friday to finish our Christmas shopping and pick up some stuff for my tank. I picked out (Geoff picked up LOL) 80lbs of South Seas base rock (all I could find) and 100lbs of Caribsea Ocean Direct oolite sand. I was hoping to get their special grade but I couldn't find it. I picked up 2 koralias, salt, heaters and a test kit to monitor my tanks cycle. I ordered a refractormeter, it just arrived broken  . I am waiting to see what they say about getting a replacement and I am not sure if it will arrive before I want to get the tank going..... I don't think there is anywhere in the area to buy a hydrometer/refractometer to at least be able to get things up and running, might be another trip to Winnipeg. I still need to get some more stuff and will either take a trip to Winnipeg or try ordering online.   

I will post some pics as soon as I get the system here and setup. 

Butchering our Deer (GRAPHIC IMAGES INCLUDED) and a discussion on terminal ballistics

After hanging for a week, it was time. The doe had hung in our garage with the temp controlled at 3 -4 degrees Celcuis for a week and we were ready to put it in the freezer.

After a quick coffee I donned my nitril gloves (improved grip and some warmth) and set to skinning. We had left the hide on to prevent to much drying of the meat and it worked. Originally I had left it on because when I shot it on the previous Friday it was -25 and closer to -35 with the windchill. I did not want the deer to freeze into a giant deer-cycle before I could get it up in the garage.

The hide was easily removed and then the fun began, as I broke both my hunting knives that I would normally use we bought the Outdoor Edge wild pack with saw and sharpener. It included a fillet/de-boning knife, a caping knife, a gut hook/skinning knife as well as the saw, rib spreader and sharpener. What a great set of knives, there maybe better knives out there but I have never used one, especially considering the whole set was under 80.00 and will fit into my hunt pack. The caping knife is amazing, Andrea essentially butchered the whole deer with this little beauty while I used the skinning knife to remove all the quarters and trim the ribs and neck. She did use the fillet knife to cut a few parts of the very large hind quarters into steaks but that was it, the caping knife was just to handy and easy to control for everything else.

We decided to go with the front shoulder where I shot the deer first, it was full of bloodshot and jellied meat and would be the slowest to "process" so Andrea could find her rhythm (her idea lol).

As can be seen the picture above, there is blood shot meat the whole length of the rib cage, it actually was bloodshot all the way from the base of the skull to the end of the rib cage. I will write about terminal ballistics at the end of the butchering story.

In some ways I had the easy job, all should have been smooth, I was removing the meat from the carcass, Andrea was making the cuts we wanted and Noah was wrapping...After removing the front quarters I went in to see how she was making out and how the wrapping was going - the wrapping was not going!!! Noah was quite sick so the meat was piling up...time for me to pull double duty so away I went. With the front quarters removed we concentrated on getting those cuts in the freezer before they could dry out...After making quick work of the front quarters, the back straps were next - they were beautiful (and taste great too)

Those hind quarters were large and full of wonderful tasty meat, separating and de-boning went quickly, a couple of roasts and then the rest went to steaks with  the majority of the trimmings we made either stew or stir

fry meat from. We actually only had about five pounds of burger meat to grind when we were done. When it was all finished we had 43 lbs of de-boned venison in the freezer, we lost a fair bit from the left side: neck meat, front shoulder and brisket were all affected by the blood shot meat. Not sure how to estimate what the lose would be but we were happy with what we got from this doe.

TERMINAL BALLISTICS - The retired ammo techs nerdy analysis of what was good and bad.

The bullet - Nosler Combined Technoligies Ballistic Silvertip, 130 grain, .277" (270 cal)

The rifle - Savage Model 11 hunter blued chambered in 270 WSM, scoped with a Vortex Diamondback 4 X 12 X 40. The rifle is very accurate, functioning flawlessly during all load development and hunting. The scope is amazing, crystal clear and sharp. The bullets are very accurate, during load testing I found 4 loads that were all sub moa, ranging from 0.4" - 0.8' at 100 yds. The load I choose was not the fastest pushing the bullet at an estimated 3100* fps at the muzzle but it was the most accurate with consistent groups at less than 1/2 inch.
* Nosler's listed max for the bullet is 3200 fps

The question would be then what happens when you shoot a mature whitetail or larger animal with a bullet of this type...if you have read this far you have a fair understanding of what I experienced but I am going to detail it more in depth here.

I shot this doe at 30 yds and I was approximately 12 feet higher than her when I shot. The result was a bullet impacting a mature whitetail doe with a live weight in the 140 lb range according to the measurement charts.

The deer took three jumps, collapsing on the third jump after I shot it, sliding down the hill. I field dressed it right away. It was home and hung in the garage and temp controlled for the next week.

Point of Impact - the POI was the back edge of the left front shoulder into a rib and angling straight through out the offside between two ribs. Sounds pretty damn good at this point right?

You can see in the following picture the entrance through the the shoulder and ribs and the amount of blood shot meat.

The exit hole was barely larger than the entrance hole in the hide, allowed very little bleeding as would relate to tracking but that was not a requirement.

The lung cavity was completely full of blood wherever the organs permitted it to accumulate.

Note the exit hole in the next two pictures:

So you ask what is the hole in the top of the rib cage in that last picture - as near as I can figure it is from this

This picture shows where the bullet hit the rib - the rib then causing a hole in the far top side of the lung and through the meat into the hide and there were a bunch of pin holes through the hide. The next picture shows a better picture of where the rib material (?) created a secondary exit wound. The other possibility is there was separation of the bullets jacket and core, however I found nothing that would indicate this was the case. You can also see in the left edge where the primary exit hole was as well.

So to summarize my experience with this bullet in this calibre - very accurate, very deadly, very destructive if bone is encountered. I will not however be hunting with this combination again - not because I dislike the calibre, I liked the calibre and rifle very much, but it is not my nature to keep many rifles around for very long and this one has already headed to a nice gentleman in Southern ON in trade for semi-auto shotgun I was lusting for...a nearly brand new Remington 11-87 super magnum turkey model...

I have a bunch of these bullets for our 243's and have not decided if I am going to load them or swap them for something I trust to not destroy as much meat.

Top bullets in my humble opinion are
Nosler Partition
Barnes TTSX
Very seldom given enough patience and smokeless powders can one not find an accurate load. The rifle occasionally needs tinkering, bedding, pressure point relief etc but that is beyond the scope of today's blog.The question then becomes as has been argued many times light and fast or big and slow (everything relative of course).

That will become the discussion for another blog post
Geoff