Fairy Lake Ice Fishing – January 29, 2012

Cody (on the left) and Darrell trying to entice some Fairy Lake crappie.

One of my goals for this ice fishing season was to spend time on new bodies of water. This past weekend I was hoping to do just that, but Mother Nature and some other factors conspired to keep me close to home, and on Sunday I found myself once again traveling to Fairy Lake in Acton, Ontario.

Now, I may sound like I was disappointed to hit Fairy Lake again, but the truth is, I love that lake. Like my old brookie river that holds a special place in my heart, Fairy Lake is a place I am always excited to fish. With the exception of late fall, when I can’t seem to buy a bite, the fish here are willing to bite and provide me with a fantastic day on the water.

After the incredible winds and snow squalls of Saturday afternoon, I was unsure about how active the crappie in Fairy Lake would be. But Darrell and I, along with his brother Cody, grabbed our gear and headed out on the ice.

I love that sight!

It was a quick start to the day for me. Within the first 45 minutes I iced five crappie. I once again went with the red angleworm on the pink dropper and watching the fish finder, I slowly jiggled my lure just above the line of suspending fish. To get their interest I would do one or two big jigs, then settle with a soft jiggling motion. Time and again I was able to see the fish rise to look at my lure and quite often I would feel the change in my line and reel in a crappie.

One of my early catches on the day.

They sure love those Gulp! red angleworms. Nothing else would work, and we tried quite a few other lures.

One change that I made from last week was to switch over to my Fenwick rod, which has a much slower action than the St. Croix. I found I lost fewer fish with this switch. The softer action meant I was not ripping the bait away too early and I was not ripping through their paper-thin mouths.

Having some fun playing one out. Crappie are such great fun.

While we drilled a lot of holes – Cody has a strong desire to drill holes, something I do not understand but find quite useful – we never came across a very active school of fish. We all managed to get bites throughout the day, but there were never more than two fish in a hole willing to bite. It usually took a lot of work with the sonar to find and entice the fish, but Cody managed to ice a crappie the old school way – without the sonar. It was a pretty decent fish too.

Another little crappie.

Despite the lack of a hot bite, the fairly steady action kept us occupied throughout the day. At one point I managed to hook up with a pretty large fish that gave several good head shakes before breaking me off. Upon further investigation I discovered that the 3lb-test line I had on that reel was actually breaking apart easier than my 1lb-test line did! That line is being replaced this week.

The snowmobiles have finally ventured out onto Fairy Lake so if you get out there, just be very aware of your surroundings. While most of the people driving snowmobiles are considerate and safe drivers, there are always a couple that give you cause for worry. With a good 7 to 8 inches of ice, there were all sorts of winter activities being enjoyed out on the lake.

While I still hope to venture out to new fishing spots, I will love every trip I am fortunate enough to take to Fairy Lake. Located right in town, with easy access points and a short walk to the best fishing spot, as well as fish that bite it you take the time to finesse them, this is an excellent place for anglers, young and old.

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argosgirl

Sporadic blogger and sometimes podcaster who loves fishing, the outdoors, hanging with her animals, gardening, and reading manga.

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