Glenn Highway Lake Nov 25, 2011

So I decide to try somewhere other than Big Lake.  I've had success at this lake before in past years.  Though the fish don't seem to be as large as the ones in Big Lake, there typically are more of them. Found ten inches of nice clear ice.

Set up the shack and in the first 7 minutes, I hook a char that I estimate to be 22 + inches...twice!  Didn't ice him though.  Both times, the hook just fell out at the hole.  I am surprised he stuck around after getting hooked and pulled all the way up into the hole.

Notice in the video I posted below how interested he is in the lure but only took it in his mouth two or three times.  Keep in mind I am looking from directly above so I can tell if he has the hoochie in his mouth or not.  Except for the time I hook him and one miss, he came by and just swatted at it. I am surprised to see from the side video view that he was actually opening his mouth.  From above it just looked like he came cruising up to it and swatted it with his head.  Notice the fish didn't fight at all either.  Not sure what was going on.  The initial charge looked aggressive but after that, it just seemed super lazy.

Well after that fish, I only saw a few more fish and none were char. All the fish I saw after the char were after it got dark.   So how could I see them after dark?  I got to test my underwater LED lighting system!  Worked great...except I didn't catch anything.  In the video, you will notice all the little dots.  they looked almost like brine shrimp and as soon as I turned the light on, they were just swarming around it.  Maybe I watch too much National Geographic, but I thought for sure something would come feasting on them like small trout or even sticklebacks.  But NADDA.  It also allowed me to sight fish in another hole about 4 feet away.  That was pretty cool.

I did manage to ice a sucker on a spoon tipped with shrimp.  Kept him for lake trout and pike bait.  Cut him up into smaller strips so I can tip my jigs.  I saw a HUGE sucker after it got dark.  I was all excited thinking it was a big char but on closer inspection, it was definitely a sucker.  Did not know they got so big.  I bet it was well over 25 inches.

I also had something else on after I tipped my spoon with a small piece of sucker meat.  Stepped outside, came back in and peered down the hole and couldn't see my spoon.  Set the hook and I saw something medium size, maybe 14 inches or so take off.  Hmmm..... 

So for 5 hours on the ice, I see one nice char, two suckers, a mystery fish, AND 5 muskrats.  Who knows it could have been the same one but it was starting to irritate me popping up in my hole so often.  I even moved my shack once into deeper water but I could still see it whizzing by my area.  First it scared me, then it was just a nuisance.  I almost forcefully relocated it, but didn't want to deal with a pissed off muskrat in the confines of my shack.  I've tried looking for it on the video but I couldn't find it.  I was surprised that it was still active after dark.

I also got my gopro hero2, a eye of mine flat lens housing, AND a mako flat lens kit.  I ordered the gopro from Mako so the lens was free.  I can't wait to try it out!

Here's the video 2:45 minutes.