Got to Eloika public launch at ~0930. Met a pair of Russian anglers who were leaving early due to "no fish." I wonder if it was because they were fishing the shallow south end and their ice breaker was a 2 foot metal spike shoved into the belly of an aluminum baseball bat; I'll give 'em props for ingenuity... maybe...

Started the trek to the north end, but stopped 1/5 of the way from exhaustion. I was carrying too much weight and the conditions were horrible. 8" of snow to slog through, then each footstep would sink into 2" of slush which would suck onto your foot like quicksand. It was slow going and painful. I decided to backpack it back to the car to drop off gear. By the time I got back to the car, realized I shoulda just brought everything back and driven to Jerry's Landing, but my sled and most of my gear was still on the ice. So, back I went - took at least 45" to an hour to slog my way north to just SW of Jerry's landing into 12' of water.

Sat down to take a break before drilling my first hole and noticed all my liquids (soda, water and smoothie) had pretty much frozen solid by the time I finished my trek. Dang. Drilled my first hole and then later realized if I didn't clean off all the slush/snow/ice from the drill head, it would freeze solid into a cap and no more drilling possible. Spent a good while chipping that ice cap off so that I could continue drilling. Drilled four holes total but caught fish only out of one hole - 4 perch, 1 bass. Thought I'd eat skunk today, but the sonar helped me locate some fish which would finally bite. There were a ton of sniffers today, and it was frustrating to see the sonar fill with orange only to see 'em sniff and then swim back down. I think due to the cold, they wanted small lures and live bait. My offerings of shrimp, squid and Berkley wigglers were declined. Happened to have two small pieces of cut bait from when I filleted my last catch. Caught a few on those. Interestingly enough, haven't had any luck from perch eyes this season yet. Hot lure today was #10 chartreuse Genz worm. I think if I had a smaller lure (Fiskas) and live bait, things would have worked out better today. Big lures like the 1/12oz kastmaster and 1/8oz Jigging Rap didn't lure anything in and probably scared some off.

A lot of anglers west of Jerry's Landing and many popup shelters and sled shanties today. Stayed OK warm for the most part except my toes - those froze in my boots since my feet were sitting in 8" of snow and slush. Almost died on my trek back to the launch. Could only manage 15-20 steps before I'd have to rest. Was dragging my sled with a makeshift harness like a mule pulling a plow (a snow plow). At least I got some cardio I suppose.

If I'm going back, I'm gonna park at Jerry's. This snow on the ice is unbelievable. If you're gonna make the slog, bring an ATV or snowshoes/trekking poles. Don't forget the live bait.

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