Thorne Bros Annual Ice Fishing Outing is Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 2008 at Muskie Bay Resort, Nestor Falls, Ontario, Canada.

This has become an annual trip for us at Thorne Bros and we look forward to it every year. Paul, Chris, Jake, Ashley and Robin at Muskie Bay Resort do a great job taking care of us. This is an American Plan trip and we will have local guides bringing us to the hot spots. As a group, we will decide what we want to do, but the basic plan will be as follows:

Show up on Thursday and fish or get your gear ready. Supper will be provided. Friday, we will get up and have a quick breakfast of donuts and/or rolls and hit the water early. Lake Trout will be the primary target early in the day on Crow Lake and its surrounding lakes. Conditions will dictate how far we will be able to travel. We will come in for a hot lunch of sandwiches and/or soup and then head to Lake of the Woods for and afternoon of Crappie fishing. At dark, we will come in and have a hot supper. Saturday we’ll do the same, but that night we will have a dinner of Crappies and Lake Trout. Sunday morning we’ll fish and then head home.

You will need a snowmobile or 4-wheeler (depending on snow/ice/slush conditions—snowmobile is usually preferred), a portable fish house (like a Fish Trap or Otter), a flasher (Vexilar or Marcum), heater with enough propane, ice scoop, warm clothes with waterproof boots (temps can get to less than –40F and have very slushy conditions) and the following recommended fishing tackle:

Lake Trout: Thorne Bros 42” Professional Plus, Shimano 2500 or 4000 size spinning reel, P-line FluoroIce in 8# or 10#, ice rod case, #10 barrel swivels, 3/8oz tube jigs and 3”or 4”tubes (Lindy’s 4”Squid in TG Moonglow or Silver Pearl are our favorites) and a needlenose pliers.

Crappies: Thorne Bros Panfish Sweetheart Plus, Tica SS500 spinning reel, P-line FluoroIce in 2# or 3#, ice rod case, Lindy/Systems Tackle #10 Fat Boys and #10 Genz Worms, Hali 25mm, Berkley Power Maggots and/or Power Honey Worms, #2 Jigging Rapala and a forceps.

The price for the Ice Outing is $310 USD. Taxes not included. To book your trip, contact Paul or Chris Trinkner at Muskie Bay Resort at 1-800-363-3379. A $100 deposit is required. For more info on the resort, go to www.muskiebayresort.com For any other questions, contact Brett Erickson at Thorne Bros, 763-572-3782 or brett@thornebros.com or check out our message board at www.thornebros.com Rumor is that the one and only Matt Johnson will be accompanying us this year :-)
Brett Erickson