Plans for the weekend were to head back home with my wife and pooch to do some visiting and fishing. Something came up and plans had changed. The wife was to stay behind so the boys had the weekend cleared for strictly fishing. Talking with my dad after a good bite Thursday evening and Friday morning, I decided to pull the plug at noon and make it down in time for the afternoon fish.
As I packed and loaded at the same time, Duke knew something was up and wasn't going to be left behind. He patiently waited as I loaded the Chevy.
Duke was very attentive for the first half of the drive, before sleeping the second half.
We made good time and were on the Quinte hard stuff by 3:30pm. We met up with my dad and a few of my buddies and opened up a good area around where they had been catching them. Long story short, not a walleye to the ice between 6 of us. The weather was good, we enjoyed a few sodas and some conversation, but the bite was non existent. That's fishing.
Saturday morning we were back at it. Our group had grown to 7, so we spread out and worked a larger area. The "word" must have spread, as it often does when the fish are biting in a certain area, and there were many people in the general area. Needless to say the crowds and myself had shown up a half a day too late. Fishless again.
Saturday afternoon we decided to do some exploring. Friends of friends had caught a bunch of fish not far from where we were, so we decided to move to that area, and cover more water with 4 groups of people.
As the sun was setting, we anticipated a flurry of bites in typical Quinte fashion, just as the sun breaks the horizon.
Duke was enjoying the last few moments of the sun.
As we watched our electronics in hope of seeing a walleye, Duke patrolled the horizon in all directions hoping to see one he could get his lips on before our trip was over.
Neither the electronics nor Duke would see any marble eyes. The sun dropped and we packed it in.
As the saying goes, 3 strikes and your out. I knew it was time to throw in the towel so we packed up Saturday night. I had a backup plan.
GREY
I had mentioned Laker's to my buddy, and he was interested as he had never iced one before, and just landed the same 3 skunks that I did.
We gathered our gear and headed for our other buddy's place north of Belleville for a sleep over. Captain Morgan showed up with us, so it was business as usual. Hang out in the shop and work on a headache for the following days events, while shooting the breeze and catching up with each other.
Sunday morning came around, we slammed some coffee and advil, and headed for the lake. Our "guide" for the day informed us it was a slushy tour, so Duke stayed behind, and we rode 3 wide on the grizzly so only one trip was needed. Once we arrived to "the spot", my buddy pulled out this weapon.
Gas Drill + 8" Fin-Bore = One wicked butt ice shredding machine. This weapon was wild.
We setup 3 windlass tip-ups with jig-head and dropshot combos, and tipped them with Golden Shiners and/or frozen smelt.
I no longer had my jigging line set and my windlass was smashed. After a few good runs, I pulled this guy up from 50ft over 80.
Next up was my buddy who had not iced a laker before. After loosing a few, he landed a smaller one on a Mr. Champ.
We fished until 10:30 and I landed 2 more on my jigging line to put the count to 4 fish for the morning. Our guide for the day was skunked.
We went back to buddy's place for some grub and pints, and headed back to the ice for 3:00pm. We gained another angler this trip, who had also never caught a laker through the ice.
The afternoon fish saw all 4 of us land at least 1, with myself and the new rookie landing two each. 6 fish came through the holes between the 4 of us in a 2 hour period. Many fish were missed and lost.
I donated my two fish from the afternoon, to the less fortunate "guide" who only landed one dink for the day.
I'm glad we knew enough to switch from Gold to Grey. The laker fishing was hot. I landed 5 for the day, which is my new "PB" for lakers in a day ice fishing. We put 10 fish on the ice all day in 5 hours of fishing. I don't care who you are...that right there is good laker fishin!!!
Since I don't have any "food porn" (yet) from this trip, here's the only fishing related activities I did last weekend in the frigid temps:
Buttermilk Ranch Crappies
Started with some Buttermilk Ranch Pretzel Bits.
Processed them through the spice mill.
Added some fresh parm, salt, pepper.
Standard breading procedure..flour-egg-breading
Side of blanched asparagus with garlic butter.
And Voila......Nothing left except for a tiny morsel for Duke.
Cheers
The only complaints I can really see coming out of anyone in this report would be those lakers who scored a free ride to the surface then table 
Now that's what fishing is all about.