Fishing Forum

Joatmon and I wanted to fish somewhere we had never been before and wanted to avoid crowds. We picked JV with visions of 10-pound splake dancing in our heads. Got up at 3:00 but had a later start because of a sick child. It was a beautiful clear day with the sun scintillating off the fresh snow with purple, red, blue and green glints glancing up into our eyes. That was the highlight of the day. Want to hear how many fish we caught?     Want to hear it again?   Yeah, one of those days. The main reason I'm reporting is to warn everyone about the open spots out from the ramp on the west side. Evidently a bunch of warm springs keeps holes open. They are spread out enough so you can navigate around them and zigzag your way out to the deeper water between the points of the two ridges that parallel the creek channel there. We checked depths as we went and found it quite shallow. We kept checking and moved on past the only fishing party there, holed up (couldn't resist) in two adjoining shelters. We tried  to keep a respectful distance away but heard one guy complaining to the other that next time they should come late and let the early birds find the good spot then go and fish by them. I yelled over that we were sorry to crowd them but that we were just looking for some deep water. I bit later one guy came out and told us that they were right on the channel and showed us where it ran. By drilling perpendicular to the channel we made holes in 16 to 48 fow. We did a lot of hole hopping but hardly spotted any fish. I'd see one about every half-hour; some came to the bait but I got nary a nibble. We tried all the standard lures and baits, but nothing doing. The other guys were having the same luck. While Brett was talking to them he learned that they were the guys that had caught the 9-10-pound cutts as reported last year on BFT. They took off exploring and trekked clear over to the dam. Don't know if they found any fish but it wasn't for not trying.

By 1:00 I had had all the fun I could stand there. We got away at 1:30 and decided to try Scofield to attempt to drive the skunk off. We headed out from the Madsen ramp. Couldn't find anything close by so we moved out farther. A young couple was fishing about where I had intended to try and were having some luck. Brett spotted the hot hole and when they left he moved over there. I was done since the sun had gone down behind the ridge. Brett stayed a while after I bugged out. When he finally came trudging up the ramp he held up two fingers. I couldn't be sure what he meant: peace, victory, or he caught two fish. He said it was all three. At least I didn't have to smell the skunk on him all the way home.

There was about 11-12" ice at both lakes. Maybe 3-4" snow. Little slush to speak of.

(01-05-2021, 01:45 AM)catchinon Wrote: [ -> ]Joatmon and I wanted to fish somewhere we had never been before and wanted to avoid crowds. We picked JV with visions of 10-pound splake dancing in our heads. Got up at 3:00 but had a later start because of a sick child. It was a beautiful clear day with the sun scintillating off the fresh snow with purple, red, blue and green glints glancing up into our eyes. That was the highlight of the day. Want to hear how many fish we caught?     Want to hear it again?   Yeah, one of those days. The main reason I'm reporting is to warn everyone about the open spots out from the ramp on the west side. Evidently a bunch of warm springs keeps holes open. They are spread out enough so you can navigate around them and zigzag your way out to the deeper water between the points of the two ridges that parallel the creek channel there. We checked depths as we went and found it quite shallow. We kept checking and moved on past the only fishing party there, holed up (couldn't resist) in two adjoining shelters. We tried  to keep a respectful distance away but heard one guy complaining to the other that next time they should come late and let the early birds find the good spot then go and fish by them. I yelled over that we were sorry to crowd them but that we were just looking for some deep water. I bit later one guy came out and told us that they were right on the channel and showed us where it ran. By drilling perpendicular to the channel we made holes in 16 to 48 fow. We did a lot of hole hopping but hardly spotted any fish. I'd see one about every half-hour; some came to the bait but I got nary a nibble. We tried all the standard lures and baits, but nothing doing. The other guys were having the same luck. While Brett was talking to them he learned that they were the guys that had caught the 9-10-pound cutts as reported last year on BFT. They took off exploring and trekked clear over to the dam. Don't know if they found any fish but it wasn't for not trying.

By 1:00 I had had all the fun I could stand there. We got away at 1:30 and decided to try Scofield to attempt to drive the skunk off. We headed out from the Madsen ramp. Couldn't find anything close by so we moved out farther. A young couple was fishing about where I had intended to try and were having some luck. Brett spotted the hot hole and when they left he moved over there. I was done since the sun had gone down behind the ridge. Brett stayed a while after I bugged out. When he finally came trudging up the ramp he held up two fingers. I couldn't be sure what he meant: peace, victory, or he caught two fish. He said it was all three. At least I didn't have to smell the skunk on him all the way home.

There was about 11-12" ice at both lakes. Maybe 3-4" snow. Little slush to speak of.

Thanks for the fishing reports.  Sorry that there wasn't much catching going on.

It's good you mentioned the thin spots on JV.  Most of the locals know about them and how to avoid them but folks unfamiliar with the place need to be watchful.

We have property above JV, and I fish it in the summer, but have been wary of the springs in the winter. I'd probably try it by myself, or with other adults, but most of my fishing trips involve young children, so it turns me off.
Thanks for the report.

Thanks Craig. Yeah, it was much slower than we had anticipated or hoped for. Suspect JV is a very good spot when it is on. And those hot springs made it pretty "puckery" the whole time we were out there, but especially getting on and off the ice. This picture doesn't do it justice - there were dozens of these open water areas that we traversed through - glad Craig was willing to go first!