Fishing Forum

I know someone mentioned seeing people ice fishing Echo around a week ago. Anyone know if there is still good ice. I'm asking because of the warmer weather we've had. Thanks
[signature]

I fished Echo on the 26th. The ice was good on the north end 4 - 5" of clear ice. The bite was very slow, no perch. Tried boogers, tubes, and all sorts of jigs tipped with nightcrawer or wax worm and moved a lot and only iced 3. However, we didn't bring minnows. That was a mistake. The biggest rainbow was about 20" and when I cleaned him, found 16 perch minnows of various sizes, all with the same degree of digestion. Possibly cleaning up the perch kill-off mentioned in earlier strings?
[signature]

We drove by there today and saw three guys fishing the North side, halfway between the launch area and the dam. There was still some open water out in the middle.
[signature]

SO WHAT IS THE REPORT ON THE ICE & FISH KNOW
[signature]

Sorry, no first hand report on Echo, other than seeing those guys fishing as we drove by.
[signature]

I fished Echo on 12/27 from daylight to about 1:00 at various locations and depths near the dam. Ice was about 5 inches thick. Holes from the previous day had barely froze over. Fishing was slow. We landed one respectable perch and three rainbows. All fish were caught on crappie jigs or jigging spoons (chartreuse and silver) tipped with wax worms. We also tried perch meat, maggots, worms and power bait. Two of the trout were healthy 18" sows full of perch minnows. I marked much activity on the bottom on my flasher in 25 to 35 ft of water. Most likely those dink perch. I also had lots of light taps on a perch eye which confirmed it for me. The trout were caught just off the bottom in 18 ft of water. The bite has been slow both time I've been there in the past week. Wassup???? Full moon or full fish??? It's gonna take a bit more stable ice for me to explore very far from shore and feel secure. Pray for cold to stick around for a while.
[signature]

Drove by today (12/30) on the way to the Berry and the dam area looked horrible! Water on top, very bad ice. Middle of the lake still had people fishing on it and the ice looked ok. This weekend should help if the temps drop again. That time of year to just be careful!!

F4F
[signature]