Hit the Berry this morning with my dad and the intention to run into a few BFT'ers. Headed to the marina to find it's not plowed (however, I heard that people found places to park), so we headed back into Mud Creek. Hit the lake about 6:45 and ran into tlspyder and bigcat.
Fishing was great at first light and until about 10 a.m. We iced about 20 by then and it looked to be a good day. Well, someone flipped a cold switch and it went dead. I mean DEAD! We tracked about 10 more fish and only caught 2 more from 10-1 p.m. Heard of mixed success from others and it was moderately packed. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be though. Maybe 20 different groups? Who knows, I was fishing, not counting.
Ice is THICK. Good 10+" where we were. Snowmobiles and 4 wheelers were on the ice and it appear the entire lake is finally capped. It is in serious ice making mode up there. We fished in this spot on Tues. with 5-6". It doubled in 4 days.
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nice report. to bad they don't plow the marina parking lot.
headed to the berry tomorrow.
fish on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Fished the marina from 8:00-2:30 with Bugln4Bulls, Tevin and Jason and was later joind by BigCat and Tlspyder. We caught fish all day having some slower moments and a few faster moments. Our group all caught around 15-20 fish and afew being over the slot or roght at 22". Ice was 6" thick.
The ice was poping,thundering and moving all day. One time the ice let out a big thundering sound and it seperated by 3"-6" for a couple hunderd yards. There where areas along this seperation that had large (5'x2')portions that broke away from the ice and where like ice burges, watch out for these areas they are discolored and very dangerous (see photo). That crack came with in 3' of me and one of the areas that broke loose was about 5'from where I was standing,it was like an earth quake.
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We about joined everyone over there, but my dad didn't want to go. How was the parking? Everything cool with the marina or was creativity involved?
Holy cow! That sounds pretty freaky! I've seen cracks grow before, some right under me, but 3-6", WOW.. that's a GAP not a crack!! Kinda cool how ice does it's thing, but also kinda freaky if you are right next to it like that!! Glad nobody got into anything ugly with it either and good to hear you guys go into them a bit.
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Parking was not a problem we did have to drive over a beating down snow bank however respect the space they need for their paying costomers.
Here are the photos of the ice seperation.
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those are some great pictures. that would definetly get your attention real quick.
nice fish also.
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Those are some crazy pics! Man I'll bet that was a little freaky. Glad no one found themselves swimming in one of those things.
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Got to love that ice talkin' and growing on ya . I drove over bigger cracks on my 4 wheeler .[cool]
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when I was on mud creek yesterday, I thought for a moment that the devil was about to squirt out of my Ice hole.... I have Ice fished lots and them was the spookiest sounds Ive had to deal with...that 3 inch fizure would of sent me running for my mommy...its nice fishen out of a tub just incase you gotsta jump for it then paddle away? Nice to see ya all lived through it and iced some swimmers to boot!
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Now I know what you where talking about yesterday when you said the ice was louder than it has been before. Some people did run and some kids cried and everyone screamed.
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Oh, Cowboy Up. Silly girls. I'll be there in the morning.
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Ya, that was my kids screaming! Kinda freeked them out. Not only the kids were freaked out by that one loud one. Some adults had some concerned looks and some where beginning to head toward shore. Maybe even some dirty shorts! [shocked] It was impressive to say the least!!!! I started at mud creek and saw tlspyder and fishin4fun in the parking lot. After about 1/2 hour hadn't had a single bite. I got a call from B4B/MGB and decided to head to the marina. I had a slow day fishing but enjoyed kicken it with Buglin4bulls, MGB, and crew and watching the kids play around on ice and snow hill. As far as fishing goes, I prob should have stayed at mud creek and kicked F4F out of his hole.
Parking wasn't bad at the marina if you have 4 wheel drive. You can turn into the first entrance to the main parking area. You have to get over a packed snow burm and then through about 12-14 inches of snow but it wasn't too bad. Just keep er moving and don't stop til your in the parking lot. Should be accessable until the next snow storm hits then who knows!
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We ended up at Mud Creek again today as well. It had really slowed down from last week...moon, weathrer (barametric pressure), noise...I don't know. We still caught fish, but nothing over the slots. My 12 year old brother and I caught about 28 and ther two other guys with us caught 5. Sure beats sitting at home. I feel bad that we did not meet up with the rest of the BFTers. We did not decide until 11:00 pm last night that we were going. Thanks to those who had envited me to go along-MGB. We will make it out one of these days. Jake
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When we was up there on Friday it was alot of the same with the noise and thundering. There was 2 times that it thundered and the ice sheet just dropped. Man after all of that puckering It's been a little hard going to the bathroom if you know what I mean.
We also had a big separation like that it was just east of the lodge. What was cool was when it cooled off again it started to push together and you could hear the water sloshing around.
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Thanks to everyone that posts here. It's the BEST up to date fishing info anywhere. Those pics are awesome, I would of been crying all the way to the car. I was wondering how old your kids are that your taking? I have a boy (5) and he's been fishing at least two dozen times and caught his fair share of fish. But I haven't taken him ice fishing because of the cold? I don't have a ice hut or I would. So what I'm asking is do you guys have ice huts or just bundle them up? Also where do you get the BFT stickers? Anyway thanks again, I get on here all the time and envy the fishing trips you guys have. I need to get out. Thanks...
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My two kids that I sometimes take are 6 and 9. Yesterday my 6 yr old came with me and my buddy brought his 5 and 7 year olds. It was 2 degree's when we arrived at mud creek yesterday and I was a little bit worried they would get too cold but they did pretty good. The kids have the ability to make or break the trip within 5 minutes of arriving so some advance planning is neccessary. I have a few suggestions for taking kids.
1. Go with someone else that has kids...someone for them to play with. If they are playing they forget about the cold. Bordom=cold really fast.
2. Lots of hand warmers...I buy a case of them (40 double packs) at costo for 16 bucks. Open them at home before you even leave for the lake and put two in each coat pocket. When you get to the lake and put gloves on slip one inside each glove and then leave one in each pocket to rotate into the gloves when their hands do get cold. They can also be used in boots.
3. Good boots with 2 pairs of good wool socks or one wool and one polypropaline. No exceptions. Hand and feet get cold the fastest and when they do it can turn disastrous fast.
4. Even when they beg don't let them take off their gloves/hat off.
5. Take extra clothes in the car in case they put their foot down an ice hole. Take extra gloves out on the ice. Kids play in snow...its life....gloves get wet...you can count on it.
6. Have them wear as much of their clothes in the car on the way there as they can without getting too hot and uncomfortable. Keep the heat down in the car so you don't cook em. If they have to "get dressed" when you get to the lake and its 2 degree's they start off cold. I like to already have on their bibs/snow pants and boots and a sweatshirt so all they have to put on is the heavy coat, hat, and gloves
7. Take a heater out on the ice with you. I have a small propane tank and 15,000 BTU heater than can make a big difference.
8. I have a tent but rarely use it
9. Choose which days to take them carefully. If any storms are forcast that means wind. Leave em home if its gonna be windy. Or use the tent on those days.
10. If it all goes bad, go back to the car and warm up and start over. Sometimes its a lot of work but your creating memories that last forever!
Don't mean to hijack the thread. Thought it may be useful info..
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I also fished around The Marina with beeman2995 and Fishhound. We each landed about 15 fish. Fishhound took honors with a 26 inch cutt. Missed more than we caught. We fished from about 7:45 to 4:30. That pressure ridge went right by us also, it definitely woke everyone up. We fished depths from 18' to 35'. Best luck seemed to be in about 35' of water and then dropping the jig down 20'. Caught a few on just about everything, but a white Paddle Bug tipped with a meal worm seemed to work the best. I lost a nice 20 something rainbow at the hole.
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Was nice to see fishin4fun and Bigcat again and should have probably taken you up on the offer to fish my you and use your auger fishin4fun. We headed out away from the crowds to see if that would help. Marked a lot of fish but do as well hooking any as it seemed they would touch it once and be gone.
Took my 8 yr old boy out for the first time ice fishing and so spent most of my time helping him as he had way more bites then my brother and I combined. Had him so bundeled up he couldn't use his hands well and needed help setting the hook and bringing them in sometimes so I missed a lot of bites on my pole. The look on his face and the stories to everyone about his biggest at 20.5 inches made it all worth it though.
Layer your kids and keep them from getting cold and you both will have a better day. Catching fish will not make up for getting cold to kids. Staying warm and catching any fish will make them want to come again though.
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How thick was the ice over there and how deep were you? That's one of my favorite spots over there and we might have joined you over there if the fish hadn't been biting. I also enjoy going back in that little bay a bit where that "hotel" was put up back in there. Wonder how they did?
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Fished CCE with kastmaster a 2 friends. Looks like most everyone else went to mud creek or the marina. we fished from about 7:15 to 10:45 at depths from 15 to 19 feet...iced 22 between the 4 of us. lost many at the hole, too. fishing was best from about 7:30 to 8:30. slowed WAY down after about 9:45 or 10:00.
kastmaster had an interesting experience with his fish finder battery and his reel. i'll tell him to post what happened. it was odd yet funny. didn't see any bft guys out there, but we were pretty focused on fishing, though.
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