Fishing Forum

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Polokid and I went to BL to scope out the ice cap and possibly do a little ice fishing if the conditions were right. We pulled in the plowed pullout just below the Sweetwater Trailer Park and packed our gear into my ice hut sled. We also unloaded a snowmobile to haul our stuff down to the shoreline.[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]While we were packing our gear, BearLakeFishGuy pulled up and we chatted with him for a little while. Also, another guy pulled in to go ice fishing with his two kids. They'd been out the day before so they gave us an ice condition update.[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]We hit the ice and drilled a hole. 3-1/2". Not great but good enough to walk on pulling my hut. We went as far as a crack in the ice, drilling holes to verify ice thickness which was consistent at 3 to 3-1/2". We stepped over the crack, drilled a hole. 2"! We're out of here![/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]We stepped back over and decided to fish where we were. 43 ft of water. We fished there for about 2 hours with no bites and very few fish coming through so we decide to head up to Gus Rich Point. We took the snowmobile along the shoreline as far as the marina and hit the ice there. [/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Now, with all the freezing and break up of the ice there were lots of areas where the ice had broke and piled up on itself from the wind. We had to pay particular attention to these areas because of the differing ice thicknesses. We drill holes out as far a we dared go. When it hit anything less that 3", we headed another direction.[/size][/black][/font]

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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Some times we'd hit areas with several layers of ice. We worked our way out until we couldn't go any further out to deeper water. Again, 4" to 2". Far enough! 2" is not my idea of good ice! [/size][/black][/font]

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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]We set up our stuff and began to fish. We ended up with 3 very nice cutts and a couple more missed bites.[/size][/black][/font]

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[/center] [center][/center] [left][font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Here's some of the fish we caught:[/size][/black][/font][/left] [left][/left] [center][inline BL4.JPG][/center] [center]Rob's first cutt[/center] [center]

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[/center] [center][/center] [center][inline BL5.JPG][/center] [center]Rob on the edge of a thick to thin ice break. Where he's knelling it's 4" and where the fish and hole are, its 2".[/center] [center]

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[/center] [center][/center] [center][inline bl6.JPG][/center] [center]Rob's second cutt[/center] [center]

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[/center] [center][/center] [center][/center] [left][font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]In my opinion, the ice is marginal. We never dared go out to where we really wanted to fish and had to settle for what was available. The ice is not consistent but if you take your time, drill lots of test holes, its fishable.[/size][/black][/font][/left]
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That 2" ice is ideal for a spud bar . I bet I could put a 12" hole in it in about 10 seconds . LOL , Thanks for the report . Wish I could make it up there but will stay closer to home . I must admit , I like the 3" ice better than 2" specially because I walk the ice alone most of the time .
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Great report BLM. With this cold weather it should help thicken the ice up to bearable in the next few days. I thought the Idaho folks would like the info so I copied the link and posted it on the Idaho board. Thanks for your report and all you do to keep us informed.
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Sounds like you had quite the adventure! Glad you guys made it back safely. Thanks for the update.
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Thanks for the report BLM, sounds like you and Rob had a fun trip, glad to hear you caught a few nice fish. I guess you didn't get a chance to check out the new rockpile did you? or should I say,see how it looked from shore?
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Nope, didn't head in that direction. Access to the lake is tough. There are only a few places that have decent parking close to the lake without walking a long way through snow. That's why we headed for the pullouts below the trailer park. I knew they plowed those. I'm really glad we had the snowmobile. It made things easy. Even though I wasn't going to take it on the ice, we were able to go along the shoreline to get where we wanted to be.[/size][/black][/font]
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Way ta
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 2]Nice report guys ... and nice fish and informational pics. What bait/lures did you catch those cuts on?[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Tubes and marabous. We did use bait, chub and sucker, and also anchovy scent.[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Arial"][black][size 3]Being able to fish Bear Lake yesterday was awesome. Just looking around and seeing all the piles of slated ice stacked up was cool. Definitely not like walking out on a smooth iced lake!! some stacked sheets were 4-5 inches, all the way down to 1/4 inch. Drilling ice holes was a challenge, like BLM pointed out there would be 4-5 inches in one spot and a couple feet away there would only be 2. plus the floating ice sheets not frozen under the main ice deck made it interesting to drop a line. [/size][/black][/font]
[font "Arial"][size 3]Fishing wasnt stellar, but I still had a good time checking out all the stacked ice sculptures caused by previous freezing and wind break up. Hopefully we get very little wind and cold temps this week, so we can get back up there. And in deeper water. [/size][/font]
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[font "Arial"][size 3]P.S. dont stand too close to the pressure cracks, your foot might go through!!![cool][][/size][/font]
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How big were your cutts Rob? Were you jigging or dead sticking?
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My cutts ranged from 2-2 1/2 lbs. It seemed they liked bottom bounce jigging to bring them in, butthey liked the jig sitting still to hit it!!! but then again i only caught two, and didnt see a whole lot of fish on my sonar all day.
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I thought they would go 3 to 3.5 lbs, those BL cutts are some nice looking fish.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Actually who knows? We never weighed or measured any of them. He pulled them up, we took a picture and stuffed them back down the hole. [/size][/black][/font]
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Did you venture back out there today Rich?
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Mañana[/size][/black][/font]
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[cool]Nice reports, Rich and Rob! That must have been sweet to have most of the lake to yourselves today! I'm sure next trip out with thicker ice you'll have some nice mack pics to show. Thanks for having the brass "set" to go out there and brave the thin ice today. That looks like a lotta fun!
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In thinking about BLM's fish report i remembered a web page i saved and thought some of you may find it interesting and or helpful. Enjoy!

[url "http://www.mvp-wc.usace.army.mil/ice/ice_load.html"]http://www.mvp-wc.usace.army.mil/ice/ice_load.html[/url]