I drove by Rockport this morning and the ice doesn't look safe at all. I also didn't see anyone fishing on it which is another indicator the ice isn't safe yet. I got up to Echo today around 8:30 and fished until about noon with a friend. We didn't get a single bite. The ice was making a lot of bubbling and cracking noises. I estimated the ice thickness at about 5 inches. Around noon we tried to move spots and drill another hole which caused a crack in the ice that went about 80 feet. This scared the crap out of me and we went home shortly after. I did notice several other groups fishing hopefully they had better luck.
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Yikes how I know that will raise the ole pucker factor on the ice especially when you cut a hole and a crack San Andreas fault starts ...Where were you fish'n? Did you go on via the Marina? When when hit Echo eventually...we head out from the Marina area.
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We were fishing closer to the damn about 45 feet out from shore. Going to the Berry tomorrow.
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My friends and I made it up there today also. We arrived at 7:15 and headed out from the marina. We fished in 35 feet of water but most all fish were at 18 to 25 feet. Some were even higher than that. We caught a few rainbows in the 14 to 16 inches. A bit slow but it was great to get out for the first time this year.
The ice was 6 inches plus where we were and I did not hear any cracking at all. There are places where the ice was covered with about an inch of snow and there was about 2 inches of slush under that. The edges are a little iffy but once you got past that there was no problem. Today the fish did not like our jigs moving. All were caught with no movement.
The only thing that would have made the day better would have been some Perch and Brown catching.[laugh]
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I also fished echo again today from 8-1 with moderate luck. My initial intention was to target perch, but ended up only catching one and giving in to the temptation to catch some slimers. I was fishing over about 50 feet of water 10-20 feet below the ice and ended up landing about 6 trout and just one perch.
Not as hot as it was on wednesday, but i was happy to just get out again before the weekend.
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Interesting. When I have targeted perch I always been just of the bottom.
I do not believe I have ever caught one suspended,
If I am fishing Echo I always fish one of my poles right off the bottom. If I start picking up some perch I will put them both down there.(I have a 2 pole permit). When I have caught Browns there, I also caught them off the bottom.
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I have caught a lot suspended. Probably as many suspended as on the bottom. I've caught them at Rockport, Deer Creek and Fish Lake. They will show up on the flasher cruising around and I will reel up to them and sometimes they are Trout and sometimes Perch.
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Good to know! I am thinking of going up to Echo this Saturday. I have never fished it before. Is the Marina on the East side of the Reservoir? Any recommendations for a fish finder? (Under $200)