Fished Scofield today. No mosquitoes! Lots of fun! Fishing was fast, lots of trout and chubs. I took pics of the lake so those who are anxious for open water can gauge when it might happen. Pic's worth a thousand words so take a peek! When people ask how long till ice off I never know what to say.
Also posted some pics of the better fish I caught today,and of course the chubs. Same old report...sorry, I use this as a way to log trips. Convienent and easy to check back on as the years go by.
Yesterday I left a pile of chubs on the ice and this morning they were all gone. I have only ever seen one set of coyote tracks so I am inclined to believe there was only one coyote along the west side. East side has one too. When I discovered 40+ chubs gone from yesterday, I walked the bank looking for tracks. There were five places the coyote had come down to get the chubs. Only once did it use the same path twice. I don't know where it took them. Maybe to a mate, den, cache... Or perhaps five coyotes came down for dinner. Buffet is open again tonight....left all the chubs in the pic. Kind of fun to watch wildlife at work.
Geese are raising a ruckus on the island as they fight for nesting places. Incredibly loud all morning.
Not many people fishing today. Snowmobile out by the north end of the island, then the east side of the island, then they left. One group in the dam arm.
Fun day...lots nicer weather than January...you guys are missing out!
IceAndFly
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I went today too. Had a fish on every five minutes. Caught and released over twenty, most were small but had a nice Cutt and Rainbow.
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would you share about where you were fishing on the lake, and what bait? I appreciate the info.
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West side of the lake. All the way through town and around to the west side. Park by the walk through gate. (not the climb over accesses) There is a large sign, and a sign in box there also. I go straight down to the ice and usually bear south a little. Go straight down from the gate. Try to stay on the path. The snow is thigh deep and hard to get through if you don't stay on the beaten path. I have been catching fish in depths from 2 to 8 feet. Some holes don't produce, so move if your not catching.
For bait I have been using jig heads tipped with crawler. When I catch a chub I cut it up and use it for bait. Seem to catch more and bigger tigers with the chub meat. If you don't want to be bothered by the chubs, use a larger hook. It will slow them down, but won't stop them. I use a small hook and actually target the chubs. I catch plenty of trout, and I don't mind catching chubs when the trout aren't around. Trout go back down the hole, but the chubs get invited to catch some sun!
I'm planning on going up again Saturday. Talked to my cousin last week and it seems she and her friend, both from Texas, have been trying to catch a fish for 18 months. Time to end their dry spell. Silly Texicans! 18 months...one fish! He caught a carp at Bear Lake, and she hasn't caught anyhing! Have to admire their determination, but it's time to do some catching!
Ice should be good for at least another week. If you're like Jacksonman it will be good for another month.[:p]
hope this helps,
IceAndFly
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Haha funny!
I will be up there on Friday and am hoping that the ice will still be good on the 26th. If this cold weather continues, well be good until June 26th!
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The ice is actually in better shape than it was a few weeks ago. We get snow, it melts, then freezes at night. Then is all happens again the next week. Fresh snow and cloud cover has kept the ice protected. No deterioration from the bottom yet either. Hope it holds out! I have to brand cattle in WY the weekend of the 24th. It sure would be fun to still have ice the 1st of May!
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Thanks for the info. I think I'll go get some strawberry bait tomorrow.
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I was using a jighead tipped with a nightcrawler. I also was using a gold castmaster as a flasher and I seemed to get more hits than the other guys were getting.
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[ol][/ol][li][/li]I hit scofield wed. at noon and had no problem getting on the ice. Fishing was fast with chub meat and a small, small white tube jig. Got 3 10" RB's, 6 Tigers, and 55 Cuts for a total of 66. Most of the cuts were 12-15". Got one that was about 20" close to three #s also a tiger about the same. # 58 cut. had some huge teeth marks on both sides. Told it to go get even by telling the big one where there was some good chub meat. It did. # 61 hit and the fight was on. Took a while but when I got it in the hole, it leaped out hit the ice and back into the hole. Out it came again and landed a foot from the hole. It was a 23" tiger between 4 1/2 and 5#s. Took three pictures with the cell cam. but couldn't see the screen it was so bright. When I got home I had the head and all of my finger in the picture so [:/][:/]. I broke through the ice the last 3 feet getting off the ice at 4:30. Got wet to the knees but it was worth it. I fished in 6 to nine feet of water and did the best in 6. Good trip. [/li][/ol]
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Thanks for posting. I will try to ice fish it either Monday or Wednesday and then on Saturday. When you fell through, was it by the dam or where some water comes in or is the ice getting very weak by the shoreline? Thanks.
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Well, what a difference a week makes. Alot of snow has melted this week and the lake is risen. Now there is a ring of water around the lake. Tried to get on the West side and broke through in knee deep water. A plank may have helped, but there was about ten feet of thin ice.
There were two groups fishing the dam arm so we drove back there and found two places that looked safe to get onto the ice. Both places were drifts that extended out onto the ice so we walked on via the drifts.(see pic) We got some holes drilled and caught some fish.
As the day wore on the ice got more mushy, and we started breaking through more. It didn't go over my boots, but made it hard to move around. One of our party was in tennis shoes and went through so we decided to leave about 1:00. Fun day, but there aren't many places to get on any more. When we left, we saw some people fishing Madsen bay. It looked like they had used a frozen in dock to access the ice. There was also a guy fishing the inlet on Madsen bay, but he didnt stay very long.
For the die hards who don't mind breaking through the slush layer there may be a few more days. Bottom layers of ice are still pretty solid, but that could change fast.
I wouldn't recommend it for any one. I'm done for the year. Just too hard to get on the ice, and not worth the effort of wading around in the top slush layer. See you next year! I believe I'll go back into lurking mode again. Fun ice season...can't wait for November.
IceAndFly
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Great report and update. So is there fishable open water at scofield yet? I dont have a boat so if there is some open water from the shore or wading out, i would love to hit that up. Thanks
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Nothing fishable yet. Just a 2-10 foot ribbon of thin ice or water around the lake.
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