Got out at first light for a look round to see what Lakes in my area had ice.
Here is what I found. First went to Mantua. As reported earlier there is three inches of good ice. Talked to a couple of guys that were fishing about 30 yards out from the edge of the dock area. They informed me of the ice thickness and also reported no fish yet. They were BFT members as well> Thanks Fishhook.
Then off to Willards North Marina. In the back of the Marina Ice has begun to form. Outside of the Marina there is open water. The Launch ramps are covered in ice and snow.
Then to Pinveiw. Not much to report there. Zero ice even on the edges.
Thats it, I didn't bring any fishing gear. I plan to get out to Mantua next weekend. Ice should be 4 or more inches by then.[cool]
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Thanks for the Recon and report. Pictures say a thousand words.
You've saved the wasatch front a lot of gas, pollution and time with a report like this. Many thanks.
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Thanks for the report. I ran up and checked it out too. I kinda figured Mantua would freeze fast. Heading up there Sunday. Yah!!!! Ice fishing is on!!
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Good to see you this morning. For a while there I thought we were going to have the place to ourselves. I don't mind a little company. A few more fellers showed up later in the morning.
We started fishing around 7 this morning. I had to get an early start because I'm in charge of cooking the turkey today. (Second Thanksgiving, my family this time). We moved around a bit, but mostly stayed within 100 yds of the dam. By the time we left at 11, I had landed 15 or 16 trout, and my buddy snagged a couple. We had bites on meal worms and salmon eggs. Smaller the ice fly, the better. Didn't get any blue gils or perch. Did I mention, I love ice fishing!
Sorry, no pictures. Biggest trout went 15 inches. Most were about 12-13.
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It was good to meet you too. Might try and get out tomorrow morning. Sunday should be stormy. Lest thats what the weather man says.[:/]
Did the ice seem firm enough..? I guess it was, cause you made it back with no bad news. ha ha Did you get much further out from the bank? Wondering if the ice is the same tickness all the way out?
Might go over to the east side entry point before the snow gets to deep to drive over.
Glad to hear you got into some of them.[cool]
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I didn't want to venture too far out since there was open water only 3 days ago. We went further out than when you stopped by though. We probably went about 100-150 yds east from the shore line. Ice was about the same thickness out there too.
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Thanks for sharing the report. Good news! Sounds like the bite was on pretty good.
So how thick was the ice? Was it right to the shore, or did you need boards to get on?
Toadly - thanks for your scouting report too. Nice to know what the conditions are getting to be.
I've now officially spent WAY too much as I swore I wasn't gonna do to get into ice. Now can't wait for my Auger to arrive! Get out the glowy stuff!!!
Thanks for the info I will probably wait a week untill Mantua has time to gain some ice before heading out.
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I went back out on Mantua again this afternoon. Took my nephews out for their first ever ice fishing trip. My brother is a slacker. Anyway, in a couple hours they were both able to land 4 trout each. 4 out of those 8 were pretty chunky rainbows. The ice is between 3 and 4 inches, and solid all the way to the bank. There are some random soft spots, and some open water to watch out for. Be careful. There were a couple fellers who ventured all the way out to the middle. They made out and back just fine, but still use caution as it is still early and the ice is young. Your pretty well solid by the damn though, except for one little spot just north of the shed.
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