Fishing Forum

My Dad and I got to Wild Rose around 7:30, plenty of parking still available, headed out away from the crowds a bit and quickly set up our shelters and got the heaters going (-5 below when we got there, not nearly as bad as what was predicted). We fished in 11 feet of water and were happy that we could see all the way to the bottom. It wasn't too long and we iced a small brookie and a small cut bow. Fishing was fairly steady but slow, fish would come by about every 30 minutes or so. The Brookies were the most aggressive, the cuts would play around for a while before they would finally bite. The bigger the Cut the harder they were to get to bite. We saw some real slabs swim by and they wouldn't even glance at our jigs []. My Dad and I ended up with 9, we kept two for the table, the biggest was around 19 inches. The hot jig for us was a pink paddle bug with a piece of worm, 7 out of our 9 caught on the same paddle bug. Most everybody around us seemed to be catching a few fish, nobody was really nailing them. Good to know the fish are still active under the ice this time of year. I can't wait for December 2011.
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Thanks for the report. Did you see any really big ones caught?

We were down at Montpelier.

Windriver
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Iron rod caught some nice Brookies, I think they were around 19 inches or so. Thats about the biggest we caught or heard of. The bigger cuts just didn't seem interested in eating at all. The most fun part of the whole day was watching the fish through the holes. Your heart would jump out of your chest when one of those monster Henry's hybrid would swim by and then they would just swim away leaving you with a sick feeling. Those pictures ended up too small I'll try this.
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Thats a nice fish in anyones book.

Windriver
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Sounds like your day was about like mine. I was at Wild Rose also and we caught nine fish. Half of them were brookies. Our biggest was a 22 inch cuthroat that my 8 year old son caught. It was a fun day.
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I'm thinking your son's says it all!

Very nice day!
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I am glad when the kid gets the largest fish[]
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We did OK - better than most after talking to quite a few people. Like mag said- the REALLY BIG ONES just taunted us- come up to your bait and even give it a sniff but never would bite[mad]! Guess they're waiting for Everett in the spring!!

Our group of three caught mostly brookies-that's all I caught. Kent landed 3 cutties and the others brookies. I think we also landed 9 between us. Finally posted my pics on the ice contest-what a pain[bobmad]! I can't figure out how to tell which photo I'm choosing from my photos-just shows me the size and date/time so I had to edit the post 7-8 times to get the correct ones- oh well, we're updated now[cool]
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After 15 years of building a cabin on that lake the fish and game is finally warming up to the idea of an ice season and I am taking advantage every chance I can get.

Slept at the cabin until 5 am when my alarm went off. I could not talk my dad or my brother into waking up with me so I walked out solo. It was COLD and my glasses were frosty by the time I got the auger started up (which took 20 minutes and my arm is still sore.) The fishing did not heat up until about 8 when I started catching. By 10 I had caught 15 and had kept my limit which were both well above 5 pounds. I have big hands and I could not get my hands around either of them. While I was reeling in the larger of the two I could look down the hole and all I could see was the fishes side while it tried to keep its head from coming up. Unfortunately, I generally measure my fish by the inch and I don't carry a scale, so I am only left with the knowledge that these two fish were two of the three biggest trout I have ever caught and all 3 were caught through the ice at Henry's.

My brother and my dad and some nieces and nephews also joined me through the day. We were able to have a great time and we ended up with a mess of fish.
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Wow-that's a great day! Best report -as far as success- that I've heard of from our 1 day extravaganza. NICE !![cool]
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Those are some nice fish. Would you mind sharing what you caught those big ones on?I always have a hard time deciding which fish to keep for dinner up there. I don't want to keep the first fish I catch or I am done fishing, but you never know how many if any you are going to catch. Next year my Daughter will be old enough to go so I can keep my limit then focus on helping her catch fish. Great job, I bet those kids had a blast. I can't wait for next year.
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After talking to Damon on the way off the ice I guess I should post how our party did on Saturday. We fished just North of the county boat ramp and tried to get on the outside edge of everyone. We didn't get on the ice til 8:30 or so but once we got set up we got into the fish immediately. There was four in our party and we ended up icing just over 30 fish. Largest of the bunch was an estimated 6 lb. hybrid. We caught quite a few smaller fish compared to the usual but many that were 3-4 lbs too. All were sent back to be caught another day! As I see the reports I am feeling quite fortunate even though we thought the fishing was pretty slow. My theory is that with the better water clarity vs. the late November murky water, the fish were much more selective in their eating habits. We too watched fish after fish swim up, sniff the bait, and go obout their business. I am looking forward to next years extended season!
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Hey it looks like you got into some good fish, nice!

Bring on the soft water!!!
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We used 3 different jigs. Standard Orange squid type jig (about an inch), a green paddle bug and an orange rat fink. I really don't think they made that much of a difference. It must have been location and/or the rainbow power bait.
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"A lot of people started at midnight but never caught a fish until 7AM . Talked to some guys coming back from Staleys They all limited out on nice fish . "

"We didn't get on the ice til 8:30 or so but once we got set up we got into the fish immediately. There was four in our party and we ended up icing just over 30 fish. Largest of the bunch was an estimated 6 lb. hybrid. We caught quite a few smaller fish compared to the usual but many that were 3-4 lbs too. All were sent back to be caught another day!"

"(-5 below when we got there, not nearly as bad as what was predicted)."



Admittedly I am a neophyte when it comes to ice fishing, although I do fish quite a bit in cold weather. I was just wondering, how long does a wet trout pulled through a hole in the ice, take before it freezes or stiffens in -5 degree air temp.? How many were laid on the ice to get the hook out? Did they stick to the ice? How many of those 30 fish lived? I guess we will never know, considering if they did die, they did it under the ice.
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[quote BruceSmith]"

Admittedly I am a neophyte when it comes to ice fishing, although I do fish quite a bit in cold weather. I was just wondering, how long does a wet trout pulled through a hole in the ice, take before it freezes or stiffens in -5 degree air temp.? How many were laid on the ice to get the hook out? Did they stick to the ice? How many of those 30 fish lived? I guess we will never know, considering if they did die, they did it under the ice.[/quote]

Considering most people fish in tents with a heater in those kind of conditions and therefore the temperature is much higher than -5 degrees, most fish probably do just fine.
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Great job Bruce and no surprise on the numbers for you, but the fishing through a hole.....??????? What fly?[laugh]

There will never be an answer to your questions, just thoughts

Far cry from the boat out on the coast, eh?
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In my opinion, catching and releasing a fish in the heat of summer with water temps in the 70's is more likely to kill a fish than having them in cold temperatures for a very short while to release them while ice fishing. As a fly fisherman in the warmer months and an ice fisherman in the cooler season, I realize that there is always some inherent fish mortality in both, even with best catch and release practices. I haven't seen any solid information that ice fishing catch and release has any higher mortality rates than open water catch and release. I don't think we should make people feel guilty about having a good time ice fishing until there is some good evidence that the mortality rates are significantly high.
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This has been addressed and upper 70's is hard, but the fish also do not need to leave the water, freezing is freezing.
Plus, the fish would die under ice so no way to tell....long gone by spring. so I doubt you will see proof, unless you do search for it.


Nice fish everyone....so jealous!
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[quote BruceSmith]

Admittedly I am a neophyte when it comes to ice fishing, although I do fish quite a bit in cold weather. I was just wondering, how long does a wet trout pulled through a hole in the ice, take before it freezes or stiffens in -5 degree air temp.? How many were laid on the ice to get the hook out? Did they stick to the ice? How many of those 30 fish lived? I guess we will never know, considering if they did die, they did it under the ice.[/quote]

Nice to see your concern Bruce. I hope to see the same concern when it comes to the opener and the fly guys are out there snagging the fish swimming in close to the shore as well. By the way, unauthorized use of members pics posted on other web sites would be illegal under copyright laws. Just an FYI.
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