My son and I went to Echo yesterday. We got there at sunrise. Fishing was terrible, which maybe explains why we only saw about a half-dozen groups out there all day. We started just North of the resort in about 30' of water. Not a bite. Moved further up by the dam, same result. Tried in shallower and got some light bites (Perch maybe?). The edges were solid due to the 9 degree overnight temps. Ice was consistently 6" with about an inch of snow on top, so walking was easy. Left frustrated and fishless since none of our proven tactics were working. I wonder if there was a die-off this summer due to the low water? Usually we have done very well in winter.
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I fished it as well yesterday from sun-up till about 3:30ish. Fishing was slow but ended up with 3 keeper trout (7 total)
and 5 perch, biggest being close to 13". Pikeman was there yesterday and had similar results (thanks for the tow back to the gate).
Slow bite but they are there, fishing got a whole lot better after I started tipping with perch meat for both the perch and trout.
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Were you fishing deeper than 30'? I tried a minnow and shrimp on my jig, but no takers. Maybe I need to catch a few Perch and use that for bait...
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I was at 38' with one pole on the bottom for perch and the jawjacker set-up for trout at 10'. The bigger trout are cruising around 8-12' below the ice. The dinky trout are on the bottom bothering my perch rig.
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