Fishing Forum

Headed up to Soldier Creek this a.m. arrived at the reservoir just before 8:00 a.m. To my surprise, I find the area that I wanted to fish was still open water. Had to find a spot in the bay north of the marina. I fished 26 to 33 feet of water. The ice thickness was 7 to 8 inches thick.

I set up with 2 poles - with a Maniac Gizzy bug on one and a Maniac Cutterbug on the other. I have had good luck with the Maniac lures, so I thought I would give them a try. Did OK with the Gizzy bug down 10 feet. Caught only rainbows on this set up. The Cutterbug was not producing (tried a couple of different colors), so I put on my Strawberry "go-to-bug" which is a Radical Glow tube jig. Immediately started getting bites - I fished within a couple of feet of the bottom with this set up. Caught all Cutts & one large rainbow on this set up.

The wind came up at 11:15 and I left at noon. Ended the day with 15 fish. Eight cutts and 7 rainbows. The rainbows were on the average 14 to 15 inches in length. I did get one good one that measured 21.5 inches and was a 3 pounder. I caught him on the RG jig. The cutts were all in the slot with the biggest 20 inches in length.

My Strikemaster ice auger (10-inches) would not start a few weeks back, so I went to Cabelas and got another one. The biggest they had in stock was 8-inches, so I ended up buying the smaller diameter. I had four other Cutts on that I lost at the bottom of the ice hole. I had a hard time getting the the larger fish to make the turn up the smaller hole - this is going to take some practice. Of course the ones that got away looked bigger than the ones iced!!!

Turned the bad day (open water) into a fair day of fishing.

People were driving their pickups on the snowpacked roadway into the marina and the day use areas beyond.

Photos 1 & 2 - view of the open water just east of the boat ramp at Soldier Creek

Photo 3 - todays limit of rainbow. The large fish is 21.5 inches & 3 pounds.

Photo 4 - view towards the dam. It appears it has just ice over. Nobody fishing the clear ice today.
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What is a radical glow tube jig, what weight, 1/8? and what length of tube? Are they at Sportsmans Warehouse?
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Radical Glow has a website. You can occasionally find them in the Sportsman's, I believe Fish Tek has them & you can find them in the various stores around Flaming Gorge. You might find them at the marina store at Strawberry - not sure? My favorite is a chartruese/yellow color in either 3.5 or 5 inch lengths. The green and glow-in-the dark color is good. Believe it or not, the cutts at Strawberry will take the 5 inch tube jigs. The lakers at Flaming Gorge love them. They are a little pricey; however, I think they out fish the other tube jigs 10 to 1. I put the heaviest jig in them that will fit. I like to get to the bottom fast.

The amount of light these things give off is amazing & they stay charged much longer than the other soft plastic jigs.
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Thank you for the update as well as the "secret" weapon in the Radical Glow!
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Does your old 10" auger bolt up to your new power head?
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I do not know! Good idea to look into & I did not think about - Thanks.
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That's a lot of open water for this time of year isn't it?
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It seemed like a lot of open water to me, for this time of year. In years past, it seems like the area just upstream of the dam (the deepest water) is the last to freeze.
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