Good Luck all. hope the northern waters are better than last year.

I had a few spare hrs. yesterday and decided to clear my head and waded out to pitch a few jigs for walleye at the AF creek entrance to the lake yesterday (not a bump). Noted the closure and construction at AF harbor. Wondering if anyone has found a timeline on when the work will be completed.

Summer is on the way and time to start thinking about whether we want to have some contests or not... Last year we had the cat contest and  a multi species contest...  After a year of trying this, what is your thoughts?  Do you want to have both contests again?  Just the Cat contest?  Just the multispecies contest... Let us know we are looking at starting the new contest on March 15th as the ice challenge wraps up...  Thanks for your input.... Jeff

There was a post on the Premium Board which included the tale/tail of losing a large fish while trying to get it up through a hole in the ice.  Been there, done that.  The BFTer who posted that made mention of a post I had made a few years ago about making fish lippers and grabbers from the ubiquitous “reach tools” widely available.
 
I couldn’t find any of my PDF epistles in my files, but I had kept some pics.  So I will just make a new post with pics.
 
Like most consumer goods on the market, there is a wide range of options in reach tools.  There are quite a few different lengths and a lot of difference in quality and strength.  The first fish grabber models I made were from some of the cheap blue plastic 36” models from Harbor Freight.  The entire handle, body and two end tongs are all made of a lightweight blue plastic.  The upside is that by applying some heat…with a small burner, a heat gun or stove top burner you can soften the ends of the tongs and bend them inward to make more of a hook than just a gripper.  See the pic.
 

I used this model successfully on several species.  Although I did save a few fish by just doing a quick grab down across the back of the head and into the gills, it worked best when you could get the fish to say a-a-a-a-a-h-h and grip the lower jaw to pull it out of the hole.
 
But, for bigger and feistier fish I upgraded to using one of the sturdier metal shaft model reach tools with strong hardware and tough, rigid gripper tongs.   To increase grabbing efficiency I added a couple of short screws pointing inward…see picture.  This model has successfully secured several large fish of several species.  And it is great for securely grabbing a large active fish as soon as its head reaches the hole.  The best grab is between the eyes and the gills…down across the back of the head.  But if the fish opens its mouth, this model works great as a super lip gripper as well.
  

Just a couple of additional notes. I also successfully used the heavier model on my float tube on a few trips.  Although I generally prefer a net, when you can use a net.  It did a fine  job of helping control a few large cantankerous fish for hook removal without having to bring them up onto  my lap in the float tube.
 
Another note.  If you are using the heavier model…with sharp-pointed screws or nails…don’t use it as a head grip tool for any fish you may wish to release.  There can be some tissue damage if the fish starts flopping.

I know Otter Creek is. I'm getting tired of catching planter bows on Quail. No interest in chasing bass on Sand Hollow.

Arrived at the main state park ramp at 6:40 AM on 3/1. First boat on the water. No fog like last week, thankfully.

Surprisingly, there was still quite a bit of ice left after the warm week. Was able to sneak past the huge sheets via a narrow channel on the north shore, and finally ended up as close to Charleston as the ice would allow.

Fishing was not as hot as it normally is in late winter, usually this time of year you cannot hardly keep your gear in the water thanks to the recent stockings. That was not the case, which allowed for more time in my heated seat and heated cab. I'm not complaining. Fairly slow fishing, but the average fish size is much larger than usual, in my opinion - about 18 inches for us. Didn't see a ton of fish on the livescope either, so it was not an obvious issue of "fish were there, but we didn't have what they wanted".

The wind shifted the ice around on us while we fished - the way we snuck around the ice had closed up, so we ended up doing some ice breaking. Thankful for a .25" welded aluminum hull. After slow and careful going, finally made it back to the pool of open water by the main ramp - where half the state had convened into their own little wave pool... A lot of boats in a little water.

And finally, be sure to donate to your local literacy program, because despite the "no parking" signs, both sides of the ramp were lined with parked cars, and a nice gentleman was prepping his boat in the middle of what little space was left. Some of us have big boats and long trailers - makes it really hard to pull down the ramp and swing around with cars everywhere.

As an added bonus, somebody was fishing power bait literally on the ramp, and I had the privilege of unwinding his line from my prop shaft.

Despite dealing with the cognitively impaired, could not have asked for a nicer day on the water, though I am excited for my usual spots to thaw. Prefer to be floating than standing on ice.

Not been to good about reports the last while. Will do better.

It has been about 3 years since Cookie has been on the ice in any serious way. I talked her into a trip to Echo. She was very reluctant considering the recent weather but I had been on it a few times in the last few weeks and had checked it the night before I took her. Edges were not to bad. Did require a plank, which she did not enjoy but no wet feet. Were there pretty early. The perch fishing was fantastic and she caught some really nice perch. We used a simple tungsten 1/16 or 1/32 jig with a meal worm and later perch eyes. Nothing crazy. We did use a poking stick to check the ice as we walked but other than right by the shore it was a decent 5-8 inches although it is getting very cloudy. Fished around 28-42 ft for a couple hours. Could have caught a bunch more but we had plenty for our lunch. Had some of her family there. They also caught a good bunch. Had some trout missiles come through. I caught a great underwater film sequence of the perch attacking her nephews jigs and then a trout slamming it. Love my Aquaview camera. 

But my favorite part of this video (see link below) was how loud the ice was that morning. It got crazy loud and had poor Cookie about to go nuts. Some pretty fun clips in the video showing that - although she reminds me it may have been funny to me but was not to her. I ate cold turnips for dinner that night while she enjoyed perch nuggets and corn bread - but she still loves me and will go again.

Its is about over (the ice, not our marriage) but it was fun to get her out before the ice conditions get worse.

enjoy the video. I have three more ice fishing ones if I can just sit down and edit them. 

https://youtu.be/tD7emp8girs?si=INh5XMqq3N-vxZdW

I fished Flaming Gorge on Friday 2/28/25 and Saturday 3/1/25, including spending the night on the ice. I accessed the lake off Road 11. From a high point before dropping down to the lake, I took a couple of picture. First is the view down lake where open water is visible just south of Currant Creek. The second view is looking down at the Confluence/Lost Dog area, where pressure ridges and some open water are visible. Third and fourth photos show two prevalent pressure ridges between the Confluence and Currant Creek. Both had visible open water, at least nearer the edge of the lake at mid day.

I fished the west side between the Confluence and Currant Creek. At mid day Friday, I had to make a long step across open water at the edge, but also found spots where rocks were exposed and could carefully walk out. I used my spud bar until I was comfortable with ice conditions. There were spots where the third stroke went through, so just was careful where I walked. At mid day both days the upper 1-2 inches of ice was soft.

Ice was 6-7 inches and just starting to get some of that gray spooky look, but still nice and firm. No snow on the ice and probably 2/3 of it was rough and the 1/3 was bare slick ice. I wore cleats the entire time. 

As the sun went down, the ice started to sing and groan and that lasted all night until mi morning on Saturday. Early Saturday the edges had frozen over enough to walk across.  It got down to 16 degrees over night and was in the mid to upper 40s during the afternoon.

I fished in 60-70 feet of water for pups (caught three and missed a few) and in 15-30 feet of water for burbot (caught 17).

Ice may not last much longer, although others have reported there is still 24 inches at Firehole. If you go, take a spud bar, wear a life jacket, be careful, and have fun!

I can't beleive it is almost that time again. Typical start date is March 15. We want to know how many people are interested in participating this year.

Please respond if you want to join the fun and whether you want to be on the North team or the South team!

I can't beleive it is almost that time again. Typical start date is March 15. We want to know how many people are interested in participating this year.

Please respond if you want to join the fun and whether you want to be on the North team or the South team!