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+--- Thread: Mantua ice (/showthread.php?tid=706765)
Mantua ice - CarpHunter - 12-16-2011
How thick is the ice at Mantua reservoir? I was planning on goin saturday
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Re: [CarpHunter] Mantua ice - thefriends03 - 12-16-2011
A good 5-6 inches last Saturday.
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Re: [CarpHunter] Mantua ice - lavaman - 12-16-2011
It's gotta be a solid 6+ now for the majority of the lake.
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Re: [CarpHunter] Mantua ice - chickendude1234 - 12-16-2011
It was 6" where I fished this morning.
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Re: [chickendude1234] Mantua ice - lavaman - 12-16-2011
[quote chickendude1234]It was 6" where I fished this morning.[/quote]
Hey chickendude how did you do out there?
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Re: [lavaman] Mantua ice - chickendude1234 - 12-16-2011
Decent. I iced 7 or 8 fat gills. The biggest was just under 9" 3 or 4 normal trout(12") and one that went up to 14".
Had a couple fat somethings straighten out my ratfinkees so I switched to Genz Worms. That's when I landed the 14 incher. Then I never saw any more bigguns.
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Re: [chickendude1234] Mantua ice - Kevin_VanDam - 12-17-2011
"???? light line? Small hooks? Is this the Little Dinkers Club of America???" BassHunter1 asked me this question in another thread and I never got the chance to answer him because it was locked. There are several good reasons to use light line and small hooks at Mantua. #1 most of the fish in there are dinks, it's certainly not the place to go if you're looking for lunkers. #2 even 2lb test can handle the occasional large trout or bass. #3 It's a shallow lake so thicker line spooks the fish. I've seen way too many people fishing Mantua with 8lb test and gigantic trout jigs and they wonder why they don't catch much of anything? It's because they're using an elephant gun to go deer hunting! I've had great fishing days at Mantua Dec, Jan, Feb, and March, even when reports said it was slow. It's true that certain spots slow down because of fishing pressure, but if you keep moving and look for less pressured spots you're bound to find a hot spot eventually. Even on the busy Weekends at Mantua there are spots that barely even get touched.
Re: [Kevin_VanDam] Mantua ice - lavaman - 12-17-2011
Well said, Kevin. Presentation is everything. And yes, you can still catch late ice-season fish at Mantua if you know where to go/what to use.
Fun little reservoir. Used to be even better. [
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Re: [Kevin_VanDam] Mantua ice - catmaster23 - 12-17-2011
Light line and small hooks are fine, but if your using fluorocarbon it really shouldn't matter what the depth or test is . And big fish eat bigger baits. I find it's always good to have one pole set up for the big dogs, there might not be a lot of them in mantua as far as trout go but they are in there and I think that using bigger tackle will even your odds. And yes I know that big fish will hit smaller jigs, spoons ect. but in my experience all the big boys I've caught have been on my larger lures. Reality is that if you fish for small fish you'll catch small fish.
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Re: [chickendude1234] Mantua ice - Kevin_VanDam - 12-17-2011
[quote chickendude1234]Decent. I iced 7 or 8 fat gills. The biggest was just under 9" 3 or 4 normal trout(12") and one that went up to 14".
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Nice gill! Now that's what I like to see. Can't wait to get up there soon.
Re: [rcturbos] Mantua ice - BigFishTaco - 12-17-2011
Just like chickendude said, the ice was good - between six and seven inches.
The edge on the south side road was solid. That said, there were lots popping and cracking going on all day.
The fishing was consistent to hot for the bluegills. Not much size but fun. i landed 40+ gills and kept 10. Also caught 12 bows in the 10-11 inch range. One went 15. Kept none of the bows. Landed two LMB going 12 and 8 inch. Finished the grand slam with 3 perch.
All were caught on ice flies tipped with waxie on four pound test. Almost all were caught using my jedi schkills. [cool] A few were jawjacked.
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Re: [catmaster23] Mantua ice - lavaman - 12-17-2011
What CM said.
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Re: [BigFishTaco] Mantua ice - wiperhunter2 - 12-17-2011
Sounds like the same results we had, except we caught 5 perch and only one 10" bass. Were you up there today or yesterday?
WH2
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Re: [CarpHunter] Mantua ice - OldnCold - 12-18-2011
Just have to make a comment on the big fish-big tackle subject. We went so manua last weekend and five nice slimers 2 hit 18" on the tape the other tree were all 14" plus. All five were caught on 4 lb test and a small #14 fly I tied. That was all I caugh so maybe it was where we were. But we had 2 other poles set up heavy with big jigs that caught nothing. So I don't believe size always matters (in fishing anyway)[cool]
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Re: [Kevin_VanDam] Mantua ice - BassHunter1 - 12-18-2011
Guess what KVD, an 8" trout will bite a 4" tube! Even under the ice...so will perch and even 6" bass. Truth is they bite pretty much anything that they think will fit in their mouth. Fish are opportunistic and would rather stuff their face with an easy meal and then they will continue to eat everything they can catch. Using light line is just asking for a big fish to break off. There are many lakes around where the fish need to be pulled out of their hiding holes in a hurry before they wrap you around and get away. Maybe try Jordanelle with your light line and have fun feeding your tackle box to that place.
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Re: [BassHunter1] Mantua ice - BassHunter1 - 12-18-2011
Almost forgot...for everyone...any fish that breaks off should automatically be considered an 8 lb. Minimum. If it made it up to the hole and broke off it was probably 10 or 12. Ha ha jk.
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Re: [BassHunter1] Mantua ice - Fin-S-Fish - 12-18-2011
I agree with small lures but not light line. I always use 12lb trilene xl standard most places I go, and mantua ice or open water is no exception. Always done well with heavy line. But braid is a different story. It will spook fish.
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Re: [BigFishTaco] Mantua ice - CoyoteSpinner - 12-18-2011
First off let me just say - Mantua has NO ice, that's right it all blew off - a big wind came and ya might as well get out yer float tube. Plus it won't freeze again this year.
[center]NO ICE FISHING AT MANTUA!!! SORRY KIDS!!!
[quote BigFishTaco]Just like chickendude said, the ice was good - between six and seven inches.
Almost all were caught using my jedi schkills. [cool] A few were jawjacked.[/quote]
I'll second (third?) that. Not that you CAN'T find spots with thinner ice, overall - it's good- yup gets poppy, especially after the sun comes up.
There was a 4wheeler out yesterday - tooled all over the lake.
And BFT - I hope any jawjacked fish went back, cuz that's not real fishing. Doesn't count if you don't hook em yourself. What a lazy-cheat of a way to fish. [:p]
<only saying that to rib ya, and cuz I'm mad at my Jacker for not popping off on me! Maybe it'll get busy today. >
Of note: some fish can be very focused on WHAT they will eat. I've seen trout full of young perch (2-3") and I had one that was chock full of snails, nothing but snails. So I think you'll find fish get in a "mood" - and it might be color, shape, vibration - something that turns them on. Or just opportunistic bites - many bites are a slurp, spit motion - in/out before you hardly see a spring bobber bob. Bluegill are way more finicky than the trout for sure.
I'll be out there today. Hope to see some of ya!
Re: [CoyoteSpinner] Mantua ice - LurkinLizard - 12-18-2011
[quote CoyoteSpinner]
Of note: some fish can be very focused on WHAT they will eat. I've seen trout full of young perch (2-3") and I had one that was chock full of snails, nothing but snails. So I think you'll find fish get in a "mood" - and it might be color, shape, vibration - something that turns them on. Or just opportunistic bites - many bites are a slurp, spit motion - in/out before you hardly see a spring bobber bob. Bluegill are way more finicky than the trout for sure. [/quote]
I always have had the best luck with bluegill, floating a worm off the bottom--in warm weather. Anyone know if that might work through the ice, too?
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Re: [BassHunter1] Mantua ice - Kevin_VanDam - 12-18-2011
BassHunter1 I totally agree with you. If you just want to catch 8" lunker trout, perch, and bass at then by all means use a 4" tube with 8lb test. Honestly though, bluegill are the main target for me at Mantua and with the the tackle you're describing your changes of catching one are about 0.00021%. If I went fishing to Jordenelle (Only been there once two years ago) I'd still used 2lb test because I'd be going after all of those football sized perch. Trout usually suspend and Perch hug the bottom so I doubt I'd break off very much. Heck, I caught a 20lb carp with my 2lb test at Pineview a few years ago, and a 5lb Smallmouth Bass last year.