01-03-2014, 11:53 PM
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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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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