03-24-2020, 01:29 AM
We were going to try, Scofield, but not knowing any recent conditions, we headed back to Strawberry. Headed out of Chicken East, as usual. Parking lot has been asphalt the last couple times and the bushes, rocks, etc. are all starting to show as the snow melts more and more. You can definitely see a watery edge to the lake and my wife stepped through into about 12" of water. Although the edges were a little soft, we had no problems getting the sleds on and off the ice. The clear bottom ice is still good at 14-16" with a solid 8" of crusty stuff on top. We didn't hit any slush, but I could see where some areas had a little and it refroze.
The weather was great with a good mix of sun and cloud cover. There was no wind at all, so that was also a plus. We fished in 35-43 FOW and caught fish throughout the water column. Green was again the winner, but we had to scale down to smaller ice flies and other little plastics in order to get reliable bites. I watched a lot of fish give chase, but ultimately go away without ever hitting the bait. The bite was also very delicate and I missed a lot of hookups. We tipped the jigs with wax worms, dirt worms, and meal worms. All seemed to work as well as the next.
We caught a lot of smaller planters this trip and only a few in the slot. Fishing was steady with the biggest being around 20", and caught earlier in the morning. All seemed to be plenty fat and in relatively good health. You could definitely see some had been caught a released a number of times. Fishing pretty much died for us around 1300, which was fine. The snow came just after 1400 and we left in a pretty good blizzard.
Looks cold this week, so I think people could easily get another good trip in, maybe two. Unless the state shuts down because of the virus, which I think is a good possibility. I think we have a week, maybe two, before that happens.
The weather was great with a good mix of sun and cloud cover. There was no wind at all, so that was also a plus. We fished in 35-43 FOW and caught fish throughout the water column. Green was again the winner, but we had to scale down to smaller ice flies and other little plastics in order to get reliable bites. I watched a lot of fish give chase, but ultimately go away without ever hitting the bait. The bite was also very delicate and I missed a lot of hookups. We tipped the jigs with wax worms, dirt worms, and meal worms. All seemed to work as well as the next.
We caught a lot of smaller planters this trip and only a few in the slot. Fishing was steady with the biggest being around 20", and caught earlier in the morning. All seemed to be plenty fat and in relatively good health. You could definitely see some had been caught a released a number of times. Fishing pretty much died for us around 1300, which was fine. The snow came just after 1400 and we left in a pretty good blizzard.
Looks cold this week, so I think people could easily get another good trip in, maybe two. Unless the state shuts down because of the virus, which I think is a good possibility. I think we have a week, maybe two, before that happens.
