Danials Ice Condition

[DKStroutfitter]

I would like to fish at Danials over the weekend if the ice is good. Any reports there? Also what is working best and any other information that will help is appreciated. Thanks DKS.
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[BrianID]

I haven't fished it lately but I have heard reports from reliable sources that there has been safe ice on Daniels for several weeks now. I would guess that there would be around 8" of ice in most parts of the lake but it is only a guess. I would use smaller ice jigs and nymphs like pheasant tails, prince and other popular ones. I also think that nymphs that imitate small (#18) freshwater shrimp would work well. I'm sure other popular ice tackle would work as well. Make sure you follow the no bait and single barbless hook rules. Even if you have a two pole permit you can also only use one pole while ice fishing Daniels. It doesn't take long to get caught "cheating" at Daniels because the F&G patrol that lake often. Good luck.
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[DKStroutfitter]

Thanks for the information, BrianID.
My son took my wife there last winter and they had a great time. They iced some very nice fish! I can't wait to get up there myself. Thanks for the heads up on the regs. We are aware of them including barbless hooks. We fished Mantua, in Utah , with similar regs before and did quite well, using just what you suggested. We also tie a renegade on a jig head that has produced some nice trout for us. DKSRenegade.
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[barfuss]

We fished Daniels on the 16th. The wind was cold but bearable. The fishing was OK it wasnt hot but we had enough action to keep interested. The two of us landed on the ice 10 nice rainbows. The sizes ranging from 18 inches to the smallest around 16 inches. We lost quite a few when we would get them up to the ice and the jig would hit the ice and off they went. Those barbless hooks that what you get. The jigs we had best luck on were chartruce little frog leg jigs. We were in about 30 ft of water and catching them I would say around 15 to 20 feet. We had a good day. I hope to get back up there soon. Ice was about 8 inches good and 6 inches if frozen slush
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[DKStroutfitter]

Thanks for the info barfuss, I hope to fish there soon. DKS
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[EatSleepFish]

My nephew and I just went up to Daniel's yesterday from about 2:00pm til 4:30pm. Plenty of ice. I'd say with the snow on the ice, you are about 4 inches above the water once you punch a hole. The edges are somewhat solid. I walked on where snowmachines had really packed it down. We landed 4 fish from 14" to 16" and lost a monster right as we were packing up. Got his nose out of the water and he snapped the line. Couldn't get my hands around him to yank him out. Still sick about it. [unsure]
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[BrianID]

EatSleepFish,

Welcome to BFT and thanks for the report. It is good to see that you signed up. It is always frustrating loosing the big fish of the day. Hopefuly you learned something from it so it wasn't a total loss. I sent you a PM so you can see how they work.
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[ram4x]

The two times I've been up there this year I've found half full wax worm containers. That just rubs me the wrong way!
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[BrianID]

ram4x,
It took me a second to realize why your were upset about finding wax worms. The only reason Daniels has big fish is because most fisherman play by the rules and follow the single barbless hook/no bait rule. It is too bad that there always seems to be a few people that don't think they have to follow the rules.
People that are using wax worms at Daniels won't do it long before getting caught. The F&G really watch that place and with almost everyone carring cell phones these days it doesn't normally doesn't take long for a F&G office to get there after someone calls the CAP hotline number.
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[ram4x]

I'm sure there's more to it than just the bait thing, but I've caught fewer large fish there this year than years past. I fished it a few times in the summer, and now twice on ice, and it's getting harder to get excited about going there. There are still some bruisers in there though.
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[BrianID]

ram4x,

I agree with you that there's likely more to it than the bait thing. Even though it gives them an unfair advantage, people tipping an ice jig with bait aren’t going to hurt the fishing at Daniels. It is when they bring home a dozen fish every trip that hurts the lake. If I see someone fishing Daniel’s that has a pile of 12"-19" fish on the ice they can count on a fish cop paying them a visit very soon.

Everyone has there own opinion of why a place isn't as good as fishing as it use to be. Like most places I think increased at Daniels has hurt the fishing there more than anything else. More fisherman equals more fish being caught which increases the number of fish that die after being released and it also likely increases the number of fish that are kept legally and illegally by fisherman.
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