12-13-2013, 10:41 PM
Just a follow up to this thread if anyone is interested, and a bit of a HOLY CRAP story to tell.
We fished at the Hatchery today. I was there on Wednesday, and it was easy to see the open spots where the bubblers are keeping the water from freezing. Today as we were walking out in the dark, I saw a dark patch ahead of where I had just walked on Wednesday, it was open water. When the light came up I could pick out another 3 spots that hadn't been there on Wednesday. Then, a group of 3 guys came and set up about 50 yards to the West of us, more or less directly in front of the first large cabin to the west of the spawning ladder, I guess we were out 250 yards or so. I was watching them just to take the opportunity to say hello, this fellow had a hand auger and is drilling his first hole, when all of the sudden Old Faithful is spewing out air and water 30 feet into the air! These 3 guys start haulin ass away from the area when they realize their auger is still in the hole, then the crazy SOB walks back carefully to the geyser and grabs his auger out. This air geysered up for over 5 minutes before it just started bubbling. This was obviously another aeration bubbler that had been building up pressure under the ice since they turned the system on Tuesday. Before we left, this area was flooded with open water around 50 by 50 feet. The ice in the whole area was also very vocal.
We were all a little rattled, and I invited the boys to fish by us and drilled them a few holes. It wasn't long before they were into the fish, but certainly an event to remember.
Please be careful in this area! I do not know how many more bubbler areas there are, and this line is obviously angled out to the West from the ladder.
[signature]
We fished at the Hatchery today. I was there on Wednesday, and it was easy to see the open spots where the bubblers are keeping the water from freezing. Today as we were walking out in the dark, I saw a dark patch ahead of where I had just walked on Wednesday, it was open water. When the light came up I could pick out another 3 spots that hadn't been there on Wednesday. Then, a group of 3 guys came and set up about 50 yards to the West of us, more or less directly in front of the first large cabin to the west of the spawning ladder, I guess we were out 250 yards or so. I was watching them just to take the opportunity to say hello, this fellow had a hand auger and is drilling his first hole, when all of the sudden Old Faithful is spewing out air and water 30 feet into the air! These 3 guys start haulin ass away from the area when they realize their auger is still in the hole, then the crazy SOB walks back carefully to the geyser and grabs his auger out. This air geysered up for over 5 minutes before it just started bubbling. This was obviously another aeration bubbler that had been building up pressure under the ice since they turned the system on Tuesday. Before we left, this area was flooded with open water around 50 by 50 feet. The ice in the whole area was also very vocal.
We were all a little rattled, and I invited the boys to fish by us and drilled them a few holes. It wasn't long before they were into the fish, but certainly an event to remember.
Please be careful in this area! I do not know how many more bubbler areas there are, and this line is obviously angled out to the West from the ladder.
[signature]