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Yesterday I did a scouting trip into Willard Bay, North entrance, for a look-see...the whole lake was capped over, and the Marina area also...definitely not safe ice there, maybe an inch at the Marina shore line....continued on up to Mantua, and that entire lake was also capped..snow-covered on the whole South half, and clear ice on the North half...of course the river/creek inlet area had open water...I did not go down to check thickness, but I was surprised to see someone ice skating all over that clear North half...no one ice fishing, except one guy sitting off the end of the swim area dock, and it looked like he had drilled a hole there....I'm guessing there will be early ice fishers there in a few days....but I wouldn't want to risk being the first to be there and bust through...Anyone going early (or any time) be sure to have a partner and all safety gear, esp. ice pics, extra clothes, and a good ice poker to check along the way....Please report back, be safe, and Guluk...
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12-21-2021, 02:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-21-2021, 02:28 AM by wiperhunter2.)
(12-21-2021, 02:03 AM)Jmorfish Wrote: Yesterday I did a scouting trip into Willard Bay, North entrance, for a look-see...the whole lake was capped over, and the Marina area also...definitely not safe ice there, maybe an inch at the Marina shore line....continued on up to Mantua, and that entire lake was also capped..snow-covered on the whole South half, and clear ice on the North half...of course the river/creek inlet area had open water...I did not go down to check thickness, but I was surprised to see someone ice skating all over that clear North half...no one ice fishing, except one guy sitting off the end of the swim area dock, and it looked like he had drilled a hole there....I'm guessing there will be early ice fishers there in a few days....but I wouldn't want to risk being the first to be there and bust through...Anyone going early (or any time) be sure to have a partner and all safety gear, esp. ice pics, extra clothes, and a good ice poker to check along the way....Please report back, be safe, and Guluk...
Thanks for the update Joe. I heard Willard capped last Sat, it was open on Fri but Sat it was capped. If Willard and Mantua a capped, then Pineview is likely close or is capped.
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Hey WH2, heard anything recently about the fishing status of The Pond?
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(12-21-2021, 04:54 AM)EyLayo Wrote: Hey WH2, heard anything recently about the fishing status of The Pond?
Other than they stocked trout in it, I haven't heard anything, I'll send the park manager an email and check the status.
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Drove past Mantua and Willard today, noone fishing Willard yet, but Mantua had a half dozen folks on the south side... north looks like it's probably a day or two less ice on that side... I would expect it will soon be safe for most to give it a try if careful for springs and thin ice... Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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I was one of those on mantua this morning, 2.5”-3” of ice. Lots of very soft bites, only a couple really took it.
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12-21-2021, 06:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-21-2021, 07:41 PM by wiperhunter2.)
(12-21-2021, 04:54 AM)EyLayo Wrote: Hey WH2, heard anything recently about the fishing status of The Pond?
Just got off the phone with the Willard park manager, he said as far as he knew the pond was not open to fishing yet. He suggested I call the DWR. Just got off the phone with someone that works at the front desk of the DWR, she could not find out anything about it but said she would pass it off to the aquatics manager and they would call me back, so...... more to follow.
Edit: Chris Pennie(SP?) ended up calling me back and we got a chance to talk about not only the pond but also Willard and other lakes. Basiclly the pond will not open for fishing until Sept 2022. They have not stocked any trout in there, only Bass and Bluegill, in 2022 they will stock perch and later trout but they wanted the bass and gills to get a little foothold before stocking anything else. So, no ice fishing there this Winter.
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Thanks to everybody who can take the time to go look and post! I really appreciate it.
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Hey hooksetter, welcome to the site and did you hook any of those better hits? Figure they were gills? I guess with Mantua being above the inversion they aren't as cold so maybe that's why their ice total is still so skinny... I'd have figured it would be up close to 4" by now... I'll go check my pond after work tonight and see what I have but it was 3" two days ago, so I'm pretty sure it will be up to 4-5" by now... single digit temps all week so far, so it's got to be growing, nearly 2:00 and still only 27 degrees, so I'm thinking it's got to be getting thicker... Think I'll go try my first Utah hard water of the season tomorrow... Got 4 hours of vacation left so I'm thinking it's time to use it... If you want to join me tomorrow I'll be heading out about 10:00 AM... PM me for the location... Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
I think me and catchinon are still gonna buzz all the way to Newton Thursday morning and try for something maybe crappie or bluegill if anyone wants to meet there.
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(12-21-2021, 09:03 PM)SkunkedAgain Wrote: Hey hooksetter, welcome to the site and did you hook any of those better hits? Figure they were gills? I guess with Mantua being above the inversion they aren't as cold so maybe that's why their ice total is still so skinny... I'd have figured it would be up close to 4" by now... I'll go check my pond after work tonight and see what I have but it was 3" two days ago, so I'm pretty sure it will be up to 4-5" by now... single digit temps all week so far, so it's got to be growing, nearly 2:00 and still only 27 degrees, so I'm thinking it's got to be getting thicker... Think I'll go try my first Utah hard water of the season tomorrow... Got 4 hours of vacation left so I'm thinking it's time to use it... If you want to join me tomorrow I'll be heading out about 10:00 AM... PM me for the location... Later Jeff
I thought the ice would have been thicker as well, it was a nipply 3 degrees when I arrived this morning. The bigger hits were bluegills, only a couple of good size. I managed to catch a few of the light bites after attaching a slip bobber. Turns out it was small perch. I saw lots of bass swimming by on the livescope but never could get one to bite. As I was leaving there was people skating the clear ice on the north end again. I’ll PM you about tomorrow, I’d like to meet some new people to hit the ice with this year.
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Wow I don’t think I’d be skating on that clear stuff it looked a lot thinner than where you were. Blows my mind how skaters seem to get away with playing on some really marginal stuff. Maybe moving fast keeps you on top. Good to hear you got some confirmation on the biters. I couldn’t find any wax worms or spikes, in fact I got the last meal worms at the warehouse so I hope the fish will settle on mealies. I wasn’t going to take my electronics tomorrow but if you dared take your system today I should be ok tomorrow. If you get a chance come join us, I’ll be in theGMC missing a front bumper. Probably be three of us in the group. Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
Hey Jeff I have trouble finding waxies and mealies to... but look at your local pet store they usually have some
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Thanks for the tip, that was where I was headed, but they were closed last night... Only problem I have there is getting the right size, but thank you for the tip it's a really good one... Guess I won't make it in before my first trip though, since I'm leaving now... Thanks Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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12-22-2021, 05:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-22-2021, 05:10 PM by PACKFAN.
Edit Reason: spelling
)
(12-21-2021, 02:03 AM)Jmorfish Wrote: Yesterday I did a scouting trip into Willard Bay, North entrance, for a look-see...the whole lake was capped over, and the Marina area also...definitely not safe ice there, maybe an inch at the Marina shore line....continued on up to Mantua, and that entire lake was also capped..snow-covered on the whole South half, and clear ice on the North half...of course the river/creek inlet area had open water...I did not go down to check thickness, but I was surprised to see someone ice skating all over that clear North half...no one ice fishing, except one guy sitting off the end of the swim area dock, and it looked like he had drilled a hole there....I'm guessing there will be early ice fishers there in a few days....but I wouldn't want to risk being the first to be there and bust through...Anyone going early (or any time) be sure to have a partner and all safety gear, esp. ice pics, extra clothes, and a good ice poker to check along the way....Please report back, be safe, and Guluk...
Thanks, last year at this time my son and I were tearing the gills up, had to weed thru them to get the nicer ones. MERRY CHRISTMAS.
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Fritz,I didn't think pet stores carried waxworms but I just checked with my local Petco and they have some. I know that they have a lot of different sizes of mealworms. Jeff, what is the right size?
The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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Craig I like the bigger meal worms, some are too small to put on the hooks and they don’t have any guts to squish out. Like the ones I got earlier this year. Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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Well it's been 2 years but I'm back after finally figuring out the changes. Don't care for all the advertisements though!
I got up Mantua yesterday. Ice not safe but I went out carefully 10 yards or so. Caught 6 trout in a couple hours. People were ice skating on that west side. Watch out for springs!
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(12-23-2021, 03:12 PM)lavaman Wrote: Well it's been 2 years but I'm back after finally figuring out the changes. Don't care for all the advertisements though!
I got up Mantua yesterday. Ice not safe but I went out carefully 10 yards or so. Caught 6 trout in a couple hours. People were ice skating on that west side. Watch out for springs!
Well, your a braver (or something) man than I. Hope to see you out there once the ice develops to my liking. BTW, Hyrum is ice free as of yesterday, and doesn't look like it'll be cold enough to cap over the next few days.
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Hey Derek, what a great time to get you back on line... Nice to have a fellow member of the hard water team return... I hit Newton yesterday, it's not quite there, but we didn't fall through either... Fishing was really slow for us, but still nice to get on the ice again... Thanks for the return and we'll have to drill a hole in the same area this winter... Merry Christmas and catch ya Later... Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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