Fish Lake Jan 26-28th

[Bigcat]

We went to Fish Lake Mon-Wed. We took 2 wheelers and 2 snowmobiles with us. We had 7 in our group. I am not real familiar with the lake but can tell you that the pressure ridges are obvious and there are some area's of open water where some creek (twin creeks?) comes in to the lake.

We went past Joe Bush after reading the report of people falling through. (At the lodge they said avoid the middle part of the lake and either cross the lake at the north or south end.....) After Joe bush there is a large gate crossing half of the road. They stop plowing at that point so it is travel at your own risk. There was only about 4 inches of fresh snow on the unplowed road past the gate. We went about 1/8 of a mile down that road to the next road heading down the lake. We parked there and unloaded the wheelers and sleds and carefully headed across the lake to the east side.

On monday there was 4 inches of fresh snow on top of 4 inches of slush in most places and a foot of good ice. There are no pressure ridges or open water area's on the north end where we were.

On Tuesday we only hit about half as much slush (it was -4 in the morning).

By Wed morning most of the powder had blown off the lake and the slush had completely frozen. It wad very windy every day and especially on Wed. We used tents every day because the wind was brutal. The wheelers and sleds worked fine with the current conditions.

Now to the fishing. It was my first time to Fish Lake so I don't have much to compare it to. The roads sucked the whole way there Wed morning so we didn't get there and fishing til almost noon. Lots of fish on the finders and spurts of biters. Caught plenty of 12-15 inch splake suspended from 5-40 feet. Got on 3 pound mac, and one 2 1/2 pound sucker.... It was not fast and furious by any means but everyone caught fish. I think I finished with 8 trout and a sucker for that day and I caught more than most.

Tuesday we started fishing about 8:30 in -4 temps with wind. Tuesday was really spotty for some people and better for others. Me and my buddy in the same tent totalled 50 fish between us while the other 5 in the group maybe go 50 between all of them.

Wed the wind blew the snow around all day. Near white out conditions under blue sky's and sunshine. The lake is mostly clear of snow now. It was a slow day for most but nobody wanted to move around with the weather conditions. Me and my buddy tied with 23 fish each and we fished from about 10-4:30. The rest of the group maybe caught 25 between them. We definetly had the good holes. Some even moved within 20 feet of us and still didn't catch near our numbers. Plenty of rainbows and splake in the 10-18 inch range with most being 12-15 inch range.

By far the most effective jig was the Maniac gizzy bug in crazy glow followed by the Maniac ice cutr in crazy glow. Both tipped with wax worm. This combo outfished everything by a long shot. I was fishing a tandem rig with a ice cutr on top and a 12 inch leader dropped off the shank of the cutr with a gizzy bug on the drop leader. 9 out of 10 fish went for gizzy bug. The definetely wanted smaller offerings on tuesday and wednesday.

Bottom line... Fish fair to good at times. Ice conditions good if you stay away from open water and pressure ridges. Wind sucked...
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[MrLipripper]

We'll have twice as many people down there in 10 days so that means we'll catch half as many fish as you did.

Some fun in the wind, huh? Did your heaters work okay? Were the roads all plowed as well as the last picture?
You were way up north according to the one shot of the bathroom by Joe Bush. I think I may try more south points this year but I'll go where the snowmobiles take me.[]
Did you cut up the sucker and use it for the splake and lakers?

Anyway, good job!
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[Bigcat]

Lipripper,
yes that is the new math. Twice as many people and 1/2 the fish. Same thing happens when you use two rods, you miss twice as many fish and catch half as many.

We used the heaters very little actually. Occasionally turning them on for 10-15 minutes to take the edge off. But the sun and our body heat keep the tents really comfortable in a sweatshirt or light coat without hat or gloves and kept the holes from freezing.

The roads were all really good. Used 4WD very little.

Yes we were quite a ways North of Joe Bush.

We did cut up the sucker and used it for bait. But the fish wanted the little stuff. The whole first day and half the second day I fished one rod near the bottom (88 feet) hoping for a mac. Used tubes and bigger stuff with chub and sucker but never got a hit. I think I only caught 2 fish deeper than 40 feet in 3 days. Most of the fish were caught between 2 feet under the ice (did a lot of sight fishing) and 25 feet under the ice.

My finder was having trouble finding bottom depth and in the pictures does not show the correct depth. It was actually 88 feet. I had the range set to only show 0-50 feet since by that time we were only getting the fish to hit that were 0-40 feet. Lots of fish deeper but no interest in biting.

Good luck when you go. Stay away from the pressure ridges!
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[Splitshot]

Great report. My son and I were thiking of heading down in the morning. Since the roads are so good I hated to drive my truck and wheeler. How far would te walk be on foot? I've never seen the lake before and going by everyones post info..
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[fuzzyfisher]

sounds like fish lake!! great fishing bad wether!! lol

great pic's and great report thanks..
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[Bigcat]

On the north end it was about 1/2 to 3/4 mile walk across to the east side. Which is not too bad if there is no snow on the ice or slush. The wind can be a real pain though.

Mid lake it is about a mile across but I would avoid crossing at mid lake. I suspect at the south end its 3/4 of a mile to a mile across the lake to the east side.

Good luck
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