Scofield?

[con_mackie]

Headed to scofield friday anybody have any info on recent conditions? Ice thickness, what bait is working, where is the best place to fish? Anything greatly appreciated.
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[IceAndFly]

Fished Sunday 12/12/10 from 9:00 to 3:00 on the west side in 5 ft of water. Last year it was 8ft deep there so the lake must be down about 3 ft. Three inches of snow, with bottom two inches being slush. Water seeping in around the edge. Ice was 5 inches thick. I drilled test holes as we went out on the ice. By the time we left, we had to walk through four inches of water that had come up through the test holes.
I caught 30, my son 24, and his girlfriend 20. We all missed and lost a bunch. Most were 12-14 inches with a few larger, and a few smaller. All fish were caught in the bottom five feet[crazy]. Girlfriend's first time fishing, and she really enjoyed it. Weather was unbelieveable, so she really has no idea what real ice fishing is.

Mostly cutts, with a few tigers, and only two rainbows. No chubs, but I didn't go looking for them either.
We all used orange eye, white/glow jigheads tipped with crawler all day. It was working well so we didn't change.

Best discovery of the day was finding out how well my new NILS auger works! I picked it up at Cabellas a couple of weeks ago. There was only one in the store(they don't usually stock them). The salesman said he owned one and if he was buying an auger he would go with the NILS. He was right. We let the girlfriend try a brand new 7" Mora(my old favorite) and she was having trouble. Switched her out to the 8" NILS and it ate right through the ice. We were amazed at how easy it was to use. She's 5'5" and just past a hundred pounds and didn't have any trouble drilling holes at all. Anyone have any experience with how long a NILS holds it's edge? I did a search on this forum, and read all the posts on NILS. Are they holding up well? I really like this one! Wish we could get some cold weather to build some thick ice to try it out on.

Anyway back to fishing. Scofield is what it is. Lots of smaller fish. A great place to go for steady action. Good place to take someone new to ice fishing. Plenty of action to learn how to set the hook and get fish through the hole. Seventy-four fish, and not even one with any size, but still a great place to fish in my opinion. Looking forward to more good times there.

One nice addition: two porta potties on the west side!

Calf elk with a busted up back leg standing in the hot spring. Looks like a ending, but sometimes nature is just that way.

Sorry so long...but the board has been rather slow, tempers have been short, and I figured you could all use something to read tonight!

Till next time
IceAndFly
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[Z-man6]

Your welcome for the Nills auger that you found at Cabelas. I had ordered it after researching for the best hand auger you could buy, as soon as I received it my lovely wife told me to pick out a power auger for my birthday. I saw them put the Nills back in the fishing dept. and I thought somebody is going to be reel happy when they find it so congrats. I'm heading to Scofield on thursday for some more little fish.
Good Luck this season
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[IceAndFly]

Big thanks to you! And welcome to the board!

Which power auger did you decide on?

I was trying to decide between the extra weight of a power auger, and a hand auger. Your NILS has solved that problem!
Tell your wife thanks from me too!
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[thewisteron]

On Saturday I went with two brothers and a nephew. We caught over 100 fish between us. As reported, the ice is about 6 inches. We fished in 12-16 feet. Small ice flies (mostly Ratfinkees) were working well, tipped with meal worms. Some action on white tube jigs.

The wind nearly blew my Eskimo Quickfish away before I could anchor it. I made a diving grab and barely caught it. If I'd have missed, it would have blown to the other side of the lake. It was epic.
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[con_mackie]

Thank you for all the info i really appreciate it, i'm hopeing to head up there friday morning and i hope i do half as well as you guys did. Thanks again any other info appreciated
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[fishing4thehog]

Hay i might be headed there tomorrow also.. Im more than likely going alone so if you dont mind me asking where will you be parking and fishing ?? I just dont like to be to far from some one while im on the ice.. thanks
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[dubob]

[quote con_mackie]Thank you for all the info i really appreciate it, i'm hopeing to head up there friday morning and i hope i do half as well as you guys did. Thanks again any other info appreciated[.img][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]My neighbor and I are planning on going as well but will be there later in the AM as I need to stop by Cabela's on the way down to pick up a new toy. They open at 8 AM and then it's breakfast and the drive up from there. Hoping to be there by 10:30. I plan to fish the west side between shore and the island. Look for a couple of OLD bearded dudes. Recent reports say the damn area is only producing dinks and no tigers.[/#800000][/font]
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[fishing4thehog]

[quote[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]My neighbor and I are planning on going as well but will be there later in the AM as I need to stop by Cabela's on the way down to pick up a new toy.[/#800000][/font][/quote] A new toy eh ?? Oh gotta love that.. Not sure if its going to be birtch creek of scofield yet.. if its scofield ill stop by and say Hi.. Thanks
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[con_mackie]

Don't know for sure exactly where we will be but probably on the west side somewhere but ya never know things change depending on the fishing.
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[fishing4thehog]

Sweet !![cool] west side ??
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[stevo]

We started out in the bay by the dam, but there were quite a few people in that area. We caught alot of small bows, but then at about 10 we decided to move. We ended up out towards the island in about 16" of water. The fishing slowed just a bit, but thats where all the bigger fish got pulled in from. It was quite the hike across the ice, but when we saw what was waiting for us it was worth it[cool]
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[fishing4thehog]

Are they running snow machines out there yet ??
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[stevo]

Nobody there on monday had machines out, but there were a few tracks on the lake from them. I can only imagine it was from the weekend mad house. From what I have learned is if you get away from people (far away) the success on the bigger fish goes WAY up. Whenever I have fished within groups of people, Usually only the little dinks are there for the feast!!!
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[con_mackie]

What bait were you using it sounds like most people are using ratfinkees and anything white is that what you used or did you find something to work better?
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[Potsy]

yes I have had my snowmobile out on the ice i was hesitant just walked my tent out in the morning but after drilling my 1st hole I realized that I could have use the sled. But I would rather be safe and not go swimming.
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[afishionado]

Nice fish! How many trips combined here, lil' stevo?
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[IceAndFly]

Nice picture collection!
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[Z-man6]

I fished scofield today, lots of fish nothing pic worthy. It was -15 when I got there at 7:00 but it warmed all the way up to 8 by noon. It was perfect timing for the new ice tent, toasty warm. There were a couple of snowmobiles out today I think the ice is plenty thick now. Good luck this weekend.
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[HCOOUTFITTERS]

thanks for the info Z-man6. im fishing with con_mackie tomorrow. may i ask what you were using and about where you were fishing? we havent fished there in about two years and any info is surely helpful.
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