Lost Creek Reservoir 01-14-23

[Kent]

I fished Lost Creek Reservoir, yesterday, with a fellow BFT member.  The first challenge was getting there.  The main road is blocked, right after getting off of the freeway.  We had to go two exits east to follow the detour.  That worked but took extra time.

The road was dry almost everywhere all the way to the dam.  The parking lot was plowed and the road was not plowed beyond where one first reaches the dam.  We parked there and had a choice of two different paths to reach the ice.  We chose the more gradual trail (rather than the one that goes down the hill next to the dam).  This worked well until reaching the last steep section, which is the exposed high-water portion of the reservoir.  My sled wanted to slide off of the trail and with my fishing partner's help we were able to reach the ice.

Getting on the ice was not a challenge, but once reaching the ice one was walking through crusty slush.  We walked across to the east side and my partner was smarter than I was.  He found a chunk of ice that did not have slush and I chose a place that I had to build a snow island to keep out of the 4 to 6" deep slush.  I was marking many fish, so I moved to another location.  Again, I didn't realize that fishing where there wasn't slush was an option, so I had to build a second snow island.  After again marking few fish I moved again, closer to shore, and where there was no slush.

By then my partner was way ahead, of me, in fish count.  He had to leave just before noon and I stayed for another 1 and 1/2 hours.  During that time I marked enough fish, but no takers.  I finally tried using chunks of raw shrimp to tip my jigs and the bite was on.  

We only caught trout, (I was hoping to catch one chub for fresh bait.) and the largest ran ~17" long.  I caught rainbows and cutthroat, and my partner caught them plus a few splake (until he caught those I didn't realize they had planted splake in Lost Creek).  I was hoping for a tiger trout, a kokanee and a brown trout, but it wasn't to be.  I noticed all of the fish, that I caught, were on the thin side, not unhealthy skinny, but definitely not thick.  I assume the abundance of chubs has something to do with that.

The hike out was much worse than the hike in had been.  By the early afternoon, the crust had softened and the slush was a bigger issue.  I tried pulling my heavy sled up the steep slope, by the dam.  I was making extremely slow progress so I took several heavy items out of my sled and the plan was to make a trip with the sled and then a couple more trips to carry the other items to the parking lot.  Thankfully, some young folks noticed I was struggling and came to my rescue.  I was grateful for their assistance in helping me get my sled and all of my other gear to the parking lot in one trip.

---

One thing I forgot to mention is that, while we were fishing, several large herds of deer walked across the ice. There must have been some type of migration going on.

[gofish435]

Thanks for the detailed report.  It sounds like you guys worked hard for the fish you caught.

I love that place for fishing from my tube.  With the slot limit and the wakeless restriction for boats it's float tube friendly.  

It sure will be nice when they finish the park, with a new boat ramp and access to the upper portion of the reservoir.

[wiperhunter2]

Sounds like some tough conditions there Kent. I'm curious, why did you decide to walk to the East side of the lake to fish? Ira and I were thinking about going up there a few weeks ago but that was just as those bad slush conditions hit, so we decided to wait, glad we did after reading your report. Is there a reason you didn't name this other BFT member that you meet up there? Bet that was pretty awesome seeing those deer crossing the lake, were they a long ways from you? Thanks for the report Kent.

[EyLayo]

I agree, similar to last week. Graphed lots of fish, most would chase, but a small percentage actually bit my offering. I was chasing kokes, so maybe that was the reason for them not wanting my offering. The Cutts I caught were ugly beat up little guys. No rainbows, but did get a couple kokanee. I was hoping for a couple chub as well, next time I guess.

[Kent]

Sounds like some tough conditions there Kent. I'm curious, why did you decide to walk to the East side of the lake to fish? Ira and I were thinking about going up there a few weeks ago but that was just as those bad slush conditions hit, so we decided to wait, glad we did after reading your report. Is there a reason you didn't name this other BFT member that you meet up there? Bet that was pretty awesome seeing those deer crossing the lake, were they a long ways from you? Thanks for the report Kent.

"... why did you decide to walk to the East side of the lake to fish?"  Because most of the anglers have been fishing on the west side, where they access the ice.  It has been my experience that the catching is often better when one gets away from where the fish have been pounded hard.

"Is there a reason you didn't name this other BFT member that you meet up there?"  We didn't accidentally meet up there, this was a planned trip.  We drove separately because he planned to head home earlier than I typically do.  Because I haven't fished with him very many times, I wasn't sure if he minded being named in a post.  I took the safe side of not mentioning his name.  If he chooses he can reply to this thread and then he will no longer be a mystery. 

"Bet that was pretty awesome seeing those deer crossing the lake, were they a long ways from you?"  Yes, it was neat seeing so many deer crossing all at once.  They crossed just north of the bay where the boat ramp is located.  That was probably a couple blocks from where we were.  They crossed the ice from west to east.

[wiperhunter2]

Both of the first two answers make perfect sense to me. How many deer total do you think you saw crossing?

[Kent]

Both of the first two answers make perfect sense to me. How many deer total do you think you saw crossing?

I would guestimate there were at least 30 deer in the herd that we saw, but not sure how many had already crossed before seeing them.  We were facing away from them, and I just happened to glance over there.

[rgreenland]

Sounds like some tough conditions there Kent. I'm curious, why did you decide to walk to the East side of the lake to fish? Ira and I were thinking about going up there a few weeks ago but that was just as those bad slush conditions hit, so we decided to wait, glad we did after reading your report. Is there a reason you didn't name this other BFT member that you meet up there? Bet that was pretty awesome seeing those deer crossing the lake, were they a long ways from you? Thanks for the report Kent.

"... why did you decide to walk to the East side of the lake to fish?"  Because most of the anglers have been fishing on the west side, where they access the ice.  It has been my experience that the catching is often better when one gets away from where the fish have been pounded hard.

"Is there a reason you didn't name this other BFT member that you meet up there?"  We didn't accidentally meet up there, this was a planned trip.  We drove separately because he planned to head home earlier than I typically do.  Because I haven't fished with him very many times, I wasn't sure if he minded being named in a post.  I took the safe side of not mentioning his name.  If he chooses he can reply to this thread and then he will no longer be a mystery. 

"Bet that was pretty awesome seeing those deer crossing the lake, were they a long ways from you?"  Yes, it was neat seeing so many deer crossing all at once.  They crossed just north of the bay where the boat ramp is located.  That was probably a couple blocks from where we were.  They crossed the ice from west to east.

I don't mind being mentioned at all!  I consider it an honor to be able to fish with someone like Kent!
I had a great time.....yeah, other than the slush.  Sucked the energy right outa me.  I'd like to hit it again but with the snowmobile next time.  Maybe tomorrow (Thursday Jan 19th).
Rob Greenland

[kawamasu]

I hear you with the workout with the slush, if you made it out would be great to get an update on the slush conditions. Also how thick is the ice?

[LostCreek61649]

Thinking about going to Lost Creek tomorrow .   Has anyone been there lately  ??  Would really appreciate an update on ice condition .  Thank you ,   Thank you  !!!

[rgreenland]

Thinking about going to Lost Creek tomorrow .   Has anyone been there lately  ??  Would really appreciate an update on ice condition .  Thank you ,   Thank you  !!!

Still slushy and a workout to get very far.

[kawamasu]

We were out last Saturday stayed over in the boat ramp area no slush problems there. Between three of us we had 14 on the ice and shrimp was still the answer.

[wiperhunter2]

We were out last Saturday stayed over in the boat ramp area no slush problems there. Between three of us we had 14 on the ice and shrimp was still the answer.

Thanks for the report, you are the first member that's reported being able to get over to the boat ramp, were you using a snowmobile or were you able to drive your truck over there? Sounds like you guys did good. Were they all trout, any kokes?

[JBSPARKIE]

We were out last Saturday stayed over in the boat ramp area no slush problems there. Between three of us we had 14 on the ice and shrimp was still the answer.

Thanks for the report, you are the first member that's reported being able to get over to the boat ramp, were you using a snowmobile or were you able to drive your truck over there? Sounds like you guys did good. Were they all trout, any kokes?

I was with kawamasu. We used a snowdog. They had it partially plowed about 4 feet wide. Cuts and bows only.

[wiperhunter2]

We were out last Saturday stayed over in the boat ramp area no slush problems there. Between three of us we had 14 on the ice and shrimp was still the answer.

Thanks for the report, you are the first member that's reported being able to get over to the boat ramp, were you using a snowmobile or were you able to drive your truck over there? Sounds like you guys did good. Were they all trout, any kokes?

I was with kawamasu. We used a snowdog. They had it partially plowed about 4 feet wide. Cuts and bows only.

Thanks for the reply. So you are saying it was plowed all the way from the dam to the ramp?

[JBSPARKIE]

We were out last Saturday stayed over in the boat ramp area no slush problems there. Between three of us we had 14 on the ice and shrimp was still the answer.

Thanks for the report, you are the first member that's reported being able to get over to the boat ramp, were you using a snowmobile or were you able to drive your truck over there? Sounds like you guys did good. Were they all trout, any kokes?

I was with kawamasu. We used a snowdog. They had it partially plowed about 4 feet wide. Cuts and bows only.

Thanks for the reply. So you are saying it was plowed all the way from the dam to the ramp?

Yes, but very narrow. you would not be able to get a truck up there.

[wiperhunter2]

We were out last Saturday stayed over in the boat ramp area no slush problems there. Between three of us we had 14 on the ice and shrimp was still the answer.

Thanks for the report, you are the first member that's reported being able to get over to the boat ramp, were you using a snowmobile or were you able to drive your truck over there? Sounds like you guys did good. Were they all trout, any kokes?

I was with kawamasu. We used a snowdog. They had it partially plowed about 4 feet wide. Cuts and bows only.

Thanks for the reply. So you are saying it was plowed all the way from the dam to the ramp?

Yes, but very narrow. you would not be able to get a truck up there.

Ok, thanks for the info. If you guys made it in there with a snowdog, an ATV should be fine then.