Last Hoorah

[MWScott72]

I took my son up to Strawberry for one last trip on the hard deck.  Kent did well last Tuesday, so I thought conditions and the outcome would be the same.  I was wrong.  Edges were pretty brittle in most areas that I checked.  So much so that unless you had a 10’ plus plank, you weren’t making it out on the pack ice.  A couple spots I wanted to hit are basically steep drop offs, so if you fall through, It ain’t going to be fun!  Cross those spots off the list. 

After several looks, I finally resigned myself to the marina.  The edges were decent and you could walk onto the pack ice right off the boat ramp.  First obstacle overcome, we got lines in the water about 8am.  In summary, the fish were there but they were not interested.  Lots of lookers but only a couple takers in 3 hours.  Didn’t matter if you jigged, dead sticked, or did a combination of both.  White w/red flake, green, chartreuse gitzillas on 1/32 or 1/16th oz jigs.  Flashers or no flashers.  Red worms, meal worms, smelly jelly.  None of it really worked.  Three different sets/locations in water 21-34 FOW.

At least we caught two to get the skunk smell off.  It was a beautiful morning though. I would expect that there will be a lot of edges open by next weekend for ice off.  The Ladders had a big open hole of soft water.  I’d bet another day or two is all you’ll get at the marina before edges become unmanageable.

[doggonefishin]

I took my son up to Strawberry for one last trip on the hard deck.  Kent did well last Tuesday, so I thought conditions and the outcome would be the same.  I was wrong.  Edges were pretty brittle in most areas that I checked.  So much so that unless you had a 10’ plus plank, you weren’t making it out on the pack ice.  A couple spots I wanted to hit are basically steep drop offs, so if you fall through, It ain’t going to be fun!  Cross those spots off the list. 

After several looks, I finally resigned myself to the marina.  The edges were decent and you could walk onto the pack ice right off the boat ramp.  First obstacle overcome, we got lines in the water about 8am.  In summary, the fish were there but they were not interested.  Lots of lookers but only a couple takers in 3 hours.  Didn’t matter if you jigged, dead sticked, or did a combination of both.  White w/red flake, green, chartreuse gitzillas on 1/32 or 1/16th oz jigs.  Flashers or no flashers.  Red worms, meal worms, smelly jelly.  None of it really worked.  Three different sets/locations in water 21-34 FOW.

At least we caught two to get the skunk smell off.  It was a beautiful morning though. I would expect that there will be a lot of edges open by next weekend for ice off.  The Ladders had a big open hole of soft water.  I’d bet another day or two is all you’ll get at the marina before edges become unmanageable.

I'm glad you got out and had a good time, even though the action was slow.   I'm a little surprised the marina held up beyond Tuesday after our experience getting off and the hot temps afterwards.  (I was the one with Kent on Tuesday)  

It's crazy about the slow bite.  Maybe the fish are ready for ice off too.

[MWScott72]

Surprised me too. Crazy what a few days can do.