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Mantua & Willard 12-20-06
#1
[cool][#0000ff]First hard deck trip of this season. Hit the ice at Mantua with Flycasting. First hole drilled about 8:30. Air temp 10 degrees, but no breeze. No fish either. Nothing on sonar in 15 feet of water straight out from ramp. Ice over 4" thick and hard, with a bit of snow to help with walking.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Moved out to 17 feet. Nada, zip, zilch. A few other hardy folks started coming out on the ice. Most of them stayed closer to shore. Wondered if they knew something.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Moved out to 18.5 feet and saw fish on the sonar in the first hole. Drilled more holes and started fishing. Instant bites...from bitty perch. Caught several before getting a solid whack from a feisty bow. Flycasting was getting perch too and also iced a silver slime rocket. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Waves of a few fish at a time would come through and when we saw fish we usually got bites. I did best on my new glow wermz...in both white and chartreuse. I caught fish on waxies, crawlers and perch meat. Had to keep changing around to keep getting bites. Flycasting also tried some meal worms but did not get any action. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most fish were a bit up off the bottom. Several perch and a couple of the trout we caught were taken about mid depth, after lifting and reeling a few inches at a time up off the bottom. We saw quite a few trout size sonar blips go through fairly shallow and a lot at mid depth.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I understand there was an earthquake about 11 AM. That's about when our fishing slowed WAAAAAAAY down. Only a few bites and a couple of bitty perch after that. We didn't feel it on the ice, but we sure noticed the results.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The chilly breezes came up just after noon and kept getting stronger. All the guys with ice tents hoisted sail to get out of the worst of it. We packed up and boogied. None of the guys we talked to on the way in had caught anything other than some dinky perch. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just for grins we stopped at Willard Bay on the way back to check out the water level. Looks like about 7 or 8 feet down from high water mark and still falling. We picked up some lures in the exposed brush of the north marina and around the rocks at the outlet. The drain box at the outlet was sucking water out and there was a pretty good flow going out into the marsh.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Had a good day with Flycasting. Not so good on the way home. Ran into a closure on I-15 north of Ogden. They were routing all traffic onto other roads because they had blown up the overpass on 31st street. That was good for an extra hour in drive time through scenic Ogden.[/#0000ff]
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#2
T.D. those are great pics!!!!!!!! how cold was it out there? I'll be there Friday, I can't wait. Seems like the 17-18' depth is where they're at, but it can change.

I wonder how many of those bigger trout (Kanloops) are still in Mantua?

Thanks for posting!

Derek
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#3
I understand that Willard will be drawn down until it is about 3 to 4 feet above the low a few years back. Apparently the leak is north of the feed lot which is one of the high areas of the bay. They are still not letting any boats on the water because of the suction around the outlet and there are no buoys to keep boats out.
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#4
Great Report. Always fun up at Mantua. Glad that you were able to locate them. To bad about Willard. Nice pics. Keep up the good work.
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#5
[cool][#0000ff]It was a balmy 10 degrees when we got on the ice. Once the sun came out we shucked out heavy top layer for awhile. But, once that breeze from the west came up, that extra layer went back on.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was 24 when we drove off, about 1:30. If the temps stay in that range there will be six inches of ice by the weekend.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]There are some decent rainbows and cutts in Mantua, but I doubt that any of the kamloops are still there. DWR has not planted any for several years and they don't live more than six to 8 years. Used to be some big ol bigguns in there though. And man, can those kamloops put a bend in your stick.[/#0000ff]
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#6
[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]Great work on them perchies and bows. Makes me want to head out to Mantua this weekend.[/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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#7
[cool]Great report, Pat. No 'gils though, eh? I've never caught one through the ice out from the boatramp, only perch and 'bows. I do better for the gils at the SouthEast area, but the ice may not be thick enough down there yet...

What was the biggest perch you caught? Any keepers?
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#8
Sir Pat, did you notice if they were doing any dike repairs at Willard?
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#9
The good fishing was sporadic, at best, today. But that always beats the best day at work. The bow that I managed to land today was on a 2" white grub with a glow head tipped with a waxie. I also had another get off at the hole with the same setup. In addition to catching them on the glow worms, I managed a few on a new ice fly I have been tying. It kinda looks like a charteuse serendipity.

As usual, I had a great time shootin' the breeze with TD. (or at least trying to stay out of it)
Lemme know when you wanna hit the ice again my friend... Always a blast.

Oh, and sorry about the traffic... took me 30 minutes to get from the 12th st. freeway exit to actually get on 12th st... terrible. [Sad]
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#10
great report and pictures as aways td.
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#11
Hey, that's MY lure you've got there...haha! I wish I had thought about going lure hunting first.
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#12
Excellent pics! My wife thanks you very much for the fishing fever you have instilled and fostered with your pictures. She likened me scotch-briting my spoon blanks tonight to doing a manicure...I can't even comment...
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#13
Thanks for the great report. I hope we have as much luck on Friday.
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#14
[cool][#0000ff]No bluegills on this trip. Those wittle wascals do usually seem to congregate more on the east side of the lake during the winter. However, some guys do well out from the rocks in shallower water along the north west corner too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't know how thick the ice was at the far east side of the lake, but there were a couple of ice tents over there...about halfway between the creek inlet and the big hill. They were too far away to see if they were doing any good, but they didn't go through the ice, so I guess that is a good sign.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The biggest perch we caught were about 9 inches. I kept a few to cut up for more perch strips...for bait. I couldn't believe it but even the six inchers were full of eggs. It looks like the perch are already stunting. They are usually a couple of inches longer before they start to spawn...in healthy lakes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My personal observation during the summer was that there might be some stunting in the bluegill too. While there were a few good sized 'gills available, there were not as many "toads" as the previous year, and they were not as fat either. Not only that but there were bajillions of the tiny tykes. I'm sure that the largemouth are enjoying the small perch and bluegills, but there are not enough of them...or enough anglers harvesting them...to keep them in check.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Anglers all over the area are being pestered by little 3"-4" perch this year. Then, there are quite a few in the 6" range. But, the bigguns are dwindling. I had hoped that they would all get big and porky but I am not so confident now. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Maybe they will show up later in the ice season. They sometimes gather around springs or remaining vegetation and it can take a while for anglers to find them.[/#0000ff]
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#15
[cool][#0000ff]I didn't see any evidence of work going on. I think they have the original leak plugged but are now waiting until the water level drops enough to complete the inspections they wanted to make in other areas.[/#0000ff]
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#16
[cool][#0000ff]Hey, there are probably gazillions of lures still waiting for someone to come along and pick them up. We just walked down into one small spot in the north marina and out by the outlet. Saw lots of lures on the rocks along the dike, but many were plastics that were not worth salvaging. BUT...there were plenty of hardbaits too. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Some of them will require hook replacements, or some touch up on the finishes, but at the prices of todays lures it shoud be profitable if someone wanted to walk the rocks and harvest the leavin's. Willard Bay has many miles of shoreline, and most of it has stolen lures over the past two years that the water levels have been higher. The rapidly dropping water has exposed the rocks, right down to the sand again, and the cold weather has kept most people from getting out and rock hopping. But, if you can wear good shoes and want some exercise, you should be able to gather some goodies. [/#0000ff]
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#17
Pat, you got legs!!! I thought you had fins and not feet!!
Thanks for the report; I still hear some bluegill calling my name at Mantua.
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#18
[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, I got all the standard parts. Some work better than others. I do have to retrain my legs to walk on top of the water rather than working a pair of fins though. Probably just about get them handling the ice fishing and then have to retrain them on the fins. The circle of life.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am sure the bluegills will start showing up, now that more of their fans can get on the ice. My guess is that they will probably be in pretty much the same areas as last winter.[/#0000ff]
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#19
Thanks Pat for the update. I've been wanting to get up to Willard for weeks now and you have given me even more of a reason to get up there. I always love looking for lost lures, I wonder if there are any lucky craft lures there[Wink]. From your pictures it looks like ice is covering the marina, could you see any ice on the main body of the Bay?
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#20
[cool][#0000ff]It is difficult to see, even in some of the other pictures I took. There is some skim ice in the marina but mostly open water. In the open lake there are also large areas of thin ice, with open areas near shore and around the outlet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you go up there looking for lures, also take a spinning rod and some 3" white tubes. An angler up there reported taking wipers and walleyes around the edges during the past week, casting from shore.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]He also mentioned that there have been quite a few fish coming from the outflow channel.[/#0000ff]
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