First Floattubing of the Year

[cpierce]

All the running water is --- mmmmm--- running --- high and dirty. So when some free time and the first decent weather we've had in two months hit on the same day, I loaded up my Renegade pontoon and fly rods, and I went for a drive!

First stop - Hawkins Reservoir. I should say "first PAUSE" as I didn't stay. Good to see that the reservoir is really full. There were three or four boats on the water and a couple of bank fishermen. But one campfire and a two stroke engine that was producing a nice blue fog bank helped me to decide against staying. (cough) So I moved on.

Daniels is just over the hill a ways, so I decided to go up there. No dice! After about a mile the road was a muddy mess! [] I didn't want to have to scrape 10 inches of mud off of our truck so --- back down to Hawkins Road and head to Deep Creek.


What an amazing day! It was afternoon already, and there was still no wind! I almost couldn't believe it. Is this still Idaho???

Deep Creek is really full and cold!

The water was nice and fairly clear, -- and cold. Did I mention that the water was cold? I get all set to go, when I find out that my trolling motor isn't working.
Back to shore while muttering under my breath -- *X*@@* % * ---( that is loosely interpreted as "Sachafratch and Snickerdoodles!") [angelic]

A winters worth of corrosion and a lovely shade of green tarnish on one of my connecting plugs. After searching for 20 minutes for the pocket knife that I know is in my fishing gear somewhere, I use a wood screw that was in the ashtray to clean the connection. Wonderful to live in the age of high tech tools!

Back out on the water at last!! It is amazing that the human foot can still freeze when wrapped in a polypropylene sock, a wool sock, and neoprene wadders.
--- Did I mention that Deep Creek Res is colder than the last three rivers I waded in January?? Oh well, that is the price we pay for fishing.

There were some bank fishermen out, but not much in the way of boats, and certainly no other pontoons or float tubes. As I pause to look around, I hear my left foot screaming that it is "move or freeze in this one position"!! Back to finning my way to great fishing.

After two hours and three laps of the northwest half of the lake my feet are frozen, and there is a distinct smell of skunk in the air!

Not only did I get skunked, but I only had one short hit, no hookups, and I saw a total 6 fish on the sonar after going over half the lake! I think all of the fish are huddled up somewhere -- to a nice warm stove. Did I mention that Deep Creek was cold today?
[crazy]
[signature]

[pa]

Was Deep Creek cold today?
[signature]

[cpierce]

Na, just a bit on the chilly side.
[signature]

[2dogs]

How cold was it?
[signature]

[cpierce]

Cold enough that I still can't feel my feet [shocked][shocked][laugh]

Actually it was a pretty nice day since the wind wasn't blowing like crazy.

I also saw a beaver and a bald eagle.


Has anyone caught much at Deep Creek this year? I wasn't too surprised at my not catching any fish, but I was surprised that I wasn't seeing hardly any fish on the sonar. I made a pretty wide sweep of most of the zones on the dam end of the lake, from deep to shallow. I only saw about 6 fish in all. Some were from 20 to 30 feet deep and some were in the 3 to 4 ft depth zone. There was a couple of nice hatches coming off and no rising fish at all. Where do they hide or was there a winter kill? Does anyone know????
[signature]

[Mojo1]

With water temps in the upper 30s or low 40s (a guess based on your frozen feet), the fish may just be laying on the bottom, not really feeding. It can happen. If there was a winterkill you would have seen the carcasses on the bank, I would think. Hard telling for sure what was going on.

Good for you going exploring. It is always better making reports than chasing other peoples reports.
[signature]

[MMDon]

Thanks for the great read cpierce! Any day in the spring where the wind isn't blowing is close to a miracle.

I'll bet the water is still pretty cold huh?
[signature]

[curt69]

We did real well during the ice fishing season . Lots of fish . They are probably laying on the bottom waiting the warmer water . The same with Twin Lakes . Curt G.
[signature]

[Leaky33]

" Me Lady" - patience. [] You need to wait a while. I know the feeling though, I've been going Wacko. [mad]
Been getting my fix out in the desert. [sly]
[signature]

[gstott]

I jumped the gun and tried Weston last week. Numb feet, cramping legs and a couple of missed strikes were all I had to show for my efforts. The water was really murky and off. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad that I've had to spend all my free time lately doing school work or at conferences.
[signature]

[cpierce]

I think you are all probably right. The water is cold and probably in turnover. I am just not used to fishing in the winter and early spring, so I probably have unreal expectations. But it just doesn't compute with me that the fish that were biting for the ice fishermen, just sit there sulking and sullen in the spring!! -- Hmmmm wait a minute, maybe it does compute, I'm sulky and sullen about the weather too!!!! [shocked] [laugh]

I need summer!!! Well, at least I got out, and had fun exercising my tubing muscles. []
[signature]

[gstott]

This year is just especially bad. I caught fish out of Deep Creek earlier than this the past couple of years, I think it's just that there's so much runoff and so much new precipitation. Things just never stabilize. All I know is that I'm in serious need of a fishing fix. I've only made it out a few times this year, and none of them were phenomenal outings [:/]
[signature]

[windriver]

I ice fished it around Christmas and it was great. I would imagine it was good as it was icing out and then the water in probably flipping now and the fishing is off. That would be my guess anyway. On the other hand maybe the ice fisherman caught most of them. I released all of mine.[]

Windriver
[signature]