Chillin' in Dec

[cpierce]

The wind was at a moderate level, so I thought what the heck and threw my Fish Cat 4 and electric motor in the back of the truck and headed out for a couple of hours. I haven't been on a lake since spring.....Spring at least was warmer!

I began to wonder if insanity had set in instead of cabin fever. Luckily the drive wasn't long so I didn't chicken out and turn around.

I got to the reservoir at about noon. The air was 40 something, the water was a high of 38. I was glad that I still have a good pair of neoprene waders! Between them and a combination of wool and polar fleece it wasn't bad at all.......for the first couple of hours anyway.

I pushed off from shore and got out about 50 feet when my rod got slammed. It almost went out of my hand. I wasn't expecting a fish to hit yet, and I really wasn't expecting that hard of a take. With a nice rainbow in the net, I warmed right up and was delighted that it was such a fine day to be out fishing!




The first fish was the longest, but also the skinniest. Most of the rest of the fish were fatter. Here are some of them:

This one was absolutely obese.... but acrobatic. I only got this poor picture of it, then it did a back flip right out of the net.



A couple more:






By 2PM communication with my feet was getting to be a challenge. Plus the weather was starting to get worse. All together it was an adventure, and a really nice outing on the water!


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[FishingSteve]

Looks like a lot better day than I had at work! Those look like some nice fish. Are you going to continue on with ice fishing this year or did you come to your senses?
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[flyguy66]

Nice post!

You are brave for venturing out in that chilly of water.

Nice footballs, too. If you were fishing where I think you were, how close to ice is it? Thanks!

Cole
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[windriver]

Very nice. Thank you for the report. Hum....Ice Fishing...Tubing....Ice Fishing...Tubing...

Windriver
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[Kodiak1]

I very much enjoyed your report......in my nice warm office!!. Mike
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[drowning_flys]

Great pics and sure looks like fun [cool]
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[daniel_30]

nice windy catch. congrats [fishin]
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[cpierce]

If we ever get safe ice, I would like to try some more ice fishing. At least I think so now while I am nice and warm

...... until then I have some other areas and "new to me" waters to explore.
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[cpierce]

FlyGuy.. There wasn't ice forming anywhere on the edges of the water yet.

My house is at an elevation of 5220 ft, which is pretty close to the same elevation of some of the reservoirs here in Southeast Idaho. We have no snow or even ice on the stock tanks right now. It was raining today as I came back over the hills (6,000ft) to come home. There is some snow at about 7000 feet and above.

It is going to have to get really cold soon and stay cold for awhile before I would expect any of these reservoirs to freeze over enough for ice fishing.

The water was 38 degrees so it could happen pretty fast if it got cold enough and the 50 mile an hour winds would quit blowing!
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[gstott]

Looks like your day was definitely better than mine. I'm glad your efforts were rewarded so well. Those are some good looking fish.
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[TroutManiac]

Nice fish
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[MatchT]

Nice job,
I hope to hit the softwater soon as well. I might have to wait a week. thanks for the reports.
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