Scofield Skunk

[RyanCreek]

First of all, if you caught fish at Scofield - please keep your mouth shut! My friends, the skunk eventually finds us all... and it finally found me. I assure you its stench is foul and heinous. I fished Scofield in a group of 4 from about 9am to 1pm, then stayed by myself until 5:30 pm hoping for the evening bite. With the aid of an accurate fish finder, we fished depths from 7 to 25 ft, in all parts of the water column, with various berkely soft baits/jigs/ice flies/spoons tipped with minnows or mealworms. Fished multiple areas in the dam arm, Madsen bay boat ramp, and East of the Island. I personally fished 6 different general areas across the reservoir. Everybody I talked to shared in our frustration. One guy even tried to target chubs and couldn't get any of those either. Didn't see a single fish caught, or even a chub on the ice - but at least the birds got to eat the many dumped out piles of untouched fish-bait that I saw people had tossed. It really was as if we were all fishing an empty reservoir. Might as well have fished a mud puddle. If we hadn't gotten 3 bites and finally seen a few lone uninterested fish on the screen, I could've sworn that somebody had pumped the whole dang place full of rotenone. Really frustrating and a terrible let down. What's worse is that we had two individuals who had never ice fished before - what a great first impression for them. Had to assure them that this was not the norm. Sure Scofield doesn't produce the numbers of fish it used to back in the late 90's and early 00's, but it has always been a bit of a sure thing for me, with the added bonus of catching a possible monster.

Just my two cents here, but If I were you, and I was reading this in preparation for a late season ice-fishing trip to Scofield, then I suggest possibly giving Scofield a few days for the fish behavior to change a bit. Granted, fish behavior can change on a dime, and maybe tomorrow you could catch a bunch. It really is a bit of a gamble.
[signature]

[oldcarp]

I hit it Friday and It was rough up there. I landed three and nothing with any size. It took me two hours to figure it out and the bite is so slight. I feel your pain
[signature]

[GALEX]

Sucks. Really sucks.

I think everyone's had one of those days...
[signature]