01-19-2016, 01:14 AM
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]KokeMaster (Nate V.) and I decided to spend MLK day on Bear Lake catching cisco for bait. Nate and his young friend Jacob picked me up at my house at 3:30 AM this morning and we headed for Cisco Beach. We stopped off at the heated restroom there at the main marina to get into our change of warm clothes before driving around to Cisco Beach.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We had heard that there were big shelves of ice that the wind had stacked up in the area of Cisco Beach. But when we arrived there, we didn't encounter any at all. We lucked out and found a 3' x 3' hole already cut that was slightly skimmed over with ice. The ice was about 3 ½ inches thick and proved to be plenty safe.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We quickly realized that it would be better if we enlarged the hole a couple feet to make it better to get the net to lay flatter on the bottom. So Nate used a heavy spud bar to cut it a little longer.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][inline Big-Hole-444.jpg][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We got out an ice rod and attached a hookless Kastmaster to it and jigged it up and down as an attractor.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Only one or two cisco would show up occasionally. We were fishing in the dark with our head lamps on and were getting a little disappointed that no catchable cisco were coming through. We figured that we were too early in the spawn and were thinking we might have to come back next week.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Then at about 7:45, they started to come in. Within an hour, we had our limit of 90 (30 for each of us).[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][inline Holding-little-cisco-444.jpg][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]I have to tell you, it's been a long time since I have seen someone so excited catching fish as Nate was those first 4-5 nettings of cisco. His excitement was getting me all gitty too. Yup … quite the hoot. We just wish that we had brought some young kids to join in the fun.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]As we netted the cisco and dumped them on the ice, we would put 5 in each ZipLock bag to make counting easier. We just wish we would have brought 3 of those gallon sized bags to put each of the 3 limits in. Oh well … maybe next time for that trick.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]While we were netting the cisco, we became frustrated that we couldn't get the net to lay flatter on the bottom. Nate suggested that we bend the hoop up at an angle a bit to get it to lay flat. At first I thought, "Dude … I paid 70 bucks for that net! And you want to bend it???" But after a minute, I got thinking that might be good idea … so we did.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] M[/size][/#800000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]an, what a GREAT idea that turned out to be. The net laid flat on the bottom and it made it MUCH easier to net the fish! No longer did we have to lift the net UP … we just pulled it towards us and up. We could even push it forward to net straying cisco. One other big benefit to bending the hoop was that because we were "pulling" the net rather than "lifting" the net, no longer was the long handle bending from use. Thanks Nate … once again you are a genius![/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Just before leaving, I noticed a group of folks trying to net cisco but were not having any luck. So I wondered over and offered to show them a few of our tricks. They came over, put a bend in their net hoop, dropped a hookless KastMaster attractor and had a limit no time.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]After leaving Cisco beach, we drove over to where BearLakeFishGuy was ice fishing on the S-W side of the lake, just off some weed beds. We walked out and chatted with him for a while. Just for the few minutes we were talking to him, he snagged up about ten cisco. We looked at his sonar and seen a thick layer of cisco right under him. Good to talk with you again Scott.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]After talking with Scott, we stopped in at Pugstones where Nate promptly shelled out $70 for one of those nice strong octagon-handled cisco nets. He's hooked![/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Oh, one more thing I wanted to mention is that it helps that your net isn't all one color (all black or all shiny aluminum). I have found that it is much better if you "camouflage" it by spraying the net and handle a combination of "tan sand" with a black curved stripe. Yea, it makes it a lot harder for you to see your net and to see when the fish are over it, but your camouflaged net won't spook those little buggers nearly as much as a non-camo net.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We had heard that there were big shelves of ice that the wind had stacked up in the area of Cisco Beach. But when we arrived there, we didn't encounter any at all. We lucked out and found a 3' x 3' hole already cut that was slightly skimmed over with ice. The ice was about 3 ½ inches thick and proved to be plenty safe.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We quickly realized that it would be better if we enlarged the hole a couple feet to make it better to get the net to lay flatter on the bottom. So Nate used a heavy spud bar to cut it a little longer.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][inline Big-Hole-444.jpg][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] [/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We got out an ice rod and attached a hookless Kastmaster to it and jigged it up and down as an attractor.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] [/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Only one or two cisco would show up occasionally. We were fishing in the dark with our head lamps on and were getting a little disappointed that no catchable cisco were coming through. We figured that we were too early in the spawn and were thinking we might have to come back next week.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Then at about 7:45, they started to come in. Within an hour, we had our limit of 90 (30 for each of us).[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][inline Holding-little-cisco-444.jpg][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]I have to tell you, it's been a long time since I have seen someone so excited catching fish as Nate was those first 4-5 nettings of cisco. His excitement was getting me all gitty too. Yup … quite the hoot. We just wish that we had brought some young kids to join in the fun.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][inline Nate-Kneeling-444.jpg][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]As we netted the cisco and dumped them on the ice, we would put 5 in each ZipLock bag to make counting easier. We just wish we would have brought 3 of those gallon sized bags to put each of the 3 limits in. Oh well … maybe next time for that trick.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]While we were netting the cisco, we became frustrated that we couldn't get the net to lay flatter on the bottom. Nate suggested that we bend the hoop up at an angle a bit to get it to lay flat. At first I thought, "Dude … I paid 70 bucks for that net! And you want to bend it???" But after a minute, I got thinking that might be good idea … so we did.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][inline Net-Angle-444.jpg][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] M[/size][/#800000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]an, what a GREAT idea that turned out to be. The net laid flat on the bottom and it made it MUCH easier to net the fish! No longer did we have to lift the net UP … we just pulled it towards us and up. We could even push it forward to net straying cisco. One other big benefit to bending the hoop was that because we were "pulling" the net rather than "lifting" the net, no longer was the long handle bending from use. Thanks Nate … once again you are a genius![/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Just before leaving, I noticed a group of folks trying to net cisco but were not having any luck. So I wondered over and offered to show them a few of our tricks. They came over, put a bend in their net hoop, dropped a hookless KastMaster attractor and had a limit no time.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]After leaving Cisco beach, we drove over to where BearLakeFishGuy was ice fishing on the S-W side of the lake, just off some weed beds. We walked out and chatted with him for a while. Just for the few minutes we were talking to him, he snagged up about ten cisco. We looked at his sonar and seen a thick layer of cisco right under him. Good to talk with you again Scott.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]After talking with Scott, we stopped in at Pugstones where Nate promptly shelled out $70 for one of those nice strong octagon-handled cisco nets. He's hooked![/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] [/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] [/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Oh, one more thing I wanted to mention is that it helps that your net isn't all one color (all black or all shiny aluminum). I have found that it is much better if you "camouflage" it by spraying the net and handle a combination of "tan sand" with a black curved stripe. Yea, it makes it a lot harder for you to see your net and to see when the fish are over it, but your camouflaged net won't spook those little buggers nearly as much as a non-camo net.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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