Soldier Creek - Friday Jan 29th

[OCF]

Man it felt good to be out today! It has been almost 2 years since I last fished through the ice.

I arrived at the SC marina around 9:00 a.m. today and headed out to my favorite fishing hole. It was a little bit scary because of the slush on top of the ice & a bad experience I had with slush 2 years ago with my ATV. I didn't quite make it to where I wanted to go; however, it was close - within 100 feet. There is 6 to 7 inches of clear ice, 2 to 3 inches of water/slush on top of the ice and 5 to 6 inches of snow on top of the water. I didn't have a problem, but I was still gun shy.

Fished from a little after 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - caught 24 fish. Two of the biggest cutts where just over 20 inches (estimated to be 3.5 lbs), in addition I caught 3 small RB trout and the balance were 16 - 18 inch cutts. (Sorry no photos - nothing worth photographing) Fished in 27 FOW, most of the fish came through near the bottom and approximately 10 feet under the ice. All of the rainbows were caught shallow. The bite was extremely light, a lot of fish were caught (and missed) at the top of my jigging stroke when the line went slack. I was using Radical Glow jigs on one rod & Maniac paddle bugs on the other - both tipped with meat.

The weather was perfect, 19 degrees when I arrived and 37 when I left. I fished the whole time with my feet in 2 to 3 inches of water. If you go, be prepared for the slush and water.

I am afraid the storm predicted for this weekend is not going to help the slush problem anytime soon.
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[lakepowellnut]

Glad you made it out. We had the same experience with catching on the SC side on Wednesday.
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[bghunter]

How was the road going to the marina? Can you get a four wheeler there or is it snowmobile only access?
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[OCF]

The road in is snow packed from the snowmobiles. There was a UTV fishing near the end of the boat ramp with wheels. They had come in the night before, when the road was frozen & they had fished through the night. It looked like they has struggled getting out with the size of the ruts in the road when I left. Someone had tried to get a small pickup in & was buried in a drift just past the cabins.

With the warm weather, I would only take tracked vehicle in until the weather get colder.

This is the most snow I have seen in the strawberry valley for many years. I would estimate it to be 30 inches deep on the flats. So there are some deep snow drifts around.
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[Island20]

Great report good day for sure. I really like your screen name. Now I know what to call my disease.
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[OCF]

Thanks.

It does get to be a very expensive disease at times! If my wife only knew []
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