LOAH
03-02-2009, 09:09 PM
With the ice season slowly but surely fading away, I decided to get in at least one more trip before wholly dedicating my fishing time to soft water.
On my only previous ice trip to Strawberry, I was only lucky enough to hook into one slot sized cutthroat. Today I was determined to change that.
Arriving at the ladders while it was still dark, I was sure to make good on the early bite, right?
Many holes were drilled by hand through as much as 26 inches of ice (OOF) in depths ranging from 20 feet to as little as 2. Surprisingly, my rod wiggled more in the shallower areas than in the deeper spots.
The bites were timid and rarely repeated. Hours passed and the peak of my excitement came from the only hard take of the day. Naturally, that bite occurred while I was busy drilling a hole about 20 feet away. Somehow, I managed to man my rod in time to hook up. Sadly though, my jig pulled free and the drag-taking minnow eater on the other end remained unseen.
Another discouraging couple of hours went as well as several new locations/holes when I started to doze off in my fold up chair. Not wanting to miss a bite, I held my pole. As I was fading off into a dream, I felt the faintest shift of weight on my rig and pulled up to set the hook.
Finally, I had something on the ice! It was a rainbow of only about 15 inches, but it was a sight for sore eyes (literally...I forgot my shades. OUCH!).
Since the "nap rig" seemed to work so well, I tried it again and actually got into another bow of equal size after only waiting a few minutes.
Two more bows would follow, making it 4 within 30 minutes of each other. All of this took place after I had waited for almost 7 hours for what was smelling like a skunk. All were caught in the channel of the ladders about 30 yds from where the inlet corridor opens up. The water was less than 10 feet deep.
Small white tube jigs tipped with a redside were the best producers, although a red and pearl salty tube jig brought one in, also tipped with a minnow. Tipping the jig with a piece of night crawler provoked a few missed bites as well.
The day was really bright and sunny. No wind, whatsoever and my poor face and eyes are really feeling crispy tonight.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4251.jpg
Nice day.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4254.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4255.jpg
I saw something to be optimistic about on the way home and went in for a closer look:
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4258.jpg
Yes, that's open water on the north end of Deer Creek. I saw a truck parked nearby with a pontoon in the back.
Even though I didn't get out on the ice too much this year, I'm glad the open water is coming back.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
On my only previous ice trip to Strawberry, I was only lucky enough to hook into one slot sized cutthroat. Today I was determined to change that.
Arriving at the ladders while it was still dark, I was sure to make good on the early bite, right?
Many holes were drilled by hand through as much as 26 inches of ice (OOF) in depths ranging from 20 feet to as little as 2. Surprisingly, my rod wiggled more in the shallower areas than in the deeper spots.
The bites were timid and rarely repeated. Hours passed and the peak of my excitement came from the only hard take of the day. Naturally, that bite occurred while I was busy drilling a hole about 20 feet away. Somehow, I managed to man my rod in time to hook up. Sadly though, my jig pulled free and the drag-taking minnow eater on the other end remained unseen.
Another discouraging couple of hours went as well as several new locations/holes when I started to doze off in my fold up chair. Not wanting to miss a bite, I held my pole. As I was fading off into a dream, I felt the faintest shift of weight on my rig and pulled up to set the hook.
Finally, I had something on the ice! It was a rainbow of only about 15 inches, but it was a sight for sore eyes (literally...I forgot my shades. OUCH!).
Since the "nap rig" seemed to work so well, I tried it again and actually got into another bow of equal size after only waiting a few minutes.
Two more bows would follow, making it 4 within 30 minutes of each other. All of this took place after I had waited for almost 7 hours for what was smelling like a skunk. All were caught in the channel of the ladders about 30 yds from where the inlet corridor opens up. The water was less than 10 feet deep.
Small white tube jigs tipped with a redside were the best producers, although a red and pearl salty tube jig brought one in, also tipped with a minnow. Tipping the jig with a piece of night crawler provoked a few missed bites as well.
The day was really bright and sunny. No wind, whatsoever and my poor face and eyes are really feeling crispy tonight.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4251.jpg
Nice day.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4254.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4255.jpg
I saw something to be optimistic about on the way home and went in for a closer look:
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/lordofallhumans/IMGP4258.jpg
Yes, that's open water on the north end of Deer Creek. I saw a truck parked nearby with a pontoon in the back.
Even though I didn't get out on the ice too much this year, I'm glad the open water is coming back.
Happy Fishing, Humans.