Strawberry...

I have been craving Ice Fishing for the past 3 months now. Finially got out last Tuesday up to Soldier Creek with my wife. I bought lots of new gear just to make it more enjoyable for her. Got a new tent, and some Overshoes for her. That day was a foggy and cold day, but that tent made all the difference, plus a little heater made it nice inside. As for the fishing though..... we had tons of hits, but not sure if they were just small or maybe we were a little rusty hooking them. After 3 hours we only got out 1 15 inch rainbow. Slow start for the year... Yesterday I took my dad out and when I looked at the -11 temp I thought I should go back to bed. Nah we went out anyway and hit the Ladders. It had a good 5 inches of ice and was sunshiny. That bitter cold was there waiting for us though. There were a handfull of people around and not many fish were being caught. My dad hooked into a couple but lost them both. (I think he gets a little to excited when get goes to set the hook and puts to much force behind it) I had a wapping 3 hits and at least pulled out 1 Cutt.

This isn't the way I wanted to start off the Ice Fishing season....... But at least I got the slow days out of the way! I hope.

Nice report, its good to hear the ice is ready. :2thumbs:

I was able to make it up on Friday (31st). I parked at Chicken creek, they hadn't plowed yet so I hiked in from the highway, the hike was brutal with crusted snow drifted to a couple of feet. The ice was a thin 3" at about 10 feet deep, too thin for my liking any farther out. Right on the weed beds made for slow fishing but it was good to get out. After this cold spell I guess the lake will be fairly thick by next weekend.

You crazy SOB's :haha: :cold:

I went out again yesterday to Chicken Creek. At first I was going to head out super early till I saw the TEMP was -17f !! I went an hour later anyway. The ice was 7 inches or so thick and I hiked out a few hundred yards. There were 2 other groups there too. I talked to one guy later that day when I met him on Deer Creek (4 inches) and he said they only caught 2 at Strawberry. That is how many I caught too, and they were small Cutts. I went over to the Ladders again for a little bit and had 1 hit. 3rd time up there in a week and I have only hooked into 4! Talk about a crappy start for the season. That won't keep me from getting out though!
I had tons of time to waste there so I tried some underwater shots with the GO PRO. To bad the contrast of the ice glowing underwater looked like crap, but here is a view from the Ice Hole.

Attachment 40315

And another setup just waiting for the fish. To bad they both were on the other pole.

Attachment 40316

GoPro in da house...:cool2:

That's awesome! Sorry the fishing hasn't been great yet. I'm getting the same treatment, myself.

:cool2: perspective from the ice hole