Minersville Success

[mjschijf]

I've had my eye on Minersville for a few weeks, having heard rumors of good ice-off fishing. My last trip there was two years ago, through the ice. I caught a few rainbows - my first ever ice fishing, but they were all pretty small. My goal for this outing was to get into some of the big trout that I know Minersville produces.
After a 2+ hour drive, I arrived just after 10:30 A.M. Not a bad start for me. As expected, there was a lot of pressure. The shoreline near the campground looked pretty crowded, but I was able to find a somewhat secluded spot near the outlet.
After settling in and casting some marabou jigs with no luck, I switched to a brass Blue Fox that resulted in the day's first fish: an 18-inch rainbow with great color. A good way to start the day!




The Blue Fox stopped producing after that, so I tied on a rainbow trout Rapala. That decision paid off right away.



Just a few casts after reeling in that smaller one, the Rapala got hit again, and I knew right away it was something bigger this time. After a good fight, this big guy came to view:




A sloppy measurement read 20 inches. Still not a Minersville "keeper", but one of the best looking rainbows I've caught. I'm pretty happy with that one.

Then the bite reeeeeealllly slowed.

For the next 2 hours, I went through lure after lure in my tackle box, with just this little guy to show for it:



I didn't want to call it a day yet, so I decided to go check out the Beaver River downstream, planning on coming back to the lake later in the evening. For now, I needed a change of scenery.

The river was somewhat of a bust though. I caught one small brown that got off after I hoisted it out of the water. I had another hooked later that got off, too. For the most part, it was just running too hard for much productive fishing due to all the water spilling in from the lake.

Back to the reservoir.

I returned to my original spot, and casted out my rainbow Rapala a few times before breaking it off in the weeds. :x

I tied on a jig that had been in my tackle box for a while but had never used it much. After a few casts, I accidentally pulled its tail off, thinking it was algae stuck to the hook. Wow, that was smart. I stuck with it anyway, and it wasn't long before I felt a tug on my line, and eventually brought to hand my last fish of the day.

It was a nice one, too. Another sloppy measurement, but it looked to be about 19 inches:




After a few more casts, I decided to call it a day. I was sunburned, it was about 6:30, and I was frustrated because I broke off a couple of good lures. Oh well, it was well worth it.

The fishing was somewhat slow, all things considered, but I'm happy with how things played out. I got into some nice rainbows, and that last one was just icing on what I already would have considered to be a productive day. Three fish over 18 inches is a good day in my book.

Those bows are great fighters, too. Every one of them twisted and thrashed all the way to shore. My drag was a set a little too loose on the last one, and it really took a while to get it in.

It's good to see Minersville producing fat, healthy rainbows again. I was happy to finally get ahold of a few.

To top it all off, it was a gorgeous day. I'll leave you with some landscape shots. Enjoy!

[JP]

Nice catches

[accadacca]

Great stuff!