FG 2/4-2/7

[Muskyon46]

A bit late getting this report up but there has been some recovery time after battling the nasty wind all weekend. We arrived on Thursday about 1pm to the spot we chose. We fished just south of big bend and found a good 10in of ice. The wind was blowing at a steady pace, gusting to what I would say to be between 30-40mph. It forced our hand to shelter around a point and put us in a spot we really didn't want to fish but it was what it was and we figured we would try and make the best of it. Now all the ice we drilled going out stayed pretty steady at 9-10in and we figured we would be good all weekend. There were a few small open spots and cracks but that was nothing new to us for the gorge and took good mental notes of things to be cautious around. We were able to get out to deep water on Friday and battled the wind all day seeing fish but had no takers. Fish were chasing things all day but just wouldn't commit. After the battle Friday we decided to just fish in camp the rest of the weekend and had the same thing. Lots of sniffers but no takers. Between the 3 of us we only iced 1 bow and 5 burbot. Nothing over 17-18in.. Woke up Sunday morn to the wind just howling, I would guess in excess of 40mph. Packed our stuff and started for the trailer. When we got to the point we sheltered at was when the fun began!! 1st was a wheeler going in one of the cracks we had crossed, nothing serious just the front tires and the water was only a couple inches deep on the shore but looking at the rest of the path back to the trailer. OH MAN! lots of open water all over. Areas as big as football fields had blown open during the weekend and it was not getting any better. Sand and dust blowing everywhere. The only back to the trailer was going to be dragging the gear over rocks on the shore or dragging the gear on the dirt road back to the trailer. After taking both routes we finally made it back, got loaded and got the heck out of that dust bowl. I don't think we will be back unless something seriously changes in temps. If your still wanting to fish the gorge I would recommend staying above confluence point (road 11), it should be good up there still where the ice was thicker but there's still no telling what the wind did also. That wind will eat ice at furious rate for sure. Only got a few scenery pics this weekend