11-25-2020, 11:49 PM
Drove up to Scofield today hoping to find some safe ice. Since I was alone, I didn't venture out on the dam arm, but it appears to be mostly iced over. I couldn't see that anyone else had been out either, but that could have changed later in the day. I ended up back over at Madsen Bay ramp where I had noticed the docks for Madsen Bay and Dam Arm were both pulled up close to shore and anchored for the winter, about 100 yards west of the ramp. Most of the west side of Madsen Bay, the boat ramp area out a couple hundred yards, and that small bay west of the ramp were iced over, with a few open water spots.
I was able to access the docks with one long step from shore. I used my spud bar to break the 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches of ice in a few spots, set up my flasher, and went at it. Used a fire tiger tungsten jig tipped with a wax worm to almost immediately land the first fish, a 12-inch rainbow. Put a new green Wolfinkee on the other pole tipped with a meal worm. Moved around a little, about four different spots. Water depth ranged from 8-11 feet, and I caught most fish in the lower 3 feet of the water column in 11 fow. Caught 8 rainbows and 2 cutthroats using those setups. Seemed to get most hits and catches on the Wolfinkee/meal worm rig. At that point I switched to small chunks of chub meat on the fire tiger jig. From then on caught mostly cutthroats. With either rig I had to jig gently to entice a bite - deadsticking did not produce at all. I did catch a larger (as in Strawberry large) cutthroat but lost it at the hole and not counted in the numbers. Poor hook set on the fire tiger with a large chub tail on.
I planned to leave at noon, and at 11:45 the score was tied with 9 rainbows and 9 cutthroats. I put fresh a meal worm on the Wolfinkee and a new chunk of chub on the fire tiger and thought I would use that as a tie breaker, whichever species I caught next would be the "winner". HAH! Got my second double of the day, a rainbow on the meal worm and a cutthroat on the chub. As I started cleaning up, I put my rig with chub back down (the meal worm was gone on the other rig). Caught my largest rainbow of the day at a little over 14 inches. Largest cutthroat iced was a 14-1/2-incher. Ended up with 21 total fish in about 4 hours of fishing, with rainbows winning the tiebreaker. And NO chubs.
Air temperature was 1 degree when I arrived and 40 when I left. Scofield is slowly capping, hopefully ice will thicken enough to get on soon. May try somewhere else on Friday with catchinon, but this was a great first trip to get back at it!
I was able to access the docks with one long step from shore. I used my spud bar to break the 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches of ice in a few spots, set up my flasher, and went at it. Used a fire tiger tungsten jig tipped with a wax worm to almost immediately land the first fish, a 12-inch rainbow. Put a new green Wolfinkee on the other pole tipped with a meal worm. Moved around a little, about four different spots. Water depth ranged from 8-11 feet, and I caught most fish in the lower 3 feet of the water column in 11 fow. Caught 8 rainbows and 2 cutthroats using those setups. Seemed to get most hits and catches on the Wolfinkee/meal worm rig. At that point I switched to small chunks of chub meat on the fire tiger jig. From then on caught mostly cutthroats. With either rig I had to jig gently to entice a bite - deadsticking did not produce at all. I did catch a larger (as in Strawberry large) cutthroat but lost it at the hole and not counted in the numbers. Poor hook set on the fire tiger with a large chub tail on.
I planned to leave at noon, and at 11:45 the score was tied with 9 rainbows and 9 cutthroats. I put fresh a meal worm on the Wolfinkee and a new chunk of chub on the fire tiger and thought I would use that as a tie breaker, whichever species I caught next would be the "winner". HAH! Got my second double of the day, a rainbow on the meal worm and a cutthroat on the chub. As I started cleaning up, I put my rig with chub back down (the meal worm was gone on the other rig). Caught my largest rainbow of the day at a little over 14 inches. Largest cutthroat iced was a 14-1/2-incher. Ended up with 21 total fish in about 4 hours of fishing, with rainbows winning the tiebreaker. And NO chubs.
Air temperature was 1 degree when I arrived and 40 when I left. Scofield is slowly capping, hopefully ice will thicken enough to get on soon. May try somewhere else on Friday with catchinon, but this was a great first trip to get back at it!
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j.o.a.t.m.o.n.
jack of all tackle, master of none
j.o.a.t.m.o.n.
jack of all tackle, master of none