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Couple buddies and I were looking for 'safest' ice to try dipping a line..from personal observation, and other recent reports, we decided da Berry would be our best bet..rain to start our drive, then snow on the way there, and fog/low clouds made for a somewhat white knuckle drive experience...my one buddy's truck, he had enough fun driving when he couldn't see any more along the final cut in road to the marina..I drove the final 5 or 6 miles in, and it definitely was white out conditions, but we were fine..just 1 other vehicle when we arrived, and we watched them access the ice, 1 of them with a snowmobile, so we felt pretty sure the ice was ok...I still used my ice probe, we safely walked on top of about 1.5' of frozen slush, with my probe punching thru just a few times to the solid ice, which turned out to be about 5 to 6"...lite snow falling all while there, mild temp, no wind, great conditions..I should have known better, but my first test hole was just 25', and we 'saw' fish, so set 2 tents in that area..should have gone out deeper right away, but we stayed, had some lite taps, finally I got a nicer 18" releaser, slow, slow, few little maybe taps, fish often showing on screens, Jaw Jacker goes off..fish on..fish off..just enough to make me stay..finally our 'young gun' left and found 45' water, he soon iced 2 and lost 2 or 3 others..so it was just ok, not great, but I/we
should have gone deeper at the start..maybe next time..by 1100 there were about 10 other groups out, and saw a sno dog heading across the bay..Guluk..be careful..
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01-27-2024, 02:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-28-2024, 02:25 AM by wiperhunter2.)
Sounds like some tough conditions Joe, glad you made it there safe, was that the only day you could go  Glad you got a few fish for your efforts.
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01-28-2024, 04:32 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-28-2024, 04:33 AM by Jmorfish.
Edit Reason: misspelled name
)
(01-27-2024, 02:50 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: Sounds like some tough conditions Joe, glad you made it there safe, was that the only day you could go Glad you got a few fish for your efforts.
Hey Curtis...from my experience here, we've always done better on a 'low pressure' day, like this day with the cloudy/snowy conditions..so we chose this day based on the weather forecast..I/we just picked the wrong depth to start in..
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(01-27-2024, 01:16 AM)Jmorfish Wrote: Couple buddies and I were looking for 'safest' ice to try dipping a line..from personal observation, and other recent reports, we decided da Berry would be our best bet..rain to start our drive, then snow on the way there, and fog/low clouds made for a somewhat white knuckle drive experience...my one buddy's truck, he had enough fun driving when he couldn't see any more along the final cut in road to the marina..I drove the final 5 or 6 miles in, and it definitely was white out conditions, but we were fine..just 1 other vehicle when we arrived, and we watched them access the ice, 1 of them with a snowmobile, so we felt pretty sure the ice was ok...I still used my ice probe, we safely walked on top of about 1.5' of frozen slush, with my probe punching thru just a few times to the solid ice, which turned out to be about 5 to 6"...lite snow falling all while there, mild temp, no wind, great conditions..I should have known better, but my first test hole was just 25', and we 'saw' fish, so set 2 tents in that area..should have gone out deeper right away, but we stayed, had some lite taps, finally I got a nicer 18" releaser, slow, slow, few little maybe taps, fish often showing on screens, Jaw Jacker goes off..fish on..fish off..just enough to make me stay..finally our 'young gun' left and found 45' water, he soon iced 2 and lost 2 or 3 others..so it was just ok, not great, but I/we
should have gone deeper at the start..maybe next time..by 1100 there were about 10 other groups out, and saw a sno dog heading across the bay..Guluk..be careful..
Hi Joe, so to clarify there was 18 inches of slush?
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Yes, about 18" slush layer, but it was solid enough for us to walk on top when we were there...I'd like to go back, but do believe I'd call the Marina people first to ask if that layer is still solid or not..I'd hate to be walking on it and busting thru each step, or trying to set up and fish if it was soft..
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(02-02-2024, 08:31 PM)Jmorfish Wrote: Yes, about 18" slush layer, but it was solid enough for us to walk on top when we were there...I'd like to go back, but do believe I'd call the Marina people first to ask if that layer is still solid or not..I'd hate to be walking on it and busting thru each step, or trying to set up and fish if it was soft..
Wow! thanks for the information.
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I've kicking around a berry trip tomorrow as well, but that's a long drive for me if the conditions aren't very good... Might try the boat, but trying to decide between Bear lake and Willard on that one... I want to fish, but sure don't see any really exciting prospects... Anybody else hearing anything that might sway my direction? thanks Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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(02-08-2024, 08:27 PM)SkunkedAgain Wrote: I've kicking around a berry trip tomorrow as well, but that's a long drive for me if the conditions aren't very good... Might try the boat, but trying to decide between Bear lake and Willard on that one... I want to fish, but sure don't see any really exciting prospects... Anybody else hearing anything that might sway my direction? thanks Jeff
After canceling our trip to Strawberry, on Tuesday, Kory and I are going for it tomorrow. Not the usual number of ice fishing options, for February. It sure has been a strange year. I can't complain about rain, at my humble abode, and lots of snow in the mountains though.
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I had my schedule open up, and with the cold days nights as of late, I'm thinking Rockport is on my radar for Friday morning. Haven't heard anything as of late about "the bite", but hopefully, that's just because people have been smart and stayed off the ice while we were in the warming trend.
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Good luck Kent and Kory, hope you do really well... Guess I'm probably going to stick around home tomorrow... Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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(02-08-2024, 09:31 PM)Kent Wrote: (02-08-2024, 08:27 PM)SkunkedAgain Wrote: I've kicking around a berry trip tomorrow as well, but that's a long drive for me if the conditions aren't very good... Might try the boat, but trying to decide between Bear lake and Willard on that one... I want to fish, but sure don't see any really exciting prospects... Anybody else hearing anything that might sway my direction? thanks Jeff
After canceling our trip to Strawberry, on Tuesday, Kory and I are going for it tomorrow. Not the usual number of ice fishing options, for February. It sure has been a strange year. I can't complain about rain, at my humble abode, and lots of snow in the mountains though.
So did you guys make it out? Buddy and I are heading to RP on Monday, and if that still looks unsafe, we'll head on up and over to Strawberry..Any comments on slush? depth finding fish?..tks..
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