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Burrrrrrrr is was cold this morning. -21 degree's when we arrived. We strapped on the snowshoes and headed to the same spot we did well at 2 weeks ago. After trudging through 18 inches of powder for 45 minutes we finally made it to the spot with plenty of snot frozen to our faces (note to self..buy a snowmobile!). Unfortunately this spot was not as good as it was when we fished it on several days 2-3 weeks ago. We were fishing 25 feet deep and started with tube jigs and minnows. We missed a few and caught a few but mostly just spent our time scooping ice out of our holes and clearing ice from our rod eyes. Fortunatly the sun came up and no W... so it seemed to warm up but not enough to thaw out our snotstaches. At about 9 the fish quit biting but saw lots of drivebys on the finder. We tried switching to meal worms and caught a couple and then couldn't find anything that they wanted. So in short it was a lot of work for very few fish. The walk is brutal but before today it always paid off to get away from the crowds but today it was just a lot of work with little reward. But it beat going to work! It warmed up to a balmy -7 when we left at 11:15. Ice is about 24+ inches thick with 12-18 of powder on top of it. No slush. Forget about using wheelers unless the marina area has been packed down.
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Sounds mighty cold! That's a toasty 6 degrees warmer than when I was up there last....too bad the fishies didn't want to play with you though. Thanks for the report.
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Great report BigCat. We all have those days its just part of paying you dues. Its been awhile since I'v been to the berry, I need to get up there again.
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Interesting,
When I was there on Saturday, the snow was less than 8 inches deep and I got the wheeler there just fine. Of course I was fishing Soldier Creek along the East shore. The ice there measured 16 inches thick. You'd think things would be a bit more uniform across the lake. We had a great day with 41 iced. I've always found that Soldier Creek has better fishing later in the winter than other areas. The "rangers" that used to poll the fishermen verified that on several occasions.
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Thursday morning MGB......5:00 am...bigbucks got a sled for ya...were taken the long ride???? Hmm is that a cough..perhaps a fever??.you dont sound good mike...I think you should probly stay home thursday...we dont want you getting any of the students sick??[sly]
If that doesnt work...we could allways break one of your legs when we get back..or a finger..you dont use them that much..!![cool]
Skipper.
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KJ
I was surprised how much snow there was on the ice yesterday. They must of really got hammered sat night and sunday. And I wish the ice where I was was only 16 inches since I don't have a power auger! It was 18 inches there 2 weeks ago with six inches of slush that has now frozen so its a good 24 inches. I had to use my 3rd extension on my transducer to get it under the edge of the ice (each one is 10 inches...I know it doesn't need to be under the edge of the ice but I like it there....). Keep in mind we were well off the beeten path and there wasn't even so much as a snowmobile track within a few hundred yards of us. Walking was even difficult in snowshoes which kept us from sinking any more than about 8-10 inches but once we got to the spot we shoveled about 18 inches to get to solid ice. Sounds like you did great on the soldier creek side. I have never fished that side, sounds like I need to give it a try. My honey hole seems to have dried up...
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My experience with the Soldier Creek side is you will catch more fish, but the average size is smaller. I have had 60 fish days on the SC side where my biggest fish was 18". On the reverse I've had 12 fish days on Strawberry where the smallest was 18" with the biggest being 22". I did catch 1 20" fish on SC last week. My bud also caught a 24" on the SC side, I just think they are fewer. If you don't care about catching a "keeper" the SC side will probably put you into more fish.
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Skip, I wish I could go with ya but I must go to WORK.
Do me a favor, there is a tire under the lodge steps. Grab it, I told a guy that I would pick it up for him.
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Cat...
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised about the ice thickness difference as Soldier Creek usually is a couple of weeks behind some of the other bays at Strawberry when freeze up occurs.
I too like my transducer below the ice. Mine is a floating device which the transducer hangs from and adjustment is simply moving a ball up or down on the line which supports the transducer. By the way, I am using a Vexilar FL8 finder. Works wonders for ice fishing.
Kirk..I have found the fish seem to be a bit fatter in other areas but the size difference hasn't been too different. We do catch more rainbows there. Most everything we caught was in the 17 to 19 inch range with 5 under 15 inches and 5 at 20 inches. I caught a couple at 21 and 22 over there 3 weeks ago. When I fished the main marina and over by Indian Creek earlier this winter, the size average was the same. Guess it just depends upon which day you fish and where.
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I'm talking from limited experience on the SC side as I don't go there as often and havn't tried out all the water over there. Personally, I'm the type that likes a lot of action with a large on mixed in every once in while. The SC side just seemed like the overall average fish was smaller. Attatched is a pic of a 20" cutt from chicken creek and the second one is a 20" from SC on the same day. You should notice a size difference. I only caught 3 fish at CC in about 8 hours of fishing, 2 19''ers and 1 20". Packed it up and went to the SC side and caught 7 (lots of missed fish also) in 3 hours with most being 16-18" with the skinny 20"er. Either way I really like fishing for the cutts on the SC side. Havn't caught any bows yet.
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I'm like you. I like catching fish. I do like eating them also. I took a couple of the smaller 14 inch cutts home last week as my wife keeps giving me grief about not bringing home a fish dinner. Those cutts are so tasty!!!
I like to use 4 lb test so my drag is pretty loose. Playing those big boys is a lot of fun.
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