Mill Meadow for Ice this season

[utefisherman]

Has anybody heard if Mill Meadow Reservoir will be closed all winter? I read that they were going to drain it for dam repairs. Just curious. That is my favorite spot for perch during ice season. I would hate to miss my mill meadow trips this year!!!
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[Jacksonman]

I wondered the same thing when I heard it was going to be drained. I hope to make a trip there in the next three weeks to check it out but who knows. There are probably some musky and some chunky trout and perch that will be easy pickins right about now. I hear it is still half full. I wonder if they will completely drain it this winter. I sure hope not.
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[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Okay boys and girls, here’s the story as best I could find out. Mill Meadow is a joint ownership deal between National Forest, BLM, and Fremont Irrigation Company with Fremont being the water master. According to the FS office in Loa, the damn repair is to replace a pipe gate letting water out of the reservoir. The water level was let down this year to allow the work to begin, but funding for the actual pipe and gate was not allocated. Therefore, the project has been postponed until the fall of 2011. In either case, the reservoir would not have been and will not be closed to fishing. The outlet gate is high enough to always leave a conservation pool in the reservoir to avoid killing off all the fish. I also called the actual water master for Fremont, but had to leave a voice mail and will report back here if he tells me something different from what I’m posting here. Now go catch some fish.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[kastmaster]

That's good news, at least for me. Mill Meadow is one of the lakes I want to hit for early ice fishing since I've never been there. Come on, ice!!!

[utefisherman]

You have made my day my friend. Although it is fun to hit fish lake and other places for some large fish, I love mill meadow for the rapid catch and limit of perch. Let's pray that you are right. Thanks a million for the update!!
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[bigbluegill]

I fished Mill Meadow with my kids on the deer hunt opener after filling my tag. The reservoir is EXTREMELY LOW......well below half....I would estimate well below one third of capacity.......
The fishing, however, was off the charts! We had 4 poles in the water and were trying to locate perch. We found a nice school of perch about 5 -7 feet from the bank. We fished with worms 2 feet below a bobber. We caught perch after perch and even landed 6-7 nice trout in the same location. I have attached some photos.
We parked on the south end and hiked down the dam.
After 90 minutes of fishing we had around 35 chunky perch and some nice trout to take home in the cooler too.
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[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I got a call back from the water master yesterday afternoon. He confirmed what I’ve already said. He also said the funding will be available in January, 2011. This would be to late to start the repairs this season and that’s why they were delayed until next year. The outlet gate has been closed and the reservoir is now filling back up in anticipation of next year’s irrigation season, so it should be ‘Fish On’ this winter for sure.[/#800000][/font]
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[Ryry4545]

How is the muskie fishing at Mill Meadow? anyone had much luck?
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