Strawberry ice?

[Fishdude]

I’ve got a bunch of kids that want to go ice fishing this week. My preference would be to go to Strawberry, but I haven’t seen much info on ice conditions. Does anyone know if there’s good ice at Chicken Creek East or the Ladders? My backup is Scofield, but strawberry is a bit closer.

Thanks!
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[joatmon]

I went up there late yesterday afternoon. Saw a few fishing at Chicken Creek East. No one at the ladders and there was quite a bit of open water there. I ended up at Soldier Creek where I found a solid 6 inches of ice, with about an inch of snow on top. Looks like it may have previously been slushy in spots but was frozen solid yesterday. There were groups on the ice as far down toward the dam as I could see. There were a couple of snowmobiles on the ice on that north end of Soldier Creek.

I talked to half a dozen groups as they were leaving and it seemed that most caught several rainbows and few cutthroats (maybe 10:1 ratio?). I wasn’t able to entice any cuts to bite, but only fished from about 3-5.

I’m hoping the rest of the lake is fishable soon. You might give the marina a call and ask about ice conditions. Good luck if you go.
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[MrShane]

Thanks for the report!
Were you able to drive to the Soldier Creek Campground launch?
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[joatmon]

No, looks like snowmobile only access down the east side of Soldier Creek. I’m not sure about access through the cabins, but did notice the usual large crowd of snowmobile trailers at that turnoff. I’m thinking I need a snowmobile!
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[MrShane]

Use a snowmachine for ice fishing once and you’ll never go back to the old way.
You’ve been warned!
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[mjlevie]

We took snowmobiles to the Soldier Creek launch on Saturday. There was only Ice out about 50 yards then it was open water. The ice we did find was only two inches. We turned around and went over to the bay by the highway and found 6-8 inches. 6 of it was good clear ice.
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