Ice cold fishing - Strawberry 1/7

[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Got up at Oh-too-early-thirty and picked up Nugs at his place then came back to my place and got picked up by Fairwayphill and headed out in the dark. We got there around sun rise and left around 5 pm.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]It was pretty cold when we got there and there was just a bit of a breeze. Phil drove his 4 wheeler off into the horizon with Nugs on back to find some place a way from any potential crowd. They stopped every so often on the way out to drill some test holes to make sure the ice was safe. I was walking well behind them towing my sled full of non-essentials. Phil and Nugs finally decided on a spot that looked suitable and then Phil came back for me as I was making my way in that general direction.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]We all drilled some holes and set to fishing. Almost as soon as my first jig hit the bottom, I had a nice fish on. Right afterwards Phil announced that he had one, then Nugs got one. It wasn't but a short time that all of us were into fish regularly. The action kept up for quite a while, and as it did, the wind picked up making it quite brisk. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]By in large, the fishing was great even though there was a fairly stiff cold breeze. We all caught a lot of fish. I lost count early on and the other guys said they did as well. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]I lost half a dozen fish due to the ice freezing in my tip-top and reel line spooler. Another 2 or three were lost at the hole because of the jagged edges causing break offs. And a couple were lost because my reel had froze up and the handle would not turn. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Although I took 4 rods, by lunch time, I was down to only one left that was still working and not frozen solid. The wind was so cold at times that the holes would freeze before the jig hit the bottom. I was fishing for a while with a rod in one hand and the slush scooper in the other. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]As far as the two pole permit goes. Until I can figure out a better idea, I am done with that idea. Two fish I got to the ice were wrapped in the line of my other rod, and I lost one fish when I had a double hook up and the lines got crossed. I had two double hook ups and quite a number of two fish on but one would get off when I was dealing with the other fish. So after a couple of hours, when my second to the last still working rod finally froze up, I went with only one - my last functional rod. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]I took some photos, but my camera decided to freeze up after just a few.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]Nugs braving the breeze on his bucket.[/size]
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[black][size 3]Phils catching fish behind a wind break.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]My frosty spread.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Another great day of fishing, great catching, great scenery, and great company.[/size][/black]
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[richyy31]

That sounds like a great trip. Do you mind me asking you for a general area and how deep of water you were in? Also is the ice safe everywhere for the 4 wheelers?
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[nugs]

Like Chuck said it was a truly great day on the berry all cold aspects aside. i did lose the biggest cutt of my lifetime right at the ice due to the jagged edges. i'd estimate he was 27"+and super fat. Most of my fish came on a 6 inch chub fished whole just above the bottom on a circle hook (it was slow for a while. I got creative) in closing i'd just like to thank fishhound and fairway philly for a great trip.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]That sounds like an awesome day of fishing, but a day for a shelter and heater too. That area in the pictures looks very familiar and I think it's the same area that I nite ice fished with fishin4fun and bassackward last year. That's a great area that only gets fished by folks with sleds and 4-wheelers if it's where I think it is. I need to get a wheeler in the near future...
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[lunkerhunter2]

Sounds like a fun day on the pond guys.[]
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[Old_Coot]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]Way to Get-R-Dunn boys ... I enjoyed your report.

Bait_Caster is trying to convince me to give the Berry on ice a try.[/#002850][/font][/size]
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[CROSSINEYES]

ya it was cold... compared to last monday it was freazing! we did ok. only caught 1 small fish all day. most were 20 or so and a few over the slot as well. all fish went home having seen the world above water. always wondered what they think after that expeireance.
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[Playas44]

Where did you guys launch from?
I would like to take the 4 wheeler up this weekend. I have been a little nervous about taking it until the ice was a little thicker.
Sound it was thick enough for the bike.
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[CROSSINEYES]

11 solid inches at the ladders.
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[Theekillerbee]

Great report...too bad about the uber cold wind though. It can be brutal up there.
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]We launched from the marina and went straight across the bay. In the photo of my spead, you can see the marina on the horizon. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]The ice was pretty much safe every where that we went - some of the test holes were about a foot thick. However, There were a few spots that Phil's machine broke through a little bit.[/size][/black]
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Hey Nugs,[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]It was great to fish with you. Let's do it again sometime ! Thanx for the lunch, it really hit the spot when I was needing it. [/size][/black]
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Yeah, a person would probably want a machine to access that area. It was a bit of a walk/ride to get over there. I am sure motivated now to pick up some sort of tent/shelter - mostly to keep the ice holes from freezing over.[/size][/black]
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Hey Old Coot,[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Take Bait Caster up on that offer and give it a try ! I think you will like fishing on Strawberry. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Check the weather first, Bring warm gear and if you have a shelter, use it ![/size][/black]
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]No kidding. The weather/temperature was night and day compared to last week. I also caught a tiny fish - my smallest ever on strawberry. It couldn't have been more that 13/14 inches - I hardley could tell it was on my line until I got it to the ice. Most of my fish were also in the 20/21 inch range, with a couple that seemed over the slot, but, with the cold and wind, I never measured any. I also think I caught a couple of rainbows as the fins didn't look like a cutts, but when they landed on the hard deck they got covered with snow and I couldn't really tell if they were or not. I just shoved every fish back in the hole as soon as I could with out touching them.[/size][/black]
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]We launched from the marina. You should be ok with the 4 wheelers. We went right across with no real problems and there were quite a few machines out there all over on the ice.[/size][/black]
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[fairwayphilly]

I was certainly a great day, the 4 wheeler works pretty good as a wind break. I had a tent but didn't set it up, felt a little guilty about leaving my partners out to freeze, besides I didn't really get that cold until just before we left. The only realy problem was slush building up in the hole from the blowing snow. We drilled several test holes all the way across the bay and every one was between 9 and 11 inches thick. When fishhound said my machine broke through a couple of times he ment through some refrozen slush that was 3-4" thick, the ice was solid underneath. I did drill a couple of holes back in the bay near where we fished and the ice was only about 6 inches thick. We didn't get anywhere near the point at Haws and I would still be very careful going around the point into renegade or over to the narrows. Last year there was a huge pressure fault right at the entrance to the narrows that never seemed to freeze solid.
The fishing for me was really hot early and really hot late with only 2 fish between 11:00 and 2:30. About the time the fishing died for me was about the time Nugs did his best. When the fishing died off for me I moved out to 35 and then to 40 feet of water but didn't really find any fish at all. The best fishing of the day came between 20 and 25 feet and we all spent the majority of the time at that depth.
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