Strawberry Ice Off

[MBM1969]

Ice off is happening at Strawberry!! I went up Sunday with the float tube and fly rod and had a really good day. Most of the bays have some open water with more on Soldier Creek side. The Ladders had a good 500 yard section open.

I fished over by the Soldier Creek creek boat ramp. I knew it was going to be a good day when my first three casts caught fish. A big black wolley bugger on an intermediate line worked the best. I ended up catching 15 fish all cuts in the slot limit. My best was a 22 inch cut. I tried float tubing for a while but I didn't have as good as luck as just wading and casting from shore.

Below are some pics including some crazy soul who was not done ice fishing yet.

Mark

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[saturn_guy]

Were the roads on the SC side passable by a small passenger car, or do you need 4-wheel drive?
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[MBM1969]

You will have no problem getting all the way to the SC boat ramp. A couple drifts but there is a clear lane going by each. The road was snow covered with a inch or snow of snow Sunday morning and I was a little worried in my little 2 wheel drive truck but I had no issues and it was melted by afternoon.

Mark
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[NWFF]

Thanks for the report. It inspired me to go today. I fished near the soldier creek boat ramp and also near the Aspen Grove campground. Fishing was steady, caught 6 slot cutts and 2 rainbows. The wind was brutal, made fishing difficult. All of the roads I travelled were clear and there were several areas of open water. All the fish were caught on either black marabou jigs or rainbow tube jigs.
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[LOAH]

So the road to dam is open too?
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[NWFF]

Yeah, I took it all the way until it became gravel and it was in good shape.
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[LOAH]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.[cool]
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[cutter4]

Its time!!!
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[xberto]

I've not partaken in "ice-off" at Strawberry but absolutely will this year. For my young kids (6year old twins), will floating a worm or powerbait be effective? As for myself, I'll probably work near by shoreline with bait caster. So I read throwing woolybuggars out to the ice can be productive, is that right? Just cast and realthem slow or do I jig them? I've never fished with a wooly either Thanks.
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[TroutMan93]

A wooly bugger is a fly...not a jig. You can cast it out with a bubble and retrieve it slowly. Marabou jigs would work also...as seen a couple posts up.
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[flygoddess]

A bugger can be a jig. All in the hook. Jig hooks for flies have become very popular. Look up balanced nymphing.
http://www.flycraftangling.com/index.asp...ticleID=59
In reply to the question at hand, I would say a regular WB , and if using spinning gear, a water bubble. Vary you return speed.
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[chinook]

Thanks for that update. I am wanting to go up and try on Thursday. I appreciate letting us know what you used. Nice. Love the pics.
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