Ice on Cutler

[SkunkedAgain]

Not that ice fishing is any good on Cutler, but there was ice on it yesterday and it held all day and didn't clear during the sunny part. Sooo I'm thinking Mantua won't be too far off. Not this weekend, but maybe the next one. Get your gear ready. Later J
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[Ahi1953]

darn Jeff I was thinking of poking a few holes up there this winter. Its no good even around the Bridge at Benson? oh took a ride up to mantua yesterday still all open but with lows in the teens to twenties it should harden up
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[BagABigOne]

With the current that flows through there the narrow spots may not get thick enough ice to be safe, like the bridges and main channels of the rivers. I've walked on it hunting and it makes me nervous, but then I'm a wuss.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Couple years ago they drained Cutler through the winter, thus condensing the fish into a smaller area (the river and under the bridges and such where it was deep.) So I figured it was the year to catch fish if I was ever going to, so after it got really cold I took my Dad's aluminum boat out on to the river (I'm very chicken of ice with current underneath.) Well the ice ended up being plenty thick 8" plus... so I fished it on and off for about 3 weeks and never caught a fish, even though I seen lots of fish on the graph, I couldn't get them to bite... Now the current was pretty strong and my line was way to the down stream side of where my graph was displaying so I couldn't keep a close eye on when a fish might have tried to hit it, but I basically gave up on ice fishing out there... The shallow areas have fish occasionally, but not often, so you waste lots of time waiting there and the deeps have the current that make it sort of hard to fish and scary ice... You always have to check the ice over the current because it can change so fast due to what is happening underneath... Anyway I wouldn't put Cutler on the top of my ice fishing list, but if you have time you might get lucky... Those back sloughs by the Benson church will likely be thick enough to get on by this weekend and if you fall through it's only 3-4' deep, but I'm going to Bear Lake myself... Good luck if you try it, and I know someone will catch fish there some winter, but no one has ever posted back to tell me they got some ice fish there... Slight disclaimer here, I did fish with Shawdog down by Cutler dam one year and he nailed like 5 channel cats, but I got skunked... I haven't been back down there to try it since... It wasn't an easy spot to get into... but I guess you can catch fish there, I just don't know how to... Later J
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[CacheIceMan]

You just brought a big to my face!!!!![cool]
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[SkunkedAgain]

The ice or my inability to catch a fish? Later J
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[Ahi1953]

I may give it a look , but guess I'll just stick around to Hyrum and Mantua.
Thanks for the Info
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[SkunkedAgain]

When the good spots get slow then it's maybe worth a try, but if anywhere else is still fishing ok I'll probably go there first. Hate to put a damper on it, but it's more of a soft water pond. But I'll bet Mantua starts to form ice soon. Thought I could see some edge ice last night but it's hard to tell at 60 mph from the highway. Cold last night and going to be getting colder so it won't be long. I think the week after next we'll be fishing it. See ya then. J
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[CacheIceMan]

Man I think you may be right about the fishing timeline of a couple of weeks. Temps for the first few days next week supposed to be down in the single digits! It seems that Mantua is usually about 1-2 weeks ahead of Hyrum for safe ice.
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[cbassonafly]

Did a quick check on Mantua this morning. very little ice on the southern edges. Probably gone this afternoon. Looking forward to a good cold snap!
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[SkunkedAgain]

Boy its cold tonight already so hopefully it won't be too much longer. Guess if I wanted to go trolling it would probably be froze. Keep your fingers crossed. Later J
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