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Author Topic: Holter Report  (Read 2709 times)

Offline copperjohn

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Holter Report
« on: Jan 12, 2005, 03:02 AM »
Hi guys,
I went up to Holter Tues. morning hoping to catch the action before the cold front moves in.  Unfortunately the fish weren't cooperating.  Fished from 16 to 38 feet and saw only 3 fish on sonar, had two light bites from 7am to 12 noon.  Nobody else was catching, either.  Good ice though, at least 8 inches.  Next Week Tiber or Francis.

I've only been to Francis once and never to Tiber.  Anyone have any Tips on where and how to fish these two?  I generally fish for eyes and perch and leave the pike alone.  I love to watch'em on the finder.

Thanks
Dave
Gravity's B**ch On Hard Water

Offline Droz

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #1 on: Jan 12, 2005, 12:07 PM »
Hey copperjohn,  Check out this link.  I don't think you'll be dissapointed.  If it doesn't work let me know.  Maybe you'll just have to type it in.

http://www.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/s/f_map_04_MT_GreatFalls_ice.html
Gotta Love Fishing in Montana!

Offline wyogator

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #2 on: Jan 12, 2005, 03:32 PM »
Hey Copperjohn, what kind of sonar did you use. Mine froze up on me at Nelson Reservoir. Where is Holter?

Offline Droz

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #3 on: Jan 12, 2005, 10:48 PM »
Holter Lake is between Helena and Great Falls
Gotta Love Fishing in Montana!

Offline copperjohn

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #4 on: Jan 13, 2005, 12:17 AM »
wyogator,
I use a 10 year old Zercom Clearwater Pro LCD flasher with an iceducer made from plans I found on this site.  It never freezes up but I wouldn't buy another if I could(I think the company went under).  The little rubber pushbuttons pop out and are easy to lose.  Wish I would've bought a Vex but I fell for the salesguy's "no moving parts or belts to replace" pitch.  Whatever you do don't buy a Bottomline FishingBuddy for ice fishing. At 0 degrees mine froze solid and was ruined.  Still have a lot of baggage about that.

Droz,
Thanks for the espn site tip.  Straight into my favorites.  Wish we could get Hot Spots lake and river maps like I could get back home in MN and WI. Someday when I win the PowerBall I might have to plot a set for MT waters. 
Thanks again,
Dave   
Gravity's B**ch On Hard Water

Offline Droz

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #5 on: Jan 13, 2005, 11:34 AM »
How does sonar work for ice fishing?  I know how sonar works but how does it help find fish?  How large an area does it cover?  How do you know if there are fish in that area?  Is it worth buying one?  Let me know.

mike
Gotta Love Fishing in Montana!

Offline copperjohn

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #6 on: Jan 14, 2005, 12:02 AM »
Hey Droz,
Using a Flasher type sonar can be the best part of fishing on ice.  I use it to sound the water depth before drilling by pouring a bit of water on the ice and placing the transducer on the wet spot.  It'll read through the ice to give a fairly accurate depth,though it won't read fish. This can be extremely helpful in finding a potential spot and save wear on your auger.  Once I've popped my hole I can follow my lure down to wherever I want it to be, near bottom or suspended somewhere if I "see" any potential targets in the water column.  I guess you can buy different angle or degree transducers which offer larger or smaller cones or coverage.  Narrower for deeper and wider for shallow water.
Anyway the fun part is watching a fish target rise or sink to your lure target and then getting a bite.  This is really addictive for schooling fish like crappies and perch but less effective for prowling species like pike and trout.  It's amazing that I can target a lure as small as a teardrop jig and grub even 40 feet down.  The better units have different colors for signal strengths of targets and you can often tell what type of bottom it is such as gravel, weeds or muck.  The Flasher units are real-time sonar as opposed to fishfinders with the LCD displays which have a time lag as it graphs a picture.  I use mine in my boat and canoe to instantanously read depth at higher speeds, though the Fishfinders may provide more useful info on open water.  There is a ton of good info about different types and brands in the equipment forum-much more than I know.

Are they worth it?  I'm a gadget junkie so naturally I'm hopelessly biased.  I guess they wouldn't be too much help if you mainly set tip-ups or fish shallow water trout.  If you'd like more info on what's happining under your hole while panfishing a flasher could give you that.  An underwater camera system like an Aqua-Veiw would be the next step.  Unfortunately for me, I have a 6 month old future fishergirl to provide for and I'm out of the gadet market for awhile.  Hope my ramble made some sense and was useful.

Fish On,
Dave
Gravity's B**ch On Hard Water

Offline Droz

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #7 on: Jan 14, 2005, 11:34 AM »
Thanks for the info John.  I'm kind of a gadget head myself but after reading your description, probably not something i wanna go and spend a couple hundred dollars on.  I think I'll just go buy my GPS unit I've been wanting.
Gotta Love Fishing in Montana!

Offline andy572

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #8 on: Jan 25, 2005, 07:28 PM »
Went to Holter this past weekend. The ice sould be just about melted off by now. Fishing was terrible. Try the causeway or G'town.

Offline Bonzo

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #9 on: Jan 26, 2005, 10:44 AM »
Hey copperjohn,
Did your FishinBuddy die after it froze?  I've got one and use it occasionally for ice fishing.  Usually it's just a softwater thing.  If I'm in danger of killing mine due to freezing I'll stop using it.
Bonz

Offline copperjohn

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #10 on: Jan 28, 2005, 01:30 AM »
Hey Bonz,

My F'n Buddy froze on me during a 20 below cold spell.  I think the water in the extension froze and cracked something inside. It was a year after warranty so I didn't send it back, figured that was $150 down the hole.  This was about 10 yrs ago.  They may be better protected now.  Bet Yours' be fine if you avoid the deep freeze.  I remember loving mine in my canoe.  Good Luck.

Fish On
Dave

Gravity's B**ch On Hard Water

Offline Gusher

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Re: Holter Report
« Reply #11 on: Feb 02, 2005, 02:37 AM »
Hey there John

I haven't been down to Tiber in about a week since it got warm, but I do know that probably the safest place to fish if you don't know the lake very well is south of Lothair.  It's a piece of cake to get there from highway 2.  The fishing has been slow from what I hear, but there is always a chance of getting into some good northerns or walleye down there.  I think I'm going to go down there this weekend also.  If you can bring some 3 or 4 inch minnows that's what I have the best luck with.  Watch out for soft spots in the ice, especially close to shore.  But when I was down there last tuesday there was 8 inches of ice still on.  If you need anymore information let me know.  Good luck and we'll probably see ya then.

Gusher

 



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