Made the annual scouting trip to the Gorge to scope out some ice conditions and get an idea of where to go for the BB. From what I had been gathering from the web confluence point was the furthest south we would go. Road 11 is not the worst road we've been on around the gorge but it did push the boundries for fishon1 towing and me riding. Doubt that trailer will ever get that close to the water on that road. We arrived around 10am friday morning after a sleepless night and a what seemed like never ending drive there. Along the way Sinker Seeker passed us on the freeway and then we passed him at the Ace in Green River. Me, Fishon1, Sinker Seeker & Prospector all made it on the ice about 12ish and started fishing in shallower looking for some bows
Ice here was around 10in and seemed a bit spongee, so we left the bikes on the shore until our nerves got their steel coating. It didnt take long for our drilling to head to deeper water and not much happened. Woofy arrived and our party was at 5 now. Fish were for the most part non existant till we got to around 40-50fow and the ice stayed pretty consistant to atleast 8in. Then some started to show but they were pretty lock-jawed. As the night approached we all decided we should move in and start setting up for some burbs. We got set up and slapthefish and hoofish showed. Everyone made it up safe and we were at 7 now. The night went on and 4 burbs were caught with this one being the most remembered
It gave Prospector a big surprise
I don't think it got much on him but yes they are apparently still in spawn mode. As the night progressed Prospector followed a buddy down to the ice and I put him out to save for some bait later but never got to it. Looks like he's doing some spawning himself on this burb
Not too good for the burbs as everyone has been stating all over the web. We missed about 6 hits and all called it to get some rest and get back out early. We rose to a cloudy morning and no breeze at all. GREAT way to start it. Everyone got out to do some fishing and I stayed back to get some breakfast cooked up. Usually fishon1 hooks us up but i figured it was about payback time. When it was all cooked up everyone had their fill, I was told it was not to hot of fishing where we had left off the day before in 50fow. I had looked at some of my maps the day before and found a spot I wanted to give a shot, so out to 70fow I trecked. Ice was 7in and still just as solid as in closer. We still didn't have the nerves to bring the bikes out. I did like the way the new rod box worked out as a set-up space on my sled & you can see everyone in the background in shallower
I started marking fish imediately and was having a hard time just getting another rod out. The fish were willing to chase it around but would not connect. Most were pups by the signal colors I was getting but a few big red marks did rise off the bottom more than once to just settle back down without even a nibble
As usual the flag was flying, I even found a new place to stand it up
Fishon1 was the 1st to join me out deeper
It didn't take to long and we were able to put a few on the ice
Now by far were these toads and gave every bit of the word "PUP" full meaning. I did hook up on the burbot rod
And on my way to the rod I took a good fall
MAN that ice is slick. I did get the fish so it was not all a loss. After seeing that hustle for rods more came to join us out deeper. 1st was woofy and he hooked up with this lanky pup
After awhile everyone made it out and we were officially a cirlce jerk, just not so much jerkin. Oh and after watching some people cruising around on machines, we or should I say Sinker Seeker got some nerves and drove the bike out. It was just fine where we were, now don't think this means everywhere. It took alot of drilling holes and walking before we felt good about this
We ended with a dozen or so pups out there and most called it for the night to head in for some burb action. I just had to stick it out for the big one and think about what a great day it had been before packing it in
As i got back to where everyone was setting up for the burbs my knee had taken all it could take as I was really strugling to get rods set-up, so I called it early and headed off to bed. I don't think it was very good that night for the burbs either, I believe maybe 1 was caught before everyone else called it quits. prospector and woofy woke the earliest and headed out for the deep spots to try for some more lakers. The rest of us just milled around and sipped coffee until it was time to start packing it up. We did get some good parting group shots but just wished we would have done it earlier before Sinker Seeker left
Next time I'll get my timer figured out and we will only need one shot. After we dropped the trailer we headed over to RD8 to check the ice there and found there is some open water about 70-100yds off the point heading into big bend. Not good. There was one hole drilled off the west side of the point and it was only about 2-3in of solid ice. The ice in big bend did not look good. We headed over to the north side and this is what it looked like outside of buckboard bay
We drilled some holes and found pretty consistant 4in of clear solid ice. There were people fishing all around in the mouth of the bay, along the shores north and there was one group way out in deep water so I'm guessing the ice there was about the same maybe 3-4in. What a great trip to the gorge again, it was great meeting a new shanty brother Sinker Seeker and we will be back in 2 weeks for the BB. For everyone wanting to hook up there in 2 weeks send me a PM and I'll get you a map of the spot we scoped out. It will work great for quite a few trailers including yours Sinker Seeker
