IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Montana => Ice Fishing Montana => Topic started by: mtgrant on Jan 06, 2019, 06:38 PM
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Fished yesterday and di ok. Mainly Brookies. 12 keepers to 15 inches. A limit of cuts to 18 in. Threw back a few dozen small, under 10 in. brooks. Ice is odd. If you walk where others have been, it is ok. As soon as you step into virgin snow, you sink into a few inches of stiff slush. Hard/ wet walking. Ice is plenty thick but most people are close to the boat ramp and dam. We need some colder temps to harden the slop up. Glow jigs worked well tipped with a piece of worm. Only a few fish on maggots. Most bites were LITE!!!! Only a few fish aggressively bit. Strike indicators were essential.
(https://i.postimg.cc/YGkqMnKP/ice-limit-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/YGkqMnKP)
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Sounds like normal ice to me...beat down, packed snow has lower insulative properties.
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Fished yesterday...lots of slush but still caught a dozen cutties and brookies.
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Glad to hear it is still fishing good, I hit it just before the new year and iced 6 fish in total and lost several in the process, including 2 that took my last two green and white 1/64ths jigheads that seemed to be the preferred offering. Not bad in my books for only having a little over an hour to fish! I assume the road is still pretty glassy getting up there? Excited to hit it next week with my brand new used Frabil, never fished it with a shelter but I hear the clarity is good enough that sight fishing can be a blast. Will report back with our findings!
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Glad to hear it is still fishing good, I hit it just before the new year and iced 6 fish in total and lost several in the process, including 2 that took my last two green and white 1/64ths jigheads that seemed to be the preferred offering. Not bad in my books for only having a little over an hour to fish! I assume the road is still pretty glassy getting up there? Excited to hit it next week with my brand new used Frabil, never fished it with a shelter but I hear the clarity is good enough that sight fishing can be a blast. Will report back with our findings!
In the right light conditions, sight fishing is my absolute favorite. Can see bottom up to 16 feet fairly well. I am sure you will have a great time fishing it with a shelter.
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I always do great up there, better with worms then maggots it seems like. Shrimpo or ratso are the go-to. When the waters clear sight fishing is a blast. Great place to take new people to get the jogging motion down and work on the basics
(https://i.postimg.cc/Z005KPtP/0-BAEE19-F-89-DD-46-D9-9-C75-E7-DBAC4-B8-A6-A.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Z005KPtP)
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went back last week and found deep snow. hard to get far onto the lake. Plenty of ice. Caught plenty of fish but smaller than usual brooks. Still had 5 BIG cuts and 7 brooks 12-15 inches. Threw back a bunch of smallies. Only 2 other fishermen. 3 Subaru's in the ditch on the road up. If I could use a power snow blower, I could get up the lake but... Fun fishing but tough snow.
(https://i.postimg.cc/vcNgRVcM/Montana-Grant-Pic.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/vcNgRVcM)
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Planning to try again next week. I am sure that there is a lot of snow. Usually after the weekend, there are more trails to follow onto the ice. Skiers and snow showers love blazing fresh trail. Once on the ice, light helps. Taking a shovel to open up an area to attract fish. When the snow makes the lake dark, a beam of light can help. Later season fishing is usually slower so using scent and other tricks helps.
Post any reports that may be inspiring!