canyon ferry

[troutguy]

after doin' so well a week ago... we drilled 18 holes north of the christmas trees on 2-28-09, and hung around for 6 hours... 5 trout (total!). it was very slow for 3 guys, with the best bite about 7:30 AM. we were still in that 6-10 foot deep zone.. several weak spots and a little standing water near the shore was a sign of things to come as the weather warms and you need to pick your get-on spot alittle more carefully (keep your nose to the wind and watch the shore)..i think we will move up the lake abit more, back to the dikes area again i suppose, as that ice is usually the last to start rotting and pullin' away from shore.... it seems i do best on cloudy days and it was blazin' sun after a cold saturday mornin'.. i've been icefishin CF since 1981 you'd think i've have it figured out by now... no way.. but the fun is the tryin'...TG-out

[fishforfood72]

hows the ice holding anybody been out lately.

[troutguy]

the boy and i went out saturday (3-7-09) and were pleasantly surprised that we had just enough trout action to tolerate the cold AM and afternoon wind.. we had our limits by 2:30.  we lost several at the holes... we each had maybe 12 bites. we were near the christmas trees again. the ice was 17 inches last week, yesterday it was 12... the shore was abit tricky with some standing water here and there. i didn't see any vehicles bigger than a small atv on the ice. still workin' that 6-10 fow zone, mostly green-black woollies or rubber jigs, tipped with maggots /mealworms or worm. TG-out

[perchhogslayer]

the boy and i went out saturday (3-7-09) and were pleasantly surprised that we had just enough trout action to tolerate the cold AM and afternoon wind.. we had our limits by 2:30.  we lost several at the holes... we each had maybe 12 bites. we were near the christmas trees again. the ice was 17 inches last week, yesterday it was 12... the shore was abit tricky with some standing water here and there. i didn't see any vehicles bigger than a small atv on the ice. still workin' that 6-10 fow zone, mostly green-black woollies or rubber jigs, tipped with maggots /mealworms or worm. TG-out

glad to hear someone got out and caught something.  my buddy went on the south end and didn't catch a thing.  When you say "christmas trees" I'm assuming you mean the ones off the silos?  The FWP has dropped trees off of pretty much every major bay on the lake, and in SEVERAL locations off the silos. up till 2004 (I think) when they just started floating them out on ice bergs.  They've gone back to strategically dropping them in the spring when ice is off, but don't know when that started again. 

[troutguy]

yes, we were abit north of the big shore stack which is south of the iceboat ramp...we talked to a guy at the christmas trees and he said they were waitin' for some open water and then they will helicopter the trees to areas off shore... like you said, they have had marginal luck puttin' the trees on the ice...as they tend to float off. hopefully this cool weather will button-up the shore abit and we can sneak out a couple more times. TG-out

[perchhogslayer]

Can't wait to see what comes of the latest round of FWP management meetings regarding the Helena Missouri chain of lakes. I've been trying to stay updated by reading meeting minutes, and so far it sounds pretty positive.  I think they are aggressively trying to really make the lakes world class fisheries like they used to be.

In case your interested, Here's the link to the FWP page with those meeting minutes
http://fwp.mt.gov/fishing/management/upperMissouriRiver.html

[cutbow_07]

Has anyone been having any luck on the perch or is it just time to wait till open water up there?  Never really fished CF and was interested in some late ice perch.  Any info is very much appreciated.  Thanks

[perchhogslayer]

I haven't been out lately, but everyone I have talked to thats been going out regularly has had terrible luck with the perch for about the last 3 weeks.  they just all of a sudden quite biting, everywhere. searched shallow and deep. Think they are probably done for this year.  I know they spawn just before and right as the ice starts to break up, guess they quit biting around that time too.

[cutbow_07]

Hmmmmm.......I c.  Well I appreciate the info 'slayer' and will probably be just emptying gas outta the augers and storing it all up this weekend then maybe......... .  I hate this time of the year

[MT Don]

Went fishing today (3/14/09)....The ice around the Silos at shore line is very questionable. Only saw two fishermen out on the ice at one of the inlets north of the Christmas trees. South of the trees there was an SUV that had gone through the ice and was parked in about 3 feet of ice/water.

I ended up fishing further south at the end of White Horse road. Ice is good and at 100 yards out it is 2 feet (+)  thick. Fishing is slow....1 nice rainbow in three hours of fishing............8:00 to 11:00 am. Saw some four wheelers on the ice....no cars or trucks. Wind is a problem.

[troutguy]

well i suppose we were one of the groups you saw (4 groups in the area) north of the christmas trees...ice was between 9-11 inches and the shore was marginal... the fishin' went from slow to too much wind for us, real quick... we could see several folks down at the dikes (white horse)...unless i go to hyalite or hebgen i suppose i'm done for the season.. this season was odd, we would just spank-um' one day, go back the next and hard to get a fish to do more than a 'hit and run'...that's fishin'...last year my last day on CF was march 15... this year march 14. back in the 1980's-90's we fished several seasons into april. global warmin' i suppose. any you guys hear about pike at toston? see ya next year. TG-out