Harrison

[waterloo]

Cutbow 07 - saw your post under montana headcount.  I assume you were fishing locally yesterday.  Could you tell me what the ice thickness was?  Hoping to get over there thursday or friday.  Hopefully the winds won't be an issue, but who knows over there.  I have been biting at the bit to get over there and to Delmo, but until this current artic blast I could only head to Georgetown.

bill

[waterloo]

Finally made it over to Harrison for the first time this season today.  Found a solid 8 inches of clear ice.  Unfortunatly, the winds made it almost impossible for me to fish.  The winds were around 30 mph (odd seeing how the wind was almost imperceptable in Harrison proper a few miles away).  I had to don ice cleates just to get out onto the ice.  A friend and his grandson had just arrived minutes befor me, and other than one other group of 3 people on the north end, no one else was fishing.  My friend caught one 3.5 lb rainbow, missed a couple, and broke on off prior to my leaving for another area.  I din't fair any better in my next location.  I bagged it after only 1.5 hours of fishing.  Hopefully I will do better next week if I can find a day without as much wind.

bill

[waterloo]

Had to go back up today after having a miserable time in the wind last week.  Winds were still stiff, but I could at least stand up today.  Ice is probably 12 inches thick, but by the time I left, there were a LOT of areas that had about an inch of standing water on top of the ice flows.  Getting ashore was getting pretty tricky as well.  With temps in the mid-forties today, and the rest of the week looking about the same, I don't know how long the current ice will last.  Fished for 3.5 hours without so much as a bite.  Nice day to be out just the same.

[fishonice]

anyone know the latest story on Harrison???

[cutbow_07]

Still people fishing it and still frozen but other than that I dont know.

[fishonice]

thanks. was mostly just curious about the ice after the warm spell.

[cutbow_07]

I don't know how long it will hold on the main part of the lake with the wind hitting it the way it has been lately. 

[waterloo]

A beautiful morning to be out on the ice.  NO WIND!  A rarity for over here.  Ice 11 inches with an inch of powdery snow on top.  The cold snap got the edges in good condition again.  One group of 3 on ice when I drove up, and one group of 2 just coming in when I headed out, so the lake was pretty quiet.  All I could manage was 4 brookies, the largest going a full 16 inches.  I don't catch too many brookies over here normally, so it was a surprise to get them.  Had to jig vigoursly to get them to take.  No rainbows yet, which also surprises me, because it is very rare for me to do three trips over here and not get into some nice fish.

[cutbow_07]

That is quite an interesting catch you had there......I havent caught too many brookies outta there either but usually pull out a couple big rainbows.

[waterloo]

Yea, the last time that I had caught any brookies on the resevoir was in the mid-nineties.  It was about last ice, and I was fishing the big bay just NW of the boat dock area in about 5 foot of water.  Did fairly well for good sized rainbows in the morning, and then it went dead.  About mid afternoon, I started getting a LOT of light bites.  I looked into the hole and there were brookies everywhere.  Don't remember how many I caught, but they were all small and went back in.  I usually do pretty well for good sized rainbows, but not quite as well as your picture you posted depicted (not evening indicating if it came from harrison or not, LOL).

Will try again next week sometime.  I usually avoid the weekend crowds whenever I can.

[cutbow_07]

That rainbow I caught actually didnt come from Harrison.....well it's actually a the original strain of deschmidt that was in harrison.  They made their way into the lake I believe from Harrison before the dam was built in the 40's or so which isolated them from the main population of Harrison.  I actually caught 3 brookies this spring in the boat right at the boat dock and they were all around 17" or so.  It's definitely a strange lake to fish or at least has been for me over the years.