Took a chance on FL this morning. Figured the low temps would have the lake capped and prayed the roads were plowed. BooYah, success on both. Found 5 inches of good clear ice, willing perch, willing bows and semi-willing splake. I was joined by a fair number of gambling fishermen that apparently had the same idea.
Oh yea, I talked to a guy on the road when I was leaving that said he had fished safe ice at Otter Creek this morning. He said fishing was slow. I know this is hear/say evidence, but thought the info might be helpful.
Darnit! I almost gambled myself as we drove by the turn off on our way to Mill Meadow. Mill Meadow was fun,but I would have liked to get a nice bunch of splake or rainbows.
Was there any open water in the middle? How about the north and south ends?
I did not see any open water - north or south. I did not go on the ice on the south (mainly because I could not find a place to park). There were fishermen all along. I did not see anyone cross the middle and I personally hesitate crossing to the east side when first capped. I fished out from the Bowry and the ice was 5 inches out 100 yds or so. It is a bit scary because there is not much snow on the ice - you can see through - and see all the cracks. It feels like you are walking on a sheet of glass. It is easier when the snow covers all that up. Have fun - you should not have any problems.
the whole lake is capped. As mentioned above, access is going to be tricky. There is a lot of snow, and UDOT isn’t exactly going out of their way to plow any parking areas. ATV access isn’t advisable, unless they have tracks instead of wheels. If you have a snowmobile, you might want to take it. People are really only fishing a few areas of the lake, where you can park.
Get there early if you want a place to park. I wouldn’t advise pulling a trailer to Bowery – you won’t be able to turn around…
PBH makes some good points about the access. I saw a plow while I was there but he did not plow the south marina parking area (it was snowed closed). He did blade out a few road side areas where he could. As for trailer turnarounds, the only place I can remember that has an area long enough to turn around with a longer trailer would be the first cabins near the south marina and the main lodge. Other than that you might be able to turn around at one of the roadside pull outs if not full of parked trucks.
… but he did not plow the south marina parking area (it was snowed closed).
They aren’t going to, either. They won’t be plowing the Twin Creeks parking area either. Parking will be an issue this year. Probably budget constraints. Call UDOT.
Parking update: UDOT HAS cleared the parking areas at both Twin Creeks and Lakeside Marina! (I was wrong…)
I have never fished fish lake on the ice so I have a couple questions.
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What do you use to go after trout?
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What do the perch like?
I am thinking of hitting FL so I can ice some trout and the kids can land perch all day long.
I’ll PM you my spot. It’s not a secret by any means but I don’t want to get in trouble for hotspotting.
I have always had success for splake and rainbows using glow tube jigs in white, orange or green, tipped with perch or chub meat (I hear sucker meat works well - I just have not had any with me). Fish out past the weed beds to target trout. I find some up near the ice and some just off the bottom. If you want perch, use a little smaller jig, tipped with nightcrawler and fish back on the weed beds. You may catch some trout (usually smaller) there as well.
I am not the person to ask about Macks - I have yet to find success on that front.
My advice would be this:
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Start the kids on the edge of the weeds (25-30 ft. of water). As suggested above, have them start with a smaller jig or kastmaster tipped with a nightcrawler. You should be able to catch some perch pretty quickly.
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Take the first perch you catch and cut it up into strips. If your kids want, let them catch a few more perch. You can start fishing at the same depth, or maybe a few feet away from the weeds using your jig or spoon of choice tipped with the freshly caught perch (fresh perch will stay on your jig longer than any frozen cut-bait).
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You should start catching some splake, with the occasional rainbow and even some perch.
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convince your kids to stop jigging with the nightcrawler and start jigging with the perch. Now they should start catching some larger fish.
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MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you are not catching fish, MOVE. If you aren’t getting consistent bites, then you need to move 100-200 yards in either direction (not necessarily deeper, just move down the weedline a little ways). You should have constant action just outside the weedline. The perch use the weeds as cover, and the splake cruise the weedline trying to pick up meals. It’s a pretty easy formula.
You can certainly move out to deeper water and hope for some bigger fish (lake trout), but deeper water doesn’t always mean bigger fish. Those big fish will come in and cruise the weeds as well looking for a meal.
If your intentions are to get your kids into some good fishing, just stick fairly close the edge of the weeds – the weeds at Fish Lake for the most part grow out to about 25 feet of water. They form a nice “ring” around the lake.
Nothing wrong with the kids fishing for perch, but why not allow them to catch some bigger fish? They should be able to catch numerous splake and make the day fun. It would also give them a better opportunity at catching something big (10lbs +?).