Many of us have our favorite tackle, bait, lures, from this last season on ice. Some won’t change tactics, 'cuz ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it’…It’s a long time 'til ice next season, so maybe we’ll forget anyway…But would any of you mind sharing what worked best for you? Personally, I ‘flunked’ at Rockport and Echo this year, but did very good at Mantua (early season), Hyrum, (all season), and East Canyon (late season)…
Mantua – bluegill and perch, and trout by accident --absolute best set was very small white jig, tungsten or lead, with 1 or 2 wax worms..1" hali-style attracter 10" above…also very good was very small 1/32 oz white w/green Demon…
Hyrum – perch only–several very best – 1/32 oz pink tiger ‘Forage Minnow’, glow pink/white ‘Perch talker’, 1/32 oz white w/red Demon…also new(for me) Thundermist stingnose,1/16 oz was very effective…all with hali style (or similar) attractor only 2 to 4" above the lure…perch eye, small pc cut perch meat, wax worm, or 2 spikes…
East Canyon – Rainbows only – best was a (Tube Dude) glow white horizintal 1"jig, w/tail and red eye…hali style attractor 10" above, and butter worm..
That’s what worked for me…hope you had a good season, and don’t mind sharing some ‘Secrets’…
Not really a secret lure, but it sure helped me. This season I bought my worms bulk online and kept a little ‘farm’ in the basement. It was nothing more than a plastic tote with some oats, newspaper, and an occasional carrot. Besides being way more convenient, and cheaper, I felt my worms were more active and stayed alive longer. Did they catch more fish, who knows? I do know it was nice not having to stop at the store for bait every trip. I have a bad habit of leaving them to freeze overnight in the truck
Bob – My Cracker Jacks de-coder ring was from the '60’s…it is so Far Out and Groovy, that Bratha, it’ll de-code any Cool Jive you got…and my ring did cost a bundle..can’t remember how many boxes it took! :rolleyes:
My favorite rig of the year was on a night run for Crappie. I had never used the lindy glow spoons before, but when I rigged that on the bottom as an attractor and a dropshot hook above with a gulp minnow - man did we have some crappie fun.
Most of my other stuff I used, I learned by putting in my underwater camera in a hole near where Dubob was fishing and then tying on what ever he had on. Who need a decoder ring when they make high tech spy gear like that.
Y’all are making me paranoid. Ain’t nothin’ sacred anymore.
I learned that having a good flasher is a necessity to increase success. I need to buy one for next season.
This year I switched from hub style shanty to a single man flip style and what a difference it made chasing the bite all day on the lake. Had to learn to downsize what I took on the ice because of the room. But I needed to down size anyways, I only use 1/4 of the stuff I bring.
I’d second Kent’s Maniac Cut’r bugs 1.5" in crazy glow orange… 1/16 oz vertiglo head, catches fish at 90+% of locations I fish, whether pan-fish or trout…If I could only have one lure… That would be my go to lure… followed closely by the tungesten gold tear drop in 1/32 oz size for when I need to down size the presentation… Probably caught most of my fish on those two lures, but then again I have confidence in them so I fish them often too… I’d also put a big thumbs up for a good ff… Mine went down during the heart of the season and I’ve never missed one so much as I did this year… Hard to fish blind after you’re used to having eyes on the prize… I did find the camera can be a good crutch when your main finder is down, but they do have limitations… Oh, I’d give the bubble box keeping my holes ice free a vote for supporting actor of the year and the jigging jaw jacker probably deserves a nod as well…Later J
Jeff turned me on to his Cut’r Bugs last year and they have worked great at Strawberry. Glow Gitzit’s in Pearl worked great for macks at FG. I found that everything likes Atomic Teasers; chartreuse, red or orange and white were all good. I discovered that trout liked just the tail when I lost the tube on them. Of course tipped with a little bait. And waxworms were the best for tipping anything.
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip…
Who are you? :s Attention moderators, someone has gained unauthorized access to Jeff’s account. 
I saw his “1” sled before and it equals 2 of most people. I recommend bringing a wind-surfing kite in case you get stuck. Forecast is for 20-30 mph winds on Friday up there. The kite could pull you out if the slush monster grabs you. 
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
I’m going to try one of my annual Strawberry ice trips on Friday… Can you guys that are familiar with the ice/slush conditions help me plan for heading out from the marina south towards Renegade… Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip… If we are going to be fighting heavy slush I’d like to know so we can modify plans on how far we travel… Recent reports of fish biting would be great as well. Thanks Jeff
Friend of mine went out of the marina last, Sunday. They said a foot of snow w/ 2" slush over 12" ice. What that foot of snow becomes by, Friday…?
‘kentofnsl’ pid=‘1112859’ dateline=‘1614024652’ wrote:
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip…
Who are you? :s Attention moderators, someone has gained unauthorized access to Jeff’s account.
Kent. I have spent a couple hours researching this issue…appears the park rangers have limited Jeff to under 2 tons of ice gear so that others can safely access the ice too. So the post appears valid and does not require mod action. However I suggest we all goto the Berry and photo Jeff at 1/4 capacity for posterity
I took the snowmobile shuttle to Renegade last Sat. We went thru plenty of slush but the 600cc 4 stroke sleds ripped right thru. We tamped down the snow so we didn’t have slush in our tents at all. We were in 65 feet of water. Used 2” pearl/glow tubes with green gulp or mealworm or piece of minnow. All worked. Also saw KSL outdoors use dodger plate so tried it and I caught half my fish on that. Glow dodger with 2” tube 3 feet below. Only caught 1 of 20 dead sticking. Liked a little movement. Funnest fish were sight fishing down the hole at 8-12 feet with ultra light rod and a Bobby Garland Itty Bit Swim R on a tungsten jig hook.
‘Cowboypirate’ pid=‘1112884’ dateline=‘1614043363’ wrote:
Kent. I have spent a couple hours researching this issue…appears the park rangers have limited Jeff to under 2 tons of ice gear so that others can safely access the ice too. So the post appears valid and does not require mod action. However I suggest we all goto the Berry and photo Jeff at 1/4 capacity for posterity
Thanks for checking into it. Still hard to believe, but I guess you thoroughly looked into it.
‘kentofnsl’ pid=‘1112859’ dateline=‘1614024652’ wrote:
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip…
Who are you? :s Attention moderators, someone has gained unauthorized access to Jeff’s account. 
I got a good belly laugh out of that one ?
‘BURLEY’ pid=‘1112861’ dateline=‘1614028510’ wrote:
I saw his “1” sled before and it equals 2 of most people. I recommend bringing a wind-surfing kite in case you get stuck. Forecast is for 20-30 mph winds on Friday up there. The kite could pull you out if the slush monster grabs you.
Wind sounds nasty, I’m terrible at finding days to go fishing far away. But I would love to have one of those kites. I really feel bad I got old before they became a thing. If I were less brittle I’d be trying those, but I’m afraid I might break something now days. They sure look fun though. Later Jeff
‘JTheOtherSide’ pid=‘1112875’ dateline=‘1614037848’ wrote:
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
I’m going to try one of my annual Strawberry ice trips on Friday… Can you guys that are familiar with the ice/slush conditions help me plan for heading out from the marina south towards Renegade… Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip… If we are going to be fighting heavy slush I’d like to know so we can modify plans on how far we travel… Recent reports of fish biting would be great as well. Thanks Jeff
Friend of mine went out of the marina last, Sunday. They said a foot of snow w/ 2" slush over 12" ice. What that foot of snow becomes by, Friday…?
Doesn’t sound too bad. But I thought there would be more ice than that. Thanks for some good info
‘OCowboypirate’ pid=‘1112884’ dateline=‘1614043363’ wrote:
‘kentofnsl’ pid=‘1112859’ dateline=‘1614024652’ wrote:
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip…
Who are you? :s Attention moderators, someone has gained unauthorized access to Jeff’s account.
Kent. I have spent a couple hours researching this issue…appears the park rangers have limited Jeff to under 2 tons of ice gear so that others can safely access the ice too. So the post appears valid and does not require mod action. However I suggest we all goto the Berry and photo Jeff at 1/4 capacity for posterity
You guys are too funny, I laughed so hard my wife is wondering what was going on. Told her and now she’s laughing at me too. Thanks I enjoyed that. Jeff
‘Troutster’ pid=‘1112885’ dateline=‘1614044487’ wrote:
I took the snowmobile shuttle to Renegade last Sat. We went thru plenty of slush but the 600cc 4 stroke sleds ripped right thru. We tamped down the snow so we didn’t have slush in our tents at all. We were in 65 feet of water. Used 2” pearl/glow tubes with green gulp or mealworm or piece of minnow. All worked. Also saw KSL outdoors use dodger plate so tried it and I caught half my fish on that. Glow dodger with 2” tube 3 feet below. Only caught 1 of 20 dead sticking. Liked a little movement. Funnest fish were sight fishing down the hole at 8-12 feet with ultra light rod and a Bobby Garland Itty Bit Swim R on a tungsten jig hook.
Thanks for the great report. I used the dodgers last year and we got a couple Koke to play. Thank you very much. Jeff
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112858’ dateline=‘1614023032’ wrote:
I’m going to try one of my annual Strawberry ice trips on Friday… Can you guys that are familiar with the ice/slush conditions help me plan for heading out from the marina south towards Renegade… Will be taking the snowmobile with probably just one sled this trip… If we are going to be fighting heavy slush I’d like to know so we can modify plans on how far we travel… Recent reports of fish biting would be great as well. Thanks Jeff
We took the shuttle service out on Sunday, they took us over to the renegade area. Seemed like the whole lake was just one big slush pool but the kids on their snowmobiles made it out just fine even with all our gear and my far behind on the sled. We found a fairly solid spot and fished in 40 FOW. Caught 30 fish between the two of us and Alicia caught the trifecta, cutthroat, rainbow, and a small Kokanee. She likes to use a chartreuse and pink pout from Ned’s bait box and I bounced from White tube, pink tube, green grub and whatever else tickled my fancy. Early we caught them between 10-20 ft and later 25-30 and a few on the bottom. We’ll be out again on Thursday again with the shuttle. If that’s the day you’re going maybe we’ll see you out there.
What happened to your snow dog? I guess we’ll be there on Friday so I’ll miss you guys by a day. Hope you have a great trip. Sorry the gorge didn’t work out. J
‘SkunkedAgain’ pid=‘1112913’ dateline=‘1614096858’ wrote:
What happened to your snow dog? I guess we’ll be there on Friday so I’ll miss you guys by a day. Hope you have a great trip. Sorry the gorge didn’t work out. J
Nothing is wrong with the Snow dog a couple of Sundays ago spend a lot of time getting unstuck rather than fishing so left it at home. We also wanted to see how good the lodge Intel was and find some other spots to fish. The gorge it’s kinda scary right now. We’re going to have to plan a trip there. Our knowledge on the ice up there is no bueno need a guide like yourself to give us a little nudge in the right direction. Been loving the new aqua vu. Definitely more entertaining. Going to try and make some videos and post them. Anyway good luck on Friday. We’ll swap notes after!
Sounds good, I’m looking forward to the videos. Wish I was smarter on the gorge so I could help better. I luckily have had some great help from Ryan and other guys on here. I can point you to one spot that isn’t too bad, but it’s not the best, but I think it’s still fishable. If you’d like some details PM me or give me a call. Good luck at the berry. Later Jeff