[WILLFISHFORFOOD]

Has anyone fished Belaire lake through the ice? It is not far from Red Feather so it could me one of many lakes one could hit on a nice cold Saturday. Let me know if anyone has had any luck there.

 

[finkyfever]

My friend and I fished there last year about five times through the ice. Actually, we are planning on going to Dowdy tomorrow and if fishing is poor, or really good with a bunch of small fish, we will head to Belairre. We went a couple days last year where we caught at least 75 bows and could actually watch the fish hit our jig 5' under the ice. I prefer it over Dowdy and West. Don't forget the half mile hike in.

 

[WILLFISHFORFOOD]

Thanks for the reply. What size range were the Bows you were catching last year? Is the entrance to the lake close during winter or is there just too much snow to drive in close?

 

[finkyfever]

I think the road to the lake closes in October. There was a sign last year at the entrance to the path leading to the lake with the exact date. The fish in Belaire were from 10"-16". Last year was my first season of ice fishing and we fished Belaire, Dowdy, and West severeal times and while I've heard of some solid fish coming from West and Dowdy, our best location was Belaire. I will be sure to post our results tomorrow, especially if we go to Belaire.

 

[Cutthroat]

The picture you see of me with fish to the left is a rainbow from Bellaire lake (20").  It had two other hooks and broken leaders in it's lip!  All the fish are stockers there, so this one was probably a retired brood fish.  Anyway, always caught a lot of fish at Bellaire last year, mostly fairly typical range of sizes for stockers, and never saw anyone else fishing it while I was there (about 5 times).  Lots of holes, but nobody over them.

I used small 1" trout tube jigs, micro nymphs, meal worms pieces on bare 1/32 oz. jig heads. It's one of the few places where I could slowly reel up my jib, and see fish following. Almost everytime I reeled up, severl trout would slash at the bait right under the hole. Pretty fun.

 

[finkyfever]

We did hit Bellaire in the afternoon today. We caught them off of everything that we threw at them. Meal Worms, Power Bait, Salmon Egg, tube jigs, and rat finky jigs all worked. I was a little disappointed at the size. The biggest we caught today were 12". Last year we always got into at least a couple larger fish per day. It was still a very good day.

 

[Cutthroat]

Sounds like Bellaire. Last year, the DOW posted a stocking report on their website that included the number of fish, the average size, and the largest and smallest sizes. They aren't posting much in the way of complete stocking reports these days.

 

[fishmanlee]

I'm glad some people are talking about this little dandy of a lake. In winter it has always produced tons of fish. This lake has never been anything but non-stop action through the ice. I began ice fishing there because I have litteraly been blown off of the ice at Dowdy and West. Belaire is somewhat more protected than the other two by trees. Although if it's windy in the Red Feather area, it will be windy there too. I've only caught stock size rainbows out of there, but last year my 14 year old cousin on his first ever fishing expo caught a 4-5 pounder. I think you can fish anywhere on this lake and use any type of small jig catch huge numbers of fish. Last but not least, it is a quite and secluded place to fish. Not many people like make the relatively short hike.

 

[lucky7]

Is it legal to use a snowmobile to get in?