[rnye]

This was the first time I icefished Blue Mesa. I went to a spot by the Pinacles where a guy told me I could get some big macks but there wasn't any ice so I went over by the Lake City boat launch and fished over a shelf that he told me about. I got a perch right off the bat on a lime green super duper (sz 501). The guy told me I would catch trout here but what the heck. On the next go using the same lure I got a 19" mack. After that I had some equipment trouble. It was 24 below zero in Gunnison that morning and I'm sure it was at least that on the ice. I had started before the sun came up and after a couple of casts everything started freezing up. I hooked into a good size something and my reel had enough ice on it that it wouldn't work and I lost it trying to pull it in by hand. I switched to a crippled hearing w/sucker meat. It worked good for about an hour. I had to carve off a chunk of sucker and warm it up in my palms before I could get it on the hook. I was keeping the pack of sucker meat inside my coat. The fishing slowed down to about 1 every 45-60 minutes. There was a guy fishing about 150 feet out that caught 8 nice sized kokes.

 

[epic]

Thats a hardcore day on the ice... You have to remember that spot sounds like you can catch a little bit of everything there.

 

[kokaneeking]

thats awesome, im considering a trip there , but its so far, how thick was the ice in the area you were fishing ?

 

[rnye]

I was showing 19" on my strainer. I may have gotten an inch or two of snow in that. I kicked the snow off on a couple of holes that I drilled, down to clear ice, but I didn't measure it again. It was some real noisy ice. I don't know if that is from the extreme cold or what.

 

[roadkill]

kinda wierd hearing 19" of ice and 24 below and still open water at the other end

 

[rnye]

There were 2 large sections of open water. There was steam coming off of both areas. There was also no ice around the tower at the dam for about a 20 ft. circle. They had road signs that warned about uneven ice conditions.

 

[TroutFishingBear]

kinda wierd hearing 19" of ice and 24 below and still open water at the other end

not wierd. It's a typical freezing pattern at blue, although it is all usually safe by now. Another week or two for sapenero...

 

[roadkill]

kinda wierd hearing 19" of ice and 24 below and still open water at the other end

not wierd. It's a typical freezing pattern at blue, although it is all usually safe by now. Another week or two for sapenero...

i ment this time of year