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603 Posts
Horsetooth update.
The fishing was Awesome!!!!!!!!!! The catching sucked!..
I made my second trip ever to Horsestooth today. The plan was to
start at the north ramp and fish that end since I wanted to start
with targeting points and that end seemed to have more than the south
send. As I drove around the eastern shore of the lake, I could see
some ice scattered about. It didn't look too thick and I figured it
would dissipate after the sun came up. But I had to laugh at what my
wife would have said after seeing the ice and decent frost this
morning.
I got to the North Ramp right at 6:00am. It had about 1/4 to 1/2" of
ice out to about 30 yards from the ramp. The dock was not in the
water and due to the gradual incline, I thought I may have trouble
launching being able to pull the boat to the side and close enough to
the shore where I wouldn't get wet. After studying it and deciding
to see what happened when I backed in, I decided it was a little to
thick for me to pull the boat through the ice and to the side of the
ramp so I strapped it all back down and headed off to the western
ramp to launch. They had the dock in and no ice so all went well.
Fishing.
Since for the most part, I was new to the lake , I decided to troll
up the west side and get a feel for the structure. Using a minnow on
a weighted wedding ring spinner and alternating between a flatfish
and white medium diving crankbait on the other rod, I trolled along,
staying between 12-20ft depth with no hits nor really graphing many
fish. I jig fished and bounced minnows every so often off the points
that looked promising. No action at all. The water temp varied from
35. – 39 the entire day. The water clarity was very clear to about
10ft and I was using 6lb test line.
I decided to move to the east side of the lake and let the breeze
drift me along with a minnow on a bottom rig and a mister twister
sometime tipped with a minnow and sometimes not. No hits and some
fish graphed.
I never did make it to the North end of the lake and really just
enjoyed having the lake all to mself and being out on the water so
serious catching took a backseat at that point.
I did end up finding some active fish in the graph, but never got
them to hit anything.
Today was a great learning experience. I found some flats and decent
structure that I plan on hitting again with a little more enthusiasm
and dedication in the next few weeks. I also plan on scoping out the
North end on my nest trip providing we have some warmer weather.
All in all, it was a great day on the water, A little cool at times,
but WAY batter than working!!!!!
Brett
The fishing was Awesome!!!!!!!!!! The catching sucked!..
I made my second trip ever to Horsestooth today. The plan was to
start at the north ramp and fish that end since I wanted to start
with targeting points and that end seemed to have more than the south
send. As I drove around the eastern shore of the lake, I could see
some ice scattered about. It didn't look too thick and I figured it
would dissipate after the sun came up. But I had to laugh at what my
wife would have said after seeing the ice and decent frost this
morning.
I got to the North Ramp right at 6:00am. It had about 1/4 to 1/2" of
ice out to about 30 yards from the ramp. The dock was not in the
water and due to the gradual incline, I thought I may have trouble
launching being able to pull the boat to the side and close enough to
the shore where I wouldn't get wet. After studying it and deciding
to see what happened when I backed in, I decided it was a little to
thick for me to pull the boat through the ice and to the side of the
ramp so I strapped it all back down and headed off to the western
ramp to launch. They had the dock in and no ice so all went well.
Fishing.
Since for the most part, I was new to the lake , I decided to troll
up the west side and get a feel for the structure. Using a minnow on
a weighted wedding ring spinner and alternating between a flatfish
and white medium diving crankbait on the other rod, I trolled along,
staying between 12-20ft depth with no hits nor really graphing many
fish. I jig fished and bounced minnows every so often off the points
that looked promising. No action at all. The water temp varied from
35. – 39 the entire day. The water clarity was very clear to about
10ft and I was using 6lb test line.
I decided to move to the east side of the lake and let the breeze
drift me along with a minnow on a bottom rig and a mister twister
sometime tipped with a minnow and sometimes not. No hits and some
fish graphed.
I never did make it to the North end of the lake and really just
enjoyed having the lake all to mself and being out on the water so
serious catching took a backseat at that point.
I did end up finding some active fish in the graph, but never got
them to hit anything.
Today was a great learning experience. I found some flats and decent
structure that I plan on hitting again with a little more enthusiasm
and dedication in the next few weeks. I also plan on scoping out the
North end on my nest trip providing we have some warmer weather.
All in all, it was a great day on the water, A little cool at times,
but WAY batter than working!!!!!
Brett