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1,050 Posts
Jefferson Lake 02/04/06
We got there at sunrise as usual. The road was snowpacked so we parked next to the paystation & loaded up. The ride up was beautiful, lots of fresh snow and started with some broken trail. Then came across 2 guys with their sleds stuck, We didn?t take a chance on stopping since there were 2 of us on 1 sled with trailer & another buddy right behind us.
From there it was untracked road & a soft deep ride. Between the two sleds we were on, we only managed to get stuck twice & not too bad at that
There were a few trucks at the bottom, not sure if all of them were going fishing, but only 1 other group of 2 or 3 guys ended up on the lake ? We figured everyone else ran like hell either because of the road or the wind.
Punched a couple holes and marked fish instantly, set up camp on 12-13 FOW. Setting up the Ice Cube was a battle with wind ? the wind turned it into a huge kite ? wind was ferocious at times. Once the anchors were set, everything was cool. The ice cube is great, roomy, folds like a tent, lightweight & should fit into a trunk & maybe a backpack ? recommended
So we finally got to fishing & it was as usual: a fish frenzy, nonstop action until about noon. Iced probably 60+ fish between the 3 of us & all limited. All rainbows 8-13?, one 14? male cutthroat. We used mealies on various jigs/tubes: white, red, pink, green ( the red did best early on, but we figured anything with a mealie will produce fish here )
I ended up using a Stike King 2.75? Bitsy Salt Tube (watermelon blue flake) with a standard 1 hook jighead, put a little ?trout gravy? inside and a mealie attached ? the fish were hitting at it, but no hook ups. I experimented and rigged same tube with a 1/8 oz slip bullet weight inside as its head and a treble hook out the bottom, was magic. I figure bigger the tube, bigger the fish. Not too long iced that Cutthroat & some nice size Rainbows also ? Is there a name for that rigging? I want to name it the Colorado rig
We had a few crossed lines, the smaller fish are very aggressive & attack the jigs then run like crazy. The bigger ones had a slower bite & seem lazy.
The bite always stops about noon here. I wish I had brought my snowboard, Big Worm was hitting some deep backcountry powder on his sled. Is a nice option when the fish stop biting?? all in all, Was a great day!!! Enjoy the pics!
Nice early pile
Tried to get photo of how strong wind was, doesnt really show how windy it really was
We thought this was a HUGE fish when I hooked it, was very erratic and felt like a wopper. Was a good laugh after pulling it up, still was a keeper
We got there at sunrise as usual. The road was snowpacked so we parked next to the paystation & loaded up. The ride up was beautiful, lots of fresh snow and started with some broken trail. Then came across 2 guys with their sleds stuck, We didn?t take a chance on stopping since there were 2 of us on 1 sled with trailer & another buddy right behind us.
From there it was untracked road & a soft deep ride. Between the two sleds we were on, we only managed to get stuck twice & not too bad at that
There were a few trucks at the bottom, not sure if all of them were going fishing, but only 1 other group of 2 or 3 guys ended up on the lake ? We figured everyone else ran like hell either because of the road or the wind.
Punched a couple holes and marked fish instantly, set up camp on 12-13 FOW. Setting up the Ice Cube was a battle with wind ? the wind turned it into a huge kite ? wind was ferocious at times. Once the anchors were set, everything was cool. The ice cube is great, roomy, folds like a tent, lightweight & should fit into a trunk & maybe a backpack ? recommended
So we finally got to fishing & it was as usual: a fish frenzy, nonstop action until about noon. Iced probably 60+ fish between the 3 of us & all limited. All rainbows 8-13?, one 14? male cutthroat. We used mealies on various jigs/tubes: white, red, pink, green ( the red did best early on, but we figured anything with a mealie will produce fish here )
I ended up using a Stike King 2.75? Bitsy Salt Tube (watermelon blue flake) with a standard 1 hook jighead, put a little ?trout gravy? inside and a mealie attached ? the fish were hitting at it, but no hook ups. I experimented and rigged same tube with a 1/8 oz slip bullet weight inside as its head and a treble hook out the bottom, was magic. I figure bigger the tube, bigger the fish. Not too long iced that Cutthroat & some nice size Rainbows also ? Is there a name for that rigging? I want to name it the Colorado rig
We had a few crossed lines, the smaller fish are very aggressive & attack the jigs then run like crazy. The bigger ones had a slower bite & seem lazy.
The bite always stops about noon here. I wish I had brought my snowboard, Big Worm was hitting some deep backcountry powder on his sled. Is a nice option when the fish stop biting?? all in all, Was a great day!!! Enjoy the pics!

Nice early pile

Tried to get photo of how strong wind was, doesnt really show how windy it really was




We thought this was a HUGE fish when I hooked it, was very erratic and felt like a wopper. Was a good laugh after pulling it up, still was a keeper



