[1eyered]

-K- I received a call from a buddy who's daring enough to try ice fishing for the 1st time. So I immediately got off my rear end and headed to BPS to blow some money. Got a hand ice auger and yes, I know it's gon' be a pain. I shot a PM to TFB asking for a little bit of tackle tips and safety tips already, but any additional tips from forum members would be appreciated... Especially safety tips cuz I'm a clumsy wuss.

To the point: What I'm going to ask here is for ice fishing destinations in the mountains within roughly a 2 hr drive from the metro area that will be a feasible trip with a little Honda (-k- stop laughing, guys). I need mostly paved roads all the way up to the parking lot  and easy access. Don't mind hikes of up to a quarter of a mile to the shore of iced up lake. Lake trout are a must. I wouldn't even go if not for lakers. I'm not trophy hunting, just want to catch a few small ones to fillet. Any info would be totally appreciated. Don't have to give me your honey holes in any particular lake, but general ideas of where to start would be nice too. BTW, I'm also gon' be fishing blindly (no electronics, I'm goin Flinstone style).

Thanks in advance,
1eyeReD

 

[kokaneeking]

as a general rule , five inches of ice for me , even thought ive ice fished 2 and a half inches , have some ice picks just incase, for lakers granby or green mountain , both are good even though i havent been to granby to ice fish yet , green mountain has been productive this year , we have been catching lots of macks in 46 to 49 feet of water, use small tubes , i caught more on a 2 1/2 inch tube then a 3 inch tube, if you want some general depth get a map of the lake your going to ice fish, look for drop offs , good luck !!!

 

[1eyered]

kokaneeking...

1st off, thanx.

Where at Greenmountain would be a good place for me to park without having to drive my little commuter through snow and possibly gettin' stuck?

1eyeReD

 

[kokaneeking]

well for the area i fish , i park off the main road that runs along the lake , i have to walk threw knee deep snow in some spots, the best area to park and fish would be the marina on the far side , if you have a sled that comes in handy, there is also two parking lots on the far side by the dam were you can park and walk on to the ice , good luck man, be careful and watch the weather reports the weather can change fast , id check cdots webpage, the roads can get bad by the tunnel

 

[1eyered]

Second thanx to that.. Maybe goin this Saturday a.m.

Good luck to you as well,
1eyeReD

 

[idratherbfishing]

Granby,

I caught a few there a couple of weeks ago. Never been fishing for lakers before but still caught fish.

One thing I have heard and think everyone should try is, if you are not catching fish experiment with different depths. I got mine 30 feet down in 25-35 fow. Also try moving around a bit.

I know with a hand auger and the Ice being 16 or more inches you won't drill a lot of holes but that sure helps.

Dan

 

[jetx]

Hi newbie. I'd suggest Granby, if you don't have electronics. go past dam 3??? and park. walk down to the ice and out about 100 -- 150 paces. there's some rocks in that area that hold fish.

The ice is very thick now so I woulsn't worry tooo ???much. but take some spikes with you. can't be too safe. some rope is nice too. remember IF the ice cracks under you laydown on it to spread your weight out then crawl to a safe spot.

a good web site to have is GOOGLE EARTH. Its a free download and you can locate places with it and actually see the area you want. Its a satellite picture thats about 3 years old but I guarantee the rocks haven't moved very far.LOL

 

[chris]

I would suggest Granby, Grand Lake or Chambers. For lakers use white tube jig and a piece of sucker. At Granby we fish the boat ramp and do very well pretty easy walk down to the lake and easy parking. Let the fish tell you what they want I usually dead stick one and jig the other just off the bottom.

 

[jaquomo]

You're going to have a serious walk at Chambers unless you have a snomo. Gross is also a good bet if it's frozen. Not sure about this year but my buddy fell thorugh last year up there and lost his auger.

Fish the whole water column in whatever depth you choose, starting with bouncing your tube jig on the bottom to stir up a little mud, then slowly work your way up the column, about 5-10 minutes at each 10' interval. Then start back at the bottom again. Lakers will come up from way deep to take a jig. They'll also be found in as shallow as 10-12' of water when feeding on stocker rainbows. If they are feeding on kokes, they'll often be halfway from top to bottom. Some of my biggest have come in 10-11" of water, or that high in the water column over deeper water.

I've also had very big ones "rocket" up from 20 feet below the jig to take it. The hit will be very soft and subtle, sometimes like a tiny minnow or a crawdad poking at it, so set the hook when anything feels different. They'll often take it on the drop, so keep as much slack out of your line as possible and set the hook if it stops dropping or if your line suddenly goes a little slack.

Have fun, and welcome to our sick world of ice fishing. It's addicting, as you'll hopefully find out!

 

[LUNKERLAKER]

I WOULD NOT GO TO GROSS!! It was open 4 weeks ago and last weekend the middle still had a huge chunk of open water I would recomend either williams fork or Granby. Granby will be plowed and totally accesable with the lake trout bite pretty good now though last weekend it was kind of slow but it will be good this weekend specially if its snowing!!

 

[1eyered]

Thanks, everybody. I surely do appreciate all the great tips. I'll make sure I post a report.


1eyeReD

 

[hatchmaster]

1eyeReD get your rookie self up to green mountain.

Follow the sighns to the boat ramp.

If the road through the homes is bad, park and walk.

Stand on boat ramp.

Walk out 200-300 feet.

Drill holes.

Drop tube jig. With sucker meat.

Hooray your no longer a rookie as you will be catching lakers like a pro.

Check out my last post on G.M. I described a jigging technique (rather poorly) that I think is the ticket up there.

(Disclaimer) Hatchmaster by no means guarantees fish, he is just cocky and thinks he knows it all!

 

[TroutFishingBear]

check your pm box red. Green mountain sounds like the best place to catch macks, but with your vehicle it might not be the best place? I'm sure these guys know better than I do though- I've just heard some people say they got stuck at green mountain.

 

[nhurianek]

I for one know the joys of being suck out at green mt. The best bet if you are in a car is the last turn off before the damn. You and make it out of there in a car if the snow isn't too deep or you can park at the top, but please pull off to the side enough that people can still get out.

 

[tal0362]

TFB,

Most of those people I hear of getting stuck at Green Mountain are shore launching boats. Been there, done that.

 

[1eyered]

Thanx to everyone. And now after checking the weather & road conditions for the mountains, I'm beginning to get a lil sketchy altogether. We were close to borrowing a 4Runner, but even with that, we're not sure of attempting to brave the road conditions especially if it keeps coming down.

Anyone goin out regardless of how bad it looks to be?

 

[hatchmaster]

I'll be there Sun.

 

[mojo]

I was at GM today. It is warmer there than it is here in the city. The roads were in good condition, even for a car. It didn't start snowing on me on the way home (7:00pm)until I got to floyd hill. I wouldn't try the boat ramp in a car. Park at the top of the hill and walk down or better yet, do as suggested and park on the other side of the dam. It is against county rules to park on the road but I think if you were to park right where it starts down the hill you would be okay. Besides it is closer to the ice than walking through town.