Morning Report

[wishn4fishn]

There are two kinds of slush. The good one, 7-11 flavourful refreshment on a hot and sunny day. And the other one. This morning was pretty cold, but my hopes were high for good visibility. I knew something was wack when i waded across the river and it froze immediately. I waited patiently for the sunrise sipping my TT XL Horny Timmies and puffed a Marlboro cloud. Before sunrise i started chucking fresh roe bags. I soon discovered that the slush would prevent any penetration and obstruct my presentation. The fish were shocked with the drastic weather changed and hugged bottom. Phoned in to get a updated weather report and was greatly dissapointed to learn that it wouldn't go above Zero degrees. I retreated almost immediately. Frozen guides, ice build up on the line and rock hard roe bags just won't cut it.

 

Till next time, same steelhead time, same steelhead channel.

[snag]

Ran into similar issues.

 

I had frozen birdnesting of my line. Had to thaw the mess out in my car and still had to cut some feet off.

 

Bring on 0+ degrees!

(but just enough so ice-fishing is O.K.)

[ccmtcanada]

Nice report, but be safe out there!!! Falling in the water at these temps would be disastrous! You'd only last a few minutes. At least have a buddy with you in this weather.

 

Good on you to brave it out though....hope you have better luck next time.

[setomonkey]

Thanks for the report, I'm hoping it warms up a little too...

 

Mike

[PERCHER]

Warms up, we need a two week span of -20.Let the ice fishing begin!!!!

[fishnsled]

Warms up, we need a two week span of -20.Let the ice fishing begin!!!!

 

 

I'll second that!

[huntervasili]

I know what you mean about the river man... didnt even see this post till after i made mine... but the weather sure was bad...bloody slush and ice i had the same problem...

[Bojangles]

Oyeee! Good to be back on this board I'm liking the new format.. its quite cool.

 

Anyways.. to those that wanna fish the winter steelhead hard, you gotta have a slight change in floatfishing setup. You will get bigger fish if you fish all winter long, on some days numbers aren't plentiful, but size will make up for those numbers. Don't get me wrong, on a good day of winter steelheading you could beach 10+ fish in the first few hours. Artificials will work good at this time of the year. Bait like jigs and worm imititations work good.

 

When fishing in slushier and icier conditions, go with a bigger float.. something from 5-7 grams. Bulk or stack shot the splitshots about 18'' above the hook just so that the bait can sink right through the ice and hopefully will get into the strike zone. With a bigger float, you have more control, therefore you can still trot abit while slicing through slush patches.

 

You really gotta watch out. If the conditions are that bad.. I look for a little gap in the flow coming downstream and I will cast into that even if it takes me 10 or so casts to get a good drift, its worth it in the end. Try not to start @ first light in the winter mornings because that is when the slush conditions are at its worst. When the sun comes out, you will notice the water changes colour in the afternoon as the slush melts and changes the water clarity which is a good thing. I normally tend to start around 9-10 am where it will be less slushier and warmer later on.

 

If you don't like line and float freeze, try Stanley's Ice-Off Paste.. it really works! After trying it earlier this week, I think I'm gonna run over to a tackle shop to buy some.. I also hear that it is selling @ BPS for 8 or so bucks.. Put the paste on the first 20 feet or so of mainline and smear some on the float and you should be fine for the day.

 

Hope this helps.. SHOMPZ.. see you soon! ahhaha

 

Bojan "Bojangles/Jangles" Zivkovic

Edited December 9, 2006 by Bojangles

[fishindevil]

thanks for the report guys ,and mr bojangles thats paste is a very good idea,walleye guys can use that too,in the cold weather at quinte,or it could be used for ice-fishing as well...thanks for the report

[wishn4fishn]

Jangles, we are truly not worthy.

Thanx for the tips. I was debating using a piker float and balancing that just to get it going in the flow. Weather pending if the slush clears up, since cold winds don't give the water a chance to warm up. Let's hook up soon times.