whitney area ice?

[castgame]

thinking of hitting some smaller splake/speck lakes this weekend east of the park. if anybody's been up there and has an idea of ice conditions i'd really appreciate the info.

 

also, if any of you kind folks want to recommend some good lakes that are easy enough to snowshoe into (<5km), i'd really appreciate that too! i'm just going off the backroad atlas recommendations right now.

[Joeytier]

If you haven't explored MNR Fish Online yet, I would highly suggest it. You will see stocking lists of lakes close to the highway you could shoe into. Can't comment on ice conditions but I understand the area does have some very productive trout lakes. Small lakes should be fine for walking (lakes are sleddable here now) but dont take my word for it!

[castgame]

well, by now i'm sure you all know ice conditions are excellent. we hit a small lake west of maynooth that's stocked with about 1000 splake every other year. about a 4km snowshoe in from the road, all through beautiful crown land. no luck for us except one missed fish! seemed like maybe we were the first on the hardwater but that didn't help us get into any trout.

 

we jigged everything from silver and gold spoons, buckshots, white tubes, and different grubs between 15' and 1' of water, mostly looking at fallen timber and rock piles on shore. splake are supposed to be easy to catch, but they've evaded me so far!

 

Edited January 21, 2016 by castgame

[Joeytier]

Put a live minnow on a set line close to that timber and your luck may change. Most people (myself included 90% of the time) wont jig for a splake if there's live minnows handy.

[chris.brock]

I wouldn't say splake are easy to catch. It's pretty easy to get skunked in mid winter. 2 winters ago we had 8 guys out, 16 lines in the water, not one bite and it's a pretty good lake.

 

 

No fish were caught but it still looks like a great way to spend the day to me.

[castgame]

nice to hear i'm not the only one having trouble getting splake to hit! i stubbornly avoid live bait if i can, so i'm sure that's part of the lack of success. still, nobody was complaining about a day spent in the beautiful crown land east of the park. the snowshoe alone was worth it.

 

i had us all set up with 4lb braid to a tiny swivel to a 3' 4lb fluoro leader to a small snap swivel. any chance the braid is spooking the fish? it's the lightest stuff i can find. or the swivels?

[chris.brock]

I think braid right to the bait is no good, with the flouro leader they aren't spooked