02-19-2006, 01:13 AM
Hit Flaming Gorge with Wiperslayer1 today. It was extremely cold, yet it was hard to find any good ice, and there was wide open water almost everywhere. Found a bay that looked like the ice might be safe. Lots of stacked ice that had recently frozen. First tried about 63' of water without success. Worked our way out to about 74' of water and ice only about 3 inches thick. Ira started seeing fish on his finder, but I saw only a couple all day. Ira caught a small mack, lost two others, and missed a few other bites. Had I gotten one more bite I would have at least gotten a bite! I moved in line with Ira hoping that I would find some fish. After a short time I noticed water was coming up on the ice from my ice holes! I moved back over where I had started fishing earlier, where the ice was a little thicker. After fishing there for a short time there was a loud sound, and the shack shook. Got out to check the damage and where I had been fishing, my ice holes were now on an island of about 3' wide. If I had been near them when the pressure ridge happened I would have fallen through the ice! Found that we were now fishing on the other side of a major pressure ridge. Stayed a short time and headed out of there. The day wasn't a total loss for me, I managed to chip my front tooth while tightening a knot. while changing jigs! PS -- we were both grateful to have our ice shacks and heaters, it was bitter cold all day.
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