12-07-2006, 02:22 AM
Here are a few tips.
By far the best bite at Devil Creek was on the bottom. I was fishing in 15'-20' of water. I caught a few suspended but I caught more than 10 fish on the bottom for every one I caught suspended.
I wasn't fishing directly on the bottom. I was catching most of them 1-2 feet off the bottom and 5' off the bottom wasn't that bad either. For this report my definition of suspended was 2'-10' below the ice. The fish would take anything I put down the hole. I used everything from a 3" glo white tube jig with a minnow to a 1/124 oz ice fly with a small piece of meal worm. I also like to smear a little powerbait on my jigs and ice flies. 1.5" glo white tube jigs with a piece of night crawler and a little powerbait and a 1/32 oz ice fly with the same bait were probably my most successful but not by much.
At Deep Creek I didn't get enough bites to establish a pattern. I had hits on suspended poles and poles fished close to the bottom. My smaller tube jigs and ice flies were probably best. The fish were hard to hook though. They would come and do one very light bite and then they were gone. At Devil Creek many of them would hook themselves or bite multiple times until I hooked them.
At Weston I didn't get enough bites to establish a clear pattern either. I did get more bites on suspend poles and a pole fished in 4 feet of water than poles fished close to the bottom in deeper water. Like Deep Creek, the fish at Weston would general just bite once and wouldn't come back.
I think that the higher concentration of fish in Devil Creek and more competition for food caused the fish to be more aggressive there. That is just a guess though. It could have been the time of day or I was fishing the right part of the reservoir at Devil Creek.
Jigging my poles didn't seem to make a difference. Most of my bites came when I was dead sticking.
[signature]
By far the best bite at Devil Creek was on the bottom. I was fishing in 15'-20' of water. I caught a few suspended but I caught more than 10 fish on the bottom for every one I caught suspended.
I wasn't fishing directly on the bottom. I was catching most of them 1-2 feet off the bottom and 5' off the bottom wasn't that bad either. For this report my definition of suspended was 2'-10' below the ice. The fish would take anything I put down the hole. I used everything from a 3" glo white tube jig with a minnow to a 1/124 oz ice fly with a small piece of meal worm. I also like to smear a little powerbait on my jigs and ice flies. 1.5" glo white tube jigs with a piece of night crawler and a little powerbait and a 1/32 oz ice fly with the same bait were probably my most successful but not by much.
At Deep Creek I didn't get enough bites to establish a pattern. I had hits on suspended poles and poles fished close to the bottom. My smaller tube jigs and ice flies were probably best. The fish were hard to hook though. They would come and do one very light bite and then they were gone. At Devil Creek many of them would hook themselves or bite multiple times until I hooked them.
At Weston I didn't get enough bites to establish a clear pattern either. I did get more bites on suspend poles and a pole fished in 4 feet of water than poles fished close to the bottom in deeper water. Like Deep Creek, the fish at Weston would general just bite once and wouldn't come back.
I think that the higher concentration of fish in Devil Creek and more competition for food caused the fish to be more aggressive there. That is just a guess though. It could have been the time of day or I was fishing the right part of the reservoir at Devil Creek.
Jigging my poles didn't seem to make a difference. Most of my bites came when I was dead sticking.
[signature]