Flaming Gorge Ice and Roads

[Wood_Shampoo]

Has anyone bet to the Fire Hole area lately? Was wondering how the ice is and the road getting down there? Is itt ok in a 2wd car or is 4wd needed?

Thanks!
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[lilfish]

I too would like a ice report I would like to know how thick it is and how far south it is..I want to take the four wheeler but if the ice isnt good enough I will leave it home
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[Ryno]

I was at Firehole last week and it was 8-inches then. Ice ends below the Confluence where it was 4-inches yesterday. Road to Firehole is plowed but icy in spots. Good luck, Ryno
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[fishjon]

Ryno, I really appreciate your updates. Year after year your the guy that reports first safe ice at the confluence. Did you drop a line and mess with any pups?
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[Ryno]

I was solo and elected to fish shallow for rainbows this time. It was pretty good though, and I caught 7 with a few porky 17-inchers.
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[roynut]

I don't know about Firehole, but a friend and I did fish at Lost Dog yesterday (12/12). The ice was 4" to 6", clear and hard, and covered by about .5" of icy snow. Fishing was good for both macs and rainbows. We fished just north of the cliffs above the confluence in about 56ft of water. Macs were mostly 20-40ft down, and were mostly in the 21-23" size range (the smallest one was 18", and I only caught one that small). Rainbows were cruising in the upper 20ft of the water and the two I caught were about 20" and fat. I caught 5 macs and 2 rainbows, and my friend caught 6 macs and one rainbow. We both lost at least two fish for each one that we managed to get out of the hole, including one mac that was half again larger than the others. I think I need to invest in a hook sharpener. We caught all of our fish on either 1/8oz white grub-tail jigs tipped with sucker meat, or on the small sized white "spoiler shad" jigs (from Walmart) with a small piece of sucker skin on the hook.

The road to Lost Dog was snowier than usual, and the shoreline was snowy, so I don't recommend going in a 2wd vehicle.

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the report Roy. Did you try fishing on the bottom for burbot?
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[roynut]

I did a little but no results. I'm not exactly an expert at catching them...I guess I should find someone to teach me how.