South Lake Ice Fishing Sierra Opener - 4/25 & 4/26

[Smitty]

Sorry - no pics.

Fished South Lake for about 2 hours on Saturday and about the same Sunday. I didn't catch very many fish....I've got some bad mojo going on with me right now, not sure what that's all about but my strike to hookup ratio was about 10 to 1. I had a cold followed by bronchitis followed by laringitis and now my asthma is acting up - is that enough to blame it on my health? Hahah!!

I did see tons and tons of fish come through the ice - mostly rainbows in the 10-13" range but I did see a nice 2.5lber come through the ice. It's amazing how good the fish look after holding over for a winter.

I was lights out on kastmasters last year but this year it was tough - plenty of bites but couldn't get 'em to stick. Those using mini-jigs or powerworms were outfishing me pretty handily. Those soaking crawlers, salmon eggs and mealworms were doing well too.

There is only about a swimming pool sized area of open water by the inlet - aside from that it's still a thick sheet of ice that varies from 2ft to 18" thick. If the weather stays cool - I wouldn't be surprised to see ice fishing for another week or more.

Creek fishing was good by Parchers - although I will admit that I only talked to a handful of people who were fishing right near the resort - they'd all done well though.

Sabrina was tough - ice wasn't safe so you had to hike to the inlet to fish.

I'll have more details and reports and the week progresses - I'll probably be moving up there this week so I'll have a better idea of what's going on elsewhere in the canyon.

peace,
smitty

[Saluki]

Thanks for the report Smitty.
I'm gonna try to drag the booger eaters up that way sometime after they get out of school.

[ART HILL]

Sorry - no pics.

Fished South Lake for about 2 hours on Saturday and about the same Sunday. I didn't catch very many fish....I've got some bad mojo going on with me right now, not sure what that's all about but my strike to hookup ratio was about 10 to 1. I had a cold followed by bronchitis followed by laringitis and now my asthma is acting up - is that enough to blame it on my health? Hahah!!

I did see tons and tons of fish come through the ice - mostly rainbows in the 10-13" range but I did see a nice 2.5lber come through the ice. It's amazing how good the fish look after holding over for a winter.

I was lights out on kastmasters last year but this year it was tough - plenty of bites but couldn't get 'em to stick. Those using mini-jigs or powerworms were outfishing me pretty handily. Those soaking crawlers, salmon eggs and mealworms were doing well too.

There is only about a swimming pool sized area of open water by the inlet - aside from that it's still a thick sheet of ice that varies from 2ft to 18" thick. If the weather stays cool - I wouldn't be surprised to see ice fishing for another week or more.

Creek fishing was good by Parchers - although I will admit that I only talked to a handful of people who were fishing right near the resort - they'd all done well though.

Sabrina was tough - ice wasn't safe so you had to hike to the inlet to fish.

I'll have more details and reports and the week progresses - I'll probably be moving up there this week so I'll have a better idea of what's going on elsewhere in the canyon.

peace,
smitty

Don't worry Jared, you will get your mojo going again soon. Maybe you should sneak down here and we will hit up Vail again. I have a spinnerbait waiting for you. Leave Evan and Lane home, as they take all the fish. Hope you feel better soon. Say hello to your family for me.

[big steve]

thanks for the report. marlon called me on sunday they wacked the fish at the inlet on sunday. i think dave got a 3.5# alper that was the biggest.

[Smitty]

thanks for the report. marlon called me on sunday they wacked the fish at the inlet on sunday. i think dave got a 3.5# alper that was the biggest.

Ya - I fished with Marlon and the boys for a while on Sunday - bite was pretty good, but pretty slow for me. Dave's fish just keeps getting bigger and bigger....hahahaha. It was probably 2.5lbs when he caught it, maybe 3lbs if it had just eaten a smaller fish...now it's 3.5lbs. By the time the next fish taco chronicles comes out the fish will be 6lbs! hahah! Fisherman - we're all the same hahaha!!!!

[Smitty]

Don't worry Jared, you will get your mojo going again soon. Maybe you should sneak down here and we will hit up Vail again. I have a spinnerbait waiting for you. Leave Evan and Lane home, as they take all the fish. Hope you feel better soon. Say hello to your family for me.

I'm actually feeling much better today so I'm going to go back out there and try to redeem myself.

And yes, Evan & Lane are not invited on my next trip to Vail Lake - I think they jinx the bite there. !!!

[big steve]

Ya - I fished with Marlon and the boys for a while on Sunday - bite was pretty good, but pretty slow for me. Dave's fish just keeps getting bigger and bigger....hahahaha. It was probably 2.5lbs when he caught it, maybe 3lbs if it had just eaten a smaller fish...now it's 3.5lbs. By the time the next fish taco chronicles comes out the fish will be 6lbs! hahah! Fisherman - we're all the same hahaha!!!!

OH THOSE VINE GUYS!

[TWreports]

I feel your pain on the mojo there. It hasn't been the same for me yet since I killed a steel head last season. I guess I got the curse. Thanx for the update though. It was about the same for the Mammoth Lakes basin. Lake Gorge and Lake Marry are still pretty solid with about 2 feet of ice. There aren't too many big fish being caught though but a lot of 10 to 14 inchers. I'm guessing that Twin Lakes will melt off withen the next 7 to 10 days and the others its still going to be about 2 to 3 weeks out.

Jason
http://www.troutwaterreports.com