# Echo 2/9



## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Hit Echo today from three till dark. Fished near the dam in about fifty feet of water. Walking on the ice was a pain, there was at least six to eight inches of slush if not more. One of my legs fell through at the very edge, but luckily I had my trusty army moon boots on, no wet feet for this guy! The ice was very thick, almost too much of a pain to drill through with a manual auger, but we managed. Fishing was slow, my bro caught two and I caught one, then he left up to the car cuz his boots apparantly werent waterproof so he was soaked. I decided to stay down there a little bit longer and im glad I did. People left all around me except for one guy hundreds of yards off. Right around five thirty it was like somebody flipped a switch and I started catching fish like crazy. All were rainbows and were caught anywhere from twenty feet down to the top. They were average in size, with the biggest about 17 inches. I lost count after ten fish in that time period, but it was a blast. At one point I had one on and looked at my other pole to find it bouncing, I hurried and set that hook and held it while I somehow managed to reel the other one up. After I landed that one I hurried and landed the other one. On another fish I thought it was a monster cuz it was fighting like crazy, but when I got it up I found out that it was a normal guy foul hooked right near the dorsal fin, dunno how that happened but it was a heck of a fight. Boy am I glad I stayed! Left at dark, sorry no pics as the light was bad and I was too busy trying to get my line back down.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Sweet. 8) 

Glad you stayed for the bite.


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## holman927 (Sep 28, 2007)

Nice report. Im gonna have to try Echo this year.


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

A little long but we like tell'n the fish'n story.

After two weekends of skunk and no fish on the ice (Manuta and Rockport) we too decided to try Echo on Saturday like Greenguy. Sure glad we did and what a perfect day to fish Echo or anywhere else IMO.

Got to Echo about 8am and parked on the roadside up from the resort. Walked down via the resort beach area. Found the edges very,very soft 2-3 feet out. We were able to find an edge area that supported us and on the ice we went. 8) Walked out approximately 75-100 yards and about 25 feet of water on the old fashion line indicator (next year we'll have the latest depth/fish finder technology :wink: ).

Ice is over 20 inches thick ice skimmer never reached the bottom of the ice. Plus the power ice auger went way down until it popped through. I agree with Greenguy, the ole manual auger and us two old gals...well it wouldn't have been fun. I'm so glad I invested in the Strikemaster. Ice has about 4-6 inches of semi solid snow slush combination on top.

Set up and bites started immediately. Had one nice hit and run on the pole but never made it on the ice. Folks around us with the electronic gizmos we're picking up lots of fish but the same problem couldn't get them on the ice. Saw a few ice some nice size trout. 

Moved out another 30 yards to an approximate water depth of 30-35 feet and this time we were able to land some nice size Perch several 8-9 inches and plump. Again had something of SIZE :shock: on the pole but again never made it onto the ice. :x **** we we're bound and determined to get a trout. :mrgreen:

Having fun with the Perch we again moved to another location and the Perch were on landing more of size. Lots of little ones we tossed back...however some didn't make it as the air sack expanding. Anyways, I decided to change up lures on one pole and put on a silver swedish pimp and tipped the treble hook with perch eye and wax worm. Within 5 minutes had something hit this setup as the pole was a danc'n and out of the ice hole and onto the ice came a nice plump 14 inch bow. 

Throughout the trip we were using chartreuse Rat Finky Ratsos and Atomic Ants . Also used glow ice cutters the two hits we suspect were trout were on the glow ice cutters tipped with wax worm. I'm thinking the swedish pimp treble hook helped us to finally get the one trout onto the ice as this guy was hooked good on the treble. Most success besides the trout was on the Atomic Ants. All lures used we're tipped with wax worms.

Perch were right on the bottom with the lure only an inch or so off the bottom. The trout strikes and the one caught were in about 15-20 feet of water. All in all we had fun as it was a super day sun, warm, and only a slight breeze for about an hour. Got enough Perch of size for another Perch dinner. We've never had trout so we're look'n forward to see how it tastes.

Any suggestions on cook'n the trout (pan fry, deep fry, bake,) and what seasonings would you suggest?

Will try Echo again that's if we can get on because the edges are getting soft and this will only get worse as the weather warms up with longer days.

Echo Perch and Bow










Here's look'n at you kid!!










Saw the muley on the way out. Sure hope you all had a good weekend and if fish'n sure hope you did well. :wink: :wink:


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Well done K2.
You earned those fish!
Good to see that you have enjoyed ice fishing and kept at it.
This year has been a very different ice fishing year with all the snow.
I had forgoten what a pain the snow can be.
The fishing is still worth it though.

Just a reminder for you.
When the ice season is over, drain your auger of gas and run it dry.
If you store the auger with gas in it, it may be hard to start next season.
Two stroke motors will gum up in the heat of summer if gas is left in the carb.


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

Grandpa D said:


> Well done K2.
> You earned those fish!
> Good to see that you have enjoyed ice fishing and kept at it.
> This year has been a very different ice fishing year with all the snow.
> ...


Grandpa D thanks for the confidence vote!! :wink: We're just two old gals WHO LOVE TO FISH!!! Even after the first fatefull fall'n in the ice hole trip, face plant in the snow sled on top, and climbing up out of the "Pineview Valley of the Narrows" in 3' of snow wouldn't stop us. Just wish we would have taken up ice fish'n sooner. It's a lot of fun for us and better than going to any mall (which OBTW we aren't into the shopping scene), going to work, or just sit'n at home. Just worried now about the warmer temps and gett'n onto the ice as the edges are soft. Once out on the ice its thick. Trying to talk my daughter (18) and son (16) to try a couple hours with us. No go for them.

We're excited and look'n forward to ice off starting our new season quest for the Tiger in PV. We've expanded our fish'n species during the winter. However during the warm weather it's another story as we're target fixated on one species. Maybe too that fixation will pass (I highly doubt it though) as we have a trip to Powell planned for early May.

Thanks for the tips on the auger we won't be putting anymore gas in it this season...questions: Should the spark plug and auger blades be replaced? Would it be safe to add some type of stablizer into the spark plug hole? Thanks :wink: :wink:


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice job k2! Good to hear that you two got rid of the old skunkage and got into some fish! I didnt even target perch yesterday, I just went after the trout, which like you said were all in the upper half of the water column. By the way I was using a glow in the dark maniac ice cuttr below a swedish pimple both tipped with wax worm. Good thing you two had a power auger! :wink:


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## cfarnwide (Sep 10, 2007)

Nice K2! Wish the perch would have bit for us. I believe you were right next to my party... Should put the sticker on the sled for I.D.


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

cfarnwide said:


> Nice K2! Wish the perch would have bit for us. I believe you were right next to my party... Should put the sticker on the sled for I.D.


Were there just two of you one in a bright orange jacket? Or were you with the party that looked like an outing of a small village of scouts? Hey that's a good idea about the sticker...I was even thinking of placing a small American flag on the ice tent. My retired military side coming out. :wink: :wink:


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## cfarnwide (Sep 10, 2007)

k2muskie said:


> cfarnwide said:
> 
> 
> > Nice K2! Wish the perch would have bit for us. I believe you were right next to my party... Should put the sticker on the sled for I.D.
> ...


Check out my pics in the other Echo report. There were three of us. The bright orange jacket could have my buddies Oklahoma football coat. My other buddy fished near us, he was moving around trying to find the perch.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

K2, i add fuel stabilizer to every can of gas that I use for 2 stroke engines.
That was even the gas grass trimmer gets it's dose of stabilizer.
This also holds true for my 2 stroke boat motors.

You also asked for trout recipies.
I like the quick and easy trout recipie.

Clean the fishand remove the head. Sprinkle some lemmon pepper and add a teaspoon of butter inside the fish.
Wrap the fish in foil and cook on the barbecue grill, with the cover closed.
This keeps the smell out of the house.
Cook on low heat or about 350* and turn fish every 5 minutes. Twice on each side should do it.
The foil will swell as steem inside pushes the foil away from the fish. This lets you know the fish is done.
Remove the fish fron the heat and let stand for about 5 minutes.
Now open the foil and run a knife down the backbone of the fish.
Peal the skin away from the meat and with a fork, flake the meat off of the bones.
Turn the fish over and lift the bones off of the meat from the other side.
Remove the skin from this side and you are ready to eat.

You can use other seasoning if you don't like lemmon pepper.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

We almost went to echo this saturday as well, would have been funny to run into you guys. With as slow as the nelle was I wish we would have joined you guys!


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