# We Wet Our Waders at Minersville!



## threshershark (Sep 7, 2007)

Oh, the sight of open water! Upon hearing that the wretched ice had started to break up at Minersville, El Matador and I built up about 14 pounds of boost on the Duramax and didn't spool down until we got there.

The area near the dam was almost entirely open water, but a large expanse of 5" thick ice was shifting with the wind prompting a wary eye. At one point on Saturday, a microburst wind of about 55 MPH kicked up, and sent the ice sheet against the shore so hard that it literally plowed up a 4-foot-high wall of dirt and rock along 50 yards of shoreline! We also saw some guy's unattended pontoon boat get lifted up and slammed down right on top of his Dodge Ram. Such are the forces that would keep an angler from accessing the sweet goodness of soft water.

We were suprised by the murky state of the water. Usually ice off brings fairly clear conditions, but visibility in the water was probably about 1 to 3 feet depending on the area.

We stayed the weekend, and overall fishing was quite slow. We ended up with 37 rainbows, but given the amount of time on the water our average was around 2 fish per man hour. Takes were subtle, and the fish were very lethargic.

Some of the rainbows showed signs of having a hard winter, with large heads:










El Matador does a stint as "El Pescador" and goes on record with a Minersville Bow:



















Even though the take was slow, it sure felt great to put toon to water. Here is the Minersville view looking Northwest:










And to the North:


----------



## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

I was out there the other day, how far out is the ice now?


----------



## cheech (Sep 25, 2007)

Nice pics!

I witnessed the craziness of the microburst that sent the guy's pontoon flying. I fished with 4 other buddies, and we were all fishing indicators and chironomids and Callibaetis and did quite well.

I saw a few of the "hard winter water" bows, but I also taped 4 over 20" and one right at 23". I switched to buggers under an indicator, but found that I caught smaller fish if I wasn't matching the hatch.

I posted pics here... http://www.flyfishfood.blogspot.com


----------



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

BrookTroutKid said:


> I was out there the other day, how far out is the ice now?


Really????!!!????
:wink:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Great job. Nice to see an open water report. That first fish was pretty sad looking. El Matador's was a chunk! Nice fish.

Yuba had really murky water too. I got out over 6 feet of water and I couldn't see the bottom. In some spots, I couldn't see 2 feet down.

Well it's nice to see another open water report from team Thresher/Matador. Let's hope that all this water makes for good fishing this year. Nice report.


----------



## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

LOAH said:


> BrookTroutKid said:
> 
> 
> > I was out there the other day, how far out is the ice now?


*Really????!!!????*
:wink:

Oh Shut Up. JK :wink:


----------



## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

cheech said:


> Nice pics!
> 
> I witnessed the craziness of the microburst that sent the guy's pontoon flying. I fished with 4 other buddies, and we were all fishing indicators and chironomids and Callibaetis and did quite well.
> 
> ...


You didn't happen to see and older man in a blue GMC by the boat ramp with him and a teen and two younger kids did you?


----------



## cheech (Sep 25, 2007)

BrookTroutKid said:


> cheech said:
> 
> 
> > Nice pics!
> ...


Believe so. fished just a bit before the storm hit?


----------



## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

Yup I was the teen that was soaking wet.  Went below the water level got pretty bad after that.


----------



## cheech (Sep 25, 2007)

youch. that must have been cold.


----------



## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Sweet report guys and great looking fish! Man im really wantin to hit the soft water nowadays...


----------



## El Matador (Dec 21, 2007)

cheech said:


> Nice pics!
> 
> I witnessed the craziness of the microburst that sent the guy's pontoon flying. I fished with 4 other buddies, and we were all fishing indicators and chironomids and Callibaetis and did quite well.
> 
> ...


It seems most people were doing really well before the storm. Too bad for us, we pulled up right as the thing hit  We tried a bunch of tactics during and after the weather but it never really picked up. Our best rig was a pea**** or brown wooly bugger with a bloodworm or callibaetis dropper fished on a medium to very slow retrieve. Some folks from shore were using various flies with either a real slow retrieve or just drifting the fly and had fair success. Size wasn't bad on our fish. Most were around 18-20", with a few smaller and a few around 22 or 23. The one in the pic is only like 18 but thick and had a burly head. At least we didn't get skunked :mrgreen:


----------



## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

Those are some nice trout there. nice job.


----------



## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Like usual....a _fine_ report with some _fine _ pictures Thresh..!! 

Although I am quite surprized the BrookTroutKid allowed you on the water... :shock: ..I thought he was on some kind of _patrol_ mission down there and monitored the place quite well... _O\ _O\ .......I quess that's the secret, get him soaking wet and then sneak past him...


----------



## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

That was a one time deal guys, the lake had it against me that day. :wink:


----------



## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

BrookTroutKid said:


> That was a one time deal guys, the lake had it against me that day. :wink:


The lake is getting even....


----------

