Ice Fishing: Rattle snake res.

[CLIPHunter]

hi im just making a thread for ice fishing this winter, wanting to see how people do out at rattle snake. Anyone know of any good spots for walleye for ice fishing cause ive have fished there for the past like 7 years every winter and i have not yet been able to land a walleye. it has been my goal every year. any spots i could try to help and get me one or two would be greatly appreciated?
thanks CLIPhunter :cool:

[madatter]

Before the low level issue the irrigation lakes had oh 6-8 years ago we would catch perch and walleye fairly consistantly off the new dam area.Since then I have not caught a single walleye thru the ice.
I've fished deep,shallow,drop-offs blah blah and cannot seem to get em.Even the perch are harder to get.
Pike fishing has the last couple of years been spectacular early on then dried up.....last year I was the 1st person to drill holes on the lake and the reward was worth the risk.:D

[CLIPHunter]

i ver heard that they are catching them at the islands throught the ice, but i wanna know if thats true....before i go there. so where abouts do you fish when it first freezes over i love fishing for pike there a blast

[CLIPHunter]

and the "new dam area" is that the new spill way thing they built this year at the first rock dam? ive saw guys ice fish near there at the end of the dam is that where ur talking about

[madatter]

The new dam is not really that new.....instead of turning into Golden Sheaf Park keep heading west and you run right into it.
Early on I've had my best success in the narrows for pike but also other areas,I think the pike are just in that mode early on and can be caught everywhere.
Get out as soon as there is ice on the lake.....safe ice that is!!

[CLIPHunter]

ok yeah thats where we have been fishing for walleye this year just before the bend on the damm, caught a few there just recently hope there there for winter....and about what time would be considered a good date to go out and try the ice cause i dnt have a licence so i dnt get out that much...or hopefully someone will post that the ice is good on here so i dnt make a usless trip out

[madatter]

I was hunting ducks and geese out there quite a bit last year so I kept up with how the ice was coming along.
I drilled the 1st holes on the ice last year at the Snake...1st week of December,about 4" of ice.....not what you would call real comfortable but I did'nt wander far.
Depends on the weather we get here,ice could be sooner or later!!:D:D

[CLIPHunter]

yes very true well when you get out or if i go out post it on here when the ice is safe

[CLIPHunter]

so has anyone been out to the snake lately, is there any ice on it or how much. thinking about going out on sunday but if someone can help me on how thick it is, so i can be prepared it would be great thanks:D

[madatter]

I was out at the Snake on Monday morning banging away at some geese.
My favorite early season spot was still open but most of lake was frozen over.
There may be enough ice to get on there by Sunday....
I'm headin to Calgary on Monday otherwise I'd be going out.....

[CLIPHunter]

ok thanks alot for the update i appreciate it. ill let you know how it goes

[Freedom55]

Does anyone in your area ever fish at Reesor in the winter? At one time it was a great rainbow pond. Or Elkwater. Still pike?

[Renslip]

Reesor is still very low. They drained it for the work they did last winter. Still should be some fish in it. Let me know how it is.

[CLIPHunter]

yes reasor is still low, but i do believer there are still fish in it. and as for elkwater the pike the last couple years has been good not size but numbers, try just out front of the boeat launch about 50 yards or so. or try just around the bend should be a side area you can stop and park was good there to.
Good luck

[madatter]

Personally I would'nt waste my time on Reesor but Spruce Coulee has some nice brookies in it.
Elkwater Lake has lots of pike in it still,just mostly small ones.I never would have believed it held any big fish but I personally weighed an 8lber out of there this summer......too bad I found it dead along the shore!!:cry::cry:
Supposed to be big perch in there but I've never seen em and never found any in pike we kept.:confused:

[WayneChristie]

Personally I would'nt waste my time on Reesor but Spruce Coulee has some nice brookies in it.
Elkwater Lake has lots of pike in it still,just mostly small ones.I never would have believed it held any big fish but I personally weighed an 8lber out of there this summer......too bad I found it dead along the shore!!:cry::cry:
Supposed to be big perch in there but I've never seen em and never found any in pike we kept.:confused:

I talked to the warden one summer when I was camping at Firerock, he said the perch come into the marina during the summer. Personally I caught 100 pike there in a week trolling a rapala, but that was a while back, and they were all small.

[MuleyMonster]

Neighbour was out on the Ice at Rattlesnake on Thursday hoping to get some early White fish. Only saw 5 all day along the dam and none bit. Going to try next weekend again and hopefully with 2 guys we will have a little better luck. I also bring an underwater camera so can see what is going on better that way.

As for Reesor I would not waste your time unless you want to catch a ton of little fish and some big suckers. Personally I think they should kill the lake off seeing that it is low already and get rid of the suckers. This way the suckers would not be competing for the same food as the trout and we would have a good trout pond again in a couple of year. Try to get the biologist to bite on that one and also the people who camp there during the summer:tongue2:

Had great luck at Spruce early in the season but tough after that. Could not catch any good size ones last year but some where close to 2 pounds.

Good luck and hope to see you out there. I will be in a Green 2 man shack if you want to stop by and say hi:wave:

[bloom]

As for Reesor I would not waste your time unless you want to catch a ton of little fish and some big suckers. Personally I think they should kill the lake off seeing that it is low already and get rid of the suckers. This way the suckers would not be competing for the same food as the trout and we would have a good trout pond again in a couple of year. Try to get the biologist to bite on that one and also the people who camp there during the summer:tongue2:


Good luck and hope to see you out there. I will be in a Green 2 man shack if you want to stop by and say hi:wave:[/QUOTE]




Getting the 'biologist to bite' is not the issue. They pushed hard to lower the water levels an extra couple feet in order to insure a kill over the winter but the parks people refused. They were against the 'aesthetics' of the lower levels and preferred to have a lake full of suckers and little trout...much to the dismay and surprise of many.

[wheeler_1]

I was just out to Rattlesnake on Sunday and the fishing was very slow near the hutterite colony. A guy came off the lake though from the narrows and he hit an 11 pound walley and a few 10 pound pike . He said they were biting hard for about the 1st hour or so from when he got there but then it just died right off.