Aurora Reservoir

[Guest]

My neighbor came over when I was changing oil yesterday and showed me a stringer of larger than stocker bows, 5 inches of ice.

[EXNJ]

I just called the lake, they said 0-3.5 inches of ice. Where abouts was the 5 inches of ice??
Thanks,
Lou

[John19]

Anyone hitting any perch here yet?

[Guest]

I have NO idea where my neighbor was fishing. One of my buddies told me that it has almost full sheet of clear ice. He said average thickness is three inches. He was going to give it a whirl this afternoon.

[This message has been edited by Avalanche (edited 01-07-2004).]

[Reg]

My experience with park rangers is that they will tell you the ice sucks even if there is 10". If you call, ask if they are allowing people on the ice to fish. If they are, it's good enough ice. They shut it down if it is really bad. Then just go out and drill test holes to be sure.

I had a ranger at Chatfield once tell me there was NO WAY he would go out on the ice because it wasn't thick enough. I went down and drilled a hole through 6" of ice, which is PLENTY. Solid 3" over good ice works for me...

I'm guessing the 5" at Aurora was probably near the swim beach. I have caught and seen some very nice trout and walleyes come out of Aurora all summer and fall. There are good sized fish there. I have heard tales of perch and crappies but have yet to ever find them.

[EXNJ]

The truth of the matter!

I decided to go with my gut and take the day off from work yesterday to check out Aurora for myself.

The lake is fully covered with a solid 3 inches at least. The bad news is, it is CRYSTAL clear ice, so unless you are fishing deep, I would venture to guess the fish can see you. Those fishing under 20 feet did not get anything. Over 20, some luck with trout. Didn't see anything else caught. I found a patch of snow covered ice and managed to pull up 3 trout between 12-15 inches. Don't ask for a pattern, because one was on power bait, another on a jig and waxie, and the other on a jigging perch rapala. The hits were few and far between, but it beat being at work!!

As for what roams the waters, they have wipers, walleyes, both large and smallmouth bass, catfish, perch and trout and the rare crappie. But don't ask me what happened to the perch. Must have something to do with the drought drawdown. 2 summers ago there were thousands of them everywhere. 100+ perch days were the norm. Since then, I haven't seen one. Only other thought is that there are 50 lbs walleyes in there!!

Lou

[Ron Parker]

ExNJ, I agree. I went to Aurora today, Found three Rainbows. Like most I was looking for Perch. I think I know where they are, The problems is I can't get to them. I walked over to the area. Your looking at maybe 1.5" of ice. I'm not ready for a swim.I fish from 7 to 10,At one time I had both poles going. Caught one, Missed the other. (Ex NJ hear to)