Fished Sylvan Lake On 01/22/05

[zman7]

Got to Sylvan about 9am last Saturday...started in 12 feet of water southsoutheast of the boat ramp...weird ice!...2 inches of ice with a three inch air pocket and then 14 more inches of ice...it was this way with all the holes we drilled...probably 30 holes in all...two of us fishing just off the bottom in twelve feet of water...a couple of bites and then nothing...my friend Dennis moved up his jig in the water column to about 5 feet down and he started catching fish and then it slowed...we moved to a hundred and fifty yards of the inlet in 15 feet of water...found the bite to be 7 to 8 feet down...1/16th ounce bright colored jigs both marabou and tube jigs in yellow, chartruese, and pink tipped with mealworms and waxworms...also tried powerbait/gulp/salmon eggs and no luck with any of that even at the magic mid lake depth...I jigged spoons half the day and not one hit...and spoons are usually how I do most of my damage...we thought they were halfway down due to the double ice layers with heavy snow on top of the lake...probably not much light penetration...but the weeds that we pulled up were bright green not suffering from die off from lack of sunlight...we tried about half a dozen other areas on the lake and the first two were the only places we found fish...we went back to our original spot at the end of the day and found fish very willing at the 7 foot depth in 12 feet of water...we talked to six other parties during the day and all had 0,1 or 2 fish and were all fishing on the bottom...we managed 28 fish, 26 rainbows, 1 brown and 1 brookie (all 10 to 14 inches)...not huge fish but they fought hard...many misses at least early on...the last gentleman we talked to came over after we had caught 4 real quickly and asked what we were doing different because he hadnt had any action in 3 hours...we invited him over drilled him a hole...told him about the shallower depth and he came over and started catching fish...so I am convinced we werent superior fisherman...rather we were at the right depth as maybe dictated by the light penetration...sometimes I think we get too locked in on the bottom...I've had times late in the season at South Delaney and Lake John where oxygen was getting thin in the lakes and the fish we caught were within 3 feet of the hole no matter what depth we were in...I wonder if any one else has had experiences like this...sorry to be so wordy...I havent posted much but I read the threads all the time...just wanted to give you guys as much information as possible in case someone goes over...

Z

[Tipup50]

zman, I've fished Syland several times before and had marginal success. Although, a friend of mine caught a 26" Brown about 1-2' below the ice. For me it was certainly a strange lake to fish, fun though.