Elwood pictures

I went over to Elwood yesterday after registering my truck and getting my drivers license and all that garbage (the shortest time ever spent in line there… a new record!). But I thought I’d take some pics of what’s going on over there at Elwood. I haven’t been there in a couple months at least. They are apparently done with fixing the drain grate, so there is water over the bubble right now, but not much, as you can see. The first pic is looking down fro the road at the bubble (where the water comes in). You can see how low it is because the water doesn’t go back to the south at all. The 2nd pic is the boat ramp. I was told they put some dirt on the ramp to level it out a bit, but there’s no rock there. I wouldn’t even dare get close to that mess. You can see where someone did once or twice. I would like to know how they got out, because they were BURIED. The 3rd pic is looking from the bottom of the boat ramp back towards the bubble, to the left, or SE. Usually, ALL that is underwater. You can see the cliff in the background on the other side of the lake. The bottom of that is the water line when it’s full. The 4th pic is the main lake, looking west. You can kinda see where the water line is. You can definitely see how much stuff is going to be underwater if the water is ever let in again. I can see many muskie being caught if that ever happens. I was told there is a slight chance that there may be some water put in this fall or next spring, so hopefully that wish comes true. If they have a significant amount of water ever come in, you can bet that’ll be the only lake I’ll be fishing for quite some time. That’s the word for now……..

but thanks for the pics, that was darn nice of you!

Sad!! Lets hope it keeps snowing in Wyoming and maybe things will start to turn around this next year!!!

Ben,
Your post reminds me….I forgot to mention in the above report that I also went down to the diversion, where the water returns back to the Platte, and the water was going FULL BORE through the gates there! I mean, the river was high and everything. Why isn’t some of that water at least going somewhere else……like Elwood??!?!? These guys at Central just make no sense to me sometimes.

Hey Brian & Greg –
If the ice sets up at Elwood, I would like to try and get over there and do some ice fishing. Anyone interested?

If we get some good ice this year I might have to join you guys down there.

Guys,
Ice fishing at Elwood would HAVE to be awesome, I would think!! I’ve always wanted to do it, but for some reason that lake never really gets good ice, that I’ve seen anyway. But I’m gonna keep an eye on it, because I got the 3 wheeler fired and ready to go! I’m in, let’s do it!

10lb wipers and ice – a dangerous combination!!!!

I’m in!

Chad,

When can you come down and build my shanty for me?
I still haven’t built that floor yet. Gonna get started on it soon. I would think Elwood would be killer thru the ice. Just a matter of where to start looking for the fish! Brian knows the lake better than I do but where I would start would be one long walk.

I can probably come down in December sometime and help you build the floor on your shanty. I have a few places in mind to try at Elwood also. If the ice was safe enough, Brian could give us all rides on his 3 wheeler and pull the equipment . If the ground is frozen, Is it possible to drive around the edge of the lake with a 3 or 4 wheeler? We have done that before at rathbun in Iowa. Do you know anyone with land around Elwood that would let us drive to the coves?

I suppose you guys just for got bout me huh? I have a 3-wheeler as well but i dunno i9f it can haul any of gregs stuff, it mayu be too loaded down with all mine…

Yes brian after seeing all your e-mails, i finally signed up… b2ring on the ice.

Hey Man! What do you mean by ALL GREG”S stuff? You trying to tell me something Dane? I only got 1 rod, a small tackle box, auger, 1 tip-up, a shanty w/o a floor, and a really small sled!

That really isn’t enough is it? I better get some more things bought so I can be a real ICE fisherman!

Chad,

I think I will be able to get it done. Just need to quit being so lazy on the weekends and just do it. I do need to find that parts list you sent me though. I printed it off and put it somewhere and cna’t seem to find it now! I think I might start getting the stuff for it in a couple weeks. If I can’t find it, I might need you to send it to me again. I’ll keep you posted.

Hey Dane! Glad to see you made it over!

My wheeler is a 110, but it does all right. I’m real curious to see how it would do on ice, so if it gets cold enough, hopefully we’ll find out!

Hey Brian hate to put a damper on your 3-wheeler, but you better check. I don’t think they let motorized vehicles on the ice at Elwood?!?
Fished the bank opposite the ramp a week ago. Big “0”. Found a couple of lures and lost one. Also had my biggest find at Elwood. A 7.5hp motor in the mud. Looks like someone lost it early this year. Had no way to get it to the boat ramp. Would like to hear the story on how it got there!!

The book I got says they are allowed on Elwood. That could be outdated but I haven’t heard of any new changes the last couple of years.

Better check though to be sure!

i just got a big red 250. it should be able to haul some stuff, if the fishing is slow, we can chase greg around on the ice or sumthing lmao j/k greg

But on a more serious note, greg, you, brian and i are goin to have to take a trip to the refuge this year sometime..

I’m game!!!!!!!!!!!! Just need ICE!

I just think I got that bad case of JIG-A-NITIS!

Quote:

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if the fishing is slow, we can chase greg around on the ice or sumthing

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Hell, you guys can fish, and I’ll just chase him around!

well if you are on ur three wheeler and greg is running, i may finally have a chance to catch some fish

You guys kill me! Well lets see here, you all got vexilars now and I am still going to out fish you!

You guys won’t have time to try and chase me ! You’ll be to busy trying to figure out what the #*!@ I got on the end of my line!

Talked to my CNPPID source today and he said that they put cobblestone down on the boat ramp, but that’s about all he knew. They are currently putting a bunch of rock under the concrete of the dam too, because with the water down this low and a south wind, it’s creating an “engineering nightmare”, as he put it. I don’t doubt it. It’s washing away from the bottom of the dam big time. I might have to head over there next week to see if you can get a boat in or not. Cuz if you can…..you know where I’ll be!!!

Was over at Elwood the other day (like Mon I think it was?) and looked at the ramp….it doesn’t look good at all. Someone put the rock down there just so you could get in a small duck boat or something. There were two boats in the water near the ramp, one of them was a duck boat, so I imagine that was the motive. The rock only goes into the water about a foot, maybe less. Where the rock is on the ramp, it looks real sketchy…I didn’t even put my truck on it because I was afraid it might sink in. So I didn’t want any part of that! I think it would be great to get something done on the boat ramp while the water is down, but I think the chances of that are about a million or more to one. Like Daryl always says, you can only chase water downhill so much. That’s the word for now….

Little story. A long time ago Elwood froze up early. Because of a hard freeze. And stayed that way thru the winter. It was a very cold winter. So me and a friend decided to ice fish Elwood. So I got there and drilled a hole and no water. So I got on my knees and looked in the hole and it looked like about 3 feet to water. So I tip-toe off that lake and never returned. (Moral of the story) Elwood has lake seapage and it would have been a long way up above the water if I fell in. My 2 cents! For what it’s worth.

That does sound a little scary to me, and I can definitely believe that happening over there.