when road to Paulina is clear

[FishTy]

what iis genereallythe earlyest a person can drive up to Paulina?
I know I've been up there early before just can't remember when it was?
there was snow and ice on the lake and a little CHILLY!

[fish-on-bend]

There is a gate at the 10 mile marker that remains closed except for employees and deliveries until just before the opener.

[FishTy]

ya, i couldn't remeber when the time of the year that I was up there!
must of been in May!

We did good up there, when we went.. there were still chunks of ICE floating around hanging our lures up.. but last year seemed like the koke population just wasn't as good as I remembered! Still some big browns thou!

I'll be @ odell for the opener then maybe get up there after that I guess!
just thought if it opened sooner might go up there first!

[Last Cast King]

The road is normally plowed sometime in the week before opening day, you can call the resort they usually know when it will be open. Paulina is my favorite opening day lake but it does get cold up there in early spring. Last time I was up there for opening day I went down to the docks in the morning only to find the docks surrounded by 1/2"-1" thick ice, I ended up having to use my billy club to break up the thickest ice around my boat. Another opening day I went down and found my boat covered in a little over half a foot of snow. Springtime weather there can be unpredictable as well, I've experienced rain, snow, hail, and sunshine all within an hour up there before.

[fish-on-bend]

:yeahthat: Back in the early 90's when Paulina opened the 3rd Sat in May instead of April I drove there from Nevada for the opener. They got a couple feet of snow a few days before the opener and you couldn't tow a trailer up there. We had to camp at Prairie at the 3 mile mark. Next morning was the opener and they got another foot over night and I was 1 of 3 boats to launch. I had a car topper and pulled a truck out of the ditch on the way up there. One of the other 3 rigs up there happened to be from my small Nevada town. I guess if you drive 450 miles you're gonna fish. The coldest I've ever been in my life was fishing in that car topper a couple years later when we lived here up at Paulina in May.
Sorry to sugar coat all this.