Open Water Fishing

Saturday, March 7, 2015 Might be the earliest we have launched on the upper lakes of northern Utah. We did though and we had a great day, a needed day, a Bluebird day on the pond. Parker and I made tracks for one of our favorite ponds at 5 am and went through Heber picked up some breakfast and bait and was at the lake by 7:30 am after filling up the boat and truck. Stopped in the parking lot took care of some needed business and talked to the park ranger for a few minutes about what had been happening on the lake and what was happening today. On the south end of the lake they were having their annual "Eagles on ICE" demonstration, where the local fish and game show how eagles, hawks and owls work in the ecosystem. This is supposed to take place on the ice and the eagles and other raptors swoop in and eat dead carcasses on the ice, they improvised today and placed them on the floating dock decks.

We left the ranger and launched the boat. It started right up after a short winter hibernation. We took out of the marina and went to the dam to see if we could find some fish. On the way we encountered skim ice and floating debris throughout the lake. Cruising along we managed to hit one of the floating trees that was submerged, not to happy about the pin striping it left on the Fish Steeler! We also had to break trail through some skim ice and that was a new experience sounded like it was tearing the side off the boat, but we made it to the dam and rigged up for the first troll of the year. Using red blades I got the first hit of the year but it took me into the rocks and almost lost my pop gear. We trolled the dam for three passes and decided to run the west bank to see what was there. Parker landed a carryover rainbow trout from the fall planting and started the year off for us.

We changed up lures and gear and bait for about an hour before getting anything else to take the hook. I was rummaging through the pop gear and seen a willow blade with green and for whatever reason it spoke to me. I rigged it up and put it in the water got it set at our beginning depth and no more than locking the reel I had a fish on. Small carryover rainbow trout, but still a fish we weren't skunked. We fished the rest of the morning in our favorite pattern on the lake. Parker switched out to a rainbow pop gear and kept the JoD on the other. The fishing got hot at 11 am and didn't turn off. After Parker set up his rainbow he had a hit that dang near took the rod out of the holder. It turned out to be a beautiful male rainbow trout, a small hook jaw on it and great colors. 21 inches and 2lbs it was a great start of the soft water season. We both hooped and hollered when that rainbow was in the net! We continued fishing and within the hour we had 7 fish in the well most of which were small carryovers, but we were surprised at the action, after such a slow early morning start. We had to head for the dock at 12:30 to get home for work. Along the way I hooked number 8 three times! The first two again small carryovers, one Parker went after with the net and missed it and flipped the hook, the second I got to the boat and a piece of drift wood ran under the line just enough for the fish to throw the hook again. Third time was definitely the charm! I set my reel after drifting out the measured distance and few seconds later the rod took a hard hit at first I thought I was snagged up in shallow water it hit so hard, but no it started to dance! I quickly grabbed it and felt the head shake and dive. I told Parker it’s a nice Brown! I kept fighting it, it was a fun fight with lots of head shakes and I was sure it was a brown. It surfaced and showed its silver sides and I was shocked to see a big brood female on the end of the line. She was in the net, onboard in a couple minutes. Again we were whooping and hollering over the size of her. Big shoulders and clean colors another 21 inch fish and 2.25lbs of filet for the grill.

We loaded the boat and cleaned the fish at the marina. Not before we got a few pictures on the stringer with the bookend rainbows closing off the lineup. Another ranger pulled up and talked to us for a bit and asked us how we did. We told him with smiles on of our day and he congratulated us on having a great day and went on to check for invasive species papers. We put our fillets in the cooler and headed for one of our favorite lunch stops in Kamas, Hi-Mountain Drug, deemed the best burger in Utah a few years back, still kicking out great burgers, fries and shakes. While waiting for our meal we struck up a conversation with the co-owner and started talking fishing and he was telling us where to fish the rivers and we told him what we had done at the lake that day. We also mentioned the idea of frequent diner cards for those of us that ate there frequently and he had already been toying with the idea, fingers crossed. After we ate we got in the red mule and took off needing to cover some miles quickly for home made it the house in good time and in time for him to log-in for work.

I went home and met up with Rogan and his wife at the house. I didn't know it but we were watching our granddaughter for a bit, and it turned out perfectly, we keep the fillets for Rogan they eat fish with diets and we enjoy bringing them home for them. I told Rogan we had some fresh fillets in the cooler for his family when he returned and he said "oooh smoked!" I quickly responded with a yes and told him they would be here when they returned.

I quickly cleaned up the truck and boat and got on the next task of smoking the trout. I cleaned the fillets and seasoned them with salt, pepper and fish seasoning. Got the smoker set up with pecan chips. Let them smoke and cook for 90 minutes. Right in time for their return from seeing our newest granddaughter at the hospital. Let them cool and put them in a ziplock. Rogan was very much appreciative he eats the fillets for lunch and needs something easy and quick for lunches at his job.

Overall the day turned out great, other than the pin striping on the Fish Steeler. A bluebird day on the lake that was glass all day and gave great reflection shots all day.