Ice Fishing in the Uinta Basin

Thursday Parker and I got to go out on the ice together.  A rare occasion these days, he is neck deep in life right now finishing his PhD in Chemistry at BYU, working a full time job on the weekends, two kids and a wife, that is understanding of his need for retreats.

We fished a lake that we know has Large Mouth, Small Mouth Bass, Perch, and huge Trout.  The trip out was eventful going over Daniel's and Strawberry Basin but we made it unscathed. Got to the lake at 7:00 am and on the water quickly after to get the tent set since Parker realized when he looked for his clothes he left them in his car at home. Tent was needed fast. We walked out about 5 yards from the ramp and set up camp. Cut a fast hole to see how deep of water we were in and we perfect 15 feet.

Texan on Strawberry Ice Fishin'

Took Chris and his neighbor Martin to Strawberry. Martin from the UK had never been ice fishing in fact this was his second time fishing ever. Made for a fun morning. We set camp in the marina bay and started with the usual paddle bugs and bait.  I hooked up a nice big cutthroat within minutes. Fought it to the top of the hole where it finally released itself, big body had a hard time getting it to the surface through the 10 inch hole.  Chris got into another but as you see in the video he didn't get through the hole.  The rest the morning we didn't get another hit! We changed up everything moved around different depths.

Guess we need some "money" holes! The propane auger road its last trip with me though. The throttle broke and then would not start, so I rented an electric auger from the store and fell in love with it. Will be buying an electric auger soon. We cut the rest of the holes that day with the electric, quick clean and silent! No pulling your shoulder out of socket to get things running.

Ice Fishing Settlement Canyon Reservoir

Fished this res for the first time on ice Monday.  The access to the reservoir is great just a mile up the canyon out of Tooele. Tooele only being hour from home made for an easy ride.  The access to the water wasn't bad and would have been easier had there been snow on the trail had to drag over the gravel most of the way. The ice was solid a good eight inches of good ice.  There had been a lot of action over the weekend from all the holes that were cut. This was right at the dam, a few yards either direction you had untouched ice. Being alone and first time on the water I played it safe and stayed inside the boundary of the old holes. I cut two quick holes and placed the flasher in one and seen fish immediately. Dropped down a jig and bait and got nothing. Stayed there for a bit and then moved toward the dam. I set up directly over the pipe that takes water out. Again seen fish immediately and was still in about 30 feet of water the fish were on the bottom.

Within seconds I started getting hits. They were very lite and without indicators you wouldn't have seen them. I finally got one by the lip, a small Tiger Trout. Released it and set the hook on another Tiger and then finally got a decent sized Tiger to the top but nothing worth keeping. After those three though it was chub city. The tiger trout were hitting wax worms and shrimp the chub were all about the wax worms. I did my civic duty and removed a few chub from the water but got tired of only catching the chub. I packed it in and went back to the truck where I met up with Jake and talked fishing with him for a bit. He told me a guy had landed a three pound tiger earlier in the season, that wasn't the case today but the action was fast and I did get a few fish and some bait for the cooler.  Sad day though I had to say goodbye to one of rods toady it finally gave it's last effort, it was old though.

Texan's on Ice at Rockport

Saturday morning I met up with Chris and his son Tyler for an ice fishing trip to Rockport.  I fished there Friday and did okay in the early afternoon, I thought it would be a good way to get them on fish quickly.  6 am pick up at the Sportsman in Heber and we were on our way.  Getting to the lake the edges were good and we parked in the ramp making it very easy to get on the lake. We went back out to the buoy I was at Friday.  Mac, Gary and Tom were already there and set up catching fish.

Rockport Ice Fishing, quick afternoon

Today woke up and felt like crud, but as the day progressed got feeling a little better.  So I did the most logical thing I could think, go fish! The valley is socked in with inversion and the mountains are clear.  So I drove to Jordanelle to check on it's ice situation, the marina bay is frozen over but I wouldn't make the hike down to see if it was safe. They plowed a berm at the ramp and it is easily 4 feet of untracked snow to the lake. I decided to see how Rockport was looking. Got there and the lake is extremely low still with the river exposed past Cottonwood Campground but ice was on the lake. Drove around to the marina and there were a few camps on the water and the ramp was plowed. Got on the water around 1 pm and started fishing with a pink jig and then put in a white paddle and fire tiger fly with shrimp.  Five minutes later I had my first fish on the deck.  I was thinking great afternoon to be on the lake. I fished for a little over an hour and got my limit.  Nothing big but the action was fast and fun. Had to pack up early after my misses asked me on a date. Head back up in the morning.

Echo Ice Fishing.....Did you hear that...

Friday morning Parker and Aaron "Elder Blatter" met me at my place and we loaded up the morning.  Aaron needed to be home early so we had to make a quick run up to Echo where Parker had been Wednesday morning and slayed the Rainbow trout.  Echo is a small reservoir at the confluence of Parley's and Weber canyon.  It has brown and rainbow trout and sometimes cutthroat, along with a good variety of panfish and catfish.  The marina is privately owned and generally expensive to use in the summer. Without going down very steep banks it's the only place to enter the lake. Winter it is closed up tight with a small gate opening to access the ramp.

Strawberry on Ice

Thursday morning met up with Mac and Jaxon at 5:30.  We drove up the canyon to Heber and stopped at One Stop for our morning breakfast sandwich and chocolate milk.  Jaxon had a little fun with Shifty, he was there in his routine. We left and arrived at Strawberry Bay Marina at sunrise. We fished east of the lodge in the marina bay. The fog burned off with the morning sun. It was a bluebird day.  Starting out at -3 and getting up to 16 degrees by the time we left, we didn't set a tent since there was no wind.