Strawberry Mud Creek Ice Fishing 12-29-18

Last fish of the year. Met up with Jim and Josh at Harmon's and went to Strawberry.  We got on the ice by 8:15 and had camp set 8:30. We were in Mud Creek and the ice varied from 6 - 10 inches depending on where you set up at.  We drilled holes on the north bank of the draw in about 40 feet of water.

 

 

Texan at Scofield

Thursday our coworker Josh flew in form Dallas to hunt a late Elk draw with Jim. We decided to also introduce him to ice fishing. We met up at 7 and headed South for Scofield. Arriving at the ramp at 8:30, we made our way to the spot where we had good luck earlier.

Saturday on Ice at Scofield

Saturday we took to the road and drove to Scofield, one of my favorite places in the state. I grew up fishing this lake with friends that became my family. We would start the season off with opening weekend camping out on the banks of Fish Creek that flows into Scofield. The Marrott family would take me and my brother with them for opening weekend and we would have a blast catching huge fish.

Opening Day, Day 2!

Day 2 was the actual opener for Sundance Mountain Resort and my second day on skis. I got there a little after opening and found the lots full. The entire mountain was open and as I learned there were people waiting in line since midnight to get first chair, glad I slept in a little. When I got to my parking stall I waved at a good friend, Dana Cram, that helps run Sundance.

Skiing Day 1, Yes!

I finally got back in my element this past week.  "Thursday Turns", was a great half day to start back on the mountain. Sundance opened its lifts to season pass holders for the afternoon to get in training and kinks worked out. I took full advantage of the afternoon. I picked up my new DPS skis from Level 9 Sports in Orem and headed to the mountain.

Upon arriving I found the lower parking lot full and headed to t the upper lot. Ray's lift was the only one running that afternoon. Having not been on skis for three seasons it was alright with me. I needed to keep my ego in check. The DPS skis with their new Phantom Wax applied proved to be very quick. Reminding of the sledding scene in Nat'l Lampoons Christmas and Chevy racing down the hill....lol. After the first run I was little more confident in new fond speed and controlled the edges a little better. Riding new boots as well and getting used to their flex and control I buckled down on the second run and gained a little more edge set.

Third run got better and and better as the runs went.  The DPS skis are more powder skis and washed out on me when setting the edge on the hard surface of early snow.  My legs noodled on me after a few runs.  I figured this would be the case hence why I bought the season passes.

For a first day on the mountain I was pleased with my purchases. The ride is going to incredible as the season gets better snow and I gain more control in the boots.

Cleveland on Ice

Parker and I hit Cleveland Lake on Huntington Highway Wednesday. We drove down to the lake's edge and unloaded our gear and walk out onto 5 - 6 inches of clear ice. Both of us forgot our cleats so we shuffled our way to a spot Parker had saved on his GPS. We cut holes and dropped lines. The first stop was only 8 feet deep and nothing showing on the flashers. Parker moved out and found some 10 foot depth. He dropped his line in and got a hit within seconds.

I picked up and moved out deeper with him. He caught the next fish that hit. A nice sized rainbow trout. Cleveland is known for producing big fish for it's elevation. I stayed and fished this spot the rest of the day. We had the entire lake to ourselves until about 10 and another angler dropped into the dam and fished for a while.

Parker in the meantime went on a walkabout to find faster action. He walked the entire lake and found the deepest water to be 16 feet. Yes the lake is extremely low. The ice talked to us all day as it cracked and moaned as the sun rose higher in the sky.

I stayed and caught 2 fish while he was walking around and cutting holes. I started off with a nice rainbow trout as well, next thru the hole was a cutthroat trout. While Parker was searching he also had the auger and the worms, so the science teacher came out in me and I dissected my catches to see what they were eating. First was Parker's rainbow it had a small fry in its mouth and I reeled up and put that on the hook. 30 seconds later I had my third fish on the line only to have the fish drive the hook into the edge of the hole and swim away. So I proceeded to gut each of the fish. I found small green crayfish in the cutthroat's belly. Yep I put that on the hook and fished it for a good amount of time and got nothing. But I did have some plastic that looked just like it. I rigged it up and sure enough I started getting hits.

Parker in the meantime had made his way back to where we started and put on some green tungsten and meal worm and he caught 3 fish quite quickly. I caught a couple more fish on the green plastic as well. We ended up with 8 nice fish on the deck. The best action was late morning and early afternoon. It was a good day on the ice.

Ice Fishing Butterfly Lake

Saturday morning found us driving up Mirror Lake highway and searching for ice. We found lots and decided to fish Butterfly Lake. We unloaded and got on the ice by 7:30 and it was already snowing.

 

 

Parker got on the ice first and a hole cut before I got out there. He had the flasher in and a line down and was getting hits. After he missed two solid hooks we decided to put the tent up. We got everything in its place and started fishing. Parker was on fire! He had 6 on the deck before I got my pole set up and in the water.

 

We fished the morning away and caught a trifecta of species with rainbows a plenty and tigers too and a couple cutthroat. All in all we caught 80 total with Parker leading the way. We had plenty of double ups.  Action was quick and plentiful the flashers were going crazy with all the fish coming in and out of the cone.

 

The fish weren't huge, a number of them in the 15 inch range and the majority in the 12 inch range. The tug was real and that's what we needed. We needed to be absorbed in the moment and catch as many fish as we could. The snow was coming down hard and we decided we better hit the road to get back across the pass to get home. We pulled stakes at noon and made our way home. We stopped at a new joint in the canyon called The Notch, we will return to this establishment. Good food, good atmosphere, good service.

The fishing was a blast a memory that will last.

#marcumtechnologies, #eskimoicefishing, #mrheater

First Ice!

Parker and I needed to get away and relax for a bit so we went on a scouting trip for ice covered lakes. We found them, Fairview canyon lakes are solid. We ventured out on Mammoth first, but decided not to cut through there and went to a small pond in the EL drainage that we fished last year. This year we were out a month earlier than last. I think this is the earliest we have ever cut holes. The lake was solid with 4 inches of ice and when we broke through the water that came out immediately froze on the surface, yes it was cold.

Parker was the first to get hits and first to ice a fish for the 18-19 season. It was a rainbow not much size but it counted. He continued to deck fish for the two and half hours we had to fish. He ended up with 8 rainbow decked and a handful of misses. His last two were decent sized and they had good colors.

I finally got one decked and it turned out to be the big fish of the day. A nice rainbow trout. I was freezing by the time I got one decked. Not thinking we would even see ice let alone enough to walk on, I didn't dress that well in the shoe department. As I was walking off the pond Parker caught his 8th rainbow.

We thought, had we had, some live grubs we might have been able to catch more, but we also felt quite accomplished catching as many as we did in such a short time. We packed up and went home to Harrison's Bday party and had a great family party!! We had perma grin from our morning's outing.

A Little Rain Don't Bother Fish

Starvation, No. Deer Creek, Yes. Thursday pulling out of the garage and it starts raining. I pick up Shifty and we head East. As we topped out on the summit we could see slivers of blue sky and we drove on. We arrived at Starvation at sunrise and the views were spectacular. However the wind was howling and swells were in the 3-4 foot range, so we decided not to fight them. We headed for the front, passing thru Strawberry and the wind had it swelling and white capping, we got to Heber and the rain and snow mixture was still happening. Deciding to go to see how Deer Creek looked, we were excited to see glass. The rain was coming down consistently but not hard and the lake was glass and it stayed that way until 4 pm.

We launched at 9:30 and started up Wallsburg leg, got nothing. We pulled up the trolling motor and headed for the cliffs, we trolled it and got nothing and went thru island bay and over to white rocks changing from 1.5 to 2.0 mph and still nothing. Shifty had to get in a few cast for bass and that resulted in, nothing! We fished for hours and didn't so much as get a sniff.

We pulled down into the Island bay and I decided to go straight out to the point, but this time we were going to cruise at 2.5 mph something I don't do often, if at all, but we had to change up something and the only thing we hadn't done is jump our speed up. We started this path at 1:00 by 1:30 we had a limit of 8 Rainbow trout to the boat.

We ended up with 18 Rainbow trout in the boat and the kicker bonus of a nice Walleye in the boat. We missed or LDR'd another 10 or more fish. For 3 hours we were on fire and the action was fun. Lesson of the day, change to something totally outside of the norm to make them hit.

More Strawberry Cutty's and Bows

Fishing Strawberry Reservoir in the fall is a blast the big fish come up and hit like trucks.  Today was just that. We threw jigs, cranks and lipless at them ans got fish on all types of lures.  We started out in the meadows and got into a couple right off.

Jordanelle Browns and Smallies

Last month we hit Jordanelle going for brown trout and bows. Jim and Brandon joined me on the Fish Steeler. We arrived at sunrise and were trolling before the sun was above the horizon. We were running the small dock lane that has always been a good producer for us during fall fishing.

Pitching Tube Jigs at The Berry

A couple weeks ago Shifty and I went to Strawberry to fish for the large Cutthroat Trout that start running the shallows and weed lines in the fall.  We got on the lake about 7:00 am, sunrise.  We were on the Barnacle, Shifty's boat, which as the day progressed I was happy he was at the helm. We made our way back into the meadows area of Strawberry, we were the only boat to begin with.  Later in the morning the bay became dotted with many other boats.