Ice Fishing Mud Creek, Strawberry Reservoir 12-27-19

Parker and I wanted to get some time on the ice together so we loaded up last Friday and headed to Strawberry Reservoir where we fished Mud Creek Bay. We weren't alone!

We loaded the SnowDog into the Fish Steeler Ice trailer and made it to the lake by 9am not an early trip, we may have missed the morning bite, but we accomplished what we wanted to. We got our machines on the ice and everything worked great. Parker is loving his SnowDog.

We set camp on the south side of the bay since the northside was packed with tents. We cut holes in 8 feet of water and set the tent. Parker put his flasher and camera in the hole and we waited, and waited and waited. We changed tactics colors baits many times. Parker couldn't stand it any longer and went on a search for better water. He went out of the bay and ended up about 200 yards south along the shoreline. I patiently waited for his return hoping he would find some fish.

About an hour later he returned to report that he hadn't found a good spot to move to. In the meantime, I had seen a dozen or so fish swim in and out of the holes and turn their noses up to my offerings. I quickly switched poles and baits trying to lure them into hitting my hook. Nothing was persuading them. After Parker returned we fished for another hour or so and finally, another fish swam into the holes. It swam up to Parker's bait and nudged it but didn't take it in and then instantly turned and engulfed my hook. I quickly set the hook and brought the cutthroat to the surface.

We fished for another hour and didn't see another fish swim through. We tried other spots nearby and saw nothing in the camera or on the flasher. We loaded up our gear and talked to a few other camps and they were having the same outcome. We finished the day off with a Strawberry Bay Marina Burger which made the day all the better.

Fishing Small Stream for Rainbows

Work has been a bear lately and keeping me from focusing on the right things. Saturday however I took a couple hours and went to the mountains and fished a small stream I hadn't fished in years.

I fished multiple pools and finally found one right on the side of the road that paid off. I used my favorite little jerk bait and a couple old go to's as well. Nothing big, but a lot of fun to get out and fish after a couple weeks in the trenches.

I jinxed myself talking about the plight of another angler losing his gear on a log I was fishing over and tossed my lure into a tree across the river. Not one to lose a lure, I went after it. It took me a few minutes to retrieve it but I got it back and learned why I couldn't get off the branch. There was a fly set up on the same little branch and a lot of fishing line that actually hooked my lure.

The water was crystal clear and I could see the fish flash when they hit and the one that wouldn't take the bait. It looked to be a bit bigger than the ones I had gotten to the bank, but you can't tell from the bank. I will return and see if I can get it to hit.

I may have to go back to being retired!

Fishing Lower Provo River 11-21-18

I spent the evening on the Lower Provo River with Shifty. The morning we woke to was an early winter morning and stormy so we decided to wait it out. The afternoon proved to be very nice so we decided to hit the lower sections and see what if anything we could hook up.

We arrived around 3 pm and the sunset is 5:30 pm so we knew we had to move fast to locate fish in the short window. We did just that we started out at Paul Ream park and quickly discovered the river level had dropped significantly from my Monday session here. We made multiple casts in areas that produced on Monday only to find leaves on our hooks. That was the story of the evening more leaves than we could count, it seemed that every cast we had leaves on our lures.

We quickly moved from here to a lower section of the river with deeper runs. When we arrived we were happy to see deeper pools but still very low water levels. We moved quickly through the sections and lost a couple lures along the way. I didn't lose my lucky lure.

I finally hooked up on a decent Brwon trout late in the evening, Shifty had landed two brown trout by then as well. We fished until we couldn't see our lures fly through the air. I hooked up one last time only to have it throw the hook right as I was bringing it up to release it. Another small brown trout.

The evening was great, catching was slow but the fishing was great. Until next time keep smiling.

Fishing the Lower Provo-Paul Ream Park 11-18-19

Monday morning I texted Shifty to see if he was going out and he had other obligations. I decided not to lose the morning and go fish the river. I saw on the map a section of the lower Provo river that I had not fished before with easy public access and went for it.

I got on the water around 10:30 and figured to stay until noon. Staying on the bank and tossing my new favorite Brown trout bait. I put a couple other lures in a small box and went to the bank. Three casts later and I was hooked up with a small Brown trout. A few more casts in that hole produced nothing so I moved.

Moving was the key for the morning. I moved several times some holes produced and some didn't. The second hole, however, produced the biggest Brown trout of the day. Nice fat 15 inches with great colors. I got it back in the water quickly.

Moving along the bank going under one of the bridges proved to be good as well and I caught another quickly. I turned around and headed back upriver. Crossing the river on via the bridge and I saw deeper pockets along the bank and knew there had to be fish in them. I tossed the jerkbait across the river and let it float downstream for a bit and brought back up through deeper pockets and sure enough, the tug happened and another nice brown was online. It tried a couple other lures just to see if they would produce anything but they didn't. I crossed back over the river and moved further upstream and tried my luck. I spooked a few and didn't get another fish.

I lost my lure! I attempted one more cast and the lure got hung up on a sunken branch. I tried everything to free it. I even thought about wading out after it but thought better of it. I marked the spot and made sure I knew where it was located. I pulled the line tight and it snapped off. This morning I went back with my waders and found it!!

Fishing - Lures at Cleveland Reservoir 11-15-19

Friday Jim and I went to Cleveland Reservoir. Thursday was a stressful day in the office and I didn't get out with Shifty due to work and Jim and I needed to get away from it. So we headed south to Fairview Canyon. One of my favorite places in the state. We got off late due to the fact we had meetings in the morning with a consultant all the more reason we needed to get out of town. We hit the road around 9:30.

First Ice Mirror Lake 11-07-19

First ice! The earliest ice we have ever hit. Shifty and I hit the road at 5:15 am and made our way to the Mirror Lake highway. We drove up through the canyon noticing the temperature as we approached Mirror Lake and were getting a little skeptical and seeing very little snow on the slopes gave us more reason to question the ice condition. We drove into the parking lot and on the way in found some hard ice on the road, that gave us a better feeling. We pulled down the boat ramp and unloaded our gear. Noticing a number of holes that had been cut by other fishers.

Twitching on the Provo River 10-31-2019

Thursday was another fish day with Shifty. He wanted to fish the river, he had watched a video about using a spinner and the guy caught quite a few in a stretch he hadn't fished before. We got on the river around 10:30 and it was still a freezing 19 degrees. Inside the canyon walls where the sun hadn't yet reached the wind was mild but very brisk. He donned his hip-waders, I put on my muck boots. I wasn't getting very deep into the river today.

Jerkbaits on the Provo 10-23-19

Sorry I haven't posted any reports lately. Been in a funk about what I want to do with the blog. Anyhow, I am trying to post short videos of our experiences and will tag them with a short post of the outing as well.

So here we go, today I went solo really just to see how the point of view angle looks. I use Contour sport cams mainly while filming and adapted a hat clip to hold it in place for filming. Personally, I don't care for the chest mount of the GoPro's when I'm watching videos with too much interference from all the arm and hand movements. I like the quality of the Contour camera's but they lack some of the main features that GoPro's provide so there is the trade-off.

Today I went to the lower-lower section of the Provo River, I have been watching Fishfearme Studios lately and really enjoying his short content videos on my old stomping grounds. I grew up fishing the areas he goes to and I had forgotten how much fun they are.  I have also been watching 801Outdoors and like how he does little to no narration and just lets you enjoy the adventure and make your own interpretations of his experiences.

On this trip, I tried the non-narrative approach and just filmed the experience. I caught a few small brown trout in the short section I fished and enjoyed my time on the river. I used a jerk bait technique I watched on Fishfearme and did okay with it. I wish I had bought a few more of the Hardcore Minnows when I did buy them because now I can't find them anywhere and it doesn't look as though they make the color schemes any longer. Go figure I have a crankbait that is a go-to that is no longer made either.

The browns are running and staging behind the reds right now so I stayed completely out of the water so as not to disturb anything. I was skeptical at my prospects but the week earlier I had gone to the "Lower section" of the river and tried the same thing and got a few browns as well. I just didn't know how the lower-lower section fish would react to the jerk bait technique, but it worked well.

I hope you enjoy the video and story method of my reports.

Deer Creek Trolling with Jim

Tuesday last week Jim and I hit Deer Creek for a troll in the Fish Steeler.  We got off late due to a meeting I had but we still got on the water by 9:00.  I wanted to try out some different tactics in catching so no worms today just trolling hard baits.

We started trolling right off the dock and went toward the dam along the roadside. We started with a spoon and kastmaster behind the popgear.  I got hit not too long into the troll on the spoon but that was it for a while. We changed up lures, depth, colors, and speed trying to entice them to hit but nothing was working. I finally got hit and landed the first Rainbow of the day on a kastmaster at 30 feet deep. Then another long spell without another hit.

We returned to the dock and went into Snow's Marina still looking for another hit. This time Jim got the hit on a Jake's at 25 feet deep. We continued to work through Snow's and back out. By now it was early afternoon and the wind had kicked up on the main body so we turned back around into Snow's but could not get another hit.

It was a beautiful fall day but my idea of running hard baits only backfired on us. We didn't get skunked though.

Evening Bite at Strawberry

Wednesday night Joe and LeeAnn, crazy to think it has been a couple years since we have been out. We pulled into Renegade launch ramp at 4:30 pm and were fishing by 5:00 pm. I started LeeAnn out with popgear and spoon and setup Joe with popgear and kastmaster. I threw out a husky jerk and ran it out about 200 feet.

LeeAnn was the first to hook up for the evening, low and behold I went to net it and got the hook in the net and the fish popped off. Sorry, LeeAnn!  However it wasn't but a couple minutes and she had the second fish hooked up, I landed this one.  A little cutthroat but it filled the quota with fins and gills.

Joe got on the board next with another little cutthroat trout. We found the nursery. LeeAnn landed a couple more small cutthroat on the spoon. Joe got a couple more and one decent cutthroat. I finally got on the board after I changed out to a ghost jerk bait. We arrived where I wanted to start throwing crankbaits. On the reel in I got another cutthroat on the ghost.

We started throwing cranks in about 60 feet of water. I put Joe on the White Bomber and LeeAnn on the Blue Shad that had been hot the week before. I put on the Bruiser Bandit I got a fish after a number of casts. Joe hooked up on the second cast. LeeAnn cast many times and didn't get a hit. I changed her out and I changed out as well. I put on a Bone Orange Bandit and got a couple more decent cutthroat.

 

We changed depths, colors, and styles of lures trying to get more hits. The hit wasn't as fast and furious as it was last week. The sun was dropping on the horizon the wind was whipping as it had been all evening, but we decided to head in. On the way in we trolled, Joe and LeeAnn landed a few more cutthroat on the way in. Joe landed the last nice sized cutthroat. We loaded as dusk set in and headed for home. We got 20-25 fish for the evening so it was good for a couple hours on the lake.

Cutthroats on Cranks - Strawberry

Shifty and I made our annual softwater trip to Strawberry Reservoir this week.  Funny thing it was almost the exact same date last year, nope we didn't plan it that way we just know the Cutthroat trout are getting hungry right now. We arrived at Renegade launch just before sunrise and the lake was covered in a layer of fog. We took notice of the temperature at 30 degrees, chilly for this time of the year but it was expected due to the fact we had snow in the mountains over the past couple days.

                                                       

 

We launched and I started trolling immediately with popgear and a spoon. Put out three colors and set the drag. Shifty was running a dodger and squid. It wasn't but a couple minutes and the first hit on the spoon happened. I grabbed the pole and started reeling, it didn't feel like I had a fish on until the fish saw the boat and started to fight. Landed that one got a quick pic and released it. Set the pole out to the same depth and set the drag and again in a couple minutes had my second fish to the boat. Another pic and reset and the third Cutthroat trout took the spoon. By this time Shifty was getting anxious and traded out to a lucky craft jerkbait. He was just setting his line with and I got my fourth Cutthroat online and he set his drag to help me land my fish and his pole got a hit, only out about 10 yards from the boat and ontop, we both took note of that. I lost mine to an LDR but Shifty got his fish to the boat for his first Cutthroat of the day.

Noting that his fish hit the bait shallow I traded out to one of my favorite jerkbait on light line. Light line trolling is a fun way to catch fish the battle is epic at times. Running shallow about 6 feet in depth I set the drag and put my pole in the holder. It didn't take long for the Cutthroat to start hitting the Purple Sunfire. I got three more Cutthroat in a short period of time. Shifty landed a couple as well.

I tried a lure that I painted to match the scheme of the tube jigs we use in the late fall bite. Trolling it behind the boat. This wasn't productive at all, but Shifty was getting hit either. Shifty wanted to go into the flats and try casting since trolling had cooled off. I agreed and we made our way into the bay and put the boat in anchor mode. We both put on crankbaits and started casting. It didn't take long for Shifty to hook up with his gilly pattern on a cutthroat. He was happy to see his Berkley bait catch a trout.

We continued to throw all sorts of crankbaits, catching numerous cutthroat on each bait we tied on. I had a blast catching the cutthroat on my Bandits and Bombers and Shifty on his lipless Berkleys as well. Shifty came up with an idea that I knew better to partake in but I did anyway since I was getting fish about every other cast.

 
 

The Rainbow challenge. I hooked up and lost what looked like two Rainbow trout on my crankbaits. Shifty decided we need to make things more interesting. He said the first to land a Rainbow trout would win $5 from the other. Again I knew better since I suck at betting on anything, but I went for it thinking I would have a chance. I did hook up with we thought was a Rainbow trout but then lost it at the boat and then I got another hit but it was a good-sized Cutthroat. Shifty put on a spoon that he found buried in the deep dark crevices of his tackle box. We fished for about a half-hour before he got a hit. A nice fighting, jumping RAINBOW! All I could think was S---! he caught the fish and I had to give him $5. It was a decent Rainbow trout.

                                                                     

We fished for a while longer moving to new areas and trying different lures after catching one or two Cutthroat on each one. It was an epic day on the Berry. Catching well over 75 fish combined our backs were tired, our hands were cramping and our forearms were blasted. We managed probably 20 decent sized Cutthroat and ONE rainbow. We headed for the dock happy with our results for the day. At the dock we talked to another fisher that hadn't had quite the day we did. We told him don't do what we did and I showed him what I used to catch them with, other than a couple spoons all the rest were crankbaits. We finished the day off with a late lunch at Chick's in Heber and relished in our accomplishments of the day.