Saturday Parker and I loaded up and headed south to Scofield. The last time we visited Scofield we had the Snowmobile in tow and we had it again today in hopes of finding better conditions. I loaded up the trailer and picked Parker up at his new house in Springville. Makes for an easy run to any one of our favorite lakes in the Manti-La Sal Mountains. Today we got a late start but we were going to give the snowmobile its first true test and our Flip 3 tent. We stop at Creekside, got breakfast and hit the road.
Making it to the lake by 8:30 we ran into a lot of snow. The snow plow had the road to the scout camp blocked off and was going to be about a half hour and he wasn't clearing the ramp road. The ramp road was being cleared by a dozer that wasn't there yet. We drove around the reservoir looking at possibilities but couldn't find a suitable place to pull over with the truck and trailer. We found a turn around spot at the Scofield dumpsters and made our way back to Maddison Bay ramp. We pulled in as the snow plow was clearing the dumpster parking area and parked there. We found out that was a good choice, the ramp parking lot was knee deep in snow. We unloaded the trailer and readied the Skidoo and Eskimo tent for the ride to the ramp. The bulldozer had made one pass on the road and was working its way back as we were going to the ramp. We pulled into the ramp and saw the parking lot was buried and glad we decided to park where we did.
We headed down the ramp, onto the lake, turned left and immediately sunk in slush! We were halfway anticipating the slush but hoping we were wrong. As we drove around the lake I pointed out many areas where we could see slush pockets. The dam leg looked to be the most solid but there was also a load of people right there and no place to park. I slammed the throttle down and the Skidoo kicked out a rooster tail 10 feet long of slush and snow, burying the tent and as we found out filled the sled as well. I powered the snowmobile on and got to our spot. We took the cover off the sled and found the slushy mess inside. Parker asked where's the battery for the auger.....I looked at him and said it's in the black tote in the trailer....he looked at me and said: "So I should've looked in the tote before I put it back on the trailer." Hmmm, we were standing in shin-deep slush and ice cold water and no way to cut holes. Parker grabbed his pole acting like he was going to fish the slush water no matter what. I looked at him and said, "I don't think you will catch much." He said, "well I can go get the battery and you can wait here or you can go get it and I will wait here." I chose to go to get out of the slush. Firing the Skidoo up and turning it around, I went back to the truck. The Skidoo made light work of the slush and deep snow on the ramp, the 800 has plenty of power! I made quick time and returned within minutes. I got back to Parker and he had the tent set up and area halfway packed down inside the tent, at least enough so our feet wouldn't be sitting in freezing cold water. Parker cut a couple holes and we dropped lines!
10:00 am!! We finally put lines down at 10:00 am! Parker set his flasher and we both got taps quickly. Parker landed the first fish in minutes after putting lines down. I, on the other hand, was messing around with my new toy, a Marcum Ricon 5+ underwater video camera. I finally got it set up and missed the first two hits on my pole. We caught fish for a solid two hours having hits seconds after we set the bale on our reels. Nothing huge but a lot of fish. We caught rainbows and cutthroats. We had multiple double-ups. We only had Parker's two poles in the water, as we weren't wanting to move around a whole lot for fear of creating an ice bath in the tent. White was the ticket and a mealworm. In the two hours we fished, we got 30+ fish the action was fast and non-stop.
The new Ricon 5+ was a hoot to watch the fish come in and hit the bait. The white jig that was on Parker's pole I was using got the most hits and action but we caught fish on ice jigs as well. The camera was like playing a video game. We hooted and hollered as we watched the fish come in and slam the hooks. Laughing as we pulled each of them up out of view and then they would pop up through the hole. I'm sure the folks around us thought we were nuts, but we were having a blast.
The bite didn't quit, we decided to get off the lake as we watched the pools of slush get wetter as the sun heated the surface in the areas where we had run the Skidoo earlier. We have had too many instances in our fishing adventures that have ended badly with lake slush so we are very anxious and cautious when it comes to lake slush. We packed up at noon. I turned the Skidoo around and got it pointed the right direction and Parker hooked up the sled. We got on and hit the gas. That 800 Skidoo jumped out of the snow and raced us back to the ramp. We turned it up the ramp and it made the hill easily with the tent in tow. We flew past a couple guys trudging up the ramp with there gear in tow, probably should have unhooked and helped them out but we didn't, sorry guys. Going down the road we caught up with a group and one pulled over to let us pass, but we waved them on to keep going. They pulled over and dang near got stuck, I jumped off the Skidoo and ran to push them out but they powered out of the deep snow. We let them get ahead of us and then followed. I opened the Skidoo up and darn near threw Parker off the back and still had half a throttle left. Yep PLENTY of POWER!!
Even tho the day started off not so good we were happy with the outcome. The Skidoo performed flawlessly and got us on and off the lake. The Flip 3 was convenient and kept us warm with the aid of Parker's Mr. Heater. The new Marcum Ricon 5+ was a hoot and probably would have been even clearer had we taken the protective tape off the lens, LOL. Still worked great. We caught fish a lot of fish in a short time.
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