Ice Fishing Central and Southeast Utah

Saturday became a late start day. Parker worked late and I didn't mind the extra sleep time. He texted about 8:20 saying they were ready to hit the road, I replied back that he just woke me up and that I was going to stay close to home. He loaded up and headed south for Huntington North. I took my time and made my way to Deer Creek.

Parker and Jack attack fished Huntington North most of the day and moved frequently and covered the lake looking for bites. Parker figured he walked around, with Jack in tow on the sled, a mile or so looking for fish.  He reported the catching was not so good. The day was great with his son in tow and having fun in the sun. He didn't mark a fish all day on the flasher. So they packed up and came home.

I, like I said, made my way to Deer Creek about 11:30 and made my way out to the island. Talking with camps on my way to my spot. I met up with one camp of guys that had been there all morning and not had a bite. They were from Russia and been in the states for over 16 years. They had multiple poles out, on jaw jackers and buckets. They asked what I was going to use and we talked for a while about baits and lures. I made it to my first spot in about 25 feet of water, usually does well for brown trout which is what I wanted to target. I set up and another camp came over to see what I was using, he said he had caught a rainbow trout earlier in the morning, but nothing since.

I was fishing and the Russian came out to see what I was doing and wanted me to help him with his new Garmin finder, so we took about a half hour and broke down his unit so he had a better understanding of how his unit worked. All the time I was watching my flasher and seeing nothing. I put the camera down the hole and made a few turns to see if anything was in the vicinity. I saw nothing swimming around. So I moved in toward the shore and put in at 8 feet. Again, about 20 minutes and saw nothing on the flasher or camera.

I moved out to 12 feet of water and put down with a Charlie Fox Bait isopod and a VMC paddle. I immediately had a fish come into the bait, swim around the VMC and then swam up to the CFB and hit it. I had a fish on the deck 30 seconds later. A pretty rainbow trout that was a couple years of carryover around 15 inches. A quick pic and release and I was set for the duration. I set the tent and put the camera down to see if there were any more fish around. Sadly no other fish were seen or caught for the rest of the day. I had camps leave and I continued to fish until the storm blew in. I picked up at 3:30 and called it a day and made the trek back to the truck. Still better than sitting in a cubicle. Keep it bent!