Thursday morning came early for both of us, Shifty had an early delivery to the airport at 3am and I just woke up at 2:30 am for no apparent reason. We planned on meeting at 5 am and heading to Rockport. Shifty had never ice fished it. So we met up and headed up the canyon in the darkness of the morning. We pulled into Heber and the sun was inching up at least a little glow and by the time we reached the lake, we could see across it. We unloaded the gear and decided which direction to go. We decided to head toward the dam and we stopped at the first small bay where this summer the fish had been hitting well.
We set our first holes in 13 feet of water and set the tent for what we hoped to be an epic day on the ice. The first rainbow trout was brought to the deck in 20 minutes. I landed the beautiful rainbow got a couple pictures and released it. We changed tactics and baits trying to get the next bite and Shifty got the second rainbow trout to the surface at the 30-minute mark. Shifty landed a pig of a rainbow nice big shoulders and fat belly. After a quick pic, it was released and we set up for the next hit!
We didn't think that would be the last strike of the day but it certainly was. We fished that spot for another hour or so and moved south, maybe we should have moved north toward the dam, but we moved south. Talked to a fisher on the way to the fingers. While talking with him he got a nice hit and almost had his pole taken into the lake. He fought it for a couple minutes only to be broken off at the hole. He said that had been the story of his morning he did have one on the deck.
We moved on and reached the fingers, took a few minutes to cut some holes and decide where we wanted to fish, hoping this would be our last relocation. We set up in 30 feet of water it was now 10am and the sun was starting to warm the ice. We fished here and had a nice brunch with Peak Refuel as the entree. Getting zero hits and seeing zero fish we decided we had to move.
Loading up and moving back north and stopping to talk to the same fisher he had the same luck as we did but he hadn't moved 400 yards to get those results. We moved back to a spot that had always produced fish for me on the ice by the buoy. We set camp for the final time it was noon now. We cut holes in 36 feet of water, way outside of Shifty's comfort zone for depth. We fished here until 2 pm and again didn't see a fish or get a hit. By the time we left the lake, there was standing water all around. The tent tiedown stakes had melted out so they were easy to pull out. We loaded up and headed for home.
Not quite the day we were hoping for or planning on. We planned on being on the lake sun up to sun down and then a little but we were tired and done waiting for the bite to come on. It was a bluebird day with a little breeze but to keep the sun from frying us we set the tent but definitely did not need it. The ice season is quickly melting away and should be over soon and we can get the Fish Steeler back on the water, probably sooner than later since Deer Creek is ice-free. Keep checking back and following our adventures.
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