This week we fished Scofield. The first trip was with Jim, he and I had enough office time and needed to escape. We went to Scofield in search of freedom. We found it but didn't find too many fish. We fished the morning and caught a few rainbow trout and cutthroat trout. I was in hopes of finding a tiger or two but no such luck. Next time however we are taking Old Yeller and getting away from the main sites. Jim caught the first fish of the morning in the first few minutes of cutting holes. We thought we were going to have a banner day, an hour and a half later with nothing we decided to move. We moved closer to shore with a little bit of structure. I immediately saw fish on my flasher. I dropped down and they disappeared. Then a flash came thru mid-column and moved my bait up to it. The strike was so subtle the indicator didn't even bend. I raised my rod tip and it got heavy so I set the hook and the fight was on for a second and I landed a cutthroat trout. We fished here the rest of the morning I caught a couple more but it wasn't fast and furious. Then there was nothing, so we decided to call it a day. We made our way back up the boat ramp. This is where I decided it was time to get Old Yeller out of storage. We made it after a few rest breaks.
The second trip was all about the grandkids. Parker set up a fishing day for the kids and the brothers. We loaded up the Fish Steeler trailer with Old Yeller and Spot and the other gear necessary to make 10 people comfortable on the ice. Three of them have never been ice fishing. We headed for Scofield at 6:00am and made it there around 7:20am we had a few stops along the way. The idea was to get there before everyone and get camp set and the tents warm for the newbies on the ice. It worked Parker and Jim had Camp set and the tents were nice and warm by the time Rogan and his family arrived. I was with Rogan, Jen, Millie, and Valerie in the palace. Parker, Jim, and the boys were in his new walk-thru Eskimo. I do like the new door system, easy access, and no tripping over the flap. Parker's new ice auger made easy work of cutting the holes.
Rogan and his family arrived just after 8 and we started fishing. Millie was the first to catch and land the first fish of the day. We watched it swim around the bait on the camera and then it hit and Millie reeled it in. It was all squeals and screams of excitement from the girls. After a couple pics, the fish was returned. Millie looked sad, I asked did you want to keep it and she said yes. She loves to have fish for dinner. I told her she could keep the next ones and take them home.
It took a little while before the next fish was hooked. In the meantime, the other tent was hooting and hollering only to lose the fish at the hole. We had the only fish on the deck. I broke out a kastmaster and started jigging it hard through the water column after a few minutes of jigging we had more fish coming through. We saw it on the camera and then on the flasher and then it went to the other holes in Parker's tent and they started seeing them. No fish hooked up though.
The next set that came through hit on Valerie's pole and Jenn was assisting. Jen had never been ice fishing or caught a fish. Valerie was into a video and Jenn hooked and landed her first-ever fish!! Valerie was excited to because it was on her pole. After a few more minutes another fish came through and this time Valerie reeled in her first fish! Screams of excitement filled the tent for the third time. We had three rainbow and cutthroat trout decked. After a bit of thinking all fish were released after a quick pic with each of them. The bite ended after that fish. Oh, we tried to coax more into our holes but to no avail. Jim and Harrison had to leave for basketball. Leaving the boy tent just three.
We fished for a bit longer and then started having fun on the lake. Rogan and Jen took old yeller for a ride and Parker loaded Spot up with the kids and took them to the boat ramp and they went sledding down the ramp. Rogan and Jen returned and had smiles a mile wide. That was their first time on a snowmobile. I told them to go for another ride and Jen was all about so they went for another spin. Meanwhile, Parker kept the youngsters busy running up and down the ramp and sliding down. I just hung out and enjoyed the beautiful bluebird day.
After all the fun was had though the camps had to be broken down and put away. Everyone pitched in! made quick work of packing up and we loaded everything up. We had a blast, caught a few fish and made some great memories. Max and I went to lunch after we unloaded everything and had a great conversation. Yep nothing better than hanging out with the family.
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