Huntington Reservoir Ice Fishing

This morning started out as a typical Saturday fishing day, we met up at our place and loaded the gear with the 4 wheeler and were on the road by 5:05 am. Made out way to Heber to the local morning stop for supplies and breakfast. When we came up to the counter and overheard disturbing news from the cashier. Highway 40 is closed for an undetermined amount of time and has been since 9 pm the night before. With that news we knew Strawberry was out, and started asking about reservoirs and ice thickness. Rockport was our first thought and one of the customers said, nope to dangerous, come to find on tonight's news there were four fisherman that fell through at Rockport, good thing we didn't venture that direction. We ate our breakfast, read through the new fish proclamation and learned a couple things and decided to head south. Back down Provo canyon to I-15 and south toward Spanish Fork Canyon still not decisive on which lake to hit, we got to the Fairview turn off and made the decision to go to Huntington / Mammoth Reservoir on highway 31. We made it to the lake by 8 am and got ready. Wind was howling, a small group of boy scouts were at the parking area on a winter camp and one other group on the lake, and one group followed us in from Heber. We got to the lake by 8:15 and started going across the lake and sunk the wheeler so the boys hopped off and I worked my toward the spillway and stuck it again about 300 yards across and decided good enough unhooked the tent and got the wheeler unstuck and the boys made it to my location.

We started cutting holes and kept working our way into the dam and finally hit 15 ft of water and set camp, clearing off snow to a hard pan layer that was about 4 inches thick and then a foot of granulation and then about 8 inches of hard ice, we took the auger to its handles with each hole. Parker was the first to set a pole and got a hit almost immediately he got it to the hole and it quick released. We continued to set up and got more poles in and different colors on each to see what they were going after today. For the first little while they wanted white jigs with meals and then they changed over to green jigs tipped with wax worms. We fished until noon and got numerous hits finally pulling in 3 Tiger trout. Two were tiny and one decent 16 inch but nothing to brag about but we got fish finally. The hit was spotty and light, really had to work the electronics hard today and focus on when the fish were present. We could see down our holes but not like Strawberry last weekend.

Parker and Jim both had multiple hits, Parker ventured further toward the spillway to see if the action was any faster, no luck he returned to the tent after a while. We set up with holes in opposite corners this time to alleviate tangles with each other’s lines and it worked out great. Noon we I started to pack things up and started the wheeler and started maneuvering it to load the tent back up and to go back to the truck. Yep the weather was nice and warm by then and the snow had relaxed and softened, didn't take long to stick the wheeler in the thick top layer. Parker told me to get the wheeler off the lake and he and Jim would pull the tent off. It took me about 10 minutes to get across the lake and back up the ramp working the wheeler hard through the soft snow and at the top I was going to attempt to go around the gate and stuck it bad, all 4 wheels turning and not touching anything. Luckily a couple of guys were coming across the dam after spending the night on the mountain and helped me get it unstuck. I made my way back to the tent with the rope and we started pulling and pushing the sled to across the lake. 100 yards at a time and resting. I made my way back to the wheeler quickly and met them at the bottom of the ramp and pulled the rest the way, but they were beat after working it across the lake in sometimes knee deep granulated sugar. We all made it to the truck and loaded the gear and headed home stopping in Fairview to get a burger and laugh about our exploits of the day. We pulled back in at the house by 3 and Parker had to go to work. Great day with my sons and fun day of fishing. Parker swears he will not use the wheeler again to pull the sled on the lake and we need to invest in a snowmobile, I told him we will look into it next year. Our ice season is quickly coming to an end and probably won't be getting again due unseasonably warm temperatures in the state.

Ice Fishing @ Soldier Creek

Saturday morning came early for me.  I woke at 4 am but thought the boys wont be here until 5 am, so I will catch a few more minutes of shut eye.  Next thing I knew the door was opening and my boys were loading things up at 4:45 am.  Easy for Parker he works all night on weekends as he completes his BS in BioChem, Jimmy on the other hand was just anxious to get on the ice and fish, he loves fishing as much as we do, but life sometimes slows his attendance on trips.  As I stumbled and fumbled to get dressed they are out getting things ready to go.  I hit the door at 4:55 and pulled the truck out and hitched the trailer up to take the CanAm with us this morning.  We received a great report from Shifty Outdoors about the fishing and location at Soldier Creek and knew we had to get there on the CanAm.  Loading up and making sure we had everything, taking quick inventory on gear and needs, Jim realized he left his gloves on the counter at home, we needed to fill the truck and get air in the trailer tire.  We made it on the road by 5:30 am headed up the canyon.  A quick stop in Heber for the rest of the supplies and breakfast we loaded up and headed toward our destination, Soldier Creek.  The trailer and CanAm travel nicely behind the Tundra and we make quick time of Daniels Canyon and across the Strawberry Basin to Soldier Creek.  We arrive at the parking lot and it was already 3/4 full, we thought to ourselves oh great a city on the ice.  We dressed, unloaded and hooked up the gear and were on our way to the ice hole by 7 am the sun just barely coming over the ridge and it was 30* in the parking lot.

On the trail to our destination we loaded all 3 of us on the CanAm it must have been a site to see, with our tent in tow and 3 grown men sitting on the wheeler.  Parker on the front rack and Jimmy packed in behind me on the seat, well over 700 lbs of humanity on this poor thing and the tent over 300 lbs fully loaded with gear.  We hit the trail running though and the CanAm never missed a beat.  We cruised across the open ice to our destination at 30 mph going by all those that stopped well before our spot.  We got away from humanity and had the lake to ourselves until late morning.  We found Shifty's holes from the day before and I was lucky enough to step in one and go up to my knee to start the morning off.  But after some consoling grumblings I was okay and we got things set up.

soon I will have me a cabin on the lake

After checking water depth and remembering what I was told about the shallower hole having all the fish we cut our holes inside toward the bank a few feet.  We cut five holes going shallow to deeper water so that the deepest hole was in about 15 feet of water and the shallow hole was in 12 feet.  After getting the tent set and chairs set we got poles in the water.  Inside the tent it is nice because you can see to the bottom of the holes and watch the fish hit your lures and study the way they work around your bait.  Very interesting to watch them work the baits.  We were in the water about 15 minutes when the first of many big Cutthroat trout came and visited us.  

The cutthroat hit Jim's bait first then down to mine and then hitting Parker's and getting hooked up.  Biggest fish of the year for any of us.  measuring in at 20 inches and around four lbs, big girth around the shoulders.  Parker was ecstatic at the catch.  We fished there until 11:30 am.  We caught over 20 fish for the day and number of them fish of the year status.  I got one that was 21 inches Jim pulled one in at 19.5 inches and a couple more around that size came out of the ice.  We caught several little Rainbow trout.  Before the morning ended though I hooked another nice sized fish.  When we pulled it the ice hole it was a nice 20 inch 3 lb Rainbow trout.  Soldier Creek has the same slot limits that Strawberry has on it, any fish with cut marks on it should be immediately released, unless it is under 15 inches or over 22 inches, so we had to return all the cutthroat trout, we do anyways to help keep the chub population down.  Rainbow trout on the other hand have no slot limit and you can keep all of them if you choose to.  We let all but the one go and it was Superbowl Sunday dinner.

We had a blast on the ice!  We remembered things and shared stories of the week.  Jim treated us to the "Muffin Dance" hahaha!  We hooped and hollered when each of us brought a big one through the ice hole.  We learned things and enjoyed the morning ice fishing.  Ice fishing is an activity young and old can enjoy, this day we were all quite young.

Monument Valley Adventure

This past weekend with three days we decided to take a road trip to Monument Valley. Along the way we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park. We stayed at Goulding's Lodge on the Utah side of Monument Valley.

Goulding's is nestled at the base of a huge sandstone cliff with great vistas of the monuments. The lodge is fully equipped with a restaurant, pool, gift shop and museum. John Wayne made a number of his movies here. In fact the area is known for its movie appearances, shoot just the other night watching NL Vacation and it is represented in the crash scene. It took most of the day Saturday to get to the lodge so we didn't do much exploring once we got to the lodge. Kicked back watched the sunset and took some pics from our balcony.

Walked the property and took in the sites and interest. There is an old cabin that John Wayne used for his movies and the Stage coach from movies.

We didn't get in the museum it was closed by the time we got around, but we did check out the gift shop. Being on the Navajo Nation tribal land the gift shop is loaded with Navajo jewelry, pots, rugs, baskets...etc. all beautifully hand crafted. Plenty of John Wayne memorabilia as well. We ate the restaurant that evening very good tasting and fresh made, I had a Navajo Taco, HUGE, and fresh cherry pie alamode. Drawback is you’re in a remote area and the internet was not stellar, but we did manage to get some reception for some activities. 

Sunday morning came early and foggy, made for some cool sunrise pictures of the monuments with low hanging clouds and the fog. We had breakfast and made our way back up highway 163 to Mexican Hat, Valley of the Gods, and Goosenecks State park. While in Valley of the Gods we ran into a group of ballooners that had just launched and set down for a morning activity. We came around the corner of the trail we were on and there sat a balloon in the middle of the road. This is an annual event over MLK day and Sunday they launch in Valley of the Gods. Next year we have it marked on our calendar to attend and cover more ground. So much to see in such a little time. After going to Goosenecks we made our way back to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Highway 163 has been used in multiple films most notably Forrest Gump where he turns around after his running scenes they have named it Gump Hill. Inside the park they have a decent road throughout the park for all vehicles, unless it is wet.

We seen and took pictures of all the monuments in the park, we did a self-guided tour. You can get a guided tour through it and get narration of all the sites and movies that have been shot there. You can get your picture taken on horse at John Ford's Point where the "Marlboro man" sat on his horse. There are areas off limits to everyone but paid tours that take you back behind some of the mesas in the park. The views and vistas are amazing. We were a little disappointed in that the winter gloom hung in there all day and until the sun dropped down in the west the colors were not great but then they exploded. We went into Kayenta to see if there was anything there, nothing! Went back to the lodge had dinner and rested for our fast ride home Monday morning. Both on the way down and back we stopped and ate at the MoabDiner, highly recommended by locals and us very good food and service.

Ice Fishing with the Boys!

Went ice fishing with Jim and Parker last Saturday to Strawberry Reservoir. Fishing reports had said the fishing was hot! My friend was up there on Friday and caught 13 with one nice 23 inch Cutthroat trout. We arrived at the lake at 6:30 am and the temperature 16*. We got things together and unloaded the 4 wheeler and got on the trail. We were heading out to a spot we thought was good, along the way the ice started to give way and we quickly unloaded the 4 wheeler. I continued on with the 4 wheeler and the boys followed me. I stopped and we checked the ice thickness and it was 5 inches a little thin for the wheeler so we left it there and continued onto the spot we were going to fish. I bought a new tent over the week and we set it up. It worked great, fit all three of us comfortably with room to spare. We had lines in the water by 7:00 and started the waiting game. Nothing for a half hour so I got out and started drilling holes. I moved around for about an hour looking for anything on the flasher and trying to get hits. The air was still crisp and biting and my finger we getting numb so I went back to the tent to talk to Parker and Jim they hadn't gotten anything during this time. The fishing wasn't as hot as reported I talked to other anglers while out and about they were not getting anything either. We tried everything we had color combinations, scents, worms, jigs, rapalas you name it we threw it and nothing. We did finally get one to the hole but that was it. It was great outing for the new tent and we enjoyed the roominess of it and the protection it afforded from the wind with the heater running it was balmy in there. A good day of fishing, but catching was not so great!! Try it again next week.

Scofield Ice Fishing or Freezing!

Yes that is the correct temperature that we pulled into the parking lot at Scofield Reservoir at on New Year's Eve morning. Cold enough to freeze your nose hairs when you breathed in. We were after that elusive Tiger trout again today. We moved to a new location today where we have seen other fishers fishing and tried our luck. Today we brought the 4 wheeler to pull the sled onto the ice with. The sled with all the gear goes around 300 pounds and yesterday when we were pulling it up the ramp we truly wished we had the wheeler. With the wheeler though you must be extremely cautious to make sure the ice is thick enough to sustain the weight and load of you and your gear. The rule is six - eight inches is strong enough for a snowmobile or 4 wheeler and we were cutting through 10-12 inches of ice. New spot, deeper water but still very stained and murky water. Our camera being deeper was not picking up much unless the fish was right up to the lens. Our flasher however was working just fine and indicating fish for us. Chub was the fish of the day no Tiger trout or even cutthroat trout. We felt quite lucky that we had not been encountering the chub the previous days, other fisherman were catching numerous of the trash fish, and we hadn't caught one. Today was another story that is all we caught. We used paddle bugs of assorted colors, curly tails, rapalas, tipped them with meal worms, wax worms, power bait. Still we could not get away from the chubs. Oh well we caught fish, another day of lessons on the ice, next time a new location and different tactics to hunt the Tiger trout.