Somewhere Different

It was time to try somewhere new, so the place to be was Jordanelle Reservoir. We weren't the first to hit the ice as this scenic picture down the Rock Cliff Arm shows, but we were close. I hadn't ice fished Jordanelle for a long time so this was going to be an interesting trip to see if we could find the fish! We didn't! We fished everywhere and could not find the fish anywhere. Not even a bite! It was one of the most beautiful days we have had all year with good weather and no wind so we just fought through the no fish and decided to make our own fun. We created an ice sliding track that must have went 60 feet. We had contests for hours to see who could get a running start and slide the farthest. Corey ended with the longest slide going all the way to the end of the track. The two pictures below are of Dave attempting to beat Corey's record, but falling short by a few feet.

The picture below and to the left is of my attempt, and the one to the right looking like a cool cat sliding a rail is the winner himself, Corey Revill!

It was a lot of fun sliding, but not as much excitement as JJ's friend Jason gave us. Jason is a guy that JJ works with and he decided to come up for the day not to fish, but just to hang and enjoy a Saturday on the ice with his dog Sugar. Little did he know that his dog would decide to jump into a hole in the ice where the river meets the lake! Unfortunately for Sugar, she could not make it back onto the ice by herself and was starting to get weak, so Jason crawled out on his belly and retrieved Sugar. Everything went well until he turned to walk back and he ended up going straight through! Luckily we got him out and everything was fine. He even stuck around the rest of the day soaking wet. Now that's determination not to ruin a good day on the lake. This is a picture of Sugar soon after she fell in. She looks really concerned that she just about lost her life doesn't she?
Well the trip only got better from there, at about 5:00 the fish suddenly decided to turn on! We all caught fish after fish. They were all dinky rainbows but after all day with no bites we took what we could. We stayed into dark because the fish wouldn't stop biting and we couldn't pull ourselves away with the fast action. The picture below shows how small they were with Corey letting one go back down to grow and be caught another day! What a great day on the ice! And an adventurous one too!

Where else but the berry!

Where else but back to the berry! Same story different day! We arrived at about 7:30 a.m. with a beautiful sunrise coming over the mountains as we all walked out to one of our favorite spots at Chicken Creek East. The fishing was slow from the start today with one caught here and there but never any steady action. We worked hard for every fish landed. JJ and his dad Ed started it with the first cutthroat of the day. I followed by catching a couple early and Dave managed to get one through the ice. It has been a rough year at the berry for ice fishing with it starting out red hot in december but slowing fast through january. By the end of the day Dave was still stuck on one and JJ and I had managed to make it to four a piece. All fish were caught using white or chartruese tube jigs tipped with a minnow or chub! We may have to try a few things different next year, maybe the fish are getting to used to seeing the old traditional thrown at them every trip.

Back to the Berry!

Round 3 at the berry for 2007 started a little different than any other ice fishing trip I had ever been on. It was 20 degrees below zero! Brrrrrrrr! For the first hour I could barely fish! I sat there at my ice hole only 200 yards west of the marina with my hands in my pockets and my nostrils and eyes almost frozen shut. Every breath felt like I was breathing ice crystals not air! It was the coldest fishing trip I can ever remember being on! Around 9 O'clock when mine and Dave's hands began to thaw Dave pulled in the first cutthroat of the day with this 21 incher. Dave ended the day with six cutthroat while I only managed to make it to three. Not many pictures were taken due to the weather. All fish caught were in 30 ft. of water right off the bottom using white or green tube jigs tipped with a minnow or chub.

Another Weekend at the Berry!

Another successful ice fishing trip with some new friends and faces. Corey Revill is showing off his first cutthroat caught while ice fishing. The day started as most do at Strawberry with the morning being hot and slowly fading as the day went along. We all used the same tackle with some slight variations but it seemed that white was the color of choice, tipped with a minnow or chub. I led the way again catching 5 cutthroat, with Dave coming in with 4, JJ with 1 and Corey with 3. Dave hit the biggest though with this 3 pound 22 inch cutt. Another great weekend at the berry!

2007 starts with a BANG!

Ice fishing started off with a bang this year with Chris showing his friends how it's done. We arrived early in the morning to Strawbery Reservoir and decided that north of the marina was the spot of choice. The area was chosen due to a big cutthroat that Dave couldn't quite get out of his ice hole in this spot last year. We also had an old newcomer with Justin Hunt being in town for the holidays from his new home in Rio Vista, California. The fishing started a little slow with JJ finally pulling in the first fish of the day at about 8:30. He was using the traditional Strawberry ice set up with a white tube jig tipped with a minnow. From there an occassional fish was brought in about every half hour until noon. This was the time that I decided to put on a clinic. From 12:00 until about 2:00 I couldn't keep them off. I pulled in 11 cutthroat while Dave and JJ were stuck on the number two. Hunt had four but with his competitive fishing nature he was not happy to see me putting on a show. One of the 11 cutts that were caught went 4 pounds making everybody even more jeolous. Now the hole pirating had begun and I found my ice hole surrounded by new holes with everybody fishing right next to me. It didn't matter I just kept pulling them in while everyone was left to wonder if it was what I was doing or if I just drilled my hole right over the fish diner. Either way I ended up catching 11 while Dave and JJ stayed at 2 and Hunt at 4. We were all using a white tube jig tipped with a minnow. What a great start to the 07 season!