Bringing Home the Bacon "Literally"

Fishing Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Weather: High 20's, clear skies, slight breeze
Moon Phase: 27% moon
Location: Yuba Reservoir
Bait: Glow ice flies tipped with wax worms or perch eyes
Ice Conditions: 8" of cloudy but firm ice with 4" of snow on top
Who Went: Cody, Me
It's been almost exactly 1 year since I last went fishing for perch. I guess that makes it time for another round. One of the engineers at my office wanted to see what all the hoopla was about with these supposed monster perch being caught down at Yuba Reservoir. We decided to go check it out and see for ourselves what the fuss was all about! We arrived at the Painted Rocks side of the lake around 8:30 a.m. We walked out by the island and set up shop, that's when I realized I forgot my back pack with all my gear in it. I ran back to the truck and picked it up and by the time I made it back, Cody had already decided to move! We walked out across the lake to the opposite shoreline of the ramp. We were in 18 feet of water and this is where we stayed the rest of the day.
Cody turned out to be quite the perch slayer and caught the fattest perch I have ever seen.

He also caught a carp that he didn't really want to have his picture taken with, but I made him anyways!
I tried fishing for Northern Pike while we were there. I took my mack fishing pole and put a big gamagatzu hook on with a full anchovy, but no pike were biting today. The regulations at Yuba are a little strange, the perch limit for each fisherman is 10 and they have it set up so you have to keep the first 10 perch you catch. Once you catch your 10 perch you are done fishing. There is no catch and release. By noon we had 20 perch and one carp so we made the trip home so Cody could teach me how to fillet these pesky things.

I wish I could say that the filleting process was as successful as our fishing, but I had a hard time with it. Cody was decent and I was horrible. Between the two of us we made a very mediocre team. With all 20 perch we were able to get about enough fillets to feed Cari, myself, and her parents. Oh, and a couple small ones that Duke inhaled within seconds! I have never eaten perch so I have been wanting to try it. I hear it's one of the best eating fish we have in Utah. I will just have to let you all know on my next post.

Wind, Snow, and More Wind

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Weather: Windy, Snow, and cloudy
Moon Phase: 2% Moon
Location: Fish Lake
Bait: 6" tube jigs tipped with carp minnow for macks, and 3" white tube jigs tipped with carp minnows for splake and rainbows
Ice Conditions: 8" of clear ice, with 2" of snow on top
Who Went: Ed, JJ, Me
This was going to be one of our big trips of the year. Heading to Fish Lake for the weekend and staying in the Kinder's motor home. The trip started well, leaving Friday after work and making good time getting to the lake! The minute we got there we suited up for some night fishing! We walked out onto the ice and found 70 feet of water with fish everywhere on the finder. Problem was they were not hitting. I got one light bite and JJ finally landed this small splake.

With another 30 minutes and no bites, we decided to call it a night and get some sleep for the all day event tomorrow! This is where things took a turn for the worst. I started getting that itch in my throat! Ah oh, not now, no way! Yep, I was sicker than a dog! Just to premise this, I have been sick the whole month of January with it slightly going away and then coming back as soon as I think I am rid of it! I didn't sleep a wink! I had a sore throat and my head felt like it was going to explode all night! To make things worse, when we finally woke up, the wind was blowing and there was a fresh 3 inches of snow on the ground!

I stumbled into my clothes and out onto the ice. It was snowing hard and the wind was blowing right in my face! Sick as I was, I now started wondering if I was even going to make it through the day. I got set up to fish, and soon after, JJ and his dad made it out onto the ice. I tried hard to focus on my mack fishing, but the weather conditions and sickness made it tough! I only saw a few fish near the bottom that might have been potential macks, but had no takers. I did land this splake on my second pole.

We could all see splake on our fish finders but they didn't bite often. JJ moved into shallower water at about 40 feet and then started catching some splake and a couple rainbows.

Ed tied his record by catching 4 fish. They were all splake between 14 and 17 inches long.

It snowed on us most of the day and the wind continued to get worse. I took some video of the clouds flying by us overhead to give my readers an idea of what our conditions were like.

We kept some fish on this trip and as we caught them, we would pile them up around Ed's ice fishing shanty. The eagles must have taken notice cause as I was sitting there, a monster Golden Eagle came swooping in. I yelled at JJ to get his attention and just as he turned to look, the eagle dive bombed it straight at Ed's tent and stole one of our fish. It was well worth losing a fish to see him close up! It happened so fast I didn't have time to grab the camara dang it! I did get a pic of his buddy , a Bald Eagle watching us from a distance a top this pine tree. At about 12:30 the weather and my sickness took a turn for the worst. We decided to call it a trip! Anyone who knows me will know how bad I felt to leave a weekend trip early, but I just didn't have it in me. The weather reports told us it was only going to get worse! Fish Lake and I have a love hate relationship as I hate the weather it can produce, but the fishing can make it worth the bad conditions. Before we left I took some good scenic shots of Fish Lake. Now I just have to get rid of this sickness. It's starting to cut into my play time and that can't happen!

Good Luck vs. Bad Luck

Fishing Time: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Weather: Partly cloudy, no wind, perfect
Moon Phase: 50% moon
Location: East Portal Bay, Strawberry Reservoir
Bait: 3" White tube jig tipped with carp minnows
Ice Conditions: 12" of ice with 6" of snow on top
Who Went: John, Wisconsin Joe, Me
My friend John called me on Friday to let me know that his Uncle Joe from Wisconsin was in town, and they were headed to Strawberry to help him catch his first ever Cutthroat Trout! I had some work issues on Saturday, but figured them out as I usually do with a chance to go fishing. We were on the ice at around 7:30 and hiked from the marina towards the back of East Portal Bay. After about a 3/4 mile walk we found our spot. Just as we got set up I had the first fish of the day with this average size Cutthroat. Soon after that, John went on a little run and put 2 or 3 on the ice along with this nice cutthroat. It took Joe a little while to figure out how to get these cutthroat onto the ice as he lost his first 3 right at the surface. Once he figured it out though, he put on what I called a Wisconsin clinic! He started by catching his first ever cutthroat! He ended by landing this really nice 23 inch 4 pound Cutthroat! We started calling him the Wisconsin Wiggler as his jigging technique put more fish on the ice than any of us! Always the newcomer I kept telling him! This is the third straight ice fishing trip at the Berry where I did not win in the final fish tally! I must be losing my touch! Then, after what seemed like another perfect day on the ice at the Berry, here came the fish cops to ruin our fun. They asked to see our licenses. I handed him mine with all the confidence in the world! He then let me know that I was 6 days late in renewing my yearly license! I begged and pleaded for a little lee way but it was to no avail! I ended up getting a ticket for no license! Not the greatest way to end a good fishing trip, but lesson learned I guess!

Grantsville First and Last Trip

Fishing Time: 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Weather: Warm and smoggy

Moon Phase: 64% moon

Location: Grantsville Reservoir

Bait: Pearl white whatta cricket tipped with meal worm

Ice Conditions: 10" of cloudy ice, no snow, shoreline had weak ice and some open water

Who Went: Me

I got off work early Friday and wanted to hit the ice. I wasn't in for a long drive since I was leaving at 12:30, so I thought about a place I had never fished, Grantsville Reservoir! I got there around 1:30 and noticed there was some open spots in the ice, but was sure it was thick enough to walk on after seeing this crazy guy! He was fishing open water from the ice!

I pulled down to the south boat ramp and got on the ice from there. I Talked to a few guys as I was walking out and they told me the fishing was really slow. I picked a spot in 18 feet of water and set up shop! Grantsville is a really ugly reservoir just outside the town of Grantsville. Its a hole made by a berm of rocks and gravel all the way around. It's also low in elevation so I didn't escape the inversion, so it made for some ugly scenery!

I saw a few fish on the fish finder that would come up and take a look at what I was offering and then cruise right on by. I finally did get one to hit but it was so light that I never did get a chance to set a hook in him. I sat there for 3 hours staring at a fish finder that looked like this.

The one line you see in the pic is my jig, with nothing but blankness all around it! By 4:00 I had enough and walked back to the truck parked on the ramp.
I have heard of some good Brown Trout coming out of this reservoir, but it's safe to say I will probably never see any of them. This place was not my cup of tea! Ugly, and smoggy, I think this was my first and last trip to Grantsville Reservoir!

Escaping the Masses

Fishing Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Weather: clear skies, slight breeze, high 30's

Moon Phase: 100% full moon

Location: Haws Point, Strawberry Reservoir

Bait: 3" white tube jigs and pearl white whatta crickets tipped with carp minnow or meal worm

Ice Conditions: 10" thick with 6" of snow on top

Who Went: JJ, Ed, Dave, Me

All the ice fishing reports at Strawberry have been pretty grim this year, with an occasional success story. We wanted to go there this weekend, but did not want to produce another poor report. I figured that most of the reports are from people fishing in places like the marina, where everyone gathers loudly and competes with themselves for fish. We decided to take Dave's four wheeler to try and escape the masses of people fishing around the marina to see if we could find some active fish. It was a gorgeous morning as we arrived at our destination, Haws Point. As Dave went back for the others I started drilling a bunch of holes to check depths. I soon found a ridge that dropped from 22 feet to 33 feet and felt good about it. By this time everyone was to the spot and we began to fish! I started it off by going on a run that I felt couldn't be beat. I had 11 fish total, and an 8 fish lead by 9:30. This is where the wheels fell off!

Dave and JJ went on a huge run. Dave started throwing fish on the ice left and right. JJ was the same, and even Ed had caught four!

Me? I just sat there with no fish showing on the fish finder, and a blank stare on my face! Dave had his new fish finder going and was loving it! By 11:30 I was looking up hill at both Dave and JJ. Dave had caught around 15 and JJ was at 12! I must have moved to 10 different holes trying to find one that would be more productive, but it never happened. Then Dave and JJ started mocking me by taking a break from fishing to go sledding behind the 4 wheeler. It looked fun but I was determined to catch up in the fish total!

Then Dave mocked me again by telling me that since he had the lead he was going to fish shallow for a while and try to catch a monster rainbow.He never did catch the monster, but I never did catch up either! By the end of the trip Dave led the way with 18 fish, JJ came in with 14, Ed with 4, and I finished only catching one more for a grand total of 12! All our fish were within the magical slot limit and they were all cutthroats. This trip taught us that getting away from the masses equals catching more fish! Here is a picture looking from Haws Point over towards the opening of The Narrows! Someday I will get to ice fish in there!

Huntington

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m
Weather: High 20's, slightly cloudy, with 30 mph winds
Moon Phase: 23% moon
Location: By the dam, Huntington Reservoir

Bait: Pearl white or chartreuse whatta crickets tipped with carp minnow or meal worm

Ice Conditions: 12" thick

Who Went: Me

Not to many people have the urge to wake up at 5:00 a.m. after ringing in the new year to go fishing in sub zero temperatures. Call me crazy but that's the first thing I thought about doing! I was heading south on I-15 by 5:30 a.m. and had a feeling of freedom being by myself and knowing that nothing is stopping me from going anywhere in the state that I might want to be! The target destination ended up being Huntington Reservoir, up Fairview Canyon. I stopped off at the store in Fairview to grab me a snack and a Mountain Dew, and then continued on my journey to the reservoir. I got there while there was just enough light to see and was disappointed at what I found. The wind was whipping at about 30 mph with gusts easily exceeding that! I don't have an ice hut so I honestly thought about turning back towards home. I'm glad I didn't! I got out on the ice and nestled up in a spot near the dam. I was the only one there and the silence of the mountains gave me a surreal feeling inside. As I started to drill through the ice with my auger I noticed that I wasn't making much ground. I soon realized that my auger was broken! I sat there and couldn't believe it! I didn't know what to do. There wasn't a soul around and I was sitting on top of 10 inches of ice with a lake right underneath me that I couldn't even fish! It took me about 40 minutes using every ounce of energy that I had to force my auger into drilling through the ice! There was no way I was getting more than one hole out of the auger so I stuck my fish finder down the same hole I was fishing and called it good! I turned my fish finder on and to my surprise there were fish everywhere! I dropped down and it was on! I was catching fish all the way through the 22 foot water column, even up to 5 feet under the ice. I made it to 20 fish in about 2 hours and then it slowed down only slightly. I got to 30 fish by 11:30 and my fish finder was still showing fish everywhere. The Tiger Trout that I was catching are a very aggressive fish as I found out. I would reel my bait up and away from them and they loved to chase it and then hit it. It was funny as sometimes I would reel up my bait real quick and they would start chasing it, then I would just stop reeling and I would feel a bump on my line cause they were chasing it so fast that when I stopped they would run right into it. The wind made my decision to leave sooner than expected but I was happy getting 30 onto the hard deck! My pictures were not as good as I wanted, but that was because every time I tried to take one my chair would go flying in the wind, or my bait cooler, or anything else that wasn't bolted to the ground!
As I was driving home across the summit of Skyline Drive I couldn't help but stop to take a picture from the top looking down over the valley and small towns below. It was a well needed trip catching fish, as my after Christmas trips didn't treat me as well as they have in the past!