Frozen Boat at Flaming Gorge

Fishing Time: Friday and Saturday (December 28 and 29)

Weather: COLD, calm, Temps were -5 in the morning and single digits in the afternoon

Moon Phase: 55% Moon

Location: Flaming Gorge

Water Temp: 39 degrees

Best Bait: small tube jig fished shallow for rainbows and pup mack

Who Went: Rick, Bobber John, Dunc

Another winter trip to Flaming Gorge and just like the last few years, there is no ice.  No problem, because I have a boat, right?  Well yes, but we were about to find out, boats don’t like temperatures below freezing.  The last couple years have been mild and fishing from the boat wasn’t too big of a deal.  This year taught us a valuable lesson of what boating in real winter conditions is like.

We arrived late in the night to our cheap motel after driving through a snow storm that had us on edge the entire way.  The drive took over 4 hours and I slipped 5 or 6 times on I-80, which is not fun pulling a boat.  However, the forecast for the next two days called for no storms, calm winds, and cold temps. 

We woke up the first morning and were greeted with -5 degrees, but calm conditions.  Everything seemed okay until the motor on the boat would not turn over. I thought my battery was zapped, but for whatever reason after a few minutes it decided to start.  Once the boat was launched it became obvious that everything on the boat was frozen.  The pea hole on my motor wasn’t spitting water which is how the engine cools itself, so we had to use the portable heater to thaw it out.  After that it was the front thruster motor that was frozen.  We need the thruster motor to fish, so we spent time thawing that out.  Lastly, my fish finder seemed to be on the fritz, which wasn’t really a cold issue, but more of an old issue!  Not sure if it’s my fish finder or my transducer, but one of them needs replacing.  Ugh.  We spent half the morning trying to dial in the fish finder just to get a glimpse at what was beneath us.  We ended up getting it to work okay, but not as well as we needed it to effectively fish for big lake trout.

Frustrated, but still excited, we went to work to find some fish.  Not many fish were showing up and doubt started to creep into our minds.  Is it the fish finder, or is there really no fish?  It really put into perspective all the things that must go right to effectively fish for lake trout on Flaming Gorge.  Finally, a few groups of fish were seen, and Rick had two bites, but missed them.  He was frustrated, but it gave us hope.  The hope didn’t last long though, and we ended the long day with no more bites.  Lame.

The second morning brought more cold temperatures and this time my boat was completely frozen.  After pulling it out of the lake the night before I think all the water instantly froze and this morning the boat was an ice burg.  To make matters worse, the cove that the marina sits in was frozen with about an inch of ice.  

We spent the first 2 hours of the morning thawing my steering wheel, throttle, and motor to get them to move.  After that we had to launch the boat into the ice and break our way through.  The boat didn’t seem to want to come off of the trailer, but after some prodding it finally let go and then I realized why… the running board was frozen to the bottom of the boat and finally snapped and came off the trailer with it.  Plus, my tail lights on the trailer were smashed from launching through the ice.  Was this worth it?  Not sure but we were in too deep to quit.  We used an oar to pry and pound the running board off the bottom of the boat and then Rick strapped it back onto the trailer using some large zip ties I had in my boat.

Okay the motor is running, boat is off the trailer, and we fixed the running board.  Ready to go, right?  Wrong.  We had to slowly break through the ice and I worried the entire time as I heard the pops and cracks of breaking ice.  I thought for sure we were putting holes in my boat.  Luckily, the boat survived and we were finally ready to fish at 11:00 am.  

Not exactly the best fishing time for lake trout, and four hours later with no bites, it started to feel not worth it.  We finished the evening by fishing the shallows trying to get the skunk smell off the trip.  We caught a couple decent rainbows and one pup mack to end the night.  We didn’t get skunked and we didn’t drive home in a snow storm.  How’s that for looking on the bright side!

Bear Lake - Check One More Species Off the List...

Fishing Time:  8:30 AM to 3 PM

Weather: Calm, no wind, partly cloudy, T-20s

Moon Phase:  7% Moon

Location:  Bear Lake

Water Temp: 42 degrees

Best Bait: Any color of small marabou or curly tailed grub

Who Went:  Bobber John, Rick, Dunc

I was scouting a new place to ice fish and came across an online fishing report from Bear Lake stating that the Bonneville Whitefish spawn is at it’s peak.  The Bonneville Whitefish is endemic to Bear lake and just happens to be one of the last species on my list of fish to catch in Utah.  Two other fish I need to cross off my list are also endemic to Bear Lake.  The Bear Lake Whitefish and the Bonneville Cisco.  An interesting lake to say the least.  Bonneville Whitefish are difficult to catch most of the year staying deep, but when they spawn they move shallow into rocky areas and can be easily targeted by fisherman.

I pitched the idea to my fishing buddies and they were down, so away we went with boat in tow.  The drive to Bear Lake was foggy and cold, with temperatures below zero in Woodruff and Randolph, which are known to be the coldest towns in Utah.  Bear Lake wasn’t much warmer when we arrived, but the fishing gods were generous and we experienced a calm lake with no wind all day long.

We started fishing a few known rocky areas near Gus Rich Point, but the only activity we saw was a pile of carp slurping at the surface near the shoreline.  I made one cast into the middle of them and hooked up immediately.  It wasn’t a snag either, the carp actually bit my small marabou jig tipped with a worm.  Rick also hooked up with one cutthroat. 

We moved areas to the east side of the lake to continue our quest of finding some spawning whitefish. We were rewarded for moving at an area called First Point.  The action was immediate and fast.  We all began catching whitefish and each checked them off our Utah species to catch list.  Rick even had a few cutthroats bite including one nice one over 20-inches.

Soon we had our fill of Bonneville Whitefish and tried our luck trolling deeper water for cutthroat and lake trout.  The weather was beautiful and made for some relaxing trolling, but we didn’t find the groups of fish we were hoping for.  Rick, the cutthroat slayer of the day, was able to land one cutthroat, but that was the only fish we caught trolling all afternoon.  The good weather and whitefish bite still made us happy and I got to check one more species off my list!

First Ice Fishing Trip... Almost a Bust

Fishing Time:  7:00 am to 11:00 am
Weather: Snow blizzard and windy.  (6-10-inches of snow)
Moon Phase: 20% Moon
Location:  Utah Lake
Best Bait:  Marabou jig tipped with earthworm
Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

The word was out that Scofield Reservoir has capped with 4-6-inches of ice.  The plan was to beat the crowds and catch hoards of fish still yet to see pressure from the masses.  First ice is always the best.  However, mother nature had other ideas.  I woke up at 5 am to a winter wonderland.  The first snow storm of winter had hit with a vengeance.  There was a couple inches of snow on the ground already, and it continued to come down quickly.  I slowly made my way to Bobber Johns house to pick him up, but as we hit I-15 to head south it quickly came apparent that we weren't making it to Scofield.  Cars were sliding all over the road.  We watched one SUV slam into the freeway barrier.  This storm had no signs of stopping and the plows were just getting started.  By days end there would be 6-10-inches of snow on the ground depending on area.

Luckily we made it to the Provo Boat Harbor unscathed and sat in the dark watching the snow fall until the sun made it's way over the Wasatch Mountains.

The snow was still falling and now the wind was driving it sideways.  We geared up anyway and hit the docks.  There's no ice at Utah lake yet, so we jigged our ice fishing rods around the docks in open water hoping for a white bass or any other species willing to take.  After 20 minutes with no bites we decided it was time to move locations.  We braved the treacherous roads once again and made it to one of our secret inlet spots where the fishing is usually good.

Once there, Bobber slid down the hill on his butt to the shoreline and on his first cast he landed a little largemouth bass.

I slid down to fish next to him and we continued to catch a mixed bag of largemouth, bluegill, and white bass.  I caught one decent white bass and Bobber landed the fish of the day with a chunky largemouth bass.

It's nice to have a secret location in your back pocket when the first planned ice fishing trip of the year goes badly.

Back in Utah and Back to the Bear River - Life is good

Fishing Time: 12:00 to 6:00 PM

Weather: clear, breezy, T-50s

Moon Phase: 61% Moon

Location: Bear River

Best Bait: Pale orange glow bug (egg pattern)

Who Went: Rick Everson, Dylan Goar, Dunc

Its fall, which means spawning time for the big browns on the Bear River.  I’ve missed fishing the Bear River the last couple years due to traveling for work, and I almost missed it again this year.  I just got home from working in New Mexico yesterday and tomorrow I’m headed to St. George for a family vacation and then it’s straight to another job site in Wyoming, so I literally had one day in between traveling to make it work.  My buddy Rick was able to work out his schedule and he brought along his brother in-law Dylan.

When we first arrived at to the river it had the feeling of being a great day.  The weather has been very cold recently, but today was a beautiful clear sky day with temps in the upper 50s.  We had high hopes.  The first couple runs looked promising with a couple fish sitting on beds at each location, but for whatever reason they wouldn’t commit to our egg pattern flies.

A short distance up river was another good spawning bed with a female and a bright colored male waiting to be casted to.  I made my way down the bank into the river and positioned myself for a good angle to cast.  On my second cast the big male took the fly and the fight was on.  A short time later Rick had him in the net, or at least half of him.  These Bear River fish are unreal.  It was a 23-inch thick male in full spawning colors.  A beautiful fish! 

We continued up river and Rick and Dylan took turns casting to the big spawning browns.  I would sneak up through the grass and watch the fish as they both cast there flies right in front of their faces, but they all seemed to be lock jawed.  

Apparently, I lucked out with the only fish willing to bite. The good thing about the Bear River though, is that one fish makes the day.  We all went home happy and tired.  Glad we made the only day possible work and that I was lucky enough to land one of these beautiful fish.

Fly Fishing in Northern New Mexico

Fishing Time: 9:00 to 4:00 PM

Weather: Warm, windy, T-70s

Moon Phase: 2% Moon

Location: Chama River, New Mexico

Best Bait: Black wooly bugger

Who Went: Dunc

Sick of researching and reading about the epic rivers in northern New Mexico while I sit in southern New Mexico where water doesn’t exist was getting old.  I headed north to Albuquerque for the weekend to check out the balloon festival and decided to travel a bit further north up to the Chama River.  I encountered a 16-mile dirt road that was navigated in my Toyota Camry rental car, and at the end was El Vado Reservoir and a small little mountain town that looked like heaven.  The weather was cool, and the leaves were turning colors.  Much more my style in comparison to the hot barren desert found in southern New Mexico.  As I drove over the dam I stopped briefly to look down at the Chama River.  It was beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to explore its banks the rest of the day. 

My research placed me at a good access point and from there I started hiking down river to check it out.  The water was murky, but I was told this is normal and shouldn’t affect the fishing.  I spent the entire day wandering and covering a lot of water.  The scenery was gorgeous, but the wind was strong and made casting difficult. 

My first fish of the day was a yellow perch caught on a nymph rig.  It caught me off guard, but then I remembered reading online that perch had breached the El Vado Dam and were now in the Chama River below.  I kept on hiking to find more stretches of river and by 3:30 pm I was exhausted.  I must have hiked 2-3 miles through some very rugged terrain and didn’t have one trout to show for it.  Frustrated, but still happy with my day, I found a deep hole on my way back up river and stepped in to try it out.  I ran a streamer through the deep water and connected with a small rainbow.  Three casts later produced another bite and this fish had some shoulders.  It was another rainbow around 16-inches.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any photos as I was waist deep in a fast-moving river with no net.

The two rainbows made my hike back to the car much more enjoyable.  Northern New Mexico is amazingly beautiful, and I love the fact that there aren’t many people.  Reminds me of growing up in Utah before the population exploded.  Ah to go back in time. 

Elephant Butte, New Mexico

Fishing Time: 12:00 to 2:30 PM

Weather: Warm, windy, T-80s

Moon Phase: 7% Moon

Location: Elephant Butte Reservoir, New Mexico

Best Bait: Spinnerbait - fire tiger, willow blade.

Who Went: Dunc

I’ve been working on and off in southern New Mexico near Las Cruces for the last few months and it’s been tough.  I have no problems with New Mexico, but seriously where is the water!?  Lakes and rivers are nonexistent in the southern half of this state.  I drove two hours to the only water near me, Elephant Butte Reservoir, located near the town of Truth or Consequences.  Love that name. 

When I first saw the reservoir, I was a bit shocked.  The current capacity of the lake is 3% full.  It basically looks like a large muddy river.  I thought Lake Powell was low, but Elephant Butte is empty! The wind was howling when I arrived, and the water was extremely turbid.  I found a semi protected cove near the dam and hid in there for a couple hours.

I started casting a senko, but that didn’t produce so I switched to a fire tiger spinnerbait.  On the second cast the spinnerbait got smashed and I thought I had a state record largemouth on the end of my line.  Nope.  It was a nice smallmouth bass.

I hooked up with a couple more smallmouth before the bite shut off and I also tried casting some crankbaits, and jigs, but the only producer was the spinnerbait.  It was fun to fish new water and nice to know a place like this exists in southern New Mexico, even if it is empty.  I also saw a little buck near the reservoir.  Seemed so out of place in the middle of this desert landscape.  Can you find him...

Wandering the Rocky Mountains in Colorado

Fishing Time: Afternoon of September 4 and 5

Weather: Scattered rain, Cloudy, T-60s

Moon Phase: 25% Moon

Location: Frying Pan River and South Platte River, Colorado

Best Bait: Beadhead nymph, black wooly bugger

Who Went: Dunc

I’ve lived most my life in Utah and have always been biased about the beauty of our mountains, but I must admit…  The Rocky Mountains of Colorado are impressive.  I will never admit they are better than the Wasatch Range in Utah, but I will call it an extremely close second place.  However, Colorado does win over Utah on rivers and fly fishing.  There are so many awesome rivers holding trophy trout with incredible scenery that I was stunned.  I was lucky enough to visit a couple of these rivers the last couple of days and now I want more.  I could wander these rivers for weeks and never get bored.

It all started with the gorgeous Frying Pan River near Aspen, Colorado.  The Frying Pan River is the tailwater of the Ruedi Reservoir Dam.  The river was flowing a bit stronger than I like, but had enough large boulders breaking its path to make for some good fish holding pockets.

I found one such pocket that held quite a few fish and I could see them darting around feeding in the clear fast-moving current. Unfortunately, I think they saw me too because I must have tried 10 different flies trying to get one to bite with no luck.  I moved up river a bit and was lucky enough to land this beautiful little brown trout.  More exploring led to faster moving water and no more bites, but I can honestly say it was one of my favorite fly fishing outings to date.  I don’t think I’ve ever fished a prettier river in my life.

I did some research after fishing the Frying Pan River and discovered that the supposed best trophy trout river in Colorado was only an hours drive away from my hotel.  They call it the “Dream Section” on the South Platte River.  It starts at the tailwater of Spinney Reservoir and stretches 5 miles down to Eleven Mile Canyon Reservoir.  The river is not as beautiful as the Frying Pan River as it’s set on a high mountain plateau that is flat and covered in grasses and sage brush, but surrounding the plateau are mountains in every direction.  The sage covered flats make for excellent fly fishing with no trees or brush to impede your back cast.  For a novice fly fisherman this river is perfect.  

The river was crystal clear with numerous sharp bends creating many deep slow-moving eddies.  I only saw one small fish jump the entire afternoon and started wondering if anything lived there, but I saw many fly anglers wandering the river, so it must hold fish. 

I tried many different nymph patterns with no bites and then tied on a black wooly bugger and fished it through some deep-water bends.  Finally, I had a taker and landed one small rainbow.  It was the only fish I caught, but I watched and talked to many fisherman and I may have caught as many or more than most of the guys out there.  Tough fishing, but I knew that going in.  It’s known for trophy trout, not for catching numbers.

So, two days of wandering streams and only two fish caught, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  My job has ended here in Colorado Springs, but hopefully I can return one day and wander a few more of Colorado’s scenic rivers and visit with my new Colorado friends...