Wrong Turn at Pineview Leads to a Marathon

Fishing Time: 9:00 to 3:00 pm
Weather: Fog, calm, T-20s
Moon Phase: Full Moon
Location: Pineview Reservoir
Best Bait: Firetiger spoon tipped with worm
Who Went: Bobber John, Devin, Dunc

Devin couldn’t make the last ice fishing outing, so we planned another trip to a different lake.  Dayton decided to opt out on this trip.  I think the slow fishing and cold weather on the last outing didn’t excite him much.

We arrived to Pineview in a thick fog.  We couldn’t even see the reservoir.  We stopped near the dam and started to unload when a big group of fishermen arrived back to their vehicles.  The report was that they had just spent a day and a half fishing and sleeping in their tents with one fish caught by the whole group. Yikes! 

We hopped back in the truck and headed further down lake.  The goal was to make it to Browning’s Point, but I made a wrong turn in the thick fog, which put us in a big shallow bay about 1 mile from Browning’s Point.  We didn’t realize it until we got onto the ice and I turned on my fish finders GPS to get a bearing.  Devin was in good spirits so we decided to make the trek to Browning’s.  Hindsight is 20/20.  After a grueling 1-mile hike over the snow-capped lake we made it to our spot exhausted and sweating.

We set up and began to fish.  There were a few small perch that wanted to play, but the action wasn’t hot.  Bobber John caught a tiny bullhead catfish and it became Devin’s best friend.  He spent most of the day making ponds in the snow and transferring his new pet back and forth to each pond.  We gave the fishing a good effort, but all we could entice were a few small perch.  No other species wanted to play.

The hike back wasn’t fun.  Devin was tired and cold, so I made him a makeshift chair on the sled and the trek began.  Let’s just say it was one of those hikes where you feel like you have never been so excited to see the truck!  Old age is not fun.  I was exhausted!  

Red Hot Fishing at Echo Reservoir - Not Really

Fishing Time: 10:00 to 2:00 pm
Weather: Cold, clear, calm, T-18
Moon Phase: 47% Moon
Location: Echo Reservoir
Best Bait: Curly tailed grub tipped with worm fished 10 ft under the ice in 35 ft of water
Who Went: Bobber John and Anthony, Rick and Elle, Tad and Zack, Dayton and Dunc

I wanted to get my boys out ice fishing this year and my online research led me to reports of red hot fishing for perch and rainbows at Echo Reservoir.  Seemed perfect for the kids.  Unfortunately, Devin couldn’t make it, but Dayton and I picked up Bobber John and his boy Anthony and met Rick and his buddy Tad and their kids at the lake.

Apparently, we were not the only ones to research the hot reports.  The ice was covered with people and ice fishing tents.  We found one of the only open spots left and set up our own tents.

The depth was 35 feet and seemed perfect for perch. Rick lowered his Aqua View camera through the ice and confirmed it.  Little perch swimming everywhere.  We started fishing and immediately getting bit, but they were the kind that drive fisherman nuts.  One tiny bite and then gone.  Bobber John finally stuck one and pulled up a 5-inch perch. Yay. We got plenty of bites, but that was the only perch that made it to the ice.

I started seeing some marks on the fish finder higher in the water column and began targeting them.  I had a taker and it turned out to be a feisty rainbow.  Dayton took over and was able to pull it through the ice.  Good job Dayton!

Bobber John took note and also moved up in the water column and landed one more feisty rainbow with Anthony.  Rick and his gang continued to frustrate themselves watching perch on the camera and get constant nibbles, but no takers. 

Meanwhile, Dayton was trying out his new BB gun that he got for Christmas.  He has become quite the shot and was putting holes in cans of soda and watching them explode.  I think that was his favorite part of the trip! 

The slow fishing got old, so we packed up and let the kids slay ride near the truck for a minute.  It wasn’t the red hot action I was hoping to get the kids into, but a fun trip none the less.