Fish Lake Mack Fishing

Fishing Time: 7:30 am to 3:00 pm

Weather: Mostly Sunny, calm, T-30s

Moon Phase: 62% Moon

Location: Fish Lake

Best Baits: 6-inch tube jigs (white and rainbow) on ¾ oz jig head

Who Went: Casey Davies, Stuart Dahl, Dunc

My cousins have been fishing Fish Lake and asking a lot of questions on location and techniques to catch a trophy lake trout.  I’ve helped them as much as I can, and finally their efforts paid off.  I got an excited phone call while they were on the ice followed by this photo.  They couldn’t weigh it, but it was the biggest trout they have ever caught. 

This got me excited to get down there myself.  I haven’t been there for a few years, but it’s always in the back of my mind as I’ve had some memorable days at Fish Lake.  A couple buddies from work wanted to make the trip so we headed to Richfield the night before to ensure we got a good night’s rest and were there at first light.

The morning was beautiful, and we made it to the lake on time, but Casey’s gas-powered ice auger had plans to try and ruin our day.  We spent a good 30 minutes trying to fix it but to no avail.  I had my ice chisel, but with 12-inches of ice and 3 holes it took another 30 minutes until we were ready to fish.  An hour or so late, but we were finally setup. 

I dropped my Active Target II down the hole and got it dialed to our depth.  The active target is truly amazing.  We watched fish come in and look at our jigs and was able to gauge their reactions.  This helped to know what jigging techniques worked best.  You can literally see the fish and watch as they swirl or nose down on your jig.  

Once we figured out which technique worked best Casey hooked up with the first mack of the trip. 

We continued fishing, but unfortunately fishing with 3 in the same tent made things a bit difficult.  Stu and I kept getting our lines crossed and we had to cut off and re-rig three times.  We continued fishing and had a nice group of 3-4 fish show up on the Active Target and sure enough, I hooked up with one. However, on the hook set I snapped the butt end of my rod.  I could still fight the fish, but I had to do it with no support below the reel.  Then a few seconds later I realized that I was also tangled with Stu’s line.  Trying to work through the chaos the fish decided to wander over and wrap up in Casey’s line, so now I was fighting the fish with a broken rod and tangled in both Stu’s and Casey’s line.  It was a mess!  Somehow, we got him onto the hard deck only to see that he was barely hooked.  What a crazy fight and a miracle we landed it! The fish weighed in a few ounces shy of 10 pounds.

You can watch the chaotic battle by clicking on the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/all/gallery/_dSVtC_vTf6lD-OX1DQoAQ?sf=1&ref_=APH_SNT77

Fish continued to swim through and I ended up hooking another one only to have it come off below the hole.  It was small, so I wasn’t to upset.  At about 11:30 the fish were gone so we packed up and moved closer to shore to see if any splake or rainbows would play.  We never did find the trout, but Casey found a bunch of perch that kept him busy.  

We enjoyed the scenery watching the bald eagles come down and pick up the fish people had left on the ice.  At one point there were 8 bald eagles on the ice standing next to each other.  It was a gorgeous day at Fish Lake.  We didn’t encounter any wind all day.  It was a fun and successful trip.

Party at Flaming Gorge

Fishing Time: February 2-4, 2024 (Fri. – Sun.)

Weather: High winds, cloudy, cold T-20s

Moon Phase: 42% Moon

Best Baits: Lake Trout: 4-inch white tube jig, Burbot: glow curly tail jig on ¼ oz jig head

Who Went: Mark, Tim, Tad, Rick, Newt, Barclay, Dunc

Rick Everson put a trip together for his birthday with a bunch of his buddies.  We stayed at The Red Canyon Lodge which is about 45 minutes south of Manila, UT.  Cool part was it has a private pond that holds rainbows and tiger trout, so we looked forward to fishing it.

The lodge was nice and we had two adjoining rooms to fit the whole crew.  The wood burning fireplace was a nice touch and we started some fires as soon as we got there.  Unfortunately, someone left the keys on top of the fireplace and that didn’t go well.  They melted immediately.  However, we did redeem and cook the lasagna by leaving it on top of the fireplace while we played poker.

Poker went late into the night, so we didn’t make it onto the ice until noon.  We also had to find safe ice which isn’t easy this year.  Luckily our spot near Buckboard kept us safe with 3-4 inches.  The bad part was the wind.  It was gale force and never went away.  

It made fishing tough and we didn’t see many fish swim by on our fish finders.  Rick, Newton, and myself went on a little hike armed with a fish finder, ice chisel, and one rod.  We found a few fish and Rick landed one.  This ended up being the only mack caught for the day. 

After a couple hours we couldn’t take the gale force winds any longer.  We packed up and headed to our burbot spot.  We were sheltered a little more from the wind up against the rocky cliffs, but it never really gave up all night.  The burb fishing was fair.  We probably landed 15, but none with any size.  We set out some tip ups and had fun fishing in our shelters.

The next day we decided to try the private pond at the lodge.  Rick has caught some decent tiger trout here in the past with his fly rod. We headed onto the ice and started popping holes.  The entire lake seemed to be about 8 ft deep. 

We searched the entire lake and never saw a fish on our fish finders. We couldn’t find a fish to save our life.  We finally gave up, packed our gear, and headed home.  On the way home we stopped at the overlook of Sheep Creek Bay.  One of my favorite overlooks in Utah.

Pineview Night Fishing

Fishing Time: 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Weather: No wind, warm T-40s, clear skies

Moon Phase: 96% Moon

Best Baits: glow ice fly 1/8 oz tipped with shrimp

Who Went: Roger Parks, Dunc

The ice situation this year has been abysmal, but the crazy part is the state has gotten a lot of snow.  The valleys only get rain but the mountains are getting snow.  Temperatures just haven’t been cold.  It’s weird to worry about ice at Pineview in January, but that’s where we are at.  Luckily there was about 7-inches in the narrows, so no problems there, but it was probably the warmest night of ice fishing I’ve ever experienced.

We setup in about 60 ft of water which is a bit deeper than I like, but the crappie immediately showed up suspended from 25-45 ft.  It was my first time trying the Active Target through the ice and WOW! 

It’s so cool watching fish swim around and seeing how they move.  Within minutes I had the first crappie on the ice.  Expectations were high with the screen full of fish and one on the deck, but unfortunately the catching didn’t last long.  We missed a few light bites, but ultimately only put 3 crappie on the hard deck.  We tried a few different lures and baits, but nothing enticed more bites.

A nice night to be out, but the fishing was extremely slow.  Not our best night trip to Pineview.

Hunting Big Fish at Flaming Gorge

Fishing Time: Friday-Saturday, December 29-30, 2023

Weather: Sunny, calm, T-20s

Moon Phase: 85% Moon

Water Temp: 43 degrees

Best Bait: 7-inch tube jig (rainbow color)

Who Went: Casey Davies, Roger Parks, Dunc

Winter had a slow start this year leaving all the lakes wide open with no ice.  I’ve been itching to get up to Flaming Gorge to chase lake trout, but ice fishing isn’t an option so a late December boating trip was my only option.  I invited a couple friends from work, and we made an early start leaving Salt Lake City at 3 am.  Casey towed my boat with his brand-new GMC and we made good time.  Too good of time as we sat at the boat ramp for an hour waiting for sunrise.

The first cold trip snag was the boat didn’t want to start.  Once started the water was not circulating through the pea hole (frozen), so we couldn’t run far before my boat was telling me it was going to overheat.  So we made a short run over to Antelope Flats and started fishing.  We found fish but no takers.  Once the motor warmed up and we were circulating water we made the trip south to Sheep Creek which is where we planned to fish.  We immediately found good groups of fish and fished hard through the morning.  

We saw an active group on the screen and I told Roger and Casey to be ready, but before I could finish the sentence Casey was hooked up.  I think Casey was amazed with the whole ordeal.  From the amount of line the fish ripped off his reel, to the 8 minutes it took to land, and the most fun was his reaction when he saw the fish surface!  I loved every moment of it. 

You can watch the epic fight by clicking on this link:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/jlp6rfoERtWrS0QBy-GzUQ.djnDq9MYEQgdK818OYRDWh

The fish weighed a whopping 27 pounds and made our trip.  After a quick photo the fish was sent back to swim another day.  We continued fishing the area and Roger and I both ended up missing bites.  That was the only fish landed.

The second day we launched the boat and I heard a weird noise as the boat came off the trailer.  I didn’t know what it was so we moved on and started the boat.  Just like the day before the water was not circulating.  Back to Antelope Flats we went.  We fished there for about an hour and then the motor was warm and we made it back to Sheep Creek.  We found the fish once more, but they did not have the same interest as the day before.  We tried multiple techniques, but never could entice a bite. 

On a last ditch effort we moved over to Swim Beach and found a huge group of fish.  They seemed a bit more interested and we fished them hard.  Finally Casey again yelled fish on!  Unfortunately he found a very rare snag.  It had us all excited and unfortunately the was the last excitement of the trip.  We never did get a confirmed bite the second day.

When we arrived at the boat ramp Casey backed the trailer down and we noticed their was a running board missing.  I guess now we knew what the weird sound was when the boat came off the trailer at first light.  We couldn't load the boat without it, so Casey searched the shoreline and Roger and I searched the marina.  As we were searching, Roger said what is that way out there.  Sure enough we found it!  After some MacGyver moves we were able to tie it back on for a quick fix.  Cold temperature boating at it's finest!

Lake trout fishing is not for the faint of heart.  It takes a lot of work and dedication to get a few bites, but once you experience the hook up and fight with a 20+ pound fish you are never the same.  It eats at you to come back and do it again.  Hopefully I won’t have to wait long to get up there again soon.