A Trip Worth Waiting For!

Moon Phase:

Fishing Time: 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Weather: sunny, clear, breezy, 30's

It was the trip I look forward to every year. Flaming Gorge through the ice! We usually only make it up there once every ice season due to the long drive, but I look forward to it every year. In the past we have always managed to pull in a few of the elusive Mackinaw we go there to target, but this year was going to be different. We just didn't know it yet! We geared up by going to Sportsmans Warehouse and loading up on our favorite Mac jigs and then we were off for a weekend at the Gorge! We stayed in a dingy motel in Green River Wyoming called the Flaming Gorge Motel. An early wake up call had us on the ice by 7:30 a.m. We had studied our maps the night before and tried to put ourselves right over a 50 foot hump in 65 feet of water. Using my fish finder to locate depths and with a little searching we found it. Now it was up to us to catch some fish. JJ was the first to drop a 7 inch Tora Tube Jig down to the bottom and with much surprise to me he was hit instantly! JJ landed the first Mac of the day with this 4 pound beauty!
Little did I know that this would be the start of the greatest Lake Trout fishing I have ever experienced in my life! JJ catching this fish was like waiving the dinner bell for all the others. We all started getting hits non stop for the rest of the morning! Dave would have one on and then me and then JJ and then even Ed got into the action, we all caught fish, it was awesome! Here is a picture of Dave with his personal best for the day weighing in at 4.5 pounds. We were fishing
with a variety of different tubes and jigs, but the one that worked best for me and ended up being what almost everyone else put on was a Storm 5 inch minnow in white. We then tipped it with a piece of minnow or chub. Half way through the day I pulled out what was to be the biggest fish of the trip coming in at 5 pounds and 25 inches long.

The middle of the day slowed down a bit but not much and then at about 2:00 it was back on again. I ended up catching 14 while Dave came in with 9 and JJ with 4. Ed even managed to pull in a couple as well as his buddy Jim that came along for the ride. These numbers only represent what actually came out of the ice hole but I probably had on as many as I caught and missed double that in hits. It was a Mac frenzy that day and we found the right spot. No big boys were pulled in but when your catching fish like that it doesn't really matter. The big boy can wait til next trip! We stayed all day until sunset and it was a gorgeous walk back to the trucks with smiles on our faces the whole way! Can't wait to get back up there!

(The Train Home)

Jordanelle Again!

I had a little time to spare on Thursday so JJ and I decided we might as well make a quick evening trip up to Jordanelle again. We got a late start and made it to the lake with about an hour and a half of day light left. We decided to walk out to the same spot we went last time, up against the big rock outcrop on the north side of the rock cliff arm Right around the buoys. The fish finder started blowing up as soon as I put it down my ice hole. We were fishing in 15 feet of water and there were fish at all depths. I made my first drop down with a small white tube jig tipped with a meal worm and BAM! First fish of the trip a Utah Sucker. Two seconds later JJ had one on and pulled in the first Rainbow of the trip. The hits continued and I pulled in my second fish. What do you know another sucker. Then JJ pulls in his second fish and what do you know it was a Rainbow. This continued until I had caught four suckers and JJ had three trout. We were fishing with the same baits and were only 10 ft. away from each other. What a weird trip! The worst part is that for our ice fishing tournament my friends and I do, suckers, carp, and chubs don't count! So Chris took home a big fat zero to put down on the fishing chart this trip. Oh well! Once it got dark we took off and we forgot the camera so no pics this trip.

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!