Weather: 70-80, clear, low wind until Sunday
Moon Phase: 90% Moon
Location: Lake Powell
Water Temp: Morning- 52-54, Afternoon-56-60
Water Level: 3,610 ft amsl
Bait: Every plastic bait ever made
Who Went: Rick, John, Me
A couple buddies and I were lucky enough to fish God's gift to all anglers (a.k.a Lake Powell) last weekend and man was it awesome!
Thursday: We launched at Bullfrog and headed 25 miles north to Good Hope Bay where we set up camp on the south side of Blue Notch.
After unloading our gear, we got on the water and started pounding the banks near our camp working spinner baits, curly tail jigs, and drop shot plastics. We hammered the smallmouth, but mostly small ones under 2 pounds.
We also caught a few largemouth bass, a few nice crappies including one 15-inch beast, one striper, one bluegill, and one nice walleye.
It seemed like you could hit all the species with a curly tail on a jig, while spinnerbaits were bass-only. The water near Blue Notch was slightly stained, but more on the clear side compared to some of the other bays. Afternoon water temps were around 58 degrees and the action was non-stop from about 2:00p.m.-dark. We ended up taking a mixed bag of all species back to camp where John filleted and cooked them for us to enjoy around the campfire. We worked the shorelines after dinner on foot near camp before we went to bed trying to find the walleye, but it never happened.
Friday: We started the morning bottom-bouncing the east shore of Good Hope Bay in 20-30 feet of water. Didn't mark many fish, nor did we get a bite. Gave up on that after about 2 hours and went over to the south shoreline of Good Hope Bay where there are some big boulders that come down into the water. Water was very clear and water temp was between 54-56 degrees. Picked up a few smallmouth on jigs but action was slow. Decided maybe the clear, cooler water was the problem so we headed way north towards White Canyon. Water turned chocolate-milk colored about a mile north of Blue Notch. Kept heading north and went into Two Mile Canyon and fished it for a while. We threw crankbaits and spinnerbaits, but didn't even get a strike. Water was extremely milky and our thoughts were that the fish were holding in the slightly stained water. We saw temps in Two Mile Canyon at just over 60-degrees. We stopped in Scorup Canyon, or ULTRA Canyon as we nicknamed it, on the way back south towards camp. Water was in the slightly stained category so we thought it should be good, but only had two strikes picking up one dink largemouth. A little discouraged at this point, we trolled cranks in the main channel near our camp and picked up some quick stripers to get our spirits up. I hooked up with a striper and low and behold Rick doubled up with me and lost his virginity on Utah walleye while trolling. A tiny little guy that was suspended at about 20' in the main channel! That was one of Ricks main goals of the trip… get on the board with a Utah walleye!
After trolling, we went into Ticaboo Canyon, but the water was crystal clear and we didn’t give it much hope. We did catch a few small bass, but the real excitement came when Rick pulled out his fishing bow and arrow! There were carp everywhere and it didn’t take long for Rick to slay his first victim.
After the seaside burial, Rick lost one of his arrows and we were down to one left. I only got a few shots in before it was gone! No more carp funerals were performed. After that we cruised over to one of the small canyons in the northeast part of Good Hope Bay and things started picking up, at least for Rick and John. They started nailing smallmouth, largemouth, and crappie from about 3:00p.m.-dark.
I caught a few, but missed and lost more fish during this stretch than the rest of the trip combined. Water was right around 60 degrees and slightly stained. Most exciting part is when we saw big bertha swimming around some sunken brush. I'm talking a 7 or 8 pound largemouth! She was huge and uninterested in anything we put in front of her. It was awesome just to observe her for a while.
Saturday: The wind was on and off throughout the day, but air and water temps were up and we had more consistent success throughout the day. You couldn't go wrong with working a weedless plastic from shore, out to about 15 feet of water. Curly tail grubs had the most action with earth-colored working best in the morning and pearl or chartreuse working better in the evening. The morning started off hot for all species near camp at Blue Notch, but soon began to slow down.
We ventured back into Ticaboo Canyon across the channel from Good Hope and temps were up as high as 63.5 degrees. That got us excited and we absolutely dominated the bass. Mostly smallies, and most under 2 pounds. Got a few of them over 3 pounds, but generally smaller.
Highlight of the trip: In the far back nook of Ticaboo Canyon we got on a school of monster crappie hanging out around some large dead tree stumps that were sticking out of the water in about 7-10 feet. Literally every cast we got hit, with most of which were over 11 inches and some breaking 15 inches! Caught and released about 40 of them pigs. It was incredible!
Suddenly that action shut off so we headed back out working the banks and continued to slay the bass. We saw a few people trolling that canyon and were hooking stripers, crappies, and walleye left and right. None of us were in the mood to troll, plus there isn't a ton of room for multiple boats to troll, so we opted out of that. The best producing bait of the night was the jig and trailer. I have always had my doubts about them, but figured there was a reason all the diehard tournament bass fisherman used them, and that evening it proved them right. It helped me land the biggest bass of the trip at over 3 pounds.
Just before dark we talked to a group of guys camping in Ticaboo Canyon and payed them on the water pricing for some extra gasoline. We were a little worried that we might not have enough to make the 25 mile jaunt back to Bullfrog the next morning. I think it came out at $6.00 a gallon, but was well worth it! We worked the shorelines one last time before bed, but once again the walleyes were nowhere to be found.
Sunday: We packed up early in the morning and headed back to our Crappie honey hole, but the fast action was over and they didn’t want to play, so we continued on to Bullfrog. Unloaded all our gear into Rick’s jeep and re-launched the boat. We fished Bullfrog Bay for awhile, going all bass-tourney style working jig and trailers. Hooked a couple of nice largemouth and then the wind picked up and blew us off the lake. Ended the trip earlier than desired but the wind was miserable. Not a lot of structure to fish in Bullfrog anyway due to the current water level.
The trip was incredible and I wish that one of us could have hooked big bertha swimming around, but oh well. It ended up being a numbers trip with a ton of fish being caught and mixed bag of all different species. Best Crappie trip I’ve ever had down there and the most walleye as well. Next year it’s big Bertha that I’m after! Just for fun here is a list of all the species caught; Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Walleye, and a carp.
Bait: Every plastic bait ever made
Who Went: Rick, John, Me
A couple buddies and I were lucky enough to fish God's gift to all anglers (a.k.a Lake Powell) last weekend and man was it awesome!
Thursday: We launched at Bullfrog and headed 25 miles north to Good Hope Bay where we set up camp on the south side of Blue Notch.After unloading our gear, we got on the water and started pounding the banks near our camp working spinner baits, curly tail jigs, and drop shot plastics. We hammered the smallmouth, but mostly small ones under 2 pounds.We also caught a few largemouth bass, a few nice crappies including one 15-inch beast, one striper, one bluegill, and one nice walleye.It seemed like you could hit all the species with a curly tail on a jig, while spinnerbaits were bass-only. The water near Blue Notch was slightly stained, but more on the clear side compared to some of the other bays. Afternoon water temps were around 58 degrees and the action was non-stop from about 2:00p.m.-dark. We ended up taking a mixed bag of all species back to camp where John filleted and cooked them for us to enjoy around the campfire. We worked the shorelines after dinner on foot near camp before we went to bed trying to find the walleye, but it never happened.Friday: We started the morning bottom-bouncing the east shore of Good Hope Bay in 20-30 feet of water. Didn't mark many fish, nor did we get a bite. Gave up on that after about 2 hours and went over to the south shoreline of Good Hope Bay where there are some big boulders that come down into the water. Water was very clear and water temp was between 54-56 degrees. Picked up a few smallmouth on jigs but action was slow. Decided maybe the clear, cooler water was the problem so we headed way north towards White Canyon. Water turned chocolate-milk colored about a mile north of Blue Notch. Kept heading north and went into Two Mile Canyon and fished it for a while. We threw crankbaits and spinnerbaits, but didn't even get a strike. Water was extremely milky and our thoughts were that the fish were holding in the slightly stained water. We saw temps in Two Mile Canyon at just over 60-degrees. We stopped in Scorup Canyon, or ULTRA Canyon as we nicknamed it, on the way back south towards camp. Water was in the slightly stained category so we thought it should be good, but only had two strikes picking up one dink largemouth. A little discouraged at this point, we trolled cranks in the main channel near our camp and picked up some quick stripers to get our spirits up. I hooked up with a striper and low and behold Rick doubled up with me and lost his virginity on Utah walleye while trolling. A tiny little guy that was suspended at about 20' in the main channel! That was one of Ricks main goals of the trip… get on the board with a Utah walleye!
After trolling, we went into Ticaboo Canyon, but the water was crystal clear and we didn’t give it much hope. We did catch a few small bass, but the real excitement came when Rick pulled out his fishing bow and arrow! There were carp everywhere and it didn’t take long for Rick to slay his first victim.After the seaside burial, Rick lost one of his arrows and we were down to one left. I only got a few shots in before it was gone! No more carp funerals were performed. After that we cruised over to one of the small canyons in the northeast part of Good Hope Bay and things started picking up, at least for Rick and John. They started nailing smallmouth, largemouth, and crappie from about 3:00p.m.-dark.I caught a few, but missed and lost more fish during this stretch than the rest of the trip combined. Water was right around 60 degrees and slightly stained. Most exciting part is when we saw big bertha swimming around some sunken brush. I'm talking a 7 or 8 pound largemouth! She was huge and uninterested in anything we put in front of her. It was awesome just to observe her for a while.Saturday: The wind was on and off throughout the day, but air and water temps were up and we had more consistent success throughout the day. You couldn't go wrong with working a weedless plastic from shore, out to about 15 feet of water. Curly tail grubs had the most action with earth-colored working best in the morning and pearl or chartreuse working better in the evening. The morning started off hot for all species near camp at Blue Notch, but soon began to slow down.
We ventured back into Ticaboo Canyon across the channel from Good Hope and temps were up as high as 63.5 degrees. That got us excited and we absolutely dominated the bass. Mostly smallies, and most under 2 pounds. Got a few of them over 3 pounds, but generally smaller.Highlight of the trip: In the far back nook of Ticaboo Canyon we got on a school of monster crappie hanging out around some large dead tree stumps that were sticking out of the water in about 7-10 feet. Literally every cast we got hit, with most of which were over 11 inches and some breaking 15 inches! Caught and released about 40 of them pigs. It was incredible!Suddenly that action shut off so we headed back out working the banks and continued to slay the bass. We saw a few people trolling that canyon and were hooking stripers, crappies, and walleye left and right. None of us were in the mood to troll, plus there isn't a ton of room for multiple boats to troll, so we opted out of that. The best producing bait of the night was the jig and trailer. I have always had my doubts about them, but figured there was a reason all the diehard tournament bass fisherman used them, and that evening it proved them right. It helped me land the biggest bass of the trip at over 3 pounds.Just before dark we talked to a group of guys camping in Ticaboo Canyon and payed them on the water pricing for some extra gasoline. We were a little worried that we might not have enough to make the 25 mile jaunt back to Bullfrog the next morning. I think it came out at $6.00 a gallon, but was well worth it! We worked the shorelines one last time before bed, but once again the walleyes were nowhere to be found.Sunday: We packed up early in the morning and headed back to our Crappie honey hole, but the fast action was over and they didn’t want to play, so we continued on to Bullfrog. Unloaded all our gear into Rick’s jeep and re-launched the boat. We fished Bullfrog Bay for awhile, going all bass-tourney style working jig and trailers. Hooked a couple of nice largemouth and then the wind picked up and blew us off the lake. Ended the trip earlier than desired but the wind was miserable. Not a lot of structure to fish in Bullfrog anyway due to the current water level.
The trip was incredible and I wish that one of us could have hooked big bertha swimming around, but oh well. It ended up being a numbers trip with a ton of fish being caught and mixed bag of all different species. Best Crappie trip I’ve ever had down there and the most walleye as well. Next year it’s big Bertha that I’m after! Just for fun here is a list of all the species caught; Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Walleye, and a carp.
Needless to say the fishing was awesome and even though we didn't land a lot of bass, we managed to put 10 in the boat on a day with 45 degree air temps and on and off snow throughout the day! The best part is that almost all of them were pigs, with a couple pushing four pounds, like this one Rick caught.
I didn't come very prepared for bass fishing due to the fact I planned on spending the day walleye fishing, and my 6 foot medium light rod with 8 lb test reel wasn't ideal for dragging bass out of the thick cover. I lost two big bass with one that I felt would have been the big fish of the day. There was just no way to keep him from going into the stick-ups with my light rod and reel, and when I tried to force him out anyway, it resulted in my line snapping! Frustrating, but fun all the same! After a few hours we all felt we had beat the area to death and decided to go back to the Provo River Inlet to see if we could top off the already successful trip by landing a walleye. When we arrived at the river inlet two fishermen showed us two very nice walleye they landed earlier in the day and soon after we talked to them we watched them land another. We also saw two shore fishermen catch a couple nice fish. This boosted our confidence and Rick and I felt that with a little work we were finally going to land a few walleye! Unfortunately, the curse continued and we casted for 3 straight hours without even getting a bite! I'm still scratching my head and can't figure out why! Jason has had many good days on Utah Lake catching walleye, and after two fishless trips with Rick and me, he finally admitted that we must be cursed! It was still an awesome trip and I will definetely be fishing that bass spot again, but I think the pro walleye tour at Utah Lake is over. Supposedly the walleye will begin spawning at Deer Creek soon and I will probably shift gears and try my luck up there. Someday the stars will align and I will catch a decent walleye in this state!!!
My six year drought for Utah Lake walleye ended today, but was still one of the most frustrating fishing trips of my life! First of all, my boat has been in the shop since January 2nd and I just found out it won’t be fixed until early April due to some parts that the shop is waiting on to be shipped. That will make 4 months being in the shop! So my walleye chasing this spring just became a little more limited! Luckily Rick was as eager as me to get back on Utah Lake after our skunking a week ago and willing to provide his boat in order to do it. We took off from work around noon and hit the road for Lincoln Beach. As we pulled into the harbor I was in shock at how many trucks and empty trailers were sitting in the parking lot. As we launched our boat and drove around the corner to the “L” which is the popular place to fish, I counted 13 boats all huddled in the same general location. Rick asked me where we should go or what we should do and I just smiled and said “join the masses”.
It was a couple Vietnamese gentlemen that were landing walleye left and right. At first it excited us because we knew there were walleye out there to be caught, but the hours passed with no bites, and these two Vietnamese guys just kept reeling them in. The only reason I’m calling attention to their nationality, is because for whatever reason, their culture just flat knows how to catch walleye! I see it every year and it continues to amaze me, and we were forced to watch them land 15 walleye right in front of our face! Then, to put us completely over the edge, another Vietnamese guy to the west of them, landed a monster female that was probably pushing 7 pounds! I have never been so frustrated while fishing! We were using the same jigs and technique that they were, but for whatever reason, they continued to catch them and we didn’t! We finally gave up on the area and tried a little shallower and that’s when Rick finally yelled fish on! It was soon followed with disappointment as we realized it was just a white bass!
As the sun began to go down, the two Vietnamese guys moved in a little shallower and we instantly boated over and took their old spot. It wasn’t long before I caught my first walleye of the year at Utah Lake ending a 6 year drought! The little male walleye was spewing milt all over me assuring us that the spawn was beginning!
I began thinking that the two Vietnamese guys just lucked out and had the right spot, but unfortunately that was the only walleye we landed. We continued to cast for another hour or so and caught a few more white bass, but that was it.
Just as it was getting dark we ran over to another popular walleye spot at the inlet of the Spanish Fork River. There must have been 15 guys wading the entrance of the river and they didn’t seem too fond of us pulling up in our boat to join them on their annual walleye spawning rituals. They started casting right at our boat and told us that we were in their "casting zone". Funny because before we got there we could see them all casting in a different direction! Needless to say we didn’t stay long, but we did hear a lot of splashing fish in the darkness and I assume there was quite a bit of catching going on near the mouth of the river. The walleye spawn has officially begun, but without a boat I am at the mercy of going in my float tube or hoping someone with a boat is willing to take me! The best part about the trip was the beautiful day with no wind and the amazing sunset! Hopefully I can get back out there and catch some more walleye this year during the spawn at Utah Lake.
Rick Everson and I joined the Rocky Mountain Anglers Association for one reason only... because they are the supposed experts at walleye fishing. Today we put them to the test by going with the president of the club Jason Willard to his backyard playground, Utah Lake. We knew it was a little early in the year for great success, but figured we might have a decent chance with Jason as our guide. Unfortunately that wasn't the case! Jason did get two hits and I pulled in the only fish of the trip with a 6-inch tiny mud cat, but that was it! We drifted jigs, casted jigs, trolled crankbaits, and even baitfished all with no success. My frustration for walleye continues into 2011, but Jason assured us that if we put in the time the bites will come. I sure hope so because I can only take so many walleye skunked trips in a row! Below is a picture of Jason at the helm with a couple guys closing in on our spot.
Walleye fishing can get crowded with only a few spots on the lake that give up any real success. Rick and I have made it a personal goal to hit the walleye hard this spring and not give up until we catch one, so stay tuned!
Just when you think you have the big lake trout at Flaming Gorge figured out, they wind up and tail slap you right in the face, and remind you who’s in charge! I ran up to Flaming Gorge on Thursday night with my buddy John for a one day fishing event on Friday. We were on the lake before sun up, but forgot one of the fish finders so I had to run back to the car and get it. As I was walking from the car back out to our fishing holes, this beast of a machine pulled up and offered me a ride!
I declined at first but the friendly old man driving insisted I jump on, so I did. Little did I know I was getting duped by a little old man on a 4 wheeler! He dropped me off with my gear and told me how this was his favorite spot to fish, but he didn’t want to intrude and we were already there before him. I told him sorry, but thanks for the ride! He continued to drive circles around us for about 10 minutes before parking 30 feet from me. He told me he couldn’t find another spot to fish and thought his generous ride out on the ice made up for the fact that he was going to fish right on top of me all day! As he began setting up his gear I walked over there and nicely told him that he was a little close for comfort, but just like an old fuddy duddy, he played it off and acted like we were best buddies and felt I wouldn’t care! Problem was, I did care, and I knew our fish finders would interfere with each other all day long, which they did, and I wasn’t happy about it. I only had one morning to fish and I didn’t want anything to screw it up, but it was too late! To make matters worse, the old man hooked up with a fish almost instantly after dropping a jig and landed a 19 pound lake trout right in front of my face! 
Above is a picture of my fish finder and the top line being shown is my jig and the bottom line a big lake trout. If you understand how to read a fish finder you can see that the fish followed my jig from the lakes bottom all the way up to about 65 feet before losing interest and heading back down. You can also see that I dropped my jig right back on his head, but just like the rest of the lake trout that day, it didn't want anything to do with me! If the bottom line would have come up and touched the top line then I probably would have experienced a bite. I like to call this method, "the ultimate video game," because chasers like this will keep your interest for hours!
John and I arrived in Manila, Utah around 6:00 p.m. on Friday night and checked into the glorious Flaming Gorge Inn Motel, yeah right. It was a dump, but good enough for a few fishermen to lay their heads for a couple nights. Our buddy Rick was meeting us up there but didn’t arrive until midnight. In the meantime John filleted his bluegills from Pelican Lake on our TV table and I watched espn. Once Rick arrived we hit the sack, but I only got about one hours sleep that night after listening to all sorts of interesting noises that came out of John’s mouth! You might as well have stuck an air horn in my ear and rang it off every half second it was that loud! Rick got about the same amount of sleep, but either way we were mack fishing so we were happy as a kid on Christmas! We met up with a local mack expert that I had been talking to on-line, and he took us to his favorite spot to fish through the ice. We fished there all morning with Rick, John and I all landing lake trout from 15-25 pounds.
We then ventured out onto some thin ice (2 inches) trying to be the first ones to fish one of the best areas. John was a little sketch about being the biggest guy on the ice and it got to the point where every step he took cracks would form around his feet. We laughed a little at his expense!
I was the big loser at the new spot missing 3 fish in the span of one hour! After a few cuss words and finally settling down, the fishing completely shut off, which is normal for lake trout, so we gathered up our gear and prepared to move to another spot in search of the dreaded burbot. To fish for burbot your best odds are at night, so we loaded up the ice shack and heater and hit a rocky outcrop and fished in about 20 feet of water. We finally got the technique down after someone fishing the same area showed us that aggressive jigging was the key to catching these ugly things. Most of them were small, but Rick did land one decent sized one.
The excitement for burbot wore off pretty quick so we called it a night. John had to work the next morning so he grabbed a rockstar and hit the road for home while Rick and I went back to the motel and got what felt like the best sleep I’ve had in years! We woke up early the next morning and were on the ice before light. The fish seemed a little more moody than they were the day before, but I did luck out and land a 17 pound fish when he hit as I was dropping my jig to the bottom (complete luck), but besides that we had a rough morning.
I finally got fidgety and decided to move out to another hole close by, and man I'm glad I did! On my second drop down I could see a fish on my fish finder racing up to my jig. As soon as it hit, my pole doubled over and line started racing off my reel. I instantly knew this was not the same size fish we had been catching previously and yelled over to Rick to come over. The fish went on three long runs lasting about 15 minutes before I was able to get him up to the ice. Then we spent another 5 minutes trying to get his head out of the ice hole so that Rick could land him. Once we pulled the fish onto the ice I just sat there in awe!
It was a trip and a fish I will never forget, and meanwhile this fish has now become famous. Rick submitted it to the local outdoor TV show Roughin it Outdoors and they will be airing it on January 29, 2011. It will also be in the Salt Lake Tribune in the "Away" section as the Hook Shot of the week on February 6, 2011. The tribune outdoor writer, Brett Prettyman, posted the fish and story on his Salt Lake Tribune Outdoor Blog site on January 28, 2011, and an editor from BoatU.S. ANGLER magazine took notice and emailed me saying they loved the picture and want to put the photo and story in there April issue. The recognition for this fish just keeps pouring in! The editor for the magazine told me she would enter the photo into a national contest and if I win they would mount the fish for free. This is by far the most famous fish I have ever caught!!! 
John and I had a trip planned up at Flaming Gorge to fish for lake trout, but decided we might as well head that way a little early on Friday and get in some bluegill fishing at Pelican Lake first. I left my house at 4:00 a.m. to pick up John before making the 3 hour trip with only a few minor stops and arriving at the lake around 8:00 a.m. We had the lake all to ourselves the whole day, and by noon the ice looked like swiss cheese after we drilled hole after hole trying to locate where the bluegill were at. It was interesting because once we found the depth where they were holding (20 ft), every hole we drilled had fish below. Problem was it seemed like we fished out every hole after 4-5 fish, so we’d have to move and drill another hole to find happier bluegill. We ended up repeating this process all day long and kept about 25 of them for John to fillet, but the final tally was much higher than that.
It was a perfect day with blue skies and no wind. This was my first time ice fishing Pelican Lake and it was fun catching bluegill, but I would be lying if I said that Flaming Gorge wasn’t in the back of my mind the entire time. John loves his bluegill though, so he was happy. We hit the road around 2:00 p.m. and continued onward towards Flaming Gorge, but stopped to look at the impressive Flaming Gorge Dam before reaching the small town of Manila, Utah where we were staying. Story to be continued…
In another attempt to land a pike or musky through the ice, Rick and I headed to Yuba Reservoir. Yuba is a lake we have successfully fished for big pike during the summer months, but are eager to land one of these big fish through the ice. We arrived at the lake a little after sun rise and were excited to see that the lake had just recently froze, and even though we have had record snow fall this winter, the ice was covered with only a skiff of snow on top. This makes walking easy, and for us it meant that every corner of the lake was accessible by foot, with a little work. We looked at our map and pointed out a few areas that have produced pike during the summer and we decided to make the trek. According to the map we were looking at approximately 2.5 miles each way! The journey wasn’t bad, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sore by the end of the day. Once we arrived at the pin-pointed location, we set-up some tip-ups baited with anchovies and sent them down near the bottom in 20 feet of water. We used our fishing rods and tried to entice some perch out in the deeper areas (25’-30’) using ice flies tipped with wax worms. After close to an hour of fishing one of the flags on the tip-ups popped up and it was game on! We ran over there and Rick carefully took the line in his hand and set the hook! At first it seemed as if he had missed the fish, but then he told me there was definitely something there, but it didn’t feel very big. He was right and we were very disappointed as he hoisted out a 12 inch perch!
That’s a big perch, but not what we were looking for. We re-rigged the tip-up and sent another anchovy down thinking the perch was a fluke. After another hour with no bites on the tip-ups or our rods, we went exploring a few other points with only a fish finder and ice auger in hand, hoping to find an area with good pike holding structure. Unfortunately with the lake being so low during the winter, it was almost as if Yuba was like a big bathtub and gradually just got deeper as you made your way from shore to the middle of the lake. The structure was all the same, making it hard to pin-point any areas that would seem more productive than the other. After drilling multiple holes and unsuccessfully finding any structure, we headed back around the point and into the bay we were fishing. As we made our way around the point we noticed that one of the tip-up flags had been tripped so off I ran. When I got there I grabbed the line but the fish was gone. Now we were kicking ourselves thinking we missed our chance at a pike through the ice! We re-rigged with an anchovy and sent it back down. Shortly after re-baiting, the same tip-up tripped and I ran over and set the hook on a fish, but again was disappointed when I realized it was another big fat perch, and no pike. Now we knew the first perch wasn’t a fluke and were discouraged thinking no pike were even around. The tip-up flags began popping up regularly now and every time it was another big perch. I landed one perch on my rod, but the rest were all on tip-ups rigged with a full 6-inch anchovy and being inhaled by 12 inch perch!
We moved the tip-ups into shallow water (10-15 ft) and tried there for around an hour before packing up and making our way all the way back to the car. We stopped and fished at the dam for a few minutes hoping to find some perch in the deep 45 foot water, but all we found were a few non-biters. We dragged the sleds up the hill, packed the car, and left Yuba discouraged, sore and tired as we drove home depressed that we will never land a pike or musky through the ice. I don’t know anyone in Utah that can consistently land musky, pike, or walleye through the ice and the weirdest part is that it is very common on the lakes back east and up north. What makes Utah so different? I don’t know the answer yet, but I do know that my next ice fishing trip will be somewhere I can catch a fish!