Heading South

Fishing Time: 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Weather: warm, calm, high 60's
Moon Phase: 23% Moon
Water temp: 49-52.3 degrees
Location: Sand Hollow Reservoir
Bait: Everything, but drop shot with roboworm is what all fish were caught on
Who Went: Hunt, Me My buddy Hunt was in town this week from Portland and wanted to get away for the weekend and go fishing somewhere. We talked about places to go, but with most the lakes in the ice to no ice transition mode, we decided that we might as well head south to warmer weather. Sand Hollow, near St. George is the lake we decided on, and it holds nothing but largemouth bass and bluegill. I have heard a lot of good reports about some big bass down there and also about how beautiful the lake is resembling Lake Powell, on a much smaller scale of course. Well I can tell you that one of those reports is not true and that is that Sand Hollow resembles Lake Powell. As we pulled up to the reservoir we were very disappointed to find a catch basin in the middle of the sand dunes! It has one outcrop of red rock sandstone that is pretty cool, but besides that it was storage water held behind a big rock dike in the middle of some sand dunes! It also bordered the town of Hurricane and gave no feeling like you were getting away from the hustle and bustle of life. We were not allowed to camp on the lake and were forced to stay in a designated campground overlooking an empty subdivision that has obviously been humbled by the recent economy! We joked about the name of our camp spot and called it, the Sand Hollow Retreat overlooking the beautiful Sand Hollow Bluffs Subdivision. What a selling point that would be in their brochure! As far as the fishing, it ended up being about as productive as us finding a good camp spot! We found out from the camp host that the wind had been blowing for the last two days with gusts up to 85 mph and when we got there the good old american flag told us that the wind wasn't over yet. It was so bad we didn't even fish on Friday.This left the water temperature of the reservoir at a chilly 49 degrees on Saturday morning. There was also a bass tournament going on Saturday and the small reservoir was littered with boats. I only saw two bass caught by other boats all day long, and I only managed to catch a total of four. This was the first and smallest of the four I caught, but none were really picture worthy, all were under 2 pounds. Hunt had a rough day and didn't land any bass. I’ve heard that in mid April to May you can have 100 fish days on this reservoir so I would maybe return during that time frame, but it definitely wouldn’t be for the great camping or scenery that was rumored to be at this lake. We hit it wrong once again and I’m getting very tired of the weather not cooperating with the weekends that I go fishing. We did get gorgeous weather on Saturday and it made for a very peaceful day and evening on the lake, but the wind the previous three days in a row just killed the water temps and fishing. I’m headed to Lake Powell in two weeks and I’ve already started praying to the weather gods to let it shine, please let it shine!

My Little Fisher"wo"man is Here

Fishing Time (birth): 8:26 p.m.
Weather: Snow, abnormally warm
Moon: Full Moon
Location: St. Marks Hospital
Bait(doctor): Dr. Carrie Sloan
Who Was There: Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousin Dakota
My best fishing day following my son’s birth happened today and arrived in an even smaller package than he did. My daughter and newest fishing partner, Addison Lynn Duncan, was born today at 8:26 p.m. She weighed 2 lb 14 oz and was 16 ½ inches long. She had a little more of a difficult start than my other little fisherman Devin did. She needed the ventilator to help her breath, and they also added surfactant to her lungs because she didn’t quite stay in moms belly long enough to naturally create it on her own, but beyond that, she has done great! I now have two little fishing buddies to share the water with and I couldn’t be more excited about it! Now I just have to start brain washing them at an early age of how important fishing and the outdoors are, and to enjoy and cherish every outing they go on with their old man!

Fremont Lake "part deux"

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Weather: Perfect, clear, no wind, high 40's
Moon Phase: Full Moon
Location: Fremont Lake, Wyoming
Bait: Tube jigs tipped with chub meat
Who Went: Hunt, Dave, Newton, Scotty, Me
My annual Ice fishing trip with my buddies almost became a no show for me this year as Cari and I are both in a waiting game with her pregnancy. We have been told by the doctor that the baby should already be here, but every day at our ultrasound over at St. Marks Hospital, they tell us the baby is still hanging in there. This was the story again on Friday when they told us we were going to make it through another weekend. I took that as a doctor’s consent, and got the green light for fishing (I have an awesome wife). Just like that I was back in the game and we hit the road only to arrive at the lovely town of Pinedale, Wyoming on Friday night to pleasant cold temperatures in the low 20’s. For having a sign as you enter town that says, “Welcome to the Ice Box of the Nation,” low 20’s didn't seem too bad! The Lakeside Lodge where we stayed last year looked the same this year with a nice back porch right on the lake and two nice queen beds. Of course there were five of us, so naturally the little guy (me) got the floor. However, I came prepared this year and brought a nice big pad and sleeping bag. Fremont Lake welcomed us with this gorgeous sunset, and soon after with the biggest moon I have ever seen. Now on to the fishing… We woke up early and were walking on the ice before sunrise. I took this picture of our group with the same big moon behind them that was so beautiful the night before. We drilled our holes and got set up to fish as the sun began to make its way over the mountains. The weather was brisk, but the skies were clear with no wind, and we knew if we could hold on until the sun climbed over the hillside, it was going to be a beautiful day. Very few fish were seen on the electronics, which is the same story as last year, but we were hoping that if one did happen to show up, it would be a good sized one! I was the first one to have my rod bend, but it ended up being a small lake trout in the 18-20 inch range. The color on the lake trout at Fremont Lake are so much more dark and pronounced than the ones I’m used to catching at Flaming Gorge, so even though it was a small trout, it was still a victory in my book. After spending the rest of the morning without a bite, we decided to walk over to some locals that were ice fishing near us, to get the scoop on what this lake really has to offer. He was an elderly gentleman and was very cordial. He helped us out tremendously by giving up one of his favorite spots on the lake. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the lake and we had to pack up everything and make a long move. When we got to our new spot we were excited we moved even before dropping a line in the water. This end of the lake was back in the deep pines and had a breath taking backdrop to enjoy while wetting a line. Soon after we started fishing, I got a hit and set the hook into what I thought was a very nice fish. Everyone gathered around and watched as the fish tore off line from my baitcaster reel and made some good runs. We were all very excited until the fish came to the surface and surprised us with its size. It was not the big fish we were expecting. On our drive over to our new spot my fishing pole must have gotten bumped and my drag became loose. I had it set very tight the night before so I thought for sure I had a really good fish on! Then to make matters worse the fish came off as I tried to pull it through my ice hole! We did get a good look at him though, and I would put him in the 5 or 6 pound class, then just as my fish came off, Dave hooked into one of his own. He was able to land his fish, and it was about the same size as the one I lost, but this one was generous enough to come out of the hole for a few mug shots. After the excitement was over, the fishing went back to being very poor and Hunt ended the night by landing one of the smallest lake trout I have ever seen, but at least he got on the board! Scotty and Newton were skunked for the second year in a row, and looked forward to getting off the ice! As the sun went down, Hunt and I sat on the tailgate of my truck and enjoyed the unbelievably gorgeous scenery the Wind River Mountain Range has to offer. We talked about how good life is when you’re in the mountains fishing, and you can forget about all the stresses of life by leaving them at home for a couple of days. If it wasn’t for these outdoor trips I think a man would go insane, but like all good things they must come to an end, and now I’m back home and dealing with the daily grind of wondering when our baby girl will enter this world! Uggh! When is the next trip?

Flaming Gorge Bust

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Weather: WINDY! partly cloudy, warm high 40's
Moon Phase: 43% Moon
Location: Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Bait: Tube jigs tipped with minnow
Who Went: Rick, MeI was very excited to head up to the gorge this weekend and fish for trophy lake trout. Rick Everson and I got to the hotel in Green River, Wyoming on Friday night, and stayed up late rigging poles and arranging gear, so we could be ready bright and early in the morning. We only had two hours to dream about monster macks coming through our ice holes before the alarm clock went off, and the journey became reality. I wanted to fish Linwood Bay, but the reports said there was no ice that far south on the lake, so we settled on fishing a good looking hump near Buckboard Marina. We walked out onto the ice in the dark following the light of the gps. We carefully chose a spot on a topography map the night before and entered the gps coordinates in order to put ourselves in the exact area we wanted to fish. After a little over a mile walk we arrived, and started drilling holes and gearing up when a four wheeler came and stopped to talk. He asked how we found this spot and why we were there. I couldn't believe the arrogance in his voice and my blood started boiling. Long story short he ended up fishing right next to us. He was a local from Green River and actually ended up being a pretty nice guy, but I still wish he wouldn't have imposed on us. His fish finder started causing interference with Rick's fish finder and he kept trying to talk to me during the earliest part of the morning when fishing for big fish is the best! All I wanted to do was concentrate on fishing! You drive 3 hours to spend the night in a crappy hotel that costs you 60 bucks a night, and pay a lot of gas money for about 4 hours of prime time fishing! You have to take advantage of every minute of those 4 hours, so when someone drives their four wheeler over a mile out onto the ice just to shoot the breeze, it's hard not to be rude, but this seemed to be the omen for the trip. at 11:00 a.m. the wind came up and hit 20-30 mph and didn't stop the rest of the trip. Rick and I were stuck sitting in his ice shack all day long. Any time we tried to get out, the wind would start to blow the whole shack away! When evening hit, the wind died down to a nice breezy 20 mph and my patience was starting to run thin. It also just happened to be the weekend that the burbot bash was going on. The burbot bash is an event sponsored by BigFishTackle.com and they all came up to catch some burbot, barbecue and have a good time. There was close to 300 people and they were all probably as disappointed as we were with the weather. Rick and I wanted to fish for burbot, so we toughed it out and joined the burbot bashers. We caught a bunch of small lake trout, and only one small burbot! The trip was so miserable that the picture of the burbot is the only picture we took all trip! I don't call many trips to Flaming Gorge miserable, even when the weather is bad, but this trip took the cake. If you have ever been in true 30 mph winds then you know how miserable we were! Can't wait for a nice summer day up there with no wind at all!

Skunky Day on the Ice

Fishing Time: 8:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m.
Weather: Warm, high 40's
Moon Phase: 26% Moon
Location/Bait: Willard Bay: small ice flies tipped with meal worm. I-80 Pond: "frozen minnows"
Who Went : John, JJ, Me
JJ called and asked if we could go fishing this Saturday, but he wanted to go somewhere new that we have never been before. He also didn't want to travel very far, so after some deep thought we decided on Willard Bay. Not many people ice fish Willard Bay and you don't hear many good reports from there, but we decided to try it anyway. To bad hind sight is 20/20, cause I wish we would have chose a different lake! We saw very few fish on our electronics, and didn't get any bites. By 10:00 a.m. we had about enough and started brainstorming on where we could fish on the way home if we ended the trip short at Willard. We finally came up with a crazy idea about ice fishing the I-80 ponds for largemouth bass. Of course I was down with the idea because these are the kind of wild trips that I live for. We all thought about it and finally agreed to pack up and make the trip. We picked up some special bait at the pet store on our way there, and I kept wondering whether it was going to be frozen enough to walk on, but we were pleasantly surprised to find the ice was a solid 4 inches and completely safe! The I-80 Pond is only about 5-6 feet deep and you could look down your ice hole and see the fish swimming around. We only saw a couple swim by, but it was pretty cool when we did. Needless to say our special bait didn't work and we ended the day with a big fat skunk. It was a fun day though, and its already got my mind daydreaming about how I can get the largemouth to bite through the ice! I guess I've got all summer to think about it. That's the great thing about fishing... there's always tomorrow!

Night Fishing Pineview

Fishing Time: 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

Weather: very cold and clear

Moon Phase: 46% Moon

Location: Pineview Reservoir

Ice Thickness: 8 inches

Bait: small minnow on a trebble hook below a split shot sinker

Who Went: Rick, Me

Rick and I fished Pineview Thursday after work for some late night Crappie fishing, and late is exactly what it ended up being. I knew I had to work the next day, but we still didn't get home til 3:00 a.m. Needless to say it was a rough day at work on Friday. We hiked out to a spot off Browning point near the island where we found 30 feet of water, it looked like a decent spot, so we started fishing. Our fish finders didn't show any fish for about an hour and we were not getting any bites, so we toughed the cold weather and made a move. We went out to deeper water in about 46 feet and found suspended Crappie showing up all over the fish finder. This got us pretty excited and we hurried to get the tent up and the heater going so we could start fishing. This is the first time since I have started ice fishing that I can honestly say I continuosly saw fish showing up on the fish finder for 4 hours straight and the fishing still wasn't good! We caught a few fish here and there, but for as many as we were seeing I thought it would be a lot better. Rick got us started with this nice Crappie that finally got us off the skunk list!It seemed like as the night went on the fish started giving in and biting more often, and I finally landed my first Crappie of the night.The fishing stayed somewhat consistent from the hours of 8 p.m. to midnight with us both landing around a couple an hour, but as soon as the clock hit 12:00 p.m. the fishing completely shut down. I would say we probably caught around a dozen total for the night. Rick took a few home for dinner. Biggest Crappie of the night was 13 inches. It was fun fishing at night, but I think next time I will do it when I don't have to wake up at 7:00 a.m. and work all day!

What's happening at the Berry

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.

Weather: Cold, no wind, single digits

Moon Phase: 71% Moon

Location: Strawberry Reservoir

Ice Thickness: 12 inches

Bait: White tube jig tipped with minnow

Who Went: Hunt, JJ and his friend Dave, Newt and his friend Chris, Rick and his friend Chad, Me

Every year when I put up my new calendar I mark the 26th of December as "the best fishing day of the year". Strawberry Reservoir usually freezes right around Christmas day, and if you can time it right, which is usually around the 26th, the fishing can be rediculously good! I recorded my personal best at the berry on this day two years ago when I landed 51 cutthroat trout, including a nice 24 inch, 5 pound cutt. That being said, this morning started with great anxiety and anticipation to duplicate the years past. This year was a little different though, as temperatures have been very cold and Strawberry has been frozen for almost two weeks now, the ice has already felt the footprints of many fisherman hoping for the same success we have experienced. We got to Chicken Creek East early in the morning and walked out onto the ice in -11 temps before the sun started creeping over the mountains. We set up shop at an extending point where I have had a lot of success in the past. Once the fishing began I instantly hooked into my first trout of the day. Once released, I dropped my jig down again, and before it even got to the bottom I was already reeling in another one. This one was nice and probably hit the 4 pound mark. Thoughts of a great day started to enter my mind! I dropped my jig down again, but this time I sat there for an hour with no bites. To make matters worse, none of the other 7 guys I was fishing with had any bites either! We decided to go on a fish hunt and hiked close to another half mile out to the island to see if the unchartered territory might bring more success. I managed to catch two more fish out of the area but that was it! We moved again with the same result, only this time I landed one fish. The rest of the group was still skunked! Two guys I was with decided to give Strawberry the birdie finger and left early, while the rest of us made the trek of a lifetime across the entire bay over to a little cove we felt might hold fish. When we got there I quickly hooked up with a fish and the others started to get angry with my success. Soon after though,

they all got into the mix each catching a few of there own.

JJ landed this cutthroat that had no color at all! I think it could have been an albino. I took a close up picture to show how the fish literally had no color pigment at all!The somewhat faster fishing didn't last very long and soon enough the boredom got to us. We decided to have an Ice Auger Championship, "man vs. machine". Hunt is probably the fastest I have ever seen at drilling a hole through the ice with a hand auger, so we put him to the test. This is the results of round one...

Since JJ encountered some starting malfunctions we decided to give him another chance in round 2...

It was a tight race, but it looks like if the machine starts quickly it will make it through 12 inches of ice faster than man. After that excitement was over we decided to call it a day. As we crossed over the entire bay to get to our cars we ran into some interesting moments. The crystals on the ice made for some cool pics.

We also ran into some sketchy areas in the middle of the bay that looked to be open water and some very thin ice. It was like a mine field and we had to be very careful all the way back to our vehicles.

Solitude on Ice at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Weather: clear, calm, 30's

Moon Phase: 5% Moon

Location: Utah Lake

Ice: 4 inches

Bait: Glow Tube tipped with minnow or worm

Who Went: Me
One of my ice fishing goals this year is to land a walleye through the ice. I made my first attempt tonight at Utah Lake. I arrived to the warm springs near the "L" at Lincoln Beach around 4:30 p.m. There was absolutely no one around and it felt like I had the whole lake to myself. First thing I did was walk onto the ice and drilled a hole to check for strength. Ice was a solid 4 inches so I was good to go! Gathered my gear and walked out to an area that looked walleyeish. I drilled about 12 holes in all different depths and locations. Next thing I did was go back to the shore and sit there for 45 minutes. Sounds crazy I know, but I have heard that this is the secret to walleye fishing at Utah Lake. The lake is very shallow and walleye are so timid that you have to be very quiet, so you don't spook them off. You can't be trudging all over the ice drilling holes in 5 feet of water right above their heads! Once my 45 minutes was up I tippy toed as quiet as I could out onto the ice and began fishing each and every hole. I saw a fair amount of fish on my fish finder that came up to my offering, only to move on without a bite. I stuck it out well into dark but it wasn't to be, so the walleye go up 1-0 in the series this year.