Ice Fishing Adventure

Trout fishing in the winter is usually as effective as trying to make peace between Ute and Cougar fans in this screwed-up social culture of Utah. The water gets really cold, the trout kind of shut down, and the fishing turns miserable - that is, until the lakes freeze over!

Saturday was my first ice fishing adventure of the year, and it was definitely one for the ages. I owed a friend of mine a trip, and another friend wanted to tag along as well. Saturday morning at 6:30 we loaded the gear into the truck, stopped by Maverick for the obligatory Mountain Dew and donuts, then hit the road.

Our destination was a lonely little Blue Ribbon reservoir up Fairview Canyon. When we got there, the temperature gauge in the truck said it was about 5 degrees outside, not taking into account the windchill.

This picture doesn't do justice to just how blustery it was up there, but I felt wind gusts upward of 20 miles per hour, so it's safe to say the temperature was hovering around -5 degrees. But fish were just waiting to be caught, so the cold was barely acknowledged - at least, until I had to pick icicles out of my eyebrows. 

After getting set up, drilling holes, and rigging up our rods, Colby and I plunked some jigs into about 30 feet of water and waited. And waited. And kept on waiting. 

Of course, I had to take the obligatory ice fishing when it's 5 below zero selfie.

I don't know about you, but this doesn't even look warm. I'm just trying to convey exactly how cold it was at the lake on Saturday. If you watched the Packers-Niners game, you saw those NFL dudes all huddled up in big coats on the sideline - I was similarly bundled up, but without the added warmth of running around. Add to the fact that I somehow found a way to forget my chair and spent most of the day squatting on ice, and you've got yourself quite a cold day. 

The problem with the first lake we were at was that the fish didn't seem to be around the area where we were fishing. After about an hour of no bites, and trying multiple kinds of bait, we ventured out into the bone-chilling cold and drilled a few more holes, looking for fish with our fish finder. After about a half hour drilling holes in varying depths of water and not seeing a single fish, we decided to pack up and head to a different lake. 

A few shots of the lake as we were leaving. 

We decided that Scofield would be the next place to drop our lines, and after about an hour of driving on iced over roads, we arrived at a jam-packed reservoir. 

Once again, we hauled the sleds out, drilled holes, and dumped the fish finder into the water. This time, however, the finder started beeping like a guy having a heart attack, so we set up our tents and got right to fishing. It wasn't nearly as windy at Scofield, but the temperature gauge in the truck said 5 degrees when we got to the lake. It was certainly a chilly day. 

Not too long after setting up shop, I caught the first fish of the day - a nice little rainbow on a Gulp! minnow. 

I think ice fishing gets a bad rap sometimes, as a lazy way to fish. Well, let me tell you something! After hauling sleds loaded with 50-100 pounds of equipment onto the ice, drilling holes, setting up tents, baiting hooks, then bending over holes all day waiting to see your line dip, ice fishing is more exhausting than a normal day out on a lake! My back is still killing me a day after this trip was over. 

Fishing through the ice is all about finesse - the fish take the hook so much softer than they do during warmer months, which means you as a fisherman have to set that hook just perfectly, otherwise the fish are going to throw your hook and frustrate you beyond words. 

I missed a lot more fish than I caught all day, but I still managed to pull in a few little cutthroat. 

All of these fish were under the 15-22 inch slot, but they still gave great fishing. There's nothing quite like hooking a fish that you can't see and hauling it up through a hole in the ice. And of course, a day cooped up in a tent can be quite relaxing, even if it is bone-chillingly cold. 

Leaving Scofield, we were treated to this awe-inspiring sight 

Yeah, it was cold, and yes, the fish were small. But fishing isn't about the size of the fish. Fishing's about the whole process, the experience. Getting up at the crack of dawn, driving down snow-packed roads, setting up tents in gusty wind, freezing yourself to death, heading home at night so tired you can barely stay awake, and finally falling into bed without a shower you're so tired. That's all part of the fun that makes fishing so addicting, and oddly enough, relaxing beyond words.