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. 

2013 In Review And A Book

Well, 2013 was an interesting year for me, fishing wise. I found a whole host of new places to fish, caught some beautiful trout, and made a few new friends along the way. I even skipped my then-girlfriend's final choir concert of the year to go up on Thousand Lake Mountain for beautiful cutthroat and tiger trout. Fishing was definitely the right choice in that situation, even though she was pretty mad with me!

I visited places I've never been, even ended up in New York City for almost three months (an ill-fated attempt to serve an LDS mission that led to me returning home very early due to health problems) but I still managed to find some gorgeous fish. So let's take a look back at 2013.

I started this year doing a lot of work on Diamond Fork, a favorite river of mine. There's a very healthy population of browns in there, although they've eluded me in recent weeks. Fishing this river will never get old. 

A view of the valley that holds Diamond Fork River, over an expanse of unbroken snow. 

My first 'big' brown out of Diamond, a 14.5 inch 2 pound male. Landing this fish was a lot more work than it should have been, but I got it in for a picture before letting it swim back into the cold winter waters. 

Fishing through the ice at Fish Lake is something that will never get old. This splake was one of three the same size that day, and I ate a very good dinner that night. 

So many of these perch at Fish Lake!

There's nothing impressive about this fish at all. But the memories behind it make it worth sharing. I'm blessed to live near a lot of good ponds, even though they're stocked with planter rainbows. But these are the days that I'd spend fishing with my friends after school until well past dark, just shooting the bull and relaxing. This is what fishing's all about sometimes. 

Brook trout are incredibly pretty, and I was able to catch a few this year. Not as many as I would have liked too, though. This little guy was taken at one of my all-time favorite lakes near my home, because the action there is always lightning fast. I've never been there and not caught at least 5 fish. And last year, I even managed to find the lunkers in there, pulling out a few two pound rainbows. 

Southern Utah has become a home for me this year because of work, so I had to find a trout fishery down there.  A small, out of the way reservoir holds planted rainbows like this one, and brown trout that don't like to hold still for pictures. I hooked into a pretty nice sized brown, one that I'd estimate to be between 4 and 6 pounds, but he didn't want to come in for a picture that day. 

There's a creek by my house that is chock full of the most beautiful rainbow trout God has ever placed on this earth. Yeah, they're small, but this stream winds its way through the most beautiful canyon I've ever set foot in, and the fishing never disappoints. 

Diamond Fork was really good to me this year. This is a 17.5 inch, 2.5 pound brown that I pulled out of an eddy tucked into a tight bend in the river. Maybe this year I'll beat my record! 

More brown trout from Diamond Fork. This river is honestly one of the best kept brown trout secrets in the state. So don't tell anyone about it. 

My fishing pal Colby posing with a little rainbow at our favorite lake to fish together, the same one the brook trout came from. So many memories of hitting that lake up after school come to mind when I see this picture, so it had to be posted. 

There's a section of Sixthwater that I was lucky enough to find, and in this stretch of river, the brown in the picture above is the smallest fish I've ever pulled out of there. I'm not kidding when I say there's 5 to 8 pound fish in this river, and I'd wager that this stretch of river rivals the Green in terms of fish per square mile. 

The stretch of Sixthwater that I love to fish. And no, I'm not giving up the location of this stretch of river! This is a closely guarded secret! 

The current record for my adventures on Diamond Fork - an 18.5 inch, 2.7 pound brown trout. The coloration on this fish was spectacular, and this photo doesn't do it justice. 

A gorgeous picture of a beautiful rainbow trout hooked with a Jake's Stream-A-Lure, on the upper reaches of my favorite river close to home. 

More fish from the same river, this time with my best friend Lander jumping over a fallen log in the background. And yes, that's a waterfall on the left side of the picture. This is honestly fishing paradise. 

I tried a different stretch of Sixthwater here, a lot higher than I usually go. Smaller fish were abundant, but they were fun. I also caught rainbows and cutthroat out of this stretch, as opposed to the usual browns. 

A Sixthwater brown with not very many spots. 

Another Sixthwater brown. 

Getting into Sixthwater Valley just after sunup. 

My second-favorite tiger trout lake in the state (the first isn't pictured here, and never will be) was very productive this year. This tiger is absolutely gorgeous! 

This little Cutt attacked a J-7 Rapala lure, which was nearly as long as it was! That earns it a spot in the year's review. 

Not sure why I'm making such a face in this picture, I'm holding a 19.5 inch tiger. 

21 inch tiger, this guy tipped the scales at 3 pounds. 

The crowning jewel of my fishing adventures this year, a 5 pound, 23 inch tiger trout that's in the process of being mounted. Such an incredible fish, I had a blast reeling this hog in. 

One of the Cutthroat I nagged while skipping my girlfriend's choir concert on Thousand Lake Mountain. This fish was beautiful, so the tongue lashing I got when I returned home Saturday afternoon was worth it. 

This tiger had a lot of fun coming to hand, even though he wasn't kept. Another one from Thousand Lake Mountain. 

This is the first time I've ever fished at Joe's Valley Reservoir, and I caught more splake like this than I can count. It was an absolute blast, many thanks to Justin Craddock for taking me. 

A pale cutthroat from Joe's Valley. 

Justin Craddock again let me onto a new fishing spot, this one a small little pond full of beautiful cutthroat. 

More Diamond Fork brown trout, with a little bit of white on the leading edge of the rear anterior fin. 

This year was the first time I've fished Straight Canyon Creek, which is full of browns all about this size. The fish are small but the setting is dramatic and ultimately worth it. 

This is the only picture I have of the most beautiful cutthroat I've ever caught in my life, during a trip to film a fishing video at Joe's Valley about a month ago. You can view the video we made here. 

Fishing is the most relaxing thing I do, and I enjoy it beyond words. It's my escape, my one true solitary hobby that makes me happy when nothing else can. For that reason, I've decided to write a book detailing my fishing experiences and knowledge. I'll have it finished before June of this year, and hopefully published soon thereafter.  

Thanks for reading and supporting this blog, there are many more amazing fishing adventures coming your way this year! Look out on Sunday for my next post detailing my ice fishing adventure to Mammoth reservoir.