Ice Fishing Has Begun

Ice fishing is finally here! This last week, I went to Scofield Reservoir for my first time. Most the lakes in Utah don't have much ice yet so I decided to play it safe and go to Scofield. Scofield had about 6-8" of ice so I decided to go there. Plus there is always a chance you will catch a large Tiger Trout or Cutthroat Trout.

Last year I bought the Eskimo Quickfish 3. This purchase has turned out to be one of the best fishing purchases I have made. An ice fishing tent changes the game when it comes to ice fishing. Gone are the days where I freeze on the ice and question why I choose to fish in the winter. Instead, I honestly look forward to ice fishing season.

Without an ice fishing tent this is what your ice fishing hole looks like.

This is what it looks like with an ice fishing tent. Please click on the link below.

Ice fishing with a tent

 Jason caught this nice chub. Surprisingly, I have caught thousands of fish over the years but have never caught a chub.

Jason ended up catching five chubs. We filleted one of the chubs and used it for bait.

Jason caught a few fish with the chub meat. However, we seemed to have more success with a piece of a worm on our jig or ice fly. Jason caught 29 total fish. I caught 27 total fish. Only three of the 27 fish I caught were rainbows. Next week I will share photos of the bait we use for trout.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

When it comes to ice fishing, you don't necessarily have to fish near the bottom of the lake to catch fish. In fact, 90% of the 56 fish we caught were only 2-9 feet deep. Many of the fish were good sizes! 

Debunk the Skunk

Last week I took on the challenge of...Operation Debunk the Skunk. 

Meet fisherman Justin. When it comes to fishing, he has the curse of getting skunked. Justin explained he had a family curse in which his family seems to never catch fish when they go fishing. When I heard about this I thought it would be fun to help Justin try and break the curse!

My location of choice was of course, Strawberry Reservoir. When we arrived, it was a whopping 18 degrees F. 

We fished for a while but had no luck. We tried my favorite lures, my favorite fishing spots, but nothing seemed to be working. I remembered we brought worms just in case the lures wouldn't work. So we rigged up a water bubble with a hook, Salmon Eggs, and a worm. I had never tried a worm or Salmon Eggs with a water bubble rig before. 

 After just a few minutes with the water bubble/worm rig out in the water, Justin caught a fish! And just like that, the fishing skunk curse, had been debunked!

Justin's fish ended up being a nice rainbow trout!

We fished for a couple more hours until I finally caught a fish as well! I caught this rainbow (photo above) with a gold Joe's Flies and Lure. We ended up only catching one fish a piece but had fun being up in the mountains!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Always take your camera fishing. You never know what wildlife you might see while fishing! This trip we saw some deer and two Bald Eagles!

Ice Fishing is Coming Soon

Ice fishing is just around the corner! If you are looking to fish at Strawberry Reservoir before the ice comes, you better hurry. With many day time high's below freezing temperatures, the ice has already started forming around most edges.  

I went fishing with Terry and Daniel. Fishing reports have been mixed at Strawberry lately. From my experience, fishing has slowed down quite a bit. If you fish long enough and move around, you can find fish. This fishing trip we only had a couple hours to fish. I started out catching a nice cutthroat on a Lucky Craft Pointer. 

Terry was reluctant to use a Lucky Craft Pointer until he watched me catch a fish with one. Then he caught a nice rainbow trout. After Terry and I each caught one, Daniel switched to a Lucky Craft Pointer and finally was able to catch a fish. Daniel caught a nice rainbow trout as well.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Lately I've been catching most my fish in shallow water, between 2-10 feet deep. The water at Strawberry Reservoir is super low this year so you can access areas that would normally be harder to get to. However, I have noticed lots of seaweed around the shorelines. As you reel in your lures, reel in a little quicker as you get closer to shore to avoid snags! 

Where have the cuts gone?

Cool temperature (24 degrees F), fresh snow, thick fog, perfectly calm water, few people on the lake, but no cutthroats. It was the perfect day for fishing but for whatever reason, I just couldn't catch any cuts! I'm not sure why, but the last few weeks at strawberry reservoir the cuts seem to have disappeared. All I've been catching are the recently stocked rainbow trout. 

I did have a monster cut follow my lure in one time, probably could have been my new record! 

I caught three rainbows using my favorite Lucky Craft pointer.

I caught five more rainbows with the Kastmaster lure above. This lure seems to be money when it is cloudy.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

My favorite Lucky Craft Pointer lures are on sale right now at the Scheels in Sandy, UT. They usually cost $16 at every different fishing store, but I found them $9.99 at Scheels this week. An employee said they bought too many so they dropped the prices to sell them! I've never seen them at this price before!  They are leaving the shelves quickly!

Lure on Fire

I went to Strawberry Reservoir again last week with hopes of catching more big cutthroats and possibly a red kokanee Salmon. Fishing was really good, and often times my lure was on fire, but I didn't catch any cuts or kokanee.

I started off using a new lure from Cabelas but didn't have any luck. I had several fish follow my lure in each time so I decided to switch to my favorite Lucky Craft Pointer, 3" version. The photo above shows the 5" version. After I switched to the Lucky Craft, I went 3 for 3 catching three rainbows on my first three casts. Within, 30 minutes, I had reeled in 7 fish. One was a real nice fat rainbow. As the day went on, I caught more and more fish!

 I met fisherman Dan, his daughter Mikayla, and fisherman Wade while fishing. Fisherman Dan and Mikayla showed me one of their favorite ways to catch trout at Strawberry after catching a nice rainbow.

They rig their line up with an orange water bubble placed above a swivel. Above the bubble about 6" away they placed a sinker and finished it off by putting power bait on the hook. They cast out the line and let it sit until a fish finds the end of the line.

Fisherman Wade and fisherman Dan said sometimes they come to Strawberry and don't have any luck with lures but will catch tons of fish with the power bait method. 

Fisherman Dan introduced Power Bait trout attractant to me. Dan said they add this to the power bait and usually catch a lot more fish. I have never used trout attractant so this is something I'll have to try in the future!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

It can be fun to try new lures. I recently discovered the Cabela's Fisherman Series brand. I have yet to catch a fish with this after one day of fishing, but am very optimistic about it after an extremely large cutthroat followed this in one time. The reason I bring this lure up is it has a 60 day 100% money back guarantee. If the lure doesn't swim straight or you don't catch fish with it, then you can get your money back!

Shore Fishing at the Berry

Last week I went to Strawberry Reservoir yet again. It is hard to go anywhere else when you catch plenty of large trout! This trip, my friend Jason, his 4 month old son Jimmer, and I had an awesome day of shore fishing. 

The day started off pretty cold at sunrise with a thick fog over the lake.

It didn't take long before the fish started biting. I caught the first fish using a method I've never used before.

I rigged up a water bubble with a small prince nymph fly on the end of the line. I filled the water bubble up half full with water, then I cast it out. While I worked on putting a lure on my other fishing pole, my pole with the fly on it went crazy with the first fish of the day!

Jason and Jimmer got in on the action as well!

Jason caught most of his fish using a gold Joe's Flies and Lure.

Jason even landed this large cutthroat on the same gold Joe's Flies and Lure. 

I caught some fish on a Lucky Craft Pointer, rainbow colored lure. 

 Most of the fish I caught were with the Kastmaster lure in the photo above. My wife picked this lure out and it has turned out to be an excellent lure for trout!  I've now caught fish ranging from 10" to 22" with the lure!

I caught one fish using this Cabela's Fisherman spinner. 

Even with the cold weather early on, Jason, Jimmer, and I had a good time fishing. We caught a combined total of 23 fish from shore. 

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

After catching a fish, it is good to check your lure/bait, as well as the knot you tied on before casting it out again. I lost two lures this fishing trip because I didn't realize my knots came loose after catching a few fish! Don't be afraid to try new knots if you need!

Weather is changing

I made it up to Strawberry one time each of the last two weeks.  The weather was completely opposite last week then it was the previous week. However, both weeks resulted in excellent fishing!

 

Although I prefer fishing on days with beautiful blue skies and moderate temperatures, I actually caught more fish when I fished during the snow storm last week! 

Both weeks I started off using the classic tube jig but did not catch a fish. Once I put on a lucky craft pointer, I started getting hits quite frequently. 

 For those of you who still aren't sold on the lucky craft pointer, don't give up! Last week I caught three rainbows, and eight cutthroat trout using the three inch lure. Ten out of the eleven fish were eighteen inches or larger! 

I fished for about four hours and had well over thirty hits on the lure. If you have not tried lure fishing, then you are missing out on the joy of feeling a fish slam your lure while you are reeling it in! 

Two weeks ago when I fished, I caught four on the lucky craft pointer, and three on a gold "Jake" lure. I've mentioned Jake lures before and that's because they seem to always be consistent in bringing in fish at many different waters!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Stormy weather scares many fisherman away. The fishing however can be quite good. Often times fish will start feeding before or after a storm!