Chicken Creek East

Strawberry Reservoir has finally frozen over! This last weekend I had the opportunity to fish Strawberry with fisherman Jason, Shane, and Shane's two brothers. 

When I arrived to Chicken Creek East, the parking lot was full and I found a complete tent village of ice fisherman already on the ice. I had never fished Chicken Creek East before so I was curious as to why everyone would flock to this portion of the lake.

 Shane and his brother's got the early start on the lake. When Jason and I met up with them we found they had already caught some nice cutthroats. One of Shane's brothers even hooked up with a fish that pulled his fishing pole right down the ice hole into the lake! After hearing Shane's report, I felt pretty optimistic we would have a great fishing day!

We found a spot in 13 feet of water. Right off the bat Jason and I noticed a large cutthroat cruising underneath the ice near our bait. This went on for about thirty minutes or so but we were unable to catch the old timer. This spot was cool because we were able to see the bottom of the lake very clearly!

As time went on, Jason and I still hadn't caught any fish so we moved to about 20 feet of water. We fished this spot for a while, but were met with negative results. I checked with Shane and his brothers and found they continued to have success at about 7 ft deep. So, once again, Jason and I moved our tent to another spot in about 9 feet deep. 

Being closer to shore proved to be the difference! Jason hooked on to a nice 18 inch cutthroat. 

Then I finally caught one! This cutthroat was a healthy 19.5 inches.
 I ended up catching a nice fat rainbow to finish off our trip. Even though we didn't catch record numbers of fish, it was nice to get out and enjoy some fishing while surrounded by some beautiful scenery!

 JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

We learned fishing close to shore made all the difference. Shane stayed near the shore the entire time and consistently caught fish. Once Jason and I moved close to shore, we got in on some of the action as well. At Strawberry Reservoir, location makes all the difference!

First Ice of the Year

 It is finally here!....What's that you say?... That's right, Utah ice fishing season has begun! This past weekend, fisherman Jason and I ventured out to Scofield Reservoir for our first ice trip of the season. 

This year Jason and I upgraded our tents from the Eskimo quickfish 3 to the Eskimo Fatfish 6120. This tent comes equipped with six walls, ten windows, and a whopping 80 sq feet of fishing space! This has three times the amount of space of the quickfish 3. Lets just say, we are both excited to put our tents to some good use this year!

When we got to Scofield, we discovered the lake had mostly frozen over. We fished in two different spots. The first spot had about 4-5 inches of ice. The second spot had close to three inches of ice. The spot we really wanted to fish had very unsafe ice so we will have to wait a few weeks.

Fishing started off great, we started pulling fish after fish out of the lake. We used small tube jigs, ice flies, and pink colored paddle bugs.

We caught a total of about 40-50 chubs between the two of us. 

The sad thing was, we only caught a total of ten cutthroat trout. That's right, no rainbows or tiger trout this trip. All of the cutthroat trout were very small.

This trip was the first time I have ever ice fished with a fish finder! I spent a lot of time reading the instruction book to learn how to use it. All in all, it was a great first trip of the 2014-2015 season!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Always ice fish with a buddy at the beginning of ice fishing season. Also bring emergency equipment in case some one falls in. The ice can be very unpredictable and dangerous. However, if you can find safe ice, the fishing can be excellent!

The Hunt for Kokanee

Well it has been one full year since I started this blog! I've learned a lot about fishing and have had fun on all my fishing adventures. As much as I would have liked to have caught more varieties of fish, I've learned, it just takes time!  

This last week, I had the opportunity to go fishing with Captain Kerry and his crew on his fishing vessel, Blue Lightning. I haven't had many opportunities to fish from a boat so I jumped with excitement at this opportunity.

 Captain Kerry wanted to target Kokanee Salmon at Strawberry Reservoir. So we combined his knowledge and experience catching Kokanee, and my knowledge of Strawberry Reservoir to make a great Kokanee team. Captain Kerry opted to try a 5 pole set up.

 We rigged one pole with leaded line down the middle of the boat. Then we put two poles off the left side and two poles off the right side. Both the left and right sides had one pole with leaded line, and a pole with a down rigger to keep the lines from tangling.

Each pole was rigged with a dodger with some sort of pink, red, blue, or purple on it. After the dodger, we added about 12-18 inches of line before putting the lure on.

It didn't take too long before we started reeling in fish.

We caught fish with pink colored squids, red wedding ring with a worm, pink/purple squid, purple apex, light pink squid, and a red apex.

We had fun catching cutthroats and rainbows but couldn't seem to find the kokanees.

We moved to a different part of the lake where I have seen plenty of Kokanees in the past. It didn't take too long before I reeled in a 17.5" Kokanee! The Kokanee was caught on the pole with the pink squid. The pole was on the left down rigger which was set at 45 feet.

 The arrival of our first kokanee brought a new burst of excitement as we hoped to find more!

Two fish later, First Mate Preston reeled in another kokanee on this red apex. 

We weren't able to spend all day  fishing but we all enjoyed our time on the water! Fishing with Captain Kerry, First Mate Preston, and Deck Hand Eric ended  up being a great success. We caught a total of three rainbows, ten cutthroats, and two kokanee salmon. There was a tie for the biggest fish. Both kokanees measured in at 17.5 inches.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

In the summer months, kokanee salmon are usually found suspended over deep water. The first kokanee we caught was 45 feet down in 90 feet deep water. The second kokanee was 60 feet down in about  110 feet deep water. 

Having Fun on the Ice

Where did the month of February go? It's weird to think it is already March, which means not much ice fishing left in Utah. Many of the lakes have unsafe ice at this time. Lakes like Strawberry Reservoir will likely still have ice for a month or so, so there is still time to get out there! 

During the month of February I was able to get out and go fishing with a variety of people! Mike bought a new tent so a bunch of us went to Strawberry to test it out!

 A few of the guys were fairly new to ice fishing but seemed to still have fun! During the month of February, fishing success was up and down. One week it was hot fishing, the next it was super slow. Sometimes you have to try different baits or depths to find the fish! Most fish we caught were in about 10-25 feet of water. We had most the success with small tube jigs tipped with a piece of worm.

Many of the fish we caught were good sized fish. This fish in the photo above measured a little over 22 inches and had a nice girth to it. 

To my surprise, this winter we have caught several healthy rainbows! 

When the fishing is slow, it is up to you to keep it fun! We had fun playing cards on a small table, and even cooked pancakes. What I love about ice fishing is you can make it as fun or comfortable as you want it to be! It's just up to you!

One of the days I went fishing, some people were kite skiing across the lake!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Always take your camera when you go ice fishing! You can often times take incredible photos in the winter!

Fishing Without a Pole!

Last week I took Mike and his wife Laura ice fishing for their first time! We went to Strawberry Reservoir as I did really well the week before. We returned to Lunker Cove in hopes of catching more good sized trout!

The day started off pretty slow but by mid morning we got into some good sized rainbows! Mike caught this fat rainbow.

 

Mike continued to catch fish after fish while Laura waited for her chance to catch a fish too.

Finally Laura started catching fish too! The bait we used was a small glow in the dark tube jig tipped with a piece of a worm.

Before we knew it, Mike and Laura were able to keep a total of seven good sized rainbow trout to take home for dinner. This trip we only caught two cutthroat trout but they were both good sized fish! We released both cuts back to the lake. 

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Before you leave to go fishing, check to make sure you put your fishing pole(s) in the car. On this trip, we drove all the way to Strawberry Reservoir before we realized Mike and Laura forgot their fishing poles! Mike and Laura used my two fishing poles. Instead of not fishing, I tied fishing line to a stick. This method proved to still be successful!

Lunker Cove

The past couple weeks I went fishing at Scofield and Strawberry Reservoir. After catching 56 total fish the first trip of the season, we returned to Scofield the following week with my buddy Brandon. We caught several fish on the second trip. Brandon had only been fishing once or twice in his life but he seemed to have a lot of fun catching several fish! My only regret, not taking more pictures!

The following week Jason and I went to Strawberry Reservoir. We tried a new spot that we named Lunker Cove. This location was an instant success! We caught several large trout, including my very first Kokanee Salmon ever!

It is normal to catch several small rainbows at the berry, this trip however was full of nice, fat, healthy rainbows between 15-17inches long.

 

Besides catching the nice rainbows, we caught several good sized cutthroat trout as well!

Jason caught the biggest of the day with a 22" cutthroat.

When it comes to bait, I have the best success placing this glow in the dark Demon (by Custom Jigs and Spins) a foot or two above a small tube jig.

 

I caught the Kokanee Salmon on this Demon tipped with a small piece of worm.

The tube jig I prefer to use is this pan fish jig. The main body is white glow in the dark and has yellow/green tentacles. Simply place a small jig hook inside and tie it onto your line. To finish it off, place a small piece of worm on the tube jig. Believe it or not, the big fish will eat this as well as the small fish.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

There are several baits you can use for ice fishing. From my experience, the baits that glow in the dark seem to work the best.