My first fish on the ice this winter

Utah Fishing Reports & Discussion Utah Fishing General
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The ice fishing itch has been driving me crazy lately so I had to go find some ice. All in all, it was a very fun trip.

There was not even frost on my car windows when we left this morning, so I was a little concerned that we would not be able to find any ice, but I was desperate! We were 80% (rough guess) of the way up the mountain before we even saw any snow. (I was getting really worried at this point) But when we got to the lake we found found it partially froze over.

I have grown accustomed to having my extremities and did not want to see them forzen off, so I was a little worried about the condition of the ice. I walked out about 10 feet or so (still in shallow waster) and drilled a hole. I learned that it does not take very long to drill a hole through 1-1/2 inches of ice.:astonished:

Perhaps some of you (cough fuzzy cough) are used to walking on less than two inches of ice, but I am not… I bravely put my tail between my legs and quickly made my way back to dry ground. Ahhh… safe again.

We walked a little further around the lake and found a spot where the ice was a little thicker. We held opposite ends of a 30ft roap and ventured out onto the ice, throwing rocks in front of us to “test” the ice. The ice was 2-1/2 inches thick and creaked and groaned at every step. This was not encouraging.

To make a long story short, we drilled some holes and caught a few fish. It might have been nice to stay a little longer, but the naggin fear of falling in at any second really wears on ones nerves.

My brother wast he first to get a bite, and what a bite it was! It pulled on the line like a freight train! After a long, hard, bitter struggle between man and beast, my brother pulled out one of the biggest fish I have ever seen. Here is a picture:
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And if you look really close, you can see a 5" brook trout.

OK, so the fish were not exactly trophy fish but we had a lot of fun. Here is a picture of my first fish:
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It was a 11" planter rainbow which ended up being the largest fish of the trip.

Here are some more pics:
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Can you tell where we were?

This one might help a little more:
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Just one question…how how crack did you have to smoke before you stepped on the ice​:face_with_tongue:?

FF462

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Amazing.

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I can tell where you are, about 1/2 mile past lunacy nearing the center of my dying ***! That’s hardcore man. I like to fish…alot, but that would be way too intense for me. Congrats on icing your first fish of the year. I think I’ll wait for some (thicker) ice before I start treading the hopefully hard deck. Now some other crazy fool is going to have to top your first ice report, here we go!

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nice job! [sly] walking on thin ice is a rush!

one thing tho get a ice bar to check the ice with. rocks are not that good at it and after it snows can realy mess up auger blades..

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[#002850]That’s an incredable story there Hash. Am I the only one wondering what lake you were on?

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You are a brave soul my friend. Glad you made it out safely.

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Your making me jealous. I went up to 10000ft yesterday to check some small ponds and no ice. The only snow I seen was man made.

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Old_Coot, we went to Mirror Lake. I don’t know the upper elevation lakes very well, but I know the Uintas are high, and that there are a ton of lakes up there. We figured there had to be ice somewhere up there.

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You have some "HUGE COCONUTS" I have fell through the ice before not fun. glad you had a good time and cought some fish!! M.H.

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very nice… sportsmans has its ice fishing stuff out and you are catching fish on the hard deck… I am getting excited…

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Wow I was thinking about going to pass lake friday, but didn’t think it would have enough ice. I usually beat everyone to ice on the 1 and 1/2 inches sometimes in Oct even but this year is waaay too warm. A high elevation favorite of mine over 8,000 ft only has 1/2 inch of ice so far, have not been able to get on it yet, but did well in some open water holes along the shore. How were the road conditions? Can my passenger car make it? :slight_smile:

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Your passenger car would have easily made it up on Saturday. But it rained a bit today, and might have snowed a fair amount up there… I wish I had taken my passenger car, but didn’t know what to expect and took the gas guzzling 4wd truck instead.

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I was hoping that yesterdays trip would cure my excruciating itch to go icefishing. Backfire! It only wet my appetite and left me wanting more.

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I would have thought that ML HWY was closed by now down in Soapstone. Is it in fact open? Did you come up from Evanston? Thanks for the info.

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tibble fork

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Your a brave man. I went out on 3" once at rockport and that made my blood pressure jump. But you have an itch you have to scratch it. Good report and bring on the cold.

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Lunkerhunter2, We went there from Kamas. I have no idea when they usually close it, but on Saturday, there was hardly any snow.

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:sunglasses:Nice job, man. I’m jealous. Good thing you took a buddy and some rope just in case. You’ve got brass ones, dude. I’m I’m by myself, 3 inches is my minimum to get out on the ice. I’d bet Fairview Lake is about ready right now for some serious butt puckering though, but it’s probably close up there. Another week or so and Huntington should be ready or two…