I fished Rockport on Sunday the 27th. Fished on the southeast side. I had talked to a fish cop the day before on Sat 12/26 while fishing right off the launch ramp. He told me to fish shallow. That was very true. Saturdays fishing was only for a couple hours landed two fish nothing over 12 inches. Sunday was a whole different story. As soon as we had our holes drilled my buddy had a real nice 18 inch bow on the ice. I did not even have both of my poles baited. About 15 min later I had my first fish of the day. A nice little 15 inch bow. Not a bad start for Rockport. For the next 2 hours we caught about 10 fish between the two of us. All rainbows about 13-17 inches and chunky. Right about 1 pm I started getting bites on both poles and running back and forth from my deeper water hole to my shallower water hole. The deep hole was only about 15 feet deep. The shallow hole was about 10 feet deep. The shallow hole produced better for me and I even caught the big fish of the day a very chunky 18 in rainbow. I dont eat many trout but I was very temped to keep this one just to see what was in its belly. It was a true football. Maybe a nerf football but wow what a fish. I fished with all sorts of stuff but most fish were caught on a 1/32 oz jig head with a small radical glow plastic tipped with meal worms and drenched in gravy.(fishing attractant that I sometimes use for walleye) I have already done better at rockport in two trips this year than I did the whole year last year combined. Sunday between two of us we caught 19 trout all good sized. I might have caught 5 fish at rockport last year.(at least 4 trips) Maybe I should get back out soon. I think the early season is better.
Nice report FOD, it is the best I’ve read so far this ice season. That is a very fat bow you had there and some very attentive dogs you have there.
By the way, did you ever check to see if you caught a state shad?
nice dogs… how thick is the ice? also did you see or here of any perch?[fishin]
Thanks, I was in shock when my buddy pulled out his first fish. Nothing like the dinks I caught on Sat. while fishing with my dad and our dogs by the ramp. Sunday might have proven that if I am not worrying about my dogs I am more attentive to my fishing poles..lol(Sunday no dogs). The dead fish(pic 3) was the first fish that my buddy caught(18") and the BIG one I caught was also 18" but quite a bit chunkier. He just had to keep his first iced fish for the ice season. I let mine go… but still wonder what the heck he was so fat for.
About the shad…No, I didnt get a good measurement and I think I remember bassrods telling me that bigger ones had been caught before @ lake powell. Oh well. Not a big deal. Now IF it was a walleye… whole different story…hehe
Ice is about 5-6 inches. I didnt see or hear or have even heard of recently any perch being caught yet at rockport. I saw lots of fishermen on the west side of the lake near the highway. I would have thought they were trying to catch perch.(that is where I always used to catch them). On another forum I read a report of one of the west side fishers that didnt catch any perch while targeting them. Just smallish bows. Hope that helps. I would not fish for perch @ rockport. But that is just me.[;)]
Way to go! Maybe I’ll have to hit Rockport on Wednesday. We’ll see how the weather goes.
Seeing those dogs sitting on that blanket reminded me of a scene from the movie, “Joe Dirt.” If you haven’t seen the movie, I’ll just say that the blanket is keeping the boys’ (if they are boys) boys off the ice.
if you don’t mind telling, did you fish north or south of the boat ramp? 
Sat. I fished strait out from the ramp. Sunday was more towards the south end from the boat ramp. Hope you catch some biguns. The guy I was fishing with claimed he caught a bigger fish than the one I caught but he lost it at the hole. I think that their are some chunkers in there. Let us know how ya do!!!
FOD Looking at the three pups, I swear you live up the street from me!
Footballs are right! WOW!
Do you have wild peacocks living on your street? I live down town SLC. About a half a block from the Jordan river near 4th south.
Yea footballs are fun to play with. [fishon]
Hey nice reports you’ve given all,thanks. i’ve been thinking about going to rockport all this week,but had some wonders…guess now’s i know…LOL I do have a question though… Are they still charging $9.00 to drive to the boat launching area? I’ve never been over that way in the winter.I think they charge $3.00 to just park off the highway[frown] at least they did last year.
YES you still have to pay in the state park with the camp grounds. While I was parked at the boat ramp on Sat. Mine and a few other trucks were checked by the fish cops. I am not sure how much it costs to park because I have one of those state park passes that sell for 70 bucks with the coupon in the Utah fishing Guide book.($75 without coupon) It is well worth getting if you plan on ice fishing any of the popular lakes this winter. I have used mine at least over 70 times this year making each trip less than 1 buck. WORTH IT!!! I would for sure pay the fee or you have a good chance on getting a ticket. But save up for a season pass as soon as possible and start getting usage out of it.
Good Luck!!![fishon]
Hey thanks FOD. Yeah that pass is definately worth it for sure. If I had a dime for everytime I talked about getting one I could of easily bought one by now LOL. But I guess I’ll have to pay da price if I make it up there this weekend. If I go it’ll be. Sunday. Hope I can have a sucessful day. I’ve been to Causey a couple times and it has been on the bummer side of life for the most part. But hey it sure beats werkin.. thanks for the info.[fishon]
FOD
Thanks for the great report. I am going to take a group of scouts up there tomorrow. of the seven kids only one has ever Ice fished and 4 others have never caught a fish. I will post and let you know how we do. Were there any areas of ice that we need to be concerned about? I have heard that most of the lake is 6" thick, can anyone verify this for me?
Great report.. Its been a 3 yrs now sense the lake has produced good fish.. Looks like this yr will be better.. attached are the photos of the chunks caught..
Ice=safe
Nice job!! Where were you fishing? I have heard good and bad reports on the whole lake. Good for trout bad for perch, I want both so I am going to be getting back there and trying.[fishon]
Nice bows Scott!!! You won FOD that day for sure. Good looking pups too!!
It was very close, from about 2-3 o’clock we were saying next one to catch a fish will be FOD every time one of us would catch a fish the other one would within about 45 seconds. I think the fish were cruising the shores in small schools.
Kyle we need to get out and do some more fishing buddy. Going to DC or UT lake tomorrow with a different buddy. YOUR INVITED. PM me if you wana meet up. Bring whoever.