Had an out of state fishing buddy come into town to see family and so some fishing. We had picked Wednesday to be the day and Strawberry to be the place. Even though the forecast was for snow, i was hoping the new ice at the berry would be snow and slush free when we got there and that the roads would be clear if we beat the storm. Wrong on all accounts.
Took me half an hour to get from south Provo to north Orem to pick up my buddy. Took another hour and a half to get to CCE. We were going to go to the marina and drove on the road for 1/4 mile but it became impassable (in lifted truck with new a/t snow tires). There was no parking plowed either at CCE so we pulled as far off the road as much as we could before the no parking sign. I guess that wasn’t good enough because we will got a parking ticket. Probably not worth fighting unless more than $50.
We had to hike down a hill to get to the lake. At the time, the snow was about knee to mid-thigh high. Going down wasn’t too bad but we knew getting back up that hill would suck. We walked on what felt like ice and since we couldn’t see hardly anything in the white out conditions, we drilled a hole. Only three inches of ice but in 6 inches of water. I realized we drilled in the small pond to the north of the road. So we continued hiking across the pond and broke through right before reaching the road. Great, start out the day with wet socks.
Well we crossed the road got on the lake and drilled our first hole, 6 inches of ice in one layer and three inches in another with about 2 ft of snow on top. At least no slush. Only 6 ft of water so we continued walking. We set up in 15 ft of water but not until 9:30 a.m. or so. We stomped down the snow set up the tent but couldn’t get the new heater I got from Christmas to work. Oh well, at least no slush!
Fishing was hot right off the bat with 6 fish in the first 30 minutes. SLowed down and we probably caught another 12 or so in the next 5 hours. Only 1 bow and biggest cutt a little over 22 inches and the super fat variety.
Now for the fun part. Another foot of snow fell just while we were there. My extra dep sled was completely full of new snow when we went to leave. As we fished, more and more water started showing up by our feet. We literally watched the birth of the slush monster. By time we left, there was 2-3 inches of slush everywhere.
We started packing up at 3:00 or so. It literally took us 2 hours to hike everything back up to the truck which had taken us 20 minutes to hike down. Snow was at our waist at times and we just couldn’t pull everything at once so we had to make three trips. It was the most exhausting fishing trip ever. If I could do it all over again, I would have slept in until 9 and did something else with my buddy. Fishing is just not worth the effort with these conditions.
We didn’t get back to Orem until 8 but we did stop to eat for 40 min or so (so 2.5 hours to get from CCE to Orem). For 5 hours of fishing or so took about 4.5 hours of driving (which normally takes 2), and about 2.5 hours of dragging gear around. Another 26 or 28 inch fish would have made it worth it but we didn’t catch one. Still tons of fun to get out with my friend to make memories but will be waiting a few weeks to get out on the ice again (until I can find some fresh ice somewhere or the snow melts and refreezes).
This is an fyi post. You have been warned. Not a time to take kids out or to try to make a quick trip. If you have a snowmobile and are prepared, you may be able to have some fun. But it is hard to know what the ice conditions are in different areas because of all the snow on the lake. There was literally 3 inches of slush underneath 2.5-3 feet of snow on the ice!! Add another foot of snow off the ice and no parking and it is not a good combination.