11-06-2019, 03:43 AM
Not to be too morbid but I'm finding that I basically end up never icefishing until the first "Fisherman falls through ice at Flaming Gorge" story pops up.
Fishing reservoirs here takes some practice and a lot of caution. Pineview I've set up my tent on 10 inches of ice and walked 30 feet over to a 4 inch hole in the ice gushing water onto the ice that has 3 inch ice in a 10 foot circle around it. Fish Lake will have 10 inches all over except for oblong 100 foot square patches, and sometimes just a big open water hole in the ice the same size. Strawberry has the springs under Big Hole that eat ATVs every other year or so. Rockport's wind makes it so the whole ice sheet disengages from the shore all around the lake and it floats 20 feet or more over from where you got on it. You get a sunny day that melts some snowpack, the rivers flow into the reservoirs and float the sheet up, edges get soft and dudes slip under the edge trying to get on the ice. Huntington has 4 feet of hard snow on top of three inches of absolutely terrifying candle ice in April.
Don't be the only guy on the ice and always test as you go if you have any doubt. Oh and here's some good examples of what not to do (click through the pages to see some articles on people going through the ice):
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:ksl...80&bih=907
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Fishing reservoirs here takes some practice and a lot of caution. Pineview I've set up my tent on 10 inches of ice and walked 30 feet over to a 4 inch hole in the ice gushing water onto the ice that has 3 inch ice in a 10 foot circle around it. Fish Lake will have 10 inches all over except for oblong 100 foot square patches, and sometimes just a big open water hole in the ice the same size. Strawberry has the springs under Big Hole that eat ATVs every other year or so. Rockport's wind makes it so the whole ice sheet disengages from the shore all around the lake and it floats 20 feet or more over from where you got on it. You get a sunny day that melts some snowpack, the rivers flow into the reservoirs and float the sheet up, edges get soft and dudes slip under the edge trying to get on the ice. Huntington has 4 feet of hard snow on top of three inches of absolutely terrifying candle ice in April.
Don't be the only guy on the ice and always test as you go if you have any doubt. Oh and here's some good examples of what not to do (click through the pages to see some articles on people going through the ice):
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:ksl...80&bih=907
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