A Surprise at Utah Lake

[lifeshort]

Drove down to Saratoga City Boat Harbor Sunday morning for hopefully some catch and release white bass action. Arrived at daylight and walked out on the docks and set up. Only about 1" of ice. Dropped a small jig down to the bottom and started jigging. One ice rod and one ultralight with 6 pound test. Fishing was slower than last couple of weeks but still good. Just a perfect pace to sit in a lawn chair and relax. Only about 3 to 4 feet deep. Just right to hook a fish lift it up without reeling, release it and drop the jig back down for more. Mostly white bass but an occasional dink perch. Everything was going good until I got a little tap on my ultralight outfit and set the hook. Instead of a panfish coming out of the water the tip of the pole went straight down and line started screaming off the reel. During the fight we thought maybe a carp, maybe a big cat, maybe a walleye. None of the above.

My first northern. Lucky to land it. I dropped it on the dock and in the scramble to grab it my sons ice pole fell off the dock and in the water. It had a cardinal number 4 made in Sweden on it. Bummer
After the excitement calmed down from everybody wanting a picture that were fishing around us I put a daredevil with a treble hook on it and drug it around under the dock and was lucky enough to hook the lost pole. FUN DAY