High Uintas Ice

[joatmon]

Finally got out on Saturday 11/18 for my first ice fishing trip of the season. I initially drove up the Mirror Lake highway to the Hayden Peak trailhead. All lakes I observed were capped with ice. I noted a few ice fishers on Lost Lake, Pass Lake, and Butterfly Lake. I didn’t drive up to Trial Lake. There was snow on the sides of the road and on the ice, maybe 6-8 inches at the highest point. 

I ended up at Pass Lake. There was a group in a tent and another group outside further out on the lake. I talked to the outside guys maybe 150’ out from shore and ended up fishing by them. The ice was 3-5”, with hard cloudy snow-free ice in some spots and snow-covered ice in others. Anywhere with snow developed slushy conditions and seemed on the thinner side. 

Water was 5.5-6 feet where we were. The dad and two sons I fished by reported good success on what they called green weighted hooks, tipped with nightcrawler. I had limited success on a green tungsten jig tipped with nightcrawler and butter worm. Things really took off for me when I switched to a small ratfinkee in glow brite lime (see photo) tipped with butter worm. I ended up with 29 total fish iced, including 16 rainbow trout (largest 14.5”), 8 tiger trout (largest 13”), and 4 brook trout (largest 10.5”). After the dad and his sons left I was joined by another father and his adult son. They had gone up looking for open water and only had their long poles. I hooked them up with some ratfinkees and butter worms. They also caught a mixed bag, including a few larger rainbows. 

We were checked by USFS for licenses about the time I was leaving. It had started snowing and the road had 1-2” of snow by the time I was loaded and underway. Great day to be out in the mountains and get the season kicked off.