Scofield 09-24-05 report w/Pics

[Carp_Punisher]

[#505000]Fishluvr and I decided to take our familes to go chase some slime rockets at Scofield before it ices up here in a few months, and gather a healthy minnow supply. [/#505000]
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[#505000]When we arrived it was warmer than we thought it would be but it was still rather nippy. We baited our poles and I set to work throwing lures of different sizes shapes and colors. [/#505000]
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[#505000]We were a bit concerned as it was obvious Scofield was turning over. The water was filled with muck and stunk where the muck had washed ashore. [/#505000]
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[#505000]The tally for the day was 3 fish for me and 3 for Fishluvr and family. Easily my worst Scofield trip ever but not a bad trip by any means![/#505000]

My first ever fish on a Rapala. Hell the fish is almost the size of the Rapala!!
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My next fish on a stinger fly......

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Ok this is a little better!!
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Fishluvr Jr. and his fish (w/Fishluvr)......

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Another Fishluvr fish......

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[#505000]Although I got the smallest fish of the day trophy (twice) it was a lot of fun and that big one I am holding gave me and my drag a little bit of a work out so I had fun. [/#505000]
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[#505000]All my fish were released unharmed, as were all but one of Fishluvrs which got to go home and be lunch![/#505000]
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[Theekillerbee]

That 2nd fish looks a little like a tiger trout...was it? Thanks for the update. I hate fishing when the lake is all muck.
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[Fishhound]

Hey CP,

Those are some healthy looking minnows[]you got up there. You gotta love those Rapalas, but I prefer my minnow trap or sometimes a small jig and a piece of worm for them.

Kidding aside - did you get any real minnows(besides the 2 trout looking ones in the photos) ? Were you using a cast net or traps ?

What did you guys catch the "real trout" with ?
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[Carp_Punisher]

[#505000]Believe it or not those are just pee wee sized trout minnows. I'm no expert but I don't think the second one was a tiger trout. The top one was a rainbow and had the same markings as the smaller one but really really faded under the obvious rainbow trout exterior. I'm wondering if rainbows have that tiger trout look until they get a wee bit bigger. [/#505000]
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[#505000]We fished with Minnows and power bait. I caught my big one on a minnow and Fishluvr caught his three on powerbait and minnows. The bigger fish didn't seem to have a preference but they were biting slow.[/#505000]
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[#505000]We used a casting net and minnow traps both. I tried for some mud bugs but I only got one (a bunch kept eating my bait though) I got more minnows in my crawfish trap than crawfish.[/#505000]
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[cat_man]

Those dark markings are called "par markings". They are present in the young of many species to help keep them hidden from predators, and often disappear as they grow older. An example of a fish that it does NOT disappear is the yellow perch. Those vertical bars make the fish blend in when hiding in patches of sticks or reeds (vertical vegetation) because they just look like more "trunks" or stems of weeds.

The rainbow trout is definitely one that has dark par markings when little, but they gradually fade as they get bigger.
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[Bigfishrule]

3 fish from Scofield. I wish I could have a day like that there. In my dozen trips there in my lifetime, my best day has been one fish. Most the skunk won the staring contest. I have people tell me all the time how many fish they catch there. Then they take me down, to show me how to fish there, and we both get skunked.
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[fishluvr]

And just a reminder to anyone catching minnows. If you catch one of those trout minnows return it immediately. You are not allowed to keep or use those minnows for bait.
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[Carp_Punisher]

[#505000]3 fish from Scofield for me is terrible!!! Scofield is my go to lake for when I need to get a tenacious skunk off because I always do good there. Through the ice I do even better. If you want to hook up sometime I will show you how it's done at Scofield minus the skunk. [/#505000]
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[#505000]Now Strawberry kicks my butt each and every time I go there. I have yet to do well at Strawberry.[/#505000]
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[born2fish]

That is a tiger trout. There were over 80,000 4-5" tigers stocked in scofield this summer. Next fall they will be 11-12", year after that they will be 15-16", and the next they will be 18-20". They are such aggresive feeders, they will get huge very fast feeding on the shiners and small rainbow planters. These are a welcome addition to this put and take, over utilized, extremely fertile fishery. By the shear numbers planted, it looks like the DWR is very committed to having these fish in the lake and I applaud their actions.
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[Carp_Punisher]

[#505000]Well I'll be a moneky's uncle!!! After I read your post I scooted on over to the DWR page and it looks like they planted over 80,000 4" tigers in the lake. This is exciting!! I get way more enjoyment catching fish out of a multi-species lake than I do on waters where only one or two species is represented. It's a lot more fun to fight a potential "mystery fish" in a lake than to know from the start that it's likely ANOTHER rainbow. [/#505000]
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[#505000]My only concern now is with a lake like Scofield that gets so much fishing pressure how many of these fish will attain any decent size before they are caught and removed?[/#505000]

[#505000]Fishluvr caught a handful of the tiger trout minnows in the casting net while after shiners. All trout minnows were released however. We did take a picture or to though. [cool][/#505000]
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]I always do better from that lake through the ice than from the shore during non-ice.

Bigfish, if you icefish then head on up there the last week of Nov, or the first two weeks of Dec. and you will kill them through the ice. Use white or chartruese Whatta Crickets (available at Hooked in Kaysville), same colors of Foxy Jigs, Paddlebugs, or a crawdad imitating plastic on a bright jighead w/wax or meal worm attached to all of those. Another thing that kills them through the ice is mostly a secret (in Utah, anyway) and that is a Genz worm with a small glow in the dark curly tail attatched w/waxie or mealie, or just the Genz worm and waxie/mealie. Hope that helps you, and anybody else that doesn't do well at Scofield (especially during ice on). Two more months- WEW-HEW!!![]
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