Ice fishin' first timer from Oz!!

[Funchy]

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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]I had 2 weeks in Salt Lake City Utah for work, I had spent a year here working in 2011 and made some great mates, one of which works in at Sportsman's Warehouse. So my mate Pete suggests we try a little ice fishing up in the mountains. I had never tried ice fishing before so jumped at the chance (though I was a little cautious given I had just come from 106F temps at home)
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]We agreed on a 6:30am departure on Sunday. I spent the week keeping an eye on the weather as temps had been very cold at times for an Aussie and I was hoping for something a tad milder. Woke up to a reasonably nice morning around 28F. We were heading up to Starvation We got up to the lake around 8:45am, rugged up, rigged up and jump on his 4 wheeler and headed to one of his hot spots. We drilled some holes in the ~18 inch ice and all up we were fishing in about 60 ft of water.
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]Peter knows these waters like the back of his hand. He tells me we are fishing in the old river bed that existed before the lake was created. He wanted to specifically target perch (which he says is excellent on the chew) and if we sound any trout mid water he will call out to wind up to a specific depth. We were using 6lb line and I reckon about 1oz of weight, small jigheads tipped with wax worms (like a maggot). My first drop, 1st minute, bang, fish on and I have my first ever perch and 1st ever ice fishing success.
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]Next drop same thing. This kept up for about 10 mins then the school moved on. Pete explained the fish would move back so we waited. In the meantime he madly starts winding up, stops, says there is a trout at 24ft, bang, fish on and he pulls up a ~17inch rainbow. This is too easy I think!!
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]So we pull a few more perch in then he says to me "wind up , fast, keep winding, keep winding, stop, hold still, there will be a fish on any second now.... sure enough I felt a subtle bite, struck and I was on!! Pulled up a nice ~18 inch rainbow.
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]Couple more perch come up then he says, another trout at 36 ft and madly winds up from 60ft, stops, pauses, hooks up again, This time in comes a good perch that went about 13inches (which apparently is pretty big for a perch)
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]We kept getting a few more perch then the bite slowed so we moved to another spot, got some more perch, we then moved to shallower water looking for some browns.
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]We stopped at a pressure ridge. It was in about 50ft of water. Fishing was a bit slow but Pete pulled in a nice walleye and a nice rainbow trout that went~ 20 inches.

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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]Around 4pm a snow storm appeared and it was a complete white out so we pulled up stumps and headed back.
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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]I reckon it was about 6 miles back to our launch spot and you couldn't see 10ft in front of you. I do not have a clue how the hell he did it but he bee lined back to the car!! I had no idea where we were!! We loaded up and drove home in one of the heaviest and intense snow storms I have ever encountered. Took us 4hrs getting home.

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[font "Arial Narrow"][#000000][size 3]A great day out with a good mate trying a new form of fishing. I am headed over his place for dinner and we ate the perch and the walleye in coconut bread crumbs and a few Caronas!!!
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You have a beautiful piece of this world that you live in. I hope to get back over in the next six months when the ice melts and try some more Utah fishing!!
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[fish_fear_me2]

Good to see you posting from Utah again Funchy. Looks like you had a great day out for your first ice trip. Yup 13 in perch is a toad. Glad ya didnt freeze your plumbing and enjoyed the day. Welcome back even if briefly. Always look forward to your posts from wherever you are.
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[Funchy]

Cheers FFM2, I had a ball I learnt a little bit too! Cant wait to get back and snag a bass or two!!


Pete may get down here one day and I will get him out on the water at my place.

Take it easy mate!!
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[Kent]

Great report as always. Always enjoy reading your posts.
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[LOAH]

Hey, nice to see a report from you! Glad you were able to experience the uglier side of Utah fishing (ice, that is).

Looks like you guys had a great time, thanks for sharing.
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[JustJim]

Glad to see you back here enjoying the hard deck. Good thing you weren't here a month ago. Brrr. There is a good reason you were on 16"of ice!
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[Funchy]

Yeah JJ must admit I don't recall it being as cold as it was in the 2 weeks of this visit than the 12 months I lived here in 2011. Some of my fondest fishing memories are of catching small mouth bass from deer creek in mid summer at dawn.

Take it easy mate
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000FF]Glad you had a good experience on the ice. One's first experiences should always be pleasantly memorable.

You couldn't have had a better guide than Pete. I have known him and his brothers since the 1970s and have a lot of good memories of fishing with all of them.

Actually got on the ice at Starvation yesterday with both Pete and his brother Mike (BFTer TopH20). But the lake was not kind to us yesterday. We had a pretty large group...fishing the same areas you did on your trip...and only a very few of us caught fish. Myself, Wiperhunter2 and a few other experienced anglers actually smelled skunk for a day of fishing. Fortunately, my wife (TubeBabe) held up the honor of the family by bringing in two nice rainbows.

Hope you are able to return to our area and that we get to share some water.
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[fish_fear_me2]

Sounds like they waited til you left to go where the perch were hangin out. Tough days sometimes. Looks like they have been gettin some toads here and there once they find em. Now ya have to wonder if they waited till ya left on purpose or not[laugh] Ya might consider offerin some chowder with a half a can of Cayenne in it just to get even. Sorry the perch didnt want to play...Thats Starvation
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I have fished Starvation long enough and often enough to know that the only thing consistent about the fish is that they are inconsistent.

There were fish under us earlier, but I suspect all of the activity and noise of the big group either spooked off a lot of the fish or put the others in inactive mode. Having several wheelers and snowmobiles all roar into the same spot and over a dozen ice augers all swiss-cheesing the ice is generally not conducive to the stealth approach.

I was also somewhat handicapped by not being able to totally tune out all the interference from all of the flashers being used around me. Everytime I moved to get away from the electronic noise someone else would ride in on their machines and fire up their noisy flashers nearby. Hard to fish it right without good sonar performance.

Also, as most of us have found, they do move around and yesterday's hot holes can be today's skunk. When you are not catching fish you need to move to find active fish. If I had not been dependent on others for transportation yesterday I would have been all over that lake. As it was, I drilled about 20 holes in that general area and managed a few bites...but never found an active school.
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[Funchy]

Hey TD, Pete mentioned you and he were mates. I would love to catch up and share some time on the water. I will let you know when I am expecting to be back for a time.[fishin]
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[Samson44]

heading up there Saturday. hope to have half the success that you had. those are some nice fish, and some great pictures.
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[Funchy]

Good Luck Samson44!!! Make sure you post a report so we know how you went []
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[Lunkers]

Nice pics, looks like you had a blast. Thanks for sharing.
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