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I wasn't doing a whole lot today so I decided to get off my butt and go to Little Dell.
It was pretty decent day. Went Down to the inlet and threw a tube at them at first. No takers on the tube but had a few followers. I switched over to a Mepps spinner and caught 5 Cutts. Nothing with any huge size but enough to keep me interested. The snow and wind chased me out of there after an hour and a half. And the reservoir is ice free if anyone is wondering.
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The whole lake is Ice Free? KAnderson was up there this last weekend and said it was still iced up except the inlet.
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It might of been just 1" of rotten ice when he went I'm guessing especially with the harsh wind we had a few days could of ripped it all off.
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Yup. The whole lake is ice free. It was windy and snowing up there.
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Sat morning it was still more than half covered with reasonably thick ice (see GPS track where I was fishing next to ice edge). It was calm before the storm and around one the south wind kicked up. When leaving I noticed ice sheet had been pushed away from dam and towards the east. That's a big change in a few days. A sign of things to come.
Water temp was exactly 40 degrees.
[inline "LD Ice.JPG"]
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Isn't GPS cool? I need to get out there and float it. I'd bet I'd catch a lot more if I knew how to fly fish.
I'm thinking that nasty wind had a lot to do with the ice disappearing.
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Right now you have to hike all the way down. Leashes for the gear? Naturally! I call them dummy cords lol. I do have a fly rod. But in all honesty, I got a little intimidated by the different types of lines and backing, tippets and all that stuff.
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Don't be. Not that difficult is someone can help you and fishes the same waters. Deep Nymphing at Little Dell is a blast. All you need is floating line, and a leader made out of plain old fishing line in 25'. A slip indicator which I have a bunch. Sonar is a must or be with someone that has it. You can get by with clipping hemostats to the fly and dropping it straight down. When it hits bottom, raise it up a foot and mark it, then bring it up and unhook the hemos. Up there if you are in the right area you don't wait long, but they hit ever so light at times. Kinda like ice fishing without the ice.
A Type III and a VII are good for summer.
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Yeah you've got to hike up that hill, which can be tough after paddling around all day. Gates don't open until Memorial Day.
Here's some bad boys from Sat. lurking at 30-60 feet.
[inline "Fish Tracks.JPG"]
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That's a beautiful fish and I bet a lot of fun on a 2wt.
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Thanks. It was way fun. Found about 8 Brooks all stacked up around a bend and they loved purple buggers. I also found a nice pool where a brook chased my bugger all the way out of the water! Those fish are REALLY hungry and I'm willing to feed them. Oh and I had the whole creek to myself so that was nice.
What kind of fish finder do you have?
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A KEEPER![laugh] That SCREAMS Tenkara, don't you think.
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Looks like I need to give it a try then! I better get out my el cheapo fly rod![laugh]
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I'm not 100% certain so you might want to check but isn't the creek closed until mid-July every year?
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yes it is, dont let the CO catch you up there.
Mountain Dell Creek, Salt Lake County
(a) From Mountain Dell Reservoir upstream to
Little Dell Dam.
• CLOSED TO FISHING.
(b) From Little Dell Reservoir upstream to the
headwaters.
• CLOSED to the possession of cutthroat
trout or trout with cutthroat markings.
• Artificial flies and lures only.
• CLOSED Jan. 1 through 6 a.m. on the
second Saturday of July.
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Yes it is. I must of just spaced it. Another forum member PM'd me about it and informed me. I though it was kind of funny because I called the DWR to check if I can even fish it, before I went and grabbed my 2 weight, and she gave the OK. Shows what the people answering the phone really knows. It's definitely not going to happen again believe me.
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