01-17-2015, 10:38 PM
For you folks thinking about the perch tournament at Fish Lake next Saturday, Jan. 24th. and for other's just wondering about the present ice conditions at Fish Lake.
I just returned from Fish Lake, it's 3:00 pm on Saturday. I arrived at 8:00 am this morning. There were already 48 vehicles in the Lake Shore parking lot. Twenty or more ice tents on the lake. There was no open water visable from the south end looking north. It looked like the entire lake had finally iced over, accept for the Twin Creeks inlet, next to the Lodge. I certainly wouldn't advise this yet, but a least 5 or 6 different groups of people were hauling snow sleds out onto the ice with 4 wheels and even a 4 passenger, side by side. I saw one go way out toward the center of the like, not smart, this early after freeze up.
By 10:45, I walked over to visit the restroom and there where 73 vehicles in the parking lot. I didn't count the ice houses again but there were a lot and a lot of people out, setting on buckets and lawn chairs. By noon a lot of guys had stripped down to tee shirts and levi's, it was HOT. I fried my face! It had to be over 40 degrees and not a whisper of a wind. I'd guess nearly 150 or more people on the lake by 11:00 am this morning.
I walked from group to group for and hour and a half, some had lots of perch, some were targeting splake and rainbow and everyone seemed to have a few, most had released a few smaller trout.
My neighbor and I brought home 6, 16 inch splake, released that many small ones and released 6 or 8 small rainbows. He wanted to smoke a few. I wanted perch, but we were out a little too deep, 18 feet of water, for the best perch fishing. The 25 or so perch I caught, seemed to be, on average, slightly bigger than they have been the last 4 or 5 years, maybe just my imagination???
There weren't many fisherman targeting perch today, the few that were, were in closer to the moss and they had lots of perch, some approaching a hundred, I'm sure. Five gallon buckets nearly full by 11:00 am. Still, others that weren't sure how to rig up weren't catching a lot. Like I said, everyone seemed to have fish, some more than others.
There were a few local fishermen from Wayne and Sevier Counties but tons from the Prove to Ogden area and a fair number from Heber/Park City area as well.
I'd say about 50% of the hundred or so people I visited with said they were planning to come back for the Perch Tournament on Jan 24th. Everyone, as far as I could tell, was happy to hear that the UDWR and sportsmen are attempting to reduce the number of perch in the lake, hoping it would improve the trout fishery and increase the size of the average perch in the lake. Never had a single negative comment all morning. It was really refreshing and made me feel good about the fishermen and their positive attitude toward the project.
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I just returned from Fish Lake, it's 3:00 pm on Saturday. I arrived at 8:00 am this morning. There were already 48 vehicles in the Lake Shore parking lot. Twenty or more ice tents on the lake. There was no open water visable from the south end looking north. It looked like the entire lake had finally iced over, accept for the Twin Creeks inlet, next to the Lodge. I certainly wouldn't advise this yet, but a least 5 or 6 different groups of people were hauling snow sleds out onto the ice with 4 wheels and even a 4 passenger, side by side. I saw one go way out toward the center of the like, not smart, this early after freeze up.
By 10:45, I walked over to visit the restroom and there where 73 vehicles in the parking lot. I didn't count the ice houses again but there were a lot and a lot of people out, setting on buckets and lawn chairs. By noon a lot of guys had stripped down to tee shirts and levi's, it was HOT. I fried my face! It had to be over 40 degrees and not a whisper of a wind. I'd guess nearly 150 or more people on the lake by 11:00 am this morning.
I walked from group to group for and hour and a half, some had lots of perch, some were targeting splake and rainbow and everyone seemed to have a few, most had released a few smaller trout.
My neighbor and I brought home 6, 16 inch splake, released that many small ones and released 6 or 8 small rainbows. He wanted to smoke a few. I wanted perch, but we were out a little too deep, 18 feet of water, for the best perch fishing. The 25 or so perch I caught, seemed to be, on average, slightly bigger than they have been the last 4 or 5 years, maybe just my imagination???
There weren't many fisherman targeting perch today, the few that were, were in closer to the moss and they had lots of perch, some approaching a hundred, I'm sure. Five gallon buckets nearly full by 11:00 am. Still, others that weren't sure how to rig up weren't catching a lot. Like I said, everyone seemed to have fish, some more than others.
There were a few local fishermen from Wayne and Sevier Counties but tons from the Prove to Ogden area and a fair number from Heber/Park City area as well.
I'd say about 50% of the hundred or so people I visited with said they were planning to come back for the Perch Tournament on Jan 24th. Everyone, as far as I could tell, was happy to hear that the UDWR and sportsmen are attempting to reduce the number of perch in the lake, hoping it would improve the trout fishery and increase the size of the average perch in the lake. Never had a single negative comment all morning. It was really refreshing and made me feel good about the fishermen and their positive attitude toward the project.
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