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3 YRS AGO 1 DAY. CAUGHT SMALL RAINBOWS. EAST SIDE BELOW THE SLIDE.
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Good luck out there Rob. I know you have been wanting to do that for a very long time. I hope you guys get into them!
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[font "Arial"][red][size 3]This has been a ice fishing trip I have wanted to do for years. We got to Moon Lake late Friday night and camped out. My brilliancy convinced TH407 after we set up camp to take a snowmobile ride down to the lake to check it out. We parked on what we thought was the edge of the ice, but soon to find out it was 2 feet deep slush on the lake edge and the snowmobile sunk! After some time and very wet feet we got it out and headed straight to bed.
Saturday morning we headed out after spending a half hour trying to dry out my boot liner and boots. Weather wise, it was already shaping out ot be a beautiful day. THe ice thickness was 24 inches, (thank god for power augers) I caught fish on my first two drops, TH407 had fish on sonar but no takers. We moved around quite a bit, but the fish catching was minimal to what my expectations was to be! I learned this trip how much structure and sudden depth change that lake has. We were trying for kokes in 30 ft of water and I drilled a hold 20 ft away and it was over 100 ft deep. No surprise on why many large splake get taken out of there each year.
I ended up catching a 19 inch splake by the inlet and alot of dinks, we both caught a bunch of planter rainbows. But the views made the trip. It is gorgeous up there, the most beautiful place I have ever ice fished by far! Plus being the only ones up there made it even more surreal.
Snow conditions are scary, being at approx. 9000 ft on the south slope of the Uintas, all south sloping faces of the mountains up to 10500 ft are BARE-no snow! Not much snow at Moon Lake either, enough to get around on the ice with a snowmobile, but that is it. This time of year you should have to snowmobile the last 4 miles of road to the lake. You can drive all the way to the campground right now in a 2 wheel drive truck.
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Nice report Rob, sounds like a fun trip. Kokanee catching can tough but thats normal, were you marking any on your FFer?
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[red][size 3]That looks like an absolute riot. With my luck I'd get up there in a 2-scratch and then it would drop 4 feet of snow. Great report.[/size][/red]
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[font "Arial"][red][size 3]I didnt mark any kokes on the sonar, but then again we spent most of our time targeting the areas that "supposedly" hold the larger splake. I think to go for kokes through the ice up there, I would target the dam area and the rockslide by the dam.[/size][/red][/font]
[font "Arial"][red][size 3]But from what I hear the kokes are getting into become decent size up there. Plus from several sources the kokes are on 3 good years of spawning![/size][/red][/font]
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Thanks for the fun trip :
Even though the fishing wasn't great, the views where spectacular and I had a great time just being there.
That was a lot of fun watching you freeze with wet feet and trying to stay warm at night in one mummy bag. LOL
We will have to plan one more trip into the Uintas before it melts, try somewhere different.
See yah at B Ball Wed Night.
TH407
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Any pics of the bigger splake??
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It has been a number of years since my last trip to Moon lake, it would be nice to get up there this summer. With the lack of snow this winter, I wonder if the lake will get high enough to launch a boat. How high was the water level when you were there?
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[font "Arial"][red][size 3]Even with the lack of snow, I would imagine Moon will fill. They relaease alot of water in late summer and fall. The middle of May they decide to hold the water back. Right now it isnt as low as I seen it years ago. [/size][/red][/font]
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Sounds like the time to hit it would be spring or early summer. Do they still use that medal ramp or have they put a concrete ramp in?
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[font "Arial"][red][size 3]Ramp??? What Ramp??? It is launching by ability and determination! The old metal ramp I believe sunk in the sand and has dissappeared![/size][/red][/font]
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I was afraid you were going to say that. My last trip there I was fishing in a 14 ft boat, hopefully that sandy shoreline is compacted enough to launch my bigger boat and motor. If I remember correctly launching is good when the water level is high but gets shaky when it gets low, does that sound right to you?
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[font "Arial"][red][size 3]When the lake is to capacity, there is a really good place to launch just below the lodge. You are right, when water is down, it is tougher to launch. The biggest problem in launching a boat is how shallow it is for such a long way out from shore. I used to launch my 19 ft tri hull with relatively no problems, but a deep-V would be a different story. [/size][/red][/font]
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How about that rocky spot by the dam, I've launched there when it is low but do you think that would be a good place to launch when the lake is full?
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