Fishing Forum

Hit the hardwater on Saturday at a 10,000 ft. elevation lake for some splake on saturday. Fishing was pretty tough. It seemed like we couldn't get more than 1 fish from each hole drilled. Drilling through 12" of ice is never an easy task, and by the end of the day, I was pretty worn out from drilling holes...

Interesting observation: a couple of the splake had obviously been gorging on Mysis Shrimp. You could see the shrimp all over in the throats of the fish. When filleting the fish that night, I cut a few stomachs open, and they were all full of the shrimp. That's something you just don't see everyday in Utah!

Another side note: This particular lake is closed to motorized vehicle travel. It's been abused by ATV's for many years. The Forest Circus doesn't seem to want to pay much attention to the problem. So far this year, we have been to the lake 4 times. The first time, trees had fallen across the trail, blocking ATV's from using the trail. The next time, ATV'ers had chainsawed, their way into the lake. The next 2 times, there were ATV's on the ice at the lake.

The hike into this lake is only half a mile. What gives? Are fishermen so lazy that they can no longer hike half a mile to fish?

Leave your ATV's at the trail head. Continued abuse of ATV's in our roadless areas will only make things worse for everyone in the long run!

More letters are being sent to the Forest Circus....
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Both times I've been to this lake this past summer there were ATVs there. Either open it for all ATVs or close it for all ATVs. Nothing ticks me off like hiking into a lake closed to ATV travel to see a half dozen ATVs. There are a bunch of lakes in the area that are legal to ride ATVs into. I took numbers and reported it, wonder if anything was done about it. I am an ATV owner and enjoy using them in legal areas on designated roads. We need to help police each other before we all get kicked out of the National Forests.

So how was the fishing PBH? Anything big?
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we caught some really nice fish, but nothing big enought to brag about. The coloration of those fish is unbelievable!

I agree, the Forest Circus has two options:

1. Open it up to ATV use.
2. Leave it closed, but actually start to enforce their rules.

Enforcement is the issue. I have written a number of emails concerning the abuse on the mountain. After my last bit of contact with the Circus, they actually put up some new signs in the Sunflower Flat area. It's nice to see them actually do something, but I feel like the signs are a copout. Signs don't stop anything. The Circus needs to make their presence known. I wish they would actually go for a rid on a Saturday and see who's out and about...
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