Fishing Forum

Yeah I know everyone says the same thing. Once they try ice fishing they are hooked for life. Ok I agree now. Took my first trip ice fishing this morning. Went to Mud Creek by myself and fished from ~7am to noon. There were about 5-8 groups of people fishing and it seemed slow overall. A couple guys next to me only got one sucker. I saw a couple other fish caught here and there.

I caught five (4 cutts and 1 rainbow) using a variety of lures and baits. I had about another five bites and one breakoff (my fault). It was my first time using an ice rod and I tried to set the hook a second time because it is a flimsy rod, and it broke off. Here is a list of the fish and what I was using. Not many reports so thought this my be useful to some.
[ul] [li]First fish (~12 inch cutt) caught on a white curly tailed jig tipped with a mealworm.[/li] [li]Second was a 20-21 incher caught on a white tube jig tipped with a worm (you can see the jig in the picture)[/li] [li]Third was about a 17-18 inch rainbow caught on a worm close to the bottom[/li] [li]Forth was a cutt about the same size as above caught on a worm[/li] [li]Fith was over the slot but skinnier then the above fish and it was caught on a worm and mealworm (Picture)[/li][/ul]
It was a great day and It was interesting trying to get the two larger cutts through the hole. When I bent down I ended up losing my fish gripper.Not a big deal but I had a hard time handling the 20-21 inch cutt before I knew he was under the mark. I wanted to keep one, but I left the tape in the truck and had to ask someone for a measure. Ended up releasing all but the rainbow.

I gotta say, Utah is a great place to fish. In the last year and half since I moved here I have been able to do a number of things I have never done before. First time catching a trout using a dead minnow, first time using a "bass" jig to catch a trout, and I had never caught a cutt or a tiger trout before moving here. Oh yeah, first time ice fishing!!!!!

The ice was about 3 inches thick but it seemed to be thinner in a few areas. When I left, the ice was cracking everywhere underneath me. It got really warm towards the end of my trip. Not use to cracking ice and ended up on my knees for about 40 feet to be on the safe side.
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Looks like you alright! [cool]

Thanks for the report. Hopefully these cold temps will extend the ice to other parts of the reservoir. Then the "good" fishing starts. [cool]
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Congratulations, [black]you[/black] certainly did much better than I did on my first few ice fishing trips to Strawberry.

[black]"A couple guys next to me only got one sucker."[/black]

I sure hope that it was just a huge chub that was mistaken as a sucker. When I was a kid there were suckers in Strawberry. I accidently snagged one by the tail and it put up a good fight for a young kid.
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I didn't get a good look at it and I am not that familiar with chubs, but the guy who caught it said it was a sucker. It was about 3 lbs.
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Let's just hope that he was mistaken.
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I just looked up a picture of a utah chub (below) and it did not look like that. I've caught suckers in california before and from 15 feet away, it looked more like what I remember of suckers. And if chubs don't get bigger then two pounds, then it was not a chub. This thing was football size. The guy who caught it is not a BFT member but his friend visits the site. Maybe he will chime in on this if he reads what we are talking about. I didn't know suckers and Strawberry are not a good mix.

[url "http://fwp.mt.gov/fieldguide/mediaDisplay.aspx?id=4507&elcode=AFCJB13020"]http://fwp.mt.gov/...mp;elcode=AFCJB13020[/url]
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There is suckers in the Berry as well as chubs, just more food for the cuts....

No big surprise the DWR said they could not get all the chubs or suckers when they poisoned it....
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Kent - When you were a kid, there were only trout in Utah Lake and polygamy was legal!![]
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Man, if I am that old we better get out on that long-anticipated ice fishing together soon before I am too old and feeble to still fish.[]
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Well it looks like you had a better day on the ice than we did. We got to Mud Creek at 7AM and left the ice at 2PM. There were 5 of us in our party and only 6 fish came through the ice.

I did us the Auqa Vu and saw lots of fish on the bottom. They just did not seem very interested in our lures. We used every jig I could think of and tipped with minnow, meally, waxworm, and powerbait. They just did not seem to happy to be eating.

Ktrout, I was in the hut closest to the open water. I was about 80 yards from the open water and the ice still measured a fat 4 inches of clear ice.

I am glad you had a good outing on your first ice trip. Maybe next time we can meet up and tell stories[cool]

Kyle