Fishing Forum

It was finally the day that my family was going to venture out onto the ice for the first time. I had all of the gear packed and ready to for the following morning, the plan was to go somewhere close like Vernon Reservoir that way if they didn’t like it we wouldn’t have to spend a long drive. Mrs. Orvis1 woke up before I did and started getting ready boy I was surprised to see her up before me for a fishing trip. Warning them about my pervious trips and how cold it can be on the ice we bundled up in several layers to begin the trip. The roads were clear to Vernon and they even plowed the dirt road that goes into Vernon. I thought we were in south sailing because we could do 30MPH on this dirt ride, We passed the work shack made another turn past the private ranch and the snow started getting deeper. They had plowed only one land and the snowdrifts we were driving through were starting to get deep, real deep. One particular drift was about 3 foot taller than our truck kind of freaky! We finally came to a point were it was decision time. The plowing looked like it stopped about ¾ mile before the lake and if I went any further my truck would get high-centered. We backed down the road for about ½ mile until we could find a spot to turn around and get out safely. I just couldn’t believe how deep the snow got so quickly! We still wanted to fish so I know there was a little lake outside Tooele so lets stop and give it a try at least it is only 25 miles away. We drove to the reservoir and found the ice to be very soft and thin in fact there was some open water there. Well lets just take I-80 west and go up to east canyon there have been some good reports from there recently. I drove for another hour to get off the exit to find the road is not plowed and no access to east canyon this way, how were people getting there? I knew Jordanelle was open so we spent another 45 min in the car to get there.



We got to a spot to where it didn’t look like we would be crowding anyone and I knew that starting at noon rather than 8 am was not ideal, but I wanted to fish! The slush monster was out in full force; the ice had about 5 inches of snow 5 inches of slush, then about 9 inches of ice. Being my family’s first time ice fishing they didn’t realize how hard it was to get everything set up to fish.





The fishing was slow for everyone we were there almost 3 hours before we saw a fish caught by the groups around us and before we got the first bite. My daughter was starting to get restless.

She was having more fun playing in the snow than anything else. I tried all of my limited ice arsenal at them, grizzly bugs, paddle pugs, tube jigs, minnows, power bait, salmon eggs, meal worms, wax worms, and the good ole earthworm. About 2 pm I finally hooked up and the fight was on! Honestly my tube jig was heavier than the fish, here is the monster bait steeling perch:

It gave us hope but at the end of the day we had one small perch and 2 missed bites for about 4 hours of fishing. The weather was fantastic I didn’t even wear my big coat the whole day! We all came home with sunburns and memories. The best part was my wife approved a gas auger from Santa next year and my daughter loved it!
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[cool][#0000ff]Great family outing report. Ya don't need pics of a cooler full of fish to make the best memories.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You have proven that you are adaptable and go with the flow. Now we gotta get you trained in the fine art of perch jerkin'...for something larger than your jig.[/#0000ff]
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If you was out west you should of went to grantsvile []
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Great report, ask TD how his snow angel came out today I think your daughters came out lots better...
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Glad to hear you had the sense to turn around in the deep snow, I got stuck near Yuba thinking I would be okay with some momentum and 4 wheel drive.

And to top off the insult with injury I didnt even catch anything when we finally got there!

Good to see you got your daughter out on the ice, I have a 10 year that begs to go every weekend. When she gets bored she takes the sled to the nearest hill and wears herself out for trip home, but she always has a blast whether the fish are biting or not.
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I read your report it sounded pretty brutal! It is funny how kids can have just as much fun fishing even if the fish are not cooperating.
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I took my wife and two daughters to Yuba a couple weeks ago, catching was fast but my three year old would rather make snow angels and run around like a maniac. Sounds like everyone had fun no matter if fish were caught. Good memories.
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