01-10-2011, 09:35 PM
Had a blast going on my first three ice fishing trips of 2011 this past weekend. My first trip was to Holmes Creek Reservoir. The fishing was fast for small planter bows. I know the other species are in there because I've caught them all, but as long as the slimers roam that lake it will be tough to catch em. The jigs I used were a fat boy, and a charchuse tube jig. I think any jig those trout can get in their mouths will work. I also tipped the jig with a wax worm. [inline P1060036.JPG]
The next day I headed up to Mantua to see if the gills were still biting. The bite was lite but they are definitely still there. Caught and released a few trout, 3 small bass, some finger sized perch and a bunch of dinky gills. Ended up with 20+ keeper gills and 2 perch. Fished in depths from 10 to 13 feet. I know there have to be some deeper spots in there, just haven't found them yet. My setup was an ultra light rod with 2# test line, #12 charchuse ratfinkee tipped with a spike. I put a small lead weight above that to help it sink a little faster. All in all a great day and definitely plan on going back soon.
The last day I went up to Pineview with a couple friends to see if the perch were willing to play. As has been reported numerous times, the perch are there and in good numbers. I've heard a lot of people calling these fish "dinks" but I wonder how many perch they have caught before. While they are nowhere near the jumbo-sized perch that came out of Yuba recently, they are starting to get girth to them. I'd say that in two-three years these 6-8" perch will grow to be nice 10-12 inchers. That is unless there is some huge die off or something. Anyway, we all caught plenty of medium sized perch and had a great time. Five minutes before we left I saw a thick line of my flasher about 10' off the bottom and so I immediately reeled up to there. A few seconds later my rod tip bent and after a brief fight this pig came through the hole! It measured 13" and had as much meat on it as 10 perch. [inline P1080042.JPG] My setup was a silver castmaster with gold nuclear ant 8" below that, tipped with spikes and later on a perch eye. One more thing I wanted to mention from recent reports I've read is about releasing perch. Because of how deep Pineview is the perch's air bladder usually expands. If released they will just float around under the ice until they die. So I would suggest keeping even the small ones, they taste great too!
Seems like ice fishing in Northern Utah is on the up and up, let's keep our fingers crossed that it will stay that way! Here are some pics the of the fish fry I had on Sunday for you to enjoy. [inline P1090044.JPG] [inline P1090048.JPG]
The next day I headed up to Mantua to see if the gills were still biting. The bite was lite but they are definitely still there. Caught and released a few trout, 3 small bass, some finger sized perch and a bunch of dinky gills. Ended up with 20+ keeper gills and 2 perch. Fished in depths from 10 to 13 feet. I know there have to be some deeper spots in there, just haven't found them yet. My setup was an ultra light rod with 2# test line, #12 charchuse ratfinkee tipped with a spike. I put a small lead weight above that to help it sink a little faster. All in all a great day and definitely plan on going back soon.
The last day I went up to Pineview with a couple friends to see if the perch were willing to play. As has been reported numerous times, the perch are there and in good numbers. I've heard a lot of people calling these fish "dinks" but I wonder how many perch they have caught before. While they are nowhere near the jumbo-sized perch that came out of Yuba recently, they are starting to get girth to them. I'd say that in two-three years these 6-8" perch will grow to be nice 10-12 inchers. That is unless there is some huge die off or something. Anyway, we all caught plenty of medium sized perch and had a great time. Five minutes before we left I saw a thick line of my flasher about 10' off the bottom and so I immediately reeled up to there. A few seconds later my rod tip bent and after a brief fight this pig came through the hole! It measured 13" and had as much meat on it as 10 perch. [inline P1080042.JPG] My setup was a silver castmaster with gold nuclear ant 8" below that, tipped with spikes and later on a perch eye. One more thing I wanted to mention from recent reports I've read is about releasing perch. Because of how deep Pineview is the perch's air bladder usually expands. If released they will just float around under the ice until they die. So I would suggest keeping even the small ones, they taste great too!
Seems like ice fishing in Northern Utah is on the up and up, let's keep our fingers crossed that it will stay that way! Here are some pics the of the fish fry I had on Sunday for you to enjoy. [inline P1090044.JPG] [inline P1090048.JPG]
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