[cool][#0000ff]I seldom fish either day of the weekend. But this Sunday TubeBabe was out of town, no fambly things goin' on, good weather forecast and I woke up early...aburnin' with the spirit. I needed to worship at the Church of the Seventh Day Angler. Headed for the Deer Creek Chapel.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]39 degree air temp and 57 water temp at the beginning of services. Clear and calm at launch but quickly turned to dense fog over the water and a chilling breeze. Cool invocation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Didn't plan to make a lot of converts and bring them home with me today. Figured I would keep the first nice rainbow...for burnt offerings on the grill later. All other inquirers would be "rebaptized" by full imersion in the waters from whence they came.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good plan. I put a nice 18 inch rainbow in the collection basket within fifteen minutes of launching. Then I got a few more smaller ones before the rainbow class let out for the day. Didn't see anything but carp working the surface. They were slurping down the green algae "peas" that had balled up and floated to the surface.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked a lot of area and a lot of different depths and contour lines. Saw only sporadic marks on sonar. No schools of perch. Brought up a couple of mid-sizers and lost a footlong at the tube. But not much perch fellowship today.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The beauty of the chapel and the surroundings was enough to make up for a slow day...almost. The fall colors are fading fast. It was kinda purtiful as the morning fog dissipated and revealed the remaining colors in the hard-fought sunshine.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lotsa bank tanglers...including one group that had a couple of screaming kids. Nothing to wreck a perfectly uplifting worship service like unruly kids with piercing voices ricocheting across the water. Oh well, at least it kept me from sleeping through the services.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A few tin boats and midsize craft working the trout population this morning. But they were mostly going slow except for blast off. No power squadron at all. Wimps. Can't handle the ice caps on their knee caps. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Exchanged pleasantries with a paddle boarder coming back in from a jaunt around the corner to Rainbow Bay. We agreed that life was better without the noisy crowd that delights in bouncing others around with their wakes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The ramp at the island is still functional, but fairly shallow. I saw several 16 to 17 foot boats launching and trailering with little apparent problem. They have moved the dock to the far south side of the ramp and the remaining area still has enough depth for launching (see pic).[/#0000ff]
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Man, I was stuck in the church of "My wife will kill me if I fish today" this morning, and all I could think about was how nice of a day it was. So
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Glad you got into a few. I can't wait until Mrs. Trout goes out of town! Oh wait, she never does.
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Fishing from a boat? Fishing on the weekend? This is indeed turning into a strange year. Sorry you didnt get into more perch. Great pics as always. Is the water lower than your last trip or is it kind of stable now. Great report!!
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[cool][#0000ff]Sounds like a personal problem. But considering the alternative you might wanna just be happy for the wife you have. She puts up with you and at least you get to go fishing. There are a lotta wanna be anglers who aren't even allowed to go fishing at all...or buy tackle online.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Love is grand. Divorce is ten grand.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]Well...I've done both before and will probably do both again...without any kind of shift in the universe. Just matters of personal behavior. At least I think that is my excuse. I don't remember.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water seems to be dropping about a foot a week...another 18 inches lower in the week and a half since my last trip there. I have shoreline marks I use to track the drop. Hope it stops soon and then reverses with some winter moisture...lots of it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I didn't post my pic of the algae peas in the original post. That condition seems to happen every year about this time. The carp love that stuff and the top of the water was covered with slurpers at daybreak yesterday. But what surprised me was that the one trout I kept was also stuffed with it. That might account for the relatively slow action on the trout and the lack of normal surface activity. There were some midges fluttering around and landing on the surface but no trout splashes at all. That is most unusual. Not even any of the new transplants.[/#0000ff]
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yes unusual, I would think the bigger trout were looking for meat but then thats what makes fishing. They do what they want and often as not they do the unexpected. I was hoping the water had quit dropping anyway as the irrigation season winds down.
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dang and i thought i was having a hard time getting perch there recently. but hey it beats staying at home and doing nothing and atleast you had a bow to tangle with.
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[cool][#0000ff]Perch are going into their winter pattern already. In years past I have still been getting them in water less than 20 feet deep up until at least mid October. This year, with the dropping water levels and water temps lower than usual, the perch are going deeper and getting less active. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The bites I got yesterday were all very light and I missed some that got my worm off my jigs without me even feeling them. A couple of non-hookup bites came from 28 feet deep[/#0000ff][#0000ff]. But the only perch I hooked were in at least 33 feet. The biggest one I had on was from 38 feet...way out in the middle of the channel between the end of the island and the far side. Saw a few marks on sonar but no schools...just singles and doubles.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I remember some years from the past when DC water levels dropped very low. The winter ice fishing saw us drilling in 60 feet of water...way up between the sailboat beach and the buoy line in front of the dam. That is the only place we could find the perch. Still got trout from shallower waters but not perch.[/#0000ff]
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ya i know when i went there about a week and a half ago at rainbow bay they were all 30 feet and deeper and very finicky which kinda sucks but you gotta work for em a bit more. cant wait till ice fishing there if it freezes good!!!!! hopefully theyll get a little hungrier soon so we all can get some good eats.
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I have never fished down by the dam on ice. I usually hit rainbow bay or the island just cause its easy access. I would hate trying to get up or down the steep bank down by the dam with my gear. Since I dont have a snow machine its a bit much of a walk. Did you go in at the main State Park. I guess that would be the most likely spot on that end.Hoping for fishable Ice on DC this year.
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Glad your prayers were answered, and you found your basket of revelation. Nice scenery! Misty mountains...
was that paddler trolling a rig? [:p]
Bet I know what fly would work if you were flinging for carp!
[cool][#0000ff]You don't have to hike the tracks and then roll down the hill to fish the west end of the lake. Some of the best ice perchin' is right off the steep sloping hill going north from the launch ramp at Walsburg, between Rainbow Bay and Walsburg. The bottom slopes away quickly but there are shelves and flat spots at different depths and the whole length of that hill can be good for both perch and trout. But you do need good sonar and you may need to swiss cheese an area to catch the fish as they move in and out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If they keep the road plowed you can also drive over to the gravelly sailboat beach. A short hike down the slope from parking...in this low water...but easy on the ice to fish along the break lines on the south side of the lake toward the dam. Again, the bottom drops away quickly in some spots...with depths of over 100 feet in high water. During low water ice fishing you will usually be looking for fish in 50 to 60 feet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On a good day...when you are feeling hike-ey, it is really not that far to trudge across to fish a couple of underwater shelves along the north bank. When it gets too "sociable" closer to the ramp you can get away from most folks by making the walk across. And it can be great catching for both perch and trout. Even some deep smallies over there...and an occasional walleye.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just made up a new map for you. PS...nobody else better copy or use it. I will know who you are.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just kiddin'. If you like it...go for it.[/#0000ff]
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[quote CoyoteSpinner] Glad your prayers were answered, and you found your basket of revelation. Nice scenery! Misty mountains...
was that paddler trolling a rig? [:p]
Bet I know what fly would work if you were flinging for carp![/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Paddler was not trolling anything. The paddleboard was all his wife allowed him to keep in the divorce. She kept the big boat and all the tackle. That's what happens when you marry a devout lady who won't let you fish on Sunday.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those carp were disgusting. Sounded like a buncha pigs slurpin' up their slop. Never tried tyin' no "pea-flies". Maybe a Jolly Green Giant bugger...a real one from his left nostril.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For real, I know guys who fish for the big carp at Bountiful Pond by gathering up the green glop along the concrete spillway and wadding it on a hook. Then they let it wash down into the waiting horde of buglemouths and the mighty bendo to follow. Purina carp chow.[/#0000ff]
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Great little cheater map there, TD. Would you happen to have one for the other end of Deer Creek? I've never fished the place, but I'd like to now that I have a boat.
I've lived in Ogden for 27 years now, but have actually fished very little. Spent too much time shooting and writing about it. Now that I've retired from gun writing, I bought my Pro Angler and will get back to fishing. Boy, do I have a lot to re-learn...
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[cool][#0000ff]Got several.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's three...plus a labeled map of the whole lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The upper end is good for cast and blast when the birds are flying. Shallow with weeds.[/#0000ff]
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How very avuncular of you, good sir!
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey, hey, hey.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Watch yer langridge. This here's a fambly forum.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'll have you know I ain't never vuncled nobody.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Better to have vuncled and lost than never to have vuncled at all.[/#0000ff]
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