Fishing Forum

Oh yeah I was in for the lack-o-sleep fish-a-thon! Got 4 hours of sleep Thursday night and met UtGolf and Luke at Sportsmans at 5am on Friday. UtGolf was fashionably late but we were off into the foggy roads. It was so bad you could se about 30 feet or less at 65mph! [shocked]

We arrived to see a baren place void off all life but the rabbits.


So UtGolf had a underwater camera and sure enough 1st fish we see is a good walleye. Well after that all we saw were pike, pike, and more pike! Luke and UtGolf made me an outdoor dog for the day and stayed in the tent while I froze to the ice out there.

Then UtGolf was the 1st to get a Northern Pike on the ice at Yuba. He must need more sleep! It was a great "My Name is Earl" moment.


I got a few bites before I hooked into one. I got him up to the hole and grabbed the steel leader but thanks to the ill-preparedness of UtGolf we only had a 4 inch diameter auger. In the process of guiding the head to the hole it got off. [mad]

So then it was all about Luke. He got a pike next to me and sure enough the pike hit my line 10 feet up and I lost my one and only best lure.

"Cool Hand Luke" managed 4 Northern Pike like this one.


So the action died off and UtGolf went on a perch search. LOL we didn't see a single perch on the underwater camera all day. So we packed up and sure enough UtGolf left the keys in the tent pockets. He had moved all over the place so it was a frantic search for the keys across the lake during sunset where they were found at the furthest spot.


Day 2 - Flamming Gorge

I saw an invite on BFT from Kentofnsl and jumped in on it. With a whole 1.5 hours of sleep I showed up 40 minutes early at 3:50am and took the time to "break the ice" with kent. Sure enough BFT's NETO showed up a tad late and we were off to the gorge! I slept till we got our permits at the Wallmart in Evanston. The employee actually told me to have a great family day with my grandpa! :lol:

I slept all the way to Holmes Crossing where I was greeted by the slickest ice I have ever seen. With me being the only guy without ice cleats I chose to pick a tiny island of snow for my fishing operations. While dead sticking my 3rd rod (love the 6 rod rule there BTW) I saw the rod go nuts.

Here was my fantastic result. A 1st but not the last Lake Trout from the Gorge.


Then it was NETO's turn.


Last and least Kentofnsl's got his only laker for the day.


On the way to get the pic of Kentofnsl I slipped on the ice and took a bad fall on my elbow. I laid on the ice a bit wondering if I broke my elbow for the 2nd time of my life.

The action was slow so I took another 45 minute nap on the ice while fishing and low and behold my sleep was interupted by my braided line tugging on my finger. With a quick snap of the wrist I stood over the hole and watched this laker come up from the depths!


So shortly after that the sun started to set and we had a long trip back to SLC. NETO managed to hog all the macks with 6 pups under his belt. I scrambled up 2 macks and kentofnsl just got the 1 mack.

We packed up with this sunset at the Gorge. They seem to never dissapoint!


We ate like kings at the McDonalds in Green River where a guy whom Kentofnsl stergeon fished with spoke to us about the gorge fishing. I slept all the way to Leaky's club (near echo) and made plans for the next day. By 1am I was hitting the pillow again for a rematch with the pike of Yuba!

Day 3 - Yuba

Met up with DuckDog1us and 2 of his kids at 7am in Utah's happy valley. Once again I was 30 mins too early. We arrived to see the whole place to ourselves. DuckDog1us then mentioned his auger blades failed the day before and he bought new ones. Well the blades didn't work and we looked SCREWED!!!!!!!!!

So luckily a car pulled into the lot. I sweet talked the group into drilling us 7 holes. I offered $10 but they declined that in trade for some ice pike info. I obliged to all their questions and told them a few good spots. They tried there own spots till they saw me with this northern pike.


Unable to move around we were stuck to one spot. Not great when needing to move to find pike. So the guys hit one of the other spots I mentioned and nailed 3 pike. Ah, salt in the wound for me personally since I had so many spots to try and no auger to get me anywhere.

So I BS'd with another group while DuckDog broke down camp. As we left 2 guys got out of their car and headed to the holes we were at. Turns out they didn't have an auger. Like the ocean nothing went to waste I guess.

We drove to AF Harbor at UL and at 4pm there was 3 guys on the ice with no fish. From now on if we drive that far I will bring my hand auger. After all this fishing I am ready to hit the pillow again.
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Nice report. That was quite a marathon!!!
Could you share what kind of lures you use for the Pike in Yuba?? I have fished there in the summer for pike. Are the same areas productive through the ice? What depths do you target?
Thanks again for the report.
It's kind of funny because people often mistake Kent for my grandfather when I have been with him before as well !! Just kidding Kent...
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nice job at the gorge! I bet you were missing my 6 inch auger on that third day!!!! but I am buying an 8 inch this week and converting it over to a power drill auger.
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Way to live up to the Spikes.....I mean name[laugh]

Stay Frosty.
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Bad enough to be called your grandfather, but I didn't even rate a color photograph.[] It was a pleasure meeting and fishing with you, just wish that we (especially me, of course) could have caught more fish.
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[quote luckybob]

It's kind of funny because people often mistake Kent for my grandfather when I have been with him before as well !! Just kidding Kent...

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Rob, your imagination is certainly working overtime.[]
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[quote flygoddess]Way to live up to the Spikes.....I mean name[laugh]

Stay Frosty.[/quote]

No spikes lately as it is just too cold! Right in the afternoon I could survive without a balaclava but most of the time my head freezes when all that hair is up. Yep this winter is too harsh thus far. I still will raise the hair for the strawberry party coming up.

I see a few ice cream head aches coming.[]
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So we need to come up with a Holie stocking cap. Something along the lines of the hair streaking caps in the old days (of course I have only seen pictures of these)[]


Or you could fool everyone and buy one of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RYTEVI/ref=...B002RYTEVI
And grease up the hat hair. Then your mellon stays nice and warm while holding down the image[]
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[quote utahgolf]nice job at the gorge! I bet you were missing my 6 inch auger on that third day!!!! but I am buying an 8 inch this week and converting it over to a power drill auger.[/quote]

Your auger is 6 inches? Man I wish you and my girlfriend thought alike! LOL!!!!!! I could swear that thing is 4 inches.

In all honesty I was missing my auger both days. The 10 inch holes on Saturday and Sunday were great for getting the fish out.
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I just saw a streaking cap on google images. I thought about doing the same thing to my ski helmet. It really isn't a bad idea.
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Well the guy did call you my grandpa behind your back if that makes you feel better about it.[]

I could have posted the color pic of you but I think the black and white came out better personally. It was a pleasure to fish with you Kent and I think if I had the same tube dude gear as NETO then I would have caught more fish myself. Luckily NETO shared one of those treasures with me at the end of the day.

At least you didn't get the skunk Kent.
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Awesome report! It's nice seeing some toothy fish coming through the ice.
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Nice report TDT!

Quite the marathon...no way I could have done that!

It was a pleasure to meet you and I really enjoyed your company on Saturday at the Gorge. Normally there are more fish that show up and the bite is a little better...I hope the Burbot have nothing to do with this...I'm hoping it was just an off day.

I do enjoy catching those smaller lake trouts and enjoy eating them even more. I was hoping for a 'biggun, but it never happened. I did catch two of my fish on a 7" tube, the same size used for the big ones in the summer, but on the hookset you could tell they weren't very big. Surprised me that a 19" fish will hit a 7" tube. All the rest were caught on TubeDude lures.

I did have one hookset that straightened the hook on one of those TubeDude lures...I wonder if he will give me a refund? []

Here is my tent and TDT's tent. I like his style! Fishing in a tent with a heater! Kent fished outside all day.

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And here is some of our catch. Not only do I like the multiple pole rule at FG, but I like the 8 Lake Trout limit (under 28") also! Very high in Omega 3 oils.

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[cool][#0000FF]Glad the TD trinkets helped the cause. But I assume no responsibility for fishing them with heavy line and making Bill Dance hooksets. Those light wire hooks are sharp and will hold a pretty good sized fish. But if you get heavy handed with heavy tackle they ain't Gammys. Ditto for twisting them out of a fish with the pliers. Easy does it.

Might negotiate with you on the replacement. You might also consider getting some made up with heavier hooks for the Gorge. As Dirty Harry says: "A man should know his limitations." That goes for tackle too.
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[#0000ff]TubeDude wrote:[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]"...with heavy line and making Bill Dance hooksets."[/#0000ff]
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[#000000]You've seen my hooksets before haven't you? Lol![/#000000]

I even told the guys I didn't think it was really a very big fish, but that my drag was all the way tight (and yes, braided line), and that I just about put a hole in the top of my ice tent with my hookset!

I'll be contacting you soon. Very interested in the heavier-hook version of that same lure. I've got an idea for a trade that might interest you...I'll send you a pm.
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[#0000FF]I often make the statement "Hooksets are free". But there are hooksets and then there are hooksets. Should always be a balance between rod strength, line strength, hook size and strength and fish size. Of course the angler computer (brain) does not always process all this info and deliver a sensible hookset in the excitement of the moment. Been knowed to swing rather wildly my ownself.

I chuckle as I remember a "learning experience" on a stream a long time ago...with my long since departed dad. He was a notorious "yankee" whenever he got a bite. On one occasion he made a mighty upward sweep of the rod, hooked something and proceeded to reel in the guts and gills someone else had tossed back into the stream after cleaning their trout. When I quit rolling on the streambank laughing I said something about jerking too hard. He didn't think it was so funny.

Got your PM. I can provide a list of hook options that will make more sense when you plan to be fishing for something more battleworthy than Strawberry cutts. But you gotta admit that the sickle hooks are good hookers for lesser quarry.
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