I took a friend of mine out ice fishing for the first time today at Hyrum. We got on the ice around 2:00 and fished until 5:30ish... We didnt punch many holes but started out in 33 FOW and found perch. They didnt stick around long though... they appeared to get lock jaw and after we each got around 6 or so they would only look at our jigs. My buddy was doing really good though, he picked up on the light bites quick and actually outfished me. He had a good time. I set his rod up with a red VMC waxy jig tipped with a wax worm and he never changed jigs. I would pick up a random couple of fish with ratfinkee's and other tungsten jigs... I dont know why I didnt tie on another red waxy jig until we were about to leave. We moved in closer to shore, moving to 16 FOW then finishing at 11. We found perch at each depth, no trout though. My friend picked up three bass which was great. Then when I first started fishing the 11 FOW hole, I notice a fish on my flasher just hanging out off the bottom. First drop and he nailed my red waxy jig..... it was another bass. I saw another mark and dropped down again and hooked into a porker... got him just under the whole and it looked to be a good bass but the jig popped out and hooked into my coat haha... My friend then caught one more and we called it a day. Fun time though... wish I could find the trout, it's been a rough year for me catching trout in Hyrum.
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Great report, sounds like a fun day.
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I've noticed the same thing with trout at Hyrum this ice season... At first I did pretty well with nice sized fish, but I think there are so many people fishing the ice that I think they are thinning out the trout really fast... That is the problem with ice fishing is it allows so many people to get to any location, that the fish really get hammered and the numbers go down pretty fast... I think the numbers of fisherman are way higher in the winter than the summer by far. But it might be a location thing again, they may be out more towards the center of the lake and I'm fishing the shallows on the edge... The last two trips I've found perch, but no bows at Hyrum... Slight disclaimer here, I've been fishing the bottom instead of mid column too, so I'm fishing where the perch are and not where the trout cruise through at... Try one line down at 15 to 20 feet from the surface and see if that helps your trout numbers... Good luck... J
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Sounds like the fish were moving shallower in response to the high barometer. Now that it's dropping again, they might move back deeper.
But who can predict fish? Certainly not I.
BTW, I couldn't get the perchletts to even look at a jig the last two trips there. They would happily hit a gold Swedish Pimple, and occasionally a Rat Finkie, but it was the spoon that they wanted.
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[quote SkunkedAgain] The last two trips I've found perch, but no bows at Hyrum... Slight disclaimer here, I've been fishing the bottom instead of mid column too, so I'm fishing where the perch are and not where the trout cruise through at... Try one line down at 15 to 20 feet from the surface and see if that helps your trout numbers... Good luck... J[/quote]
I tried targeting specifically trout for a few minutes. I had a Jaw Jacker out, set at about 10 feet in 16 FOW but nothing... Then I tried ripping some spoons through the 10-5 foot portion of the water column and never saw anything. Disappointing? YES! I'll keep trying different areas, maybe try out deeper in the middle. But yes I do think they have been thinned out. I recall the last two ice seasons, they would come in and reek havoc while I was fishing for perch... I've only picked up one trout that came off the bottom this year. What can you expect though, they stock them in there for that purpose, to be taken [
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[quote RockyRaab]Sounds like the fish were moving shallower in response to the high barometer. Now that it's dropping again, they might move back deeper. [/quote]
I was actually wondering the exact same thing while we were fishing. Then looking at the forecast, an incoming storm could open those mouths up a little more haha.
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Yes I know Hyrum is stocked to give folks a chance to catch and keep some fish and I'm not against that at all. I'm just
to see the fish go when they finally get some size to them. Seems like they planted a lot smaller fish this last crop and they were pretty little last year so a lot were returned but this year they grew up and were 17-20"ers and a lot of fun so I'm just
to start over again. I knew it would happen, I just hoped to catch a few more before the numbers were depleted. And I am responsible for reducing the numbers by four myself so I understand. Later J
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I couldn't agree more with you. Sorry if I sounded like I was being jerk that was not my intent. After re-reading my response I realized I sounded like a jerk haha.
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No worries, I'm hoping they aren't all gone yet, but it sure slowed down for me in the trout department... Not that I'm catching that many perch either, but getting enough to keep me going back when not headed to Bear Lake or Porcupine.... I may have to work on my sled this weekend so I might not get any ice time... Not sure but, I'm thinking it might be a slow week anyway... Keep telling myself that anyway.... Later J
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