Hyrum...or bust!

[DanzTuna]

Spent yesterday at Hyrum fishing off swim beach.  There was about 5" of light, fluffy snow over frozen slush and about 8" of good hard ice.  Normally I have pretty good success using wax worms for the perch but was unable to find any wax worms after hitting 5 stores (What, we're having a supply chain problem from China? lol).  So, ended up using meal worms and small pieces of night crawler on Glow Ratso jigs, fished just above the bottom. 

Now, the "bust" -got two light taps but no perch takers, all day.  I did mark an occasional trout pass by 10' to 15' below the ice so set up the Jigging Jaw Jacker with a paddle tail tipped with night crawler and promptly hooked a nice fat rainbow.  At least I didn't get skunked.  I spoke to two different parties who caught nothing all day. Park employee confirmed that fishing had been extremely slow.

The highlight of the trip was that I got a chance to check out my Smitty sled modification to my Jet sled.  What a difference a set of skis made!

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey thanks for the report, I was watching you on the webcam, if you would have caught a bunch I would have known where to go, but since you got about the same as my last trip I won't set up in your spot... Hyrum started off really slow and I've only heard of maybe one person that got into the fish there this year. It's been brutal, I guess that's why I've only seen maybe 3-4 groups there at a time on the busiest weekdays... Pretty that a spot that used to be really fun isn't hardly worth going to this year... I really appreciate your detailed report, thank you, I won't be in a hurry to return... Also congrats on the Smitty, they really are nice aren't they? Wait till the snow gets deep and you'll really see the value of the work you have done... Thanks again... Jeff

[DanzTuna]

For my modification, I used table top lift mechanisms from Amazon and a pair of old skis from DI.  Was easy to construct and collapses nicely for storage.  I had about 100#'s of gear in the sled for my Hyrum trek and pulling was a breeze.  When the mechanisms are extended, the arms rest against a stop to prevent collapse with a load or when pulling.  You collapse the sled by stepping on the ski tips and pulling the sled forward. To raise the sled, you step on the rear tips of the skis and pull the sled backward.  I found several videos on YouTube of similar setups.  If you want additional details, feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to provide more info.

[SkunkedAgain]

Looks like a great idea, I built mine old school, like horse and wagon era with solid 2x10's attached to the skis and lots of heavy duty bolts to hold it together... It's been needed since I pull it with my snowmobile lots of miles per winter.. Mine isn't the easiest to handle by hand, but it still is easier to pull than the jet sled alone... I found that 2x6's were tall enough riser for my nanook so that one is a little more handy and still functions okay in deep snow... Well worth the time and cost to put them together... You may find that a solid tow handle will be useful to you, especially on the downhills... The first trip on the snowmobile convinced me to ditch the rope, even though I had used conduits over the rope, it still wasn't strong enough to deal with down hills at snowmobile speeds... Good luck and thanks for sharing that design with us.. Jeff