First Visit to Rockport, 12/14/2024

[Piscophilic]

Jon and I had kitchen passes for the 14th and the ice was still off most of the Provo Canyon lakes, so we planned a trip to Jordanelle. Last minute I suggested we hit Rockport since neither of us had been there and recent reports were favorable. The real reason was I wanted to try to get a few perch in the freezer for next spring.
 
No perch were harmed, but we had fun with the trout and the weather, ha ha.
 
Got the boat launched around 8, only boat on the lake all day. Water temp was 36 and the air 34, Air warmed to almost 40, but the water stayed the same. The first hour was steady as we trolled from the ramp toward the dam. The wind went from calm to 15-20 MPH during that time. We got half a dozen rainbows 12-15 inches and released them all. We had set 16” as the minimum.





 
When the wind got steady at 20, we pulled off into the cove by the dam and set the spot lock. Tossed lots of things trying to entice a perch, but we couldn’t cast far enough, or they just didn’t like us.
 
I told Jon that this weather might be all we were going to get, so we either go home or try trolling into the wind with the 150 idling. It was one of those days when I’m glad the boat is 20’ plus and built for the great lakes.


At the “blusteriest” part of the morning, our trolling speed was 1.3 to 1.5 and the trout cooperated. Weather didn’t bother them. By noon we had kept 4 bows between 16 and 18”. Boat control was rough so only one guy could reel in a fish at a time. Several got off waiting to be dealt with. With the rough water and boat control issues we forgot all about kokes and perch, but there were enough willing trout to have fun with.
 
A couple hours of that and we could tell the wind was backing down, trolling speed got to 2+. As it calmed it, the intermittent rain turned to snow, and we were just reaching the shallow end of the lake. Most of the “perchy” looking stuff we had seen was between the ramp and dam, so we pulled the gear and ran back to the dam thinking we could hunt for them in the calmer water.





 
What we found first looked like Kokes on the finder so Jon put in a downrigger to see if they wanted to play. We had thought after the snow squall that it was going to clear off and let us chase perch for an hour or two, but mama nature was in a playful mood.
 
20 minutes after we got the downrigger in the sky was clear, and the wind was back at about 20. I fired up the 150 and we started trolling for the ramp. We hit one spurt where we got 2 bows about 17 and a nice cutt about 16.5. I didn’t know they were in there and Jon said he thought it was a bow, so it went into the well. We finished our limits just before we got to the ramp.
 
When I got home, I took a closer look and IMO it was clearly a cutt. It must be a different strain than the ones in Scofield and Strawberry because of the coloring and it was a lot heavier than any cutt that size I’ve seen from the 2 S’s.
 



The cutt is the second one from the top. Anybody know what strain it might be?
 
As we loaded the boat around 4, the sun came out and the wind started to die down but we ahd already been fooled once and as we left teh ramp a flock of turkeys was crossing the road.







We had plenty of fish to keep us interested and it seems to be a fun lake. We plan to try it again sometime, hopefully when the weather is better.

[wiperhunter2]

Looks like you two had a great trip, too bad no perch were caught. We always seem to do better on the perch to the left of the launch, toward the inlet, below that cliff. Thanks for the great report and pics. Yes, that's a cutty for sure but they can look different, depending on what lake they come out of. Alway love seeing all those turkeys at RP, during ice fishing season there are lots of deer, even elk there as well.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Jim, sounds like it was a tough troll, but had some good rewards.. Nice job on figuring out a tough situation...Congrats.. Jeff

[Piscophilic]

Looks like you two had a great trip, too bad no perch were caught. We always seem to do better on the perch to the left of the launch, toward the inlet, below that cliff. Thanks for the great report and pics. Yes, that's a cutty for sure but they can look different, depending on what lake they come out of. Alway love seeing all those turkeys at RP, during ice fishing season there are lots of deer, even elk there as well.

Thanks for your insights! We did see deer on the way in and on the way out, but no elk. We also saw some spots in the area you described that looked like perch schools, but we were still in rough wind at the time and never made it back to them. Another time though!

---

Hey Jim, sounds like it was a tough troll, but had some good rewards.. Nice job on figuring out a tough situation...Congrats.. Jeff

Thanks Jeff! It wasn't a freindly introduction, but still fruitful. I suspect the wind would have been as bad at Jordanelle anyway.

[gmwahl]

Jon and I had kitchen passes for the 14th and the ice was still off most of the Provo Canyon lakes, so we planned a trip to Jordanelle. Last minute I suggested we hit Rockport since neither of us had been there and recent reports were favorable. The real reason was I wanted to try to get a few perch in the freezer for next spring.
 
No perch were harmed, but we had fun with the trout and the weather, ha ha.
 
Got the boat launched around 8, only boat on the lake all day. Water temp was 36 and the air 34, Air warmed to almost 40, but the water stayed the same. The first hour was steady as we trolled from the ramp toward the dam. The wind went from calm to 15-20 MPH during that time. We got half a dozen rainbows 12-15 inches and released them all. We had set 16” as the minimum.





 
When the wind got steady at 20, we pulled off into the cove by the dam and set the spot lock. Tossed lots of things trying to entice a perch, but we couldn’t cast far enough, or they just didn’t like us.
 
I told Jon that this weather might be all we were going to get, so we either go home or try trolling into the wind with the 150 idling. It was one of those days when I’m glad the boat is 20’ plus and built for the great lakes.


At the “blusteriest” part of the morning, our trolling speed was 1.3 to 1.5 and the trout cooperated. Weather didn’t bother them. By noon we had kept 4 bows between 16 and 18”. Boat control was rough so only one guy could reel in a fish at a time. Several got off waiting to be dealt with. With the rough water and boat control issues we forgot all about kokes and perch, but there were enough willing trout to have fun with.
 
A couple hours of that and we could tell the wind was backing down, trolling speed got to 2+. As it calmed it, the intermittent rain turned to snow, and we were just reaching the shallow end of the lake. Most of the “perchy” looking stuff we had seen was between the ramp and dam, so we pulled the gear and ran back to the dam thinking we could hunt for them in the calmer water.





 
What we found first looked like Kokes on the finder so Jon put in a downrigger to see if they wanted to play. We had thought after the snow squall that it was going to clear off and let us chase perch for an hour or two, but mama nature was in a playful mood.
 
20 minutes after we got the downrigger in the sky was clear, and the wind was back at about 20. I fired up the 150 and we started trolling for the ramp. We hit one spurt where we got 2 bows about 17 and a nice cutt about 16.5. I didn’t know they were in there and Jon said he thought it was a bow, so it went into the well. We finished our limits just before we got to the ramp.
 
When I got home, I took a closer look and IMO it was clearly a cutt. It must be a different strain than the ones in Scofield and Strawberry because of the coloring and it was a lot heavier than any cutt that size I’ve seen from the 2 S’s.
 



The cutt is the second one from the top. Anybody know what strain it might be?
 
As we loaded the boat around 4, the sun came out and the wind started to die down but we ahd already been fooled once and as we left teh ramp a flock of turkeys was crossing the road.







We had plenty of fish to keep us interested and it seems to be a fun lake. We plan to try it again sometime, hopefully when the weather is better.

Nice report!  That is a Bonneville Cutthroat.

Mike

[Piscophilic]

Jon and I had kitchen passes for the 14th and the ice was still off most of the Provo Canyon lakes, so we planned a trip to Jordanelle. Last minute I suggested we hit Rockport since neither of us had been there and recent reports were favorable. The real reason was I wanted to try to get a few perch in the freezer for next spring.
 
No perch were harmed, but we had fun with the trout and the weather, ha ha.
 
Got the boat launched around 8, only boat on the lake all day. Water temp was 36 and the air 34, Air warmed to almost 40, but the water stayed the same. The first hour was steady as we trolled from the ramp toward the dam. The wind went from calm to 15-20 MPH during that time. We got half a dozen rainbows 12-15 inches and released them all. We had set 16” as the minimum.





 
When the wind got steady at 20, we pulled off into the cove by the dam and set the spot lock. Tossed lots of things trying to entice a perch, but we couldn’t cast far enough, or they just didn’t like us.
 
I told Jon that this weather might be all we were going to get, so we either go home or try trolling into the wind with the 150 idling. It was one of those days when I’m glad the boat is 20’ plus and built for the great lakes.


At the “blusteriest” part of the morning, our trolling speed was 1.3 to 1.5 and the trout cooperated. Weather didn’t bother them. By noon we had kept 4 bows between 16 and 18”. Boat control was rough so only one guy could reel in a fish at a time. Several got off waiting to be dealt with. With the rough water and boat control issues we forgot all about kokes and perch, but there were enough willing trout to have fun with.
 
A couple hours of that and we could tell the wind was backing down, trolling speed got to 2+. As it calmed it, the intermittent rain turned to snow, and we were just reaching the shallow end of the lake. Most of the “perchy” looking stuff we had seen was between the ramp and dam, so we pulled the gear and ran back to the dam thinking we could hunt for them in the calmer water.





 
What we found first looked like Kokes on the finder so Jon put in a downrigger to see if they wanted to play. We had thought after the snow squall that it was going to clear off and let us chase perch for an hour or two, but mama nature was in a playful mood.
 
20 minutes after we got the downrigger in the sky was clear, and the wind was back at about 20. I fired up the 150 and we started trolling for the ramp. We hit one spurt where we got 2 bows about 17 and a nice cutt about 16.5. I didn’t know they were in there and Jon said he thought it was a bow, so it went into the well. We finished our limits just before we got to the ramp.
 
When I got home, I took a closer look and IMO it was clearly a cutt. It must be a different strain than the ones in Scofield and Strawberry because of the coloring and it was a lot heavier than any cutt that size I’ve seen from the 2 S’s.
 



The cutt is the second one from the top. Anybody know what strain it might be?
 
As we loaded the boat around 4, the sun came out and the wind started to die down but we ahd already been fooled once and as we left teh ramp a flock of turkeys was crossing the road.







We had plenty of fish to keep us interested and it seems to be a fun lake. We plan to try it again sometime, hopefully when the weather is better.

Nice report!  That is a Bonneville Cutthroat.

Mike

Thanks Mike!