Scofield report

[gofish435]

I fished Scofield today from my kick boat. I fished the southeast end of the reservoir. The reservoir is still about 90% covered with ice, but with the large cracks and quite a bit of open water at each end, it won't be long before it comes off. The water temp. was 42-43 degrees and you could only see about one foot in the water. The pictures should answer some of the questions about ice conditions. The fishing was slow with one tiger and eight cutthroats caught and a few others that just flipped me off. All of the fish were under 16" long. I fished with fly tackle using a slow sinking line (#2) and size 4 crystal buggers. The reservoir is at 29% capacity (it was at 49% this time last year).
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[MBM1969]

You took my photo! I am the guy on the near bank near the dam flyfishing. I ended up catching 10 12-14in cutts there. I moved over to the open water on the south west side about noon and launchef my float tube. I caught 15-20 more cutts in the same 12-14 in range. Caught lots of fish just no big ones. A purple leach retrieved very slow worked the best for me.

Where you the guy in the other float tube in that open water? With a straw hat on?

Mark
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[gofish435]

That was me in the cowboy hat. It sounds like you did a lot better than I did. I was surprised to do as good as I did with the murky water. Now you have a picture to prove you were fishing today, unless you were supposed to be at work.[]
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[MasterDaad]

Wow... that doesn't look like it's come up at all since Ice on.

I better plan my Scofield trips early this year because it looks like it might go Newton on us by August.

Edit: After looking at the inflow and capacity charts for Scofield it appears it usually doesn't increase in capacity much at all through the winter and almost all the inflow comes in the month of May.

But if I'm reading the snowpack for that area correctly, it looks like it was a bad year for all the major tributaries (80% or less).

Bottom line: I'm still thinking about early trips this year.
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[MBM1969]

[quote gofish435]That was me in the cowboy hat. It sounds like you did a lot better than I did. I was surprised to do as good as I did with the murky water. Now you have a picture to prove you were fishing today, unless you were supposed to be at work.[][/quote]

I am safe, I was on vacation!

I though you were doing pretty good too, it seemed like right before I left you were catching quite a few. I moved north to the next patch of open water where the fence goes down into the water and caught a few there. The water was a bit more clear. All in all it was a good day other that I wish I could have caught some bigger fish. The two fish I kept were sure good for dinner last night though.

I bet Scofield will be a mad house this weekend with everyone competing for the open water. Hopefully more will open up over the next few days.

Mark
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[gofish435]

Looking at last years numbers for Scofield, the level this time last year was 7,604' and the level only came up another two feet before starting down. This year the level is at 7,598', the six foot difference makes a big difference in surface acres on the south and west sides. The irrigation company has already started pulling 10 cfs out so I think your idea to get up there early and often is a good one.
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