Father's Day Adventure

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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Went to Hyrum State Park last Thursday and stayed until yesterday (Monday). Fished Hyrum Friday morning with limited success on the bows. But then, I was using my new Minn Kota PowerDrive V2/iPilot system for the very first time and concentrating on it more then the fishing.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]From the new release from stowed position to the track recording and then follow function, this new system is unbelievable. Why did I wait so long to get it? [/#800000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]This thing is going to be fantastic for fishing solo for kokanee at either the Berry or the Gorge.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Back to the fishing. Saturday found us at Porcupine about 7:30 AM and 4 boats already on the water. We launched at the first launch where 3 others had launched. Started trolling east towards the back launch and found the schools back there just like we did last Monday. We fished until 3 PM and called it a day. We chatted with Quicky briefly while trolling past him. He and his buddy were jigging. It was very nice to be able to shut off my outboard to talk and have the electric keep following the track while we chatted.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]It wasn't fast and furious, but we did mange to get 12 hook-ups from 4 rods. I have 2 downriggers and we were stacked at 15, 20, 25, & 30 feet. We were using beaded lures (Epic & Kokabow) in pink & orange on two rods and squid lures with Spin-N-Glows attached up front on the other 2 rods. All were tipped with Gulp Alive pink maggots and a drop of Mike's Kokanee Glo scent. The squid lures produced a little better than the beads.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Of the 12 hook-ups, we had 4 LDR's, 4 lost at the boat, and in the net and in the boat. Those lost at the boat were due to technique on rod handling by my 2 son-in-laws. They are still learning the finesse needed to handle kokanee vs. trout.[/#800000][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Overall, for 2 trips up there this year I have to say that the number of schools marked is down from the past 3 years. And most of the fish boated thus far have been 10" and under. Out of 10 fish boated in 2 trips, only 2 have been over 10". I probably will not make another trip up there this year.[/#800000][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Sunday we hit Hyrum again in the morning until 11 AM. This time we had 4 people in the boat and 6 lines out; 4 long lines out with 2 of those on planer boards and 2 more off downriggers at 20 and 30 feet down. We boated 5 with the biggest coming from the 30 foot depth. We had a couple of LDRs off the downriggers as well. Lures used were Rapala's and dodgers w/ beads.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Monday morning, 2 of us hit the water at 7:30 on Hyrum. We used all dodgers with beads/squids attached. Two were off the boards with a 3/4 oz teardrop weight attached and 50 feet of line out. The other 2 lines were set at 15 & 20 feet down off the downriggers and 40 feet back. Once again the biggest fish came off the deepest set.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]We had our limit of 8 in the boat by 10:30 AM and released all but 2 which were bleeders and one had an eye hooked and pulled out when removing the lure. Didn't really want or need to keep any, but enjoyed them both for dinner last night.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]If you already have a Minn Kota trolling motor on your boat, I would HIGHLY recommend the upgrade to the iPilot if you can afford it. The Cabela's price for the PowerDrive V2 unit is around $450. Might be a little cheaper at Sportsman's, Sheels, Amazon, or eBay. I used some Cabela's points so Cabela's was the better choice for me.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]That's my story and I'm sticking to it. My bride and I had a great time hanging out and camping/fishing with our daughters and their families. And Hyrum is a great little State Park to do it at.[/#800000][/font]
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