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We have done that in the past but every time we drilled holes on this trip we were looking for fish as well as depth, so we were hoping every hole was going to be the hot hole. Most holes we drilled we did drop a line down to see if there was anything around. Those perch hug the bottom so close, sometimes it is hard to tell if anything is even there until the lure is on the bottom. I actually brought up that idea to Ira but since our drill motor ice augers work so well, we were not too concerned about drilling so many holes.
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Wow, those are some toads as well, how long was your biggest?
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We were about a mile or so from the ramp, by that pressure ridge but the bite was pretty much over by 10 am, glad you found a few. What were you using to catch your trout?
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This trip my biggest was 13" but I did catch one that was just under 14" on new years day I have found in my experiences the biggest ones I have caught this season have all been in 30 to 35 feet of water if you are looking for numbers I have caught most edibles 8 to 10 inchers in 45 to 50 feet. I have had the best luck with 1/16 oz tungsten drop jigs by clam and 1/8 oz jigging raps in uv green tiger as well as northland buckshot spoons in glow perch all tipped with perch, perch eyes or wax worms. I live in Henefer so I fish it at least once a week if not 4 times a week.
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I'm glad I got to pull a few through the ice, I knew is was iffy with my timing.
I caught the two trout on a gold swedish pimple tipped with wax worm. They were both around 15-20' in 42' of water.
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With fish that big coming out of different lakes in Utah, we might just see a new state record caught in one of them this year.[cool] We always look for water that deep too in both Echo and Rockport but in the low water years we have caught them as shallow as 20 FOW. 4 times a week, wow, that's impressive, when you get out that much, how many hours do you fish on each trip?
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It depends on the day. Some days I fish for a couple hours. Some days from dawn till dusk. It really depends on how the fishing is and how desperate I am to catch something. I really wish Deer Creek or Willard would freeze so I can target some eyes.
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Have you tried targeting those Echo eyes?
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Must be nice to live so close and be able to go up there that often.[cool]
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I have tried but no luck yet. I saw tons of the fry which were planted in 2019 while fishing last summer. It is still a lottery for catching a mature eye. I have actually caught many brown's behaving like eyes this season chasing the perch schools and picking up my jigging raps or spoons. If anyone has any tips or locations at Echo it would be greatly appreciated.
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I enjoy Henefer it is small quiet and close to Echo, East Canyon, Lost creek, Rockport, pineview, and little Dell.
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I also tried last year, I struck out.
The fry probably got vacuumed up by the smallies.
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[quote MrShane]Have you tried targeting those Echo eyes?[/quote]
[#0000FF]I haven't fished Echo much under the "new regime". So I haven't had a chance to develop any kind of feel for where the walleyes hang or how they operate. But I did get an interesting bit of intel from an Echo regular who I trust. He claimed that during the post spawn period in late May there were some bank tanglers fishing not far from where you and I met up for perch. They were pitching plastics and soaking crawlers and catching numbers of walleyes in the 20 inch range.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]From another reliable source I heard of a 12 pound beast that was taken at night in early fall...on a big crankbait fished close to shore.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]No denying they are in there...and in increasing numbers. But so far they have not been willing to play nice for most anglers. Not yet worth a week of planning for a half-day trip.[/#0000FF]
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My biggest eye ever hit a big crank at Oneida right at dark.
Hit me about 3’ from shore just as I was lifting Rapala out of water to make another cast.
Caught me off guard so bad I did not sink hook home and lost her seconds later.
My tears raised the lake level noticeably.
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