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[cool][#0000ff]LloydE, Dubob, Pikeman, his two sons and myself ganged up on Starvation today. Starvation won.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]"Uh oh!" I exclaimed as I saw Starvy for the first time in the early morning light. Looked like all open water. Almost as bad. Snow all melted and refrozen into a sheet of slickery ice. No sheet. Cleats time. Big time. And the (unforecasted) wind blew sleds, chairs, rod holders and buckets across the slick ice if they weren't anchored. To what?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Drilled a bunch of holes today and caught lots of fish...but nothing worth keeping. Pikeman and sons started early...at the perch wall...and only got one good fish. Got another...among all the smaller ones...at their Camp Pikeman at the shallow end of Bunny Gulch.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Lloyd and I stayed together and fished a lot of holes at a lot of depths. I didn't catch a single keeper. No married ones neither. Ditto for Lloyd. Dubob pretty well stayed put in one spot and iced a grundle of dinksters and a few sub toads. He did end up with one very nice perch...about a footlong.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Other guys on the ice were catching occasional "marginal" keepers but nothing huge. One guy claimed to have lost a nice walleye at the hole...in 22 feet of water. I had one MAJOR MUNCH but blew it when I thumbed the freespool bar on my casting reel on the strike...PROFESSIONAL OVERRUN.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Only one trout caught amongst us all on the ice. I am guessing that the combination of the super clear ice, increased light conditions and a full moon last night all contributed...to my excuses.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Good fun with good company...but poor fishing. [/#0000ff]
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That's what Hyrum looked like here in Cache Valley yesterday. Looked like a nice day, even though fishing didn't turn out like you hoped. But, the way I look at those days - I was with friends having fun! Below is the link to my post with a few pics of the "glass we were on.
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_...ead#unread
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Apparently I caught as many keepers here at my house as you did on the glassy surface of Starvation! It was tempting to head over and join you guys, but I did make a dent in the Honeydews so I can go to Mill Meadow on Thursday.
The Starvation ice looks like bone breaker waiting to happen. Another good example of why a guy needs to take the ice cleats along on every outing.
Catch you next time Pat.
Mike
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ha my dink fest was better then your!! [sly]
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Looks like it was a perfect time to break out the skates and play a little hockey?
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Oh man, that ice is crazy lookin'. We noticed the glassy stuff on our way home from Pelican yesterday. I thought it had opened up until we saw a few dudes out on the ice. At least you caught fish and you prolly didn't have to clean fish once you got home![:p] How's that showdown treating you?
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[quote fuzzyfisher]ha my dink fest was better then your!! [sly][/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Yeah. Glad to see you found a few. Anything is better than nothing.[/#0000ff]
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"How's that showdown treating you?"
[cool][#0000ff]Got a lot better workout yesterday. Had a bit of a problem with interference from Dubob's Vexilar when we first set up but got the interference tuned right and worked okay after that. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With that clear, clean ice I got to try the "shooting through ice" with the transducer. Worked great for fast bottom readings but not so good for fish under the ice. That can save some hole drilling if you are just looking for a specific depth.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The major problem I had was similar to the one I had on Utah Lake last week. There were so many dink perch in some areas...up to several feet off the bottom...that it created a dense mass on the display and changed the depth readings. Dubob had the same thing on the Vex. He would raise his jig up a few feet off the bottom and the display would fill up with red between the bottom and his jig as the swarms of dinks would come in to play.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Overall, it worked well yesterday but I still have to play with it some more to be able to take advantage of what it can really do.[/#0000ff]
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[quote SmokeOnTheWater]Looks like it was a perfect time to break out the skates and play a little hockey?[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Tried using a dink perch as a puck but whenever we smacked it with our scoopers it just kept going and going and going. Slick ice and wind made almost everything "float" across the ice.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think Bob was happy that I had a spare set of ice cleats that fit over his Mickey Mouse boots.[/#0000ff]
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I rode up with Bob last Sat. to Porcupine and I thought he said you guys were going to try Millmeadow or what ever it's called, I was looking fwd for the results. I could see by the camera on the Starvation bridge that it looked pretty slick Sunday afternoon on the ice covered with water.
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[quote PACKFAN]I rode up with Bob last Sat. to Porcupine and I thought he said you guys were going to try Millmeadow or what ever it's called, I was looking fwd for the results.[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]The original plan was to go to Mill Meadow and Forsyth Reservoirs but TD got some intel that said Starvation might be a better bet for both perch and trout so we went there instead. That was only my second trip ever to Starvation (and first on the ice) and only my second ever perch over a foot long. And the first over a footer came from my very first trip to Starvation in a boat. I'm still thinking a trip to Mill Meadow/Forsyth should be on my list for this season.[/#800000][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
I'm 82 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
"Free men do not ask permission to bear arms."
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[cool][#0000ff]Mill Meadow was on our "fish bucket list" first. But, our personal schedules and outlooks changed for this week and we decided to make the shorter run to Starvation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TopH20 and crew are planning a MM shot before the end of the week so you should have a report. I'm guessing that the edges will be iffy down there as well...and this current storm is not supposed to have much effect in central Utah. But the warm temps won't do the snow and ice much good.[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the report, I was thinking about maybe heading that way this weekend. I think I'll stay with the closer waters for now, I can catch little perch there too. Hope you can get into the toads at MM. Thanks for saving me a 2 1/2 hr drive[ ]
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[cool][#0000ff]Hope it cools down a bit and puts some more snow on the ice. Thinking about a return (grudge) match next week...using some new larger lures for bigger fish. Most of the better fish came on non-finesse stuff. Also, if the ice stays clear I think the bigger fish will be deeper too.[/#0000ff]
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TD, I was there as well yesterday, were you the big party to the West with the big red tent ? I got there late, 10:30 or so. Started fishing near the Rock sticking out. I caught lots of dinks, some only 2 in or so, cute but they get alot of bait. Ended up with a few 8 in or so, and one real nice one, no trout, but one chub. Wish I had know you were there, like to meet you in person.
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[quote TubeDude][quote fuzzyfisher]ha my dink fest was better then your!! [sly][/quote]
[#0000ff]. Anything is better than nothing.[/#0000ff][/quote]
you got that right!! the way yuba as been the last while anything is as good as you can hope for!!
hopeing all the snow we are getting this year will get the perch back up and running.. if the water users can bring them selfs to not wast it all throwing all down to the sinks to become calf ground water.. [unimpressed]..
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[cool][#0000ff]The big red tent was the new "Pikeman Hilton". That was Pikeman and his 2 boys. The rest of us were scattered around the lake, looking for holes where we could find something besides cold water and little fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Did that oil truck ever get unstuck? Couldn't believe that guy tried to make a U turn in a spot that is almost too small for a regular vehicle to turn around. I'll bet that driver has some job security issues after that.[/#0000ff]
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He was there for quite awhile. I left about 5:00 and he was gone by then.
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I had a great time at Starvation....great company, met some great people, and got away from the TV. I even caught some fish (if you can call them fish). Anyway, I didn't get any ice fishing in last year so I am glad to get some in this year. Hope for some better ice fishing before the ice melts away!
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[quote thefriends03]That's what Hyrum looked like here in Cache Valley yesterday. Looked like a nice day, even though fishing didn't turn out like you hoped. But, the way I look at those days - I was with friends having fun![/quote]
Thanks for the post Pat. Hmm, for once you didn't smack those phat chunkers. Bet there out there on the edges surrounded by their little dink defenders.
After seeing Ben's photos my son thought it would be awesome to get pulled on a tube over the ice by a 4wheeler or snowmobile (neither of which I have). Plus - don't think he realizes how hard the ice below really ice!
Funny the trout weren't getting in the action. They've been busy for us locally. Hoping we'll have good ice on Sat. Gather there's a polar plunge at Hyrum too. I wanna see that clear ice! (and pull a huge brown in through it!!)
I shared your second lake pic Ben - thanks for that, and made a Chow Down Perch Chowder for my bday treats at work. Thanks Pat for the core recipe, and inspiration. Made a big batch, so some to fill the thermos for the next outing on ice!
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