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Wanted to get on some early ice and thanks to other BFT'ers posts, we decided to make a trip south to Scofield (I live in Hooper, so it was a bit of a trek). Glad we did! We did get a late start, but it turned out to be a great day.
I have never been there so we pulled into the first road that looked like it had access to the reservoir and drove around to the north boat ramp. We headed down the ramp and hit solid ice (~5") and about 4-6 inches of slush at 2:00 PM. We trekked about 75 yards south and dropped our fish finders in and a some hooks in the water and not more than 5 minutes later my rod went bendo on a green jig head with a glow paddle bug. The fish was a rainbow about 15" long (actually turned out to be the biggest fish of the day). All in all we pulled in 13 rainbows between the two of us in 3 hours of fishing. Size ranged between 12" and 15". We caught fish mainly in the 10-15' range, but had a few at 5'. Those were a surprise.
Water depth at our spot was 16 - 18' FOW.
We caught everything on green jig heads with green glow paddle bugs. Sometimes they were tipped with wax worms, but sometimes not. We had other set-ups (rat finkees, Kastmaster spoon, red/black jig heads with various tube jigs) which got a lot of lookers, but no takers! Funny that the fishies were glad for green, but did not like any other offering.
Shame that I forgot my BFT Utah Ice Fishing Challenge sheet or I would have at least gotten on the board! Give's me an excuse to get out again ASAP.
Weather was great with very little wind. We did set up the hut as soon as the sun went behind the hill to keep us warm. As soon as it hit 5:15 we packed it up and made the 2:15 hour drive home.
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Thanks for the nice detailed report, were there many other folks out there fishing?
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It sounds like you were there. Any other details to share?
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The members of our group (4) caught fish all day. Fished from about 7:30 until about 2:30. Ice was about 6” with just a skiff of snow. All fish caught were under 15”. Cuts, rainbows. Only 1 chub was harmed on this trip. He was used for tipping jigs.
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Were people fishing on all parts of the lake? Just wondering if the ice is good everywhere or if there are places that people should be warned away from.
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There was large groups of tents in the Dam end all along the road coming from Scofield. The area closest to town was not being fished. Probably because there is no water there!
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There was a ton of people out today. I fished right close to the dam. By my measurements there was approximately 8 in of ice. Caught 5 cutthroats from 9"-13" in 15 ft of water. Caught 2 on a glow paddlebug 2 on a glow and speckled tube and one on a good Rate finkie. Had several more bites on all including a pink Sonic baitfish. Was a wonderful day to get out and we a hook.
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I was there Saturday with my youngest daughter and her two sons (my grandsons ages 8 & 9). We drove over to the North State Park and there were a few people there. Two guys were coming off the ice with their snowmobiles. There was too much slush so they were leaving. Slush and snowmobiles don't play well together. I had brought mine so we decided to go over to the dam arm to enter onto the ice in hopes of less slush. We drove over to the State Park boat ramp on the North side of the dam arm and drove down to the ice and parked. Not knowing how thick the ice was but sure it was thick enough for the snowmobile, we walked over to a group fishing to check out their luck and ice thickness. We ran into slush all over in that area but found a spot that was slush free a few yards off the ramp. I drove my snowmobile onto the ice to that spot and found the water depth to be 9.1 feet. We stayed from 9:30 to 11 and did not mark a fish on the vex's. We left without a bite or even seeing a fish. We watched the closest group pull in several. They were fishing in 12 feet of water. While setting up the ice tent I noticed I had forgotten to put my 2019 license sticker on the snowmobile. Rather than move to deeper water, I decided that since we were the only sled on the ice (that I could see), if a ranger came by, I would be the first one checked for license compliance. We decide to pack up and head down to the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon and have lunch (and breakfast) at the Little Acorn drive inn. It was a good trip and we had a lot of fun even though we didn't catch anything. Must have been the company... it certainly wasn't the fishing. We passed a DNR officer on his way in as we were leaving. Turned out to be a good decision to leave when we did.
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Too bad there wasn't any catching involved in your trip but I do have one question. You said you did not have your "2019 license sticker on the snowmobile", did you mean 2018 by chance?[:/]
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No.. The green decal that says it expires in 2019.
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Unless I missed something then, your snowmobile was still licensed then.
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No, it expired 11/30 2018. I was fishing on 12/8/2018. I had purchased or rather re-licensed it prior to the expiration date, I have not put the sticker on the side of the sled as required by law. They could have ticketed me for not displaying the correct decal. It would have been dismissed as soon as I went to court, but I don't need the hassle of taking time off to go to court to win a ticket battle, I would rather comply. I have seen them out riding their sleds and when they pass someone who is not displaying the current decals, they run them down and hand out tickets. You are required to display the month of expiration and year of expiration, same as an automobile. I have seen them ticket people who are trailering their ATV's who do not have current decals even if they have not off loaded them from their trailer. Best to stay awake and keep things legal.
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OK, That makes sense, sounds like you did the right thing. At least you were able to get out for a little while. Hopefully the next time you get out you will find better ice at least not as slushy and find some willing fish.
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You don't have to catch fish to enjoy your outing when you go with your children and grandchildren. There will be plenty of other trips to catch fish. The grandson who really wanted to go fishing kept hooking the edge of the ice and thought he was just missing fish. Having a Vex Sonar for him to watch was just like playing video games. Both grandsons had a good time and didn't have to clean any fish afterwards... best of both worlds. My daughter and I enjoyed taking them.
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So very true, thanks for sharing your experience with us.
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