Where to camp and ice fish

[manfam]

I'm looking to take a few scouts to snow camp and then ice fish in the morning somewhere within a reasonable drive from the valley that gives the boys a chance to catch something. Any and all tips would be greatly appreciated!

[MountainFish]

I'm not sure what valley you mean but Fairview canyon/skyline is only an hour from Spanish Fork.

I saw some scouts at the top of Fairview canyon at the big parking lot where the snowmobilers stage/unload. It was nice because they had easy access to the pit toilets. Could get in a car if they get too cold or need to go down to a store.

This is where they had their tents setup.
https://goo.gl/maps/U9K3EPfEVz42

The next day you could go to Huntington, although the snow is a bit deep, so snowshoes could be helpful. The ice is thick up there.
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[Crimson]

I'm sure you will get a lot of good suggestions. I will just say that I have seen groups, probably scouts, camping at Rockport reservoir State park in past years.

Rockport is a close drive from the Wasatch front, and the camp spot near the entrance is flat and plenty of room for a winter camp. You would have to check out ice conditions for when you plan to go, but it is being fished right now.

You may have to drive the scouts over to the launch ramp for access to deeper water. I think there has been decent success for Trout and Perch. Easy to call the State Park at Rockport and get some info.

Good luck.
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[bowdude]

Lots of scouts go to Strawberry and dig snow caves in the snow banks at the marina and then fish in the bay in the morning. The snow banks are made from the marina parking lot being plowed. Or, you could go to Strawberry, make a trail over to one of the day use shelters at the marina, shovel out the snow, put up tarps around the enclosure, put in a heater and lantern and sleep on the picnic tables in the shelter. I wanted to do this with my scouts (Ventures) but was released from that job before I could make it happen. We went to Rockport one year and rented a yurt. That was a fun fishing outing. Had another group that actually setup camp at Strawberry at Chicken Creek. Lots of room in that parking lot, or for that matter, Mud Creek parking lot or even the Ladders parking lot. As you can tell, I am a fan of Strawberry. Those kids get pretty excited when they catch a slot cut, but get pretty bummed when they have to turn it loose but love to take pictures of the whoppers they caught. I went with our scouts two weeks ago and we fished Soldier Creek. The sun comes up pretty late there, so it is cold a long time in the morning, but when it finally shows it's face, can be nice temps. We went to Current Creek one year and had to rescue a scout troop that was stranded due to vehicle trouble.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Dude you just brought back one of the worst nights I ever tried to sleep.... Lucky you got released before you tried to sleep on a table.... We took our boys to the top of Mt. Logan and they have a warming hut just below the summit that we got permission to stay in... Well we put the boys in the loft to sleep and all that was left that was dry was the table for me to sleep on... It was so hard and I nearly rolled off it multiple times through the night, it was miserable... Don't remember why I didn't have a sleeping pad but the boys had a good time, so I guess it was a great trip... That fear that sets in as you start to roll off into mid air can't be explained but sure did cause me a panic too many times that night... Table was narrow and was just not big enough to sleep on.... But back to the topic of the post, that sounds like a fun camp and close to the strawberry marina might be good in case you need to abort during the night you can probably rent a room there and get a good nights sleep... Snow caves are okay to build during the day and talk tough about staying the night, but dang they can be long cold nights... Seems like we always picked the below zero nights to do the snow caves and I can remember too many dang cold boys that weren't properly prepared... So we would have to try and warm them up around the fire or in the trucks with the heaters cranked... Good luck, have a back out plan in case things go south.. check on the boys often through the night, they won't admit to being cold until it's usually starting to get serious... they don't want to be the one to wimp out so they push it too long... But I like the fishing idea the next morning... Good luck... Jeff
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[bowdude]

It is all about being prepared and learning to prepare. We camped every month of the year when I was a scout. We learned how to stay warm. I remember some winter camps when the raw eggs would freeze solid in the shell. Bringing a sleeping pad is part of the learning curve. We would generally bring a couple of bales of straw, put down a ground cloth, then the straw, then another ground cloth. We slept warm and dry.

Drove up to Bear Lake early one winter day to ice fish. Logan canyon highway was closed at the mouth of the canyon, so, we drove around thru Mink Creek and into Montpelier and then to Bear Lake. Long trip, but we made it. Found out that Logan canyon highway had been closed due to a rescue operation going on at about Peter Sinks. Seems a scout troop had gone up and dug into a snow drift to spend the night. One of the leaders chose to sleep in his truck instead of the snow cave. He woke up in the middle of the night to a rumbling. The entrance to the snow cave collapsed and trapped the scouts inside. He contacted the rescue team which came up the canyon to dig out the boys. The highway was closed during the operation. All turned out well. Seems the scouts were sound asleep all night and were unaware of the cave in. They awoke to being poked with probes from the rescue team probing in the drift trying to locate the troop. They must have had a large cave to not run out of oxygen or they had some vents that didn't get plugged. Anyway, it was a happy ending instead of a tragedy. As I remember, kentofnsl was on that trip with us. I will let him tell the rest of the story about the two guys that came to visit us and crossed the pressure ridge. []
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[SkunkedAgain]

Yup I remember those camps being a lot more fun as the youth than they were as a leader worried about which boys didn’t listen and have the right equipment to have a good experience.

I remember when that cave collapsed up there, that was sure fortunate that all was well with them. But that is a long way around to get to the lake. I was fishing Bear Lake the last day we had ice fishing there a couple years ago and an avalanche dropped on Logan Canyon and I had to take that Strawberry Canyon route home like you did. I think it added over an hour to the trip but it was a nasty driving day.

Sure wish we would have gotten ice at Bear Lake I really like to fish that pond even though it’s the spookiest spot I’ve ever ice fished. Maybe next year. Later J
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[Kent]

[quote bowdude]

As I remember, kentofnsl was on that trip with us. I will let him tell the rest of the story about the two guys that came to visit us and crossed the pressure ridge. []

[/quote]

Yep it was me.
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[manfam]

Thanks everyone for the tips and the stories. We'll give Rockport a try...wish us luck!
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