Utah Lake Icefishing Report 12/18/19

[joatmon]

I fished Provo Boat Harbor through the ice off the dock yesterday. Caught five white bass, one perch, and one crappie in an hour of fishing (4-5 pm). Caught the white bass and perch just off the bottom (10 feet), while the crappies seemed to be about mid column (5-6 feet). Ice was only about 1.5” thick. I augered holes off the edge of the dock.

I used small tungsten jigs in gold, orange/green, and white. No luck on the white jig, but it was larger than the other two, so I went smaller on that pole. I caught most on wax worms, but also a couple on meal worms. I have been experimenting with wacky rigging this year and that worked here about as well as putting the entire worm on the hook. I also tried a small piece of nightcrawler to no effect.

The white bass and perch were caught with active but gentle jigging. The suspended crappie seemed interested in everything I used, but I had a hard time enticing them to bite. The one I did catch was on a small green/orange tungsten jig with a wax worm, and very gentle jigging.

From past experience it seems the ice in the harbor kind of comes and goes all winter. The Utah Lake State Park site does have a harbor camera. You can usually see ripples in the water if it is not frozen, but sometimes hard to tell on a still day.

The park closes at 5:00 pm this time of year for boaters/fishers because they have a drive-through Christmas light display after dark.
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[catchinon]

Excellent report. I wanted to go today but can't seem to shake the dregs of this nasty cold. Tomorrow for sure. It's a lot easier to see the ice after the DNR removed its boat--it left milky-looking bubbles in the ice that you can see on the camera view. Check it here:

https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/utah-l...onditions/

Congrats on adding another species to the Challenge scoreboard. Isn't that eight now? And #1 overall. #2 is going to have to try harder [].
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[joatmon]

Somehow I feel like the rabbit at the racetrack. Eventual going to be eaten alive by the wolves (or greyhounds). All y’all will probably leave me in the dust.

I really just want to do better than last year. And to quote Mary Poppins, “Well begun is half done”. I’ve already been out 7 times this winter. That’s more than I used to get out for a whole winter. Started keep a couple of rods and a hand auger in the car just in case.

I thought you were headed out of state? I have another local spot I may try tomorrow first thing while it may still have ice.
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[catchinon]

Still weak from this bad cold so we waited another day.

Lincoln has the same amount of ice as Provo. I hope to sneak in a couple of hours of fishing before we leave tomorrow.

You wrote: "Somehow I feel like the rabbit at the racetrack. Eventual going to be eaten alive by the wolves (or greyhounds). All y’all will probably leave me in the dust."

I feel like a 120-pound running back that is streaking through the secondary with a half dozen faster 200-pound defensive players converging on him. [] Just waiting for the crunch.
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