01-05-2023, 06:05 PM
Finally made it out on my first trip for the year. Decided to head up to Scofield after reading reports of the slush on Strawberry.
Reading the weather report, looked like snow would be ending earlier that way. Left the Salt Lake Valley just after 0600. It was snowing, plows were out, and traffic was insane. Took me much longer than expected to get there. Single lane that was plowed into Madsen. I was the only one there and could see only two tents set up on the marina side. I decided to take a snowmobile out. It looked like someone had plowed a big area at the bottom of the ramp. Maybe to clear the slush and new snow?
Anyways, lots of slush. Probably 6-8 inches of slush under 4-6" of snow. The snowmobile did, ok, but the sled had a hard time and I tipped it over a couple times. I was headed to where I normally would go, but the conditions made me nervous and I was by myself, so I turned around. The snowmobile was also having an oil supply issue, I haven't addressed yet.
On the way back, I hit an area somewhat void of slush, so I stopped and decided to try and make the best of it. Although I parked in a somewhat packed/frozen area, I still had to walk and carry everything closer to shore where I ended up in 15-18' of water. This was all 6-8" of slush. I tried to step from snowmobile track to snowmobile track, but it didn't really matter because I would just step through the thin layer of ice. There wasn't enough snow to pack down into the slush, but there was enough to pack around the hole, so I was at least on top while fishing.
Fished until 1130. Bite was pretty good at first on green, but caught most fish on an orange glow maniac cutterbug. Caught a nice fat 21" rainbow just under the ice that fought well. Caught some Cutts in the slot and one just under. The cutts were caught off the bottom by bring it up quickly and they would take it on the drop. Very soft bite. All looked healthy. I haven't caught a chub here in 3 years.
The bite dropped off at 1100 and it snowed the whole time with little accumulation. I was getting cold and with no fish to keep me interested, I left. Never saw another person other than those two tents. Maybe there was less slush on that side cause setting up the tent wasn't even an option where I had been.
Reading the weather report, looked like snow would be ending earlier that way. Left the Salt Lake Valley just after 0600. It was snowing, plows were out, and traffic was insane. Took me much longer than expected to get there. Single lane that was plowed into Madsen. I was the only one there and could see only two tents set up on the marina side. I decided to take a snowmobile out. It looked like someone had plowed a big area at the bottom of the ramp. Maybe to clear the slush and new snow?
Anyways, lots of slush. Probably 6-8 inches of slush under 4-6" of snow. The snowmobile did, ok, but the sled had a hard time and I tipped it over a couple times. I was headed to where I normally would go, but the conditions made me nervous and I was by myself, so I turned around. The snowmobile was also having an oil supply issue, I haven't addressed yet.
On the way back, I hit an area somewhat void of slush, so I stopped and decided to try and make the best of it. Although I parked in a somewhat packed/frozen area, I still had to walk and carry everything closer to shore where I ended up in 15-18' of water. This was all 6-8" of slush. I tried to step from snowmobile track to snowmobile track, but it didn't really matter because I would just step through the thin layer of ice. There wasn't enough snow to pack down into the slush, but there was enough to pack around the hole, so I was at least on top while fishing.
Fished until 1130. Bite was pretty good at first on green, but caught most fish on an orange glow maniac cutterbug. Caught a nice fat 21" rainbow just under the ice that fought well. Caught some Cutts in the slot and one just under. The cutts were caught off the bottom by bring it up quickly and they would take it on the drop. Very soft bite. All looked healthy. I haven't caught a chub here in 3 years.
The bite dropped off at 1100 and it snowed the whole time with little accumulation. I was getting cold and with no fish to keep me interested, I left. Never saw another person other than those two tents. Maybe there was less slush on that side cause setting up the tent wasn't even an option where I had been.
