Strike Perchin!

[fish_or_die]

Took my father in law out for a day of ice fishing on CJ Strike and about got blown off! Wow! With no snow and 20+ mph winds it was a slick situation to say the least! We got out around 2pm and walked out onto the skating rink and weren't able to make it very far with the wind, but using my new finder were able to locate fish in a hurry.

From then until 5pm when we walked off the lake it was NON STOP Perch! Seriously, I wasn't able to drink half a doctor pepper because within seconds of dropping a jig it would be picked up by a perch! We started counting at 4pm just for fun and by the time 5pm had hit we'd counted 91 fish! The action was exactly the same the entire time, so it's a pretty good guess to say that the two of us caught easily over 250 perch! here's a quick pic of what my finder showed at the slowest time the entire night (the green is fish):
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None were huge, but none were really tiny either. They ranged between 4 and 8 inches the whole night, we brought home some of the bigger ones for a fish fry tomorrow!

As we were taking off we noticed thousands of ducks taking off from the south end of the pool. Anybody know if that's normal?


Thanks to all the guys that gave me tips!
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[avidfisher]

Sounds fun. How thick is the ice and how far have they been venturing out? Thanks
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[jkb123]

Sounds like a lot of fun. A buddy of mine went out this afternoon and said he caught about 50 in an hour around 8 inches. As for the ducks, they have been out there this time of year each year since I can remember.
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[TherapyGuy]

Sounds awesome. When that ice is bare out there it can be crazy slick. My kids and I went out last year and my boots were horrible on the ice. My 9 year old was helping get out there like I was 90 years old or something. He thought that was pretty funny. He laughed even harder when I was spinning around in circles trying to auger holes.
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[fish_or_die]

I would have loved to get into some bigger perch, but it's hard to complain about stellar fishing whatever form it takes!

So can you hunt those ducks on the lake? I noticed it's a WMA so I'm sure there's plenty of regs I'd need to look up. Are the fields those ducks are feeding in likely to be locked up or are landowners up here still open to giving permission?

Utah is a joke now a days, there's not hardly a field anywhere in the state that's not either posted no hunting or leased out to hunters.
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[Mojo1]

Fish or Die, you can hunt the lake, but on the ice it is tough. The ducks are using some Simplot fields, and getting on them (unless you know someone) is tough. As a hardcore duck hunter, it is a little frustrating. Scouting those birds and trying to find where they are watering is the tough part, but where you can make a great hunt. It just takes time and gas money...
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[fish_or_die]

As a matter of fact, my father in law is one of the higher ups in the simplot ladder...maybe next year when we make it up there I'll take some full body ducks, a mojo and a snow-covered layout blind!
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