The Trip that Started it All

We hadn't fished lake trout much this winter at Flaming Gorge until we had heard that some friends had caught a couple great fish through the ice in an area that we had been waiting for to freeze over.  Our schedules finally matched up and I was able to talk my little brother Tony into getting out on the ice. Tony and I are very competition when it comes to fishing but no matter what we always have a good time.

 The first area we fished was slow but we saw a few fish moving through the area.  I had one good hit right off but the new knot I was testing to connect my monofilament leader to my braided line snapped at the hook set.  We readjusted with a new knot and got back to work in no time flat! Tony's fish locator also wasn't working quite right and after a few hours of not catching fish and fighting a steady 30 mph wind we had enough.  We decided that we needed to get the "skunk" out of our sleds and spend some time focusing on rainbows. After a few more hours with no hook ups we almost gave in and went home.  Good thing we didn't. The place we were fishing rainbows was near an area that I had scouted out while fishing in the boat a few years earlier and I remembered we had seen a lot of fish in the area.  Unfortunately, we didn't bring the GPS and couldn't find the exact numbers so we just started wandering around on the ice in the general direction we thought the spot was in.   Eventually we found an old hole someone had drilled days before. After checking the depth and terrain of the area with the fish locator I decided that we might just be close enough to the area I initially set out for. 
(A good trick I learned years ago that saves your strength and keeps your auger blades sharp is to take a water bottle with you and just pour a couple teaspoons of water on clear ice and put your transducer directly to the ice and let it transmit.  Usually you can transmit through the ice to get an idea of the depth you are standing over.  I will often write the depths next to each spot I check to get a feel for the underwater terrain and to find rises or drop offs.  Believe it or not but I have actually been able to see fish near the bottom when transmitting through the ice! Go Humming Bird fish finders!)

We dropped our gear and we immediately had fish move in all around us. This was somewhat surprising due to the lateness of the day but seeing that many fish was encouraging. Both of us started getting bites immediately but we just could not hook up. For some reason the fish weren't taking our jigs right. I reeled up several times to check the jig body expecting to find bite marks but every time they came up unmolested. They seemed to be just grabbing the tails below the hook or just slapping them with their tails.  Finally, around 4:30 in the afternoon I hooked up this good fish.  We continued having hits until just before dark but we weren't able to hook into any more that night.  It was just amazing to see the number of fish in that area that continued to move through for hours.  Sometimes eight fish would come by in one big group.  You could see them chase your jigs as you would real up and drop back through them but they just wouldn't attack like you might expect.  All this turned around in a huge way on the next few trips that we went to in that spot... Stay tuned! 

The Perfect Day with Dad

It's not every day that you get to spend time on the ice with one of your hero's of all time.  Over the years I have had some great fishing trips with dad. Trips in both Alaska and on the flaming Gorge have been burned into my memories. On this particular day, I took a day off work in the middle of the week to go on this fishing trip because my family had incredible success fishing just a few days before.  My little brothers and dad caught a pile of great Lakers in an area we just started fishing toward the latter end of the freeze.  I had sent some of my rod set ups and my fish locator with them one day when I had to be at work. Of course, that was when they really layed into the fish. They caught over 10 fish that day (which is the focus of another post) and they sent me text messages and pictures all day.  It was killing me!  It's one thing to be out-fished by your brothers but when they were using your gear and were fishing in the exact holes you were fishing in a few days before while you are at work... that's just wrong!   I couldn't handle it so I made arrangements that day to have people fill in for me at some meetings at work the following day and I took it off. 

That was one of the best decisions I have made this year! When we first got on the ice dad immediately dropped in the hole he fished the morning before.  I returned to the hole I drilled a few days earlier and I set up my Humming Bird fish finder and dropped a line.  Seconds later my fish finder started beeped and shut off!  I was dead in the water!  Without a good fish finder I felt handicapped and on this day I just couldn't afford any delays. I had my honor to defend!   Right then, I mean as soon as I pulled my fish locator apart to change the batteries,  dad hooked up on a good fish and he started hoopin' and laughin'... just rubbing it in.   I fumbled with the locator and had it back in action in no time.  A short time later I finally got my first hit of the day.  I was so tense and pumped up from the self-induced competition with my brothers that my wrists and forearms snapped quicker than a rat trap. Unfortunately, my reel had iced up without me noticing and when I jerked to set the hook my rod doubled over, my reel not slipping enough drag, and crack! It snapped in two!  That was a brand new rod just on its second day out!  The funny thing about it is that when it snapped I instinctively grabbed the line by hand and tried to set the hook again but to no avail.  The fish was gone.  I learned long ago to always bring a backup rod so this little setback didn’t cost me much fishing time. 

To make a long story short we caught 7 fish: two around 5 lbs, three in the 15-20 lbs range, one at 25 lbs, and one toad that came in over 35 lbs.  I still think that fish might have been pushing 40 lbs but we threw them all back.   I had a great time with dad and don’t let him tell you anything different… he got out-fished by his boys two days in a row!  Thanks dad lets go again soon!