# Epic Lake Mary Adventure! 1-1-12



## tye dye twins

Lake Mary - Started the hike up at the brighton parking lot. We made our way past the buzzing skiers, snowboarders, and funny looks from ski patrol on the groomer. Once we found the turnoff we were in the backcountry and things were very quiet and peaceful. We arrived at the lake by 11am and noticed the extreme slush factor immeadiatley. There was 4 inches of snow and 5 inches of water on top of the 14 inches of ice.

I dropped the jig in and BAM I got my 1st ever brook trout. My twin drilled his hole and BAM he got his 1st brookie. Within a few minutes my twin pulled out his 1st ever lake trout! It was FANTASTIC fishing! I would drop a baitless yellow jig head and get fish! Well I got 17 brook trout and my twin got 17 brook trout and 1 lake trout. We lost tons at the hole. The largest brookies were "twins" at 14.25 inches and the laker was 18.5 inches long. Most of the brook trout were 12 inches though. 35 fish was epic though! What a great way to start off the year!

We were fishing in 8 ft. of water and the best jig was the pumpkin pepper jig, an pink/purple/black striped ice fly, a jiging rapala in oragnge and red and a pink paddle bug. Sometimes these were tipped with nightcrawlers and sometimes not at all.

My buddy showed up at 2:30pm and lost one fish. Things slowed down severely by late afternoon. By 4:30pm we left. The water temp went from 37 degrees at 11am to 32.2 degrees by 3pm.

Ah another adventure! Lake Mary and I on the skis with the auger in hand.









My very 1st Brook Trout!

















My twins 1st ever Lake Trout!

















A brookie in the hand of my twin.









My pig brook trout of the day.









My twins big brook trout of the day.


----------



## Birdbow

Wow, that looks like a great time. Good job on the laker and those are some beautiful brookies.


----------



## LOAH

That last brookie is beautiful! Looks like they're still eating enough.

Well, nice job making the trek and getting into them.


----------



## wyogoob

Wow!

That last one is about the nicest brookie I ever seen come from under the ice.


----------



## tye dye twins

wyogoob said:


> Wow!
> 
> That last one is about the nicest brookie I ever seen come from under the ice.


He had to dive into the water for that one! :lol: I had to give him my jacket after that. They would burrow under the snow into the water ON the ice and sometimes they were really hard to find. My poor buddy lost one permantly that way. I told him it counts on his limit but not for the day total. There went his 1st ever brookie!


----------



## brookieguy1

Good work guys! You are now officially hooked on brook trout. They will be the finest flesh of all the trout you've eaten. They are also one of the funnest to persue. You'll back-burner those lame cutts!


----------



## EvilTyeDyeTwin

YES!!!!!!! I finally got my lake trout and brook trout off the bucket list!!!! OOO°)OO *-band-* :O--O: -()/- -()/>- -~|- *()* -*|*- *(())* *OOO* *\-\*


----------



## Catherder

Nice report, guys. I think "epic" is a good description. That laker is a great rarity out of Mary's and good to see. The rumors as to whether they persist there or not are answered now. I might have to try for one myself. (In the summer  )


----------



## Watcher

Now that's what I call neat!

I don't know how it could get much funner.


----------



## waspocrew

Dang those are some beautiful fish! Looks like you had an AWESOME time.


----------



## stevo1

Beauty on the Laker! I've chased that rumor for forty five years, good to see the proof!! Good on ya for the avy beacon (or bacon). The patrol is probably still talking about your auger. :lol:


----------



## tye dye twins

Catherder said:


> Nice report, guys. I think "epic" is a good description. That laker is a great rarity out of Mary's and good to see. The rumors as to whether they persist there or not are answered now. I might have to try for one myself. (In the summer  )


I was worried about the draw down 2 summers ago. I have a buddy (the guy that got skunked) that claimed he saw boils in the summer and tiny fish. That gave me a bit more hope but not high expectations.

The fact that a lake trout is not 200 miles away (Bear Lake, Flaming Gorge, Fish Lake) is a big bonus. I know a few made it to the wilow pond but I prefer to fish an actual lake for them. See you there in the summer!


----------



## tye dye twins

stevo1 said:


> Beauty on the Laker! I've chased that rumor for forty five years, good to see the proof!! Good on ya for the avy beacon (or bacon). The patrol is probably still talking about your auger. :lol:


The avy beacon was a bit of "over kill" for lake mary as the route was totally safe. You would have to stray off route to get into the actual slide zones. But then again the other end of the lake is a possiblity for avalanches. Not the dam though.

Still we had the idea of Lake Catherine and yep that is one very dangerous slide zone. Chances are we would not have even approached Catherine this weekend as slides have been triggered on Saturday remotely and even by snowballs. No fish is worth death by snow slides.

BTW- He was wearing an avalung too! We always travel with shovels, beacons, avalungs, and probes. Reading the avalache forecast is a must!


----------



## stevo1

Close enough to the dog lake chutes for a beacon, Catherine has tons of exposure, I wear mine if there is any doubt. YOU GUYS WEARING YOURS!!!! Is a good study and lesson for all!


----------



## EvilTyeDyeTwin

stevo1 said:


> Beauty on the Laker! I've chased that rumor for forty five years, good to see the proof!!


45 years! Wow, I wonder when and how often, if at all anymore, the DWR puts more in there? It sounds like a secret operation to me :roll: . We saw some HUGE fish on the finder BTW....probley a record brookie or more lake trout!


----------



## LOAH

It hasn't been stocked with anything but brookies for a long long time. The lakers have survived this long without, there won't be any supplemental stockings for a long long time.

Drawdown isn't much of a problem either, since there will always be enough cold water in there to get them by.


----------



## EvilTyeDyeTwin

Checked the stocking reports.....there has been anywhere between 29,000 to 34,000 brook trout stocked since 2002.


----------



## LOAH

Yeah, I mentioned the brookies, but was talking about how they have not stocked lakers for a long time and likely won't.


----------



## stevo1

If my failing memory serves me right the lake trout were stocked in the 60's. They put them in lake Mary, Twin lakes, and lake Brimhall ( the Girl scout camp) I heard that lake Mary is 600 feet deep in one spot at full pool (?) No kidding I have gone up there at least once a year since the late 60's for this trouty grail :mrgreen: Seeing that fork tailed pup is great. I will send the thread to my older brother....he was right! Strong work ttd's.


----------



## EvilTyeDyeTwin

Twin Lakes huh....that woulda been a suprize to see one of those come through the hole. We are gonna head up there soon for the cutthroats. Wonder what type of minnows are swimming in there? They looked like red shiners when we were there a few months ago. Heard there are some sucker minnows too, however we did not see any.


----------



## LOAH

Redside Shiners, suckers, and speckled dace. Both lakes.


----------



## EvilTyeDyeTwin

LOAH said:


> Redside Shiners, suckers, and speckled dace. Both lakes.


Good to know...I was hoping you would chime in. Gonna take 2 rods for the trip up to the twin lakes (1 jiged, one dead sticked minnow)...something gives me the impression it is going to be quality over quantity up there. Hooked a fish there late fall that got away and l and saw a huge cutt (2ft plus) cruzing the shore. Something tells me there are some monsters there. Can't wait for the next adventure. OOO°)OO


----------



## LOAH

Hope it works out. I can't buy a bite with a minnow there. They've got so many, all over the place and it's tough to get yours noticed. Maybe try giving some wiggle every once in awhile.


----------



## tye dye twins

stevo1 said:


> Close enough to the dog lake chutes for a beacon, Catherine has tons of exposure, I wear mine if there is any doubt. YOU GUYS WEARING YOURS!!!! Is a good study and lesson for all!


Those chutes can be well avoided if you stay on the summer trail. But then what if you get off trail? :?: What if some other party needs help in an avy rescue? :?: :?:

I go with the "it's better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it".


----------



## REPETER

It's been a week or so since I got on and checked the reports. Outstanding report twins. That's very cool you both got to check the brookies off your bucket list. Skiing and fishing combined seems like it could be a lot of work but a very good time.


----------



## blackdog

That's sweet that you caught the last Laker in Marys Lake. Good thing you released it, oh wait never mind.


----------



## tye dye twins

blackdog said:


> That's sweet that you caught the last Laker in Marys Lake. Good thing you released it, oh wait never mind.


Just a matter of time for a reponse like yours. :roll:

Oh wait I forgot you have never had a nice thing to say to me. Pretty funny hearing that from a hunter by the way. How many animals have you released on your hunts this year? Sorry but I don't feed the fish for free. I hunt fish boo hooo hoo! So after you are done crying me a river throw some salt water fish in there and I will be sure to harvest them too!


----------



## k2muskie

*WARNING*...take it to PMs if there is any issues between parties...LET IT GO folks hunt and fish to ones desire within the legal requirements. Quibbling over knat crap in pepper and attempting to stir the pot will not be tolerated...go out have fun and enjoy what Utah has to offer.


----------



## Bscuderi

And the conversation stopped there.... Ha ha seriously congratulations you deserved it hauling an auger on skis back where nobody has fished through the ice in probably forever! What an accomplishment guys!


----------



## tye dye twins

Bscuderi said:


> And the conversation stopped there.... Ha ha seriously congratulations you deserved it hauling an auger on skis back where nobody has fished through the ice in probably forever! What an accomplishment guys!


I did hear that a guy hit it last year (the big snow year). Here is what they said...............

"Did it last year during Christmas break. Needed extension on my auger. Six inches ice, six inches water, six more ice, six more water, then about 24 inches of ice. Very strange. All this under about 3 feet of snow and a foot of slush."

Man that is convincing me to get that extension on my ice auger ASAP for my next adventures coming soon in the higher terrain. :shock:


----------



## paraAdams

HOLY Schnikees! What a great idea, and congrats to you for getting it done. I love me some brookie meat.

So...did you keep the Laker after all? :O•-:


----------



## tye dye twins

paraAdams said:


> HOLY Schnikees! What a great idea, and congrats to you for getting it done. I love me some brookie meat.
> 
> So...did you keep the Laker after all? :O•-:


Fair question. I have been told several times that giving out less details will benefit me in the long run. Still that is not always the case eh?

Yep there is one less laker now. IMO it is the best tasting fish on the planet. :EAT: 
I think if the DWR were worried about it then they would probably change the regulations up there to protect them.

My buddy that went with me last time hit it recently again and he got 1 cutt on the other deeper side of the lake. He also said he saw other holes drilled out there from the previous day. So we are not the lone rangers ice fishing up there for sure.

BTW - POST 1000!


----------



## brookieguy1

Cutt? ****! There's one in every neighborhood. Com'on lakers, eat'em up!


----------



## PBH

thought you guys might like to see a picture from a few summers ago at Lake Mary:


----------



## tye dye twins

PBH said:


> thought you guys might like to see a picture from a few summers ago at Lake Mary:


Thanks PBH. We did see a pic of one at Sportsmans as well that was around that same size as the one you pictures. Good on those guys for taking a raft up there. We were gonna take up a pontoon this summer.



brookieguy1 said:


> Cutt? ****! There's one in every neighborhood. Com'on lakers, eat'em up!


Even Utah Lake LOL!


----------



## EvilTyeDyeTwin

brookieguy1 said:


> Cutt? ****! There's one in every neighborhood. Com'on lakers, eat'em up!


Our buddy said it was about 10in long and really skinny. What is going to kill you is his buddy convinced him to throw it back. Don't worry...should I get one up there I will be sure to harvest it :EAT: :\Ou: :EAT:


----------



## Mallardhead12

dannngggg.


----------

