# First time at Fish Lake



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

So one of our newer members, BigIceHole (remember? Otter Creek post) invited me to tag along on a trip to Fish Lake. I had never been there and I've known him for a few years, so I made sure to get the wife pass for a great day on the ice.

We met up at Sportsman's Warehouse in Provo at 6:00am and head out. The plan was to have our lines in a hole by 9:00.

We arrived right around 9:00 and started getting everything unpacked for the trek when I noticed that I'd left my tackle box in my car (at SW in Provo)! O|* I was so excited to use all that new junk I bought too! :evil:

I couldn't believe that I'd forgotten it since I clearly remembered popping the trunk latch before getting out of my car. I REMEMBERED POPPING THE TRUNK LATCH!!! :shock:

Right when I was thinking about that, it hit me like a hammer:

I popped the latch and left my trunk easily accessible by anyone who cared to try it in an otherwise empty parking lot (for the following 2hrs). I had my brand new fly rod (still unused) back there, 2 tackle boxes, a nice camp chair, a couple of spinning rigs, and a whole bunch of other crap that I end up using all the time.

BigIceHole's cell didn't have service, so I couldn't call anyone to go and shut it for me. All I could do was cross my fingers and hope that life hadn't chosen today to teach me a hard lesson. :|

Well, this report is about Fish Lake, so I'll just stick to that for now. :wink:

We got out to a good spot to drill and cut some holes to try. The ice was between 18 and 22 inches thick, depending on where we drilled. There was actually someone attempting to use a manual auger and broke a blade off in the process. :lol:

BigIceHole made his first drop and had a strong hit on his way to the bottom, but didn't get the hookset in time. The finder marked some macks from time to time examining his jig, but no takers. Cruising rainbows were at about 25 feet, intermittently.

I was bummed because I didn't have my fresh new gear, but thankfully BigIceHole had the mother of all tackle boxes and allowed me to use some of his jigs (thanks). I remembered my bait, however. :lol:

I dropped both rods to the bottom and waited, and waited, and waited, but didn't get any bites that I could decipher (the wind kept the rod tips jiggling). BIH informed me of the bows at 25, so I reeld 1 rod up to them and waited some more.

BIH struck first with a healthy 15 inch splake (pretty colors there) that he released.

I came next when I finally got a hit that I could see as an actual bite. It was a sweet little rainbow of about 14 or 15 inches. It had tooth marks near its tail. :twisted: Of course, I kept it, since I wasn't sure if I'd have any more luck for the day.

After another long wait, BIH got another splake that looked like the first and that was it for the rest of our stay. 

The wind was pretty bad. It was pretty steady at probably 10mph or so and then it would gust like crazy up to (guessing) 40mph. Our attempts at setting up a tent were probably pretty comical to watch. The darn thing would've flown across the whole lake if we lost our grip.

Once we got the kite (I mean tent) set up, getting the stakes into the ice proved very difficult with the slush layer preventing any solid footing. Not good.

I never even went inside the tent since it was pretty small, but in retrospect BIH could've probably used my help holding it down. :lol:

I shot a quick video to show what the wind was like, but it doesn't even come close to showing what we went through most of our stay.



Every time I scooped the snow and slush out of my holes, the wind would gust again sending a brand new layer of slush to re-remove. Pretty tedious, but that's the way the ice wanted to be today.

By 12:30, we'd had enough abuse (and so did everyone else on the lake) and decided to hit one of the other reservoirs that were close. We looked at the map long and hard and decided (due to time constraints...wives) to hit Koosharem (or what's left of it) for a stint.

On the way, BIH's phone regained service and I was able to make a much needed phone call. The service cut off halfway through the conversation, but the point was delivered. (Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.)

Surprisingly, the ice at Koosharem was even thicker than at Fish Lake! It was a good 2 feet thick with only about 8-10 feet of water underneath, if that. There were a couple of other groups out that reported no success at all.

We fished for a couple of hopeless hours with no action and called it a day.

We got back to Sportsman's and I was thrilled to get to my car and the trunk was shut tightly and, when opened, still had all of my stuff in it! Phew! What a relief. Lesson learned...the easy way. 

So even though Fish Lake was a bit of a bust, it was still nice to finally see it. It was also nice to finally get to fish with BigIceHole. After knowing him for a few years and hearing about his fishing trips, it was about time. Thanks, man.

Koosharem sucked big time and I wouldn't recommend the waste of time to anyone else. The water is so low and it seems really shallow anyway.

Trying to get another fish on top of my little bow (for the wife), I stopped at the Provo River by Macey's in Provo for a quick worm dunk to test my luck, but no dice. It wasn't meant to be. Oh well. I STILL HAD A GOOD DAY!

C'mon spring!

Happy Fishing, Humans.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

Wow LOAH that alot of abuse but we have all had those days. Lets pray some warm weather!!!


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## rapalahunter (Oct 13, 2007)

I was waiting for this fish lake report hoping for some good pictures so i could live vicariously through you since I'm not brave enough to ice fish. 

Sorry it didn't go as hoped. At least your gear was all there still huh? That must have been a relief...

+1 on spring coming soon. I'm fishing deprived and I'm gonna lose it soon... O|*


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## Jacksonman (Jan 16, 2008)

Wow, what a lame first trip to Fish Lake!! Don't give up on her though.

The funny thing is that we always plan fish lake trips and do pretty well, but then do way better at Mill Meadow and Forsyth, both ice on and off. We actually passed FIsh Lake on our way to Piute last week and destroyed the bows at Piute. I can' figure out the macs at fish lake, and catch bigger and more fish at the other lakes. If someone could just teach me to catch those macs. . . 

Next time, try Mill Meadow and Forsyth, especially in April. 

Thanks for the report. Hopefully better for you next time.


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## Christopher30 (Nov 9, 2007)

About 75 % of the rainbows i've pulled out of there have had teethmarks. I'd like to catch the perpetrator of the bites, instead of the victim. How deep were macs showing up?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

I never looked at the finder, but I think they were around 60.

We thought about Mill Meadow and Forsyth, but were unsure about road conditions in and didn't need to add any more travel time to our trip. I might just hit one of those two next time I'm down there.


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## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

Should have swung down here and fished Minersville LOAH I practically live there, and you probably would have caught more fish.


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Loah too bad the trip wasnt as successful as you wanted it to be but at least you didnt get skunked! :mrgreen: Its good to hear that all your stuff was still there when you got back though, that would have major sucked if it was all gone, especially your fly rod before you even used it! Better luck next time!


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Fish lake is one of my favs in the summer! Melt ice melt! Good to hear your gear is safe and you made it home with at least one fish.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Fishlake is one of my favorites any time of the year. Im planning a trip down there in 2 weeks, so hopefully the ice stays good that long. Glad all your stuff was safe.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

You'll have as much ice as you want, believe me. We were running out of auger by the time we popped through.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Was the slush bad on top of the ice? , or was it pretty solid?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

There was a layer of snow (varied depth because of high winds), about an inch of ice, and about 6 inches of slush on top of the solid foot and a half of ice, thereabouts. 

I never broke through to the slush...I managed to fall into both of my holes though! :lol: **** wind hiding them from me. :x BIH had a good laugh.


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