# Great day at Deer Creek



## RyanCreek (Dec 8, 2007)

Finals are finally over, so I spent my day at Deer Creek trolling around with my raft, testing out the new downrigger and motor mounted transducer set-up. The water level is higher than I ever remember it being. It looks to me like the reservior is only a few feet from being filled to capacity. There is alot of floating debris and flooded brush. The lower provo river below the dam is running equally as high.

It was a beautiful day. At one point I had to come to shore and wait out a bit of wind and light rain, but after that the weather was awesome and before sundown the water turned almost glassy and the fish were jumping everywhere.

Fished near the island. During the day I was marking fish at about 20 to 25 feet, but as it got later they came to the surface so there was no need for a downrigger. I sticked with the tried and true set up of a gold/silver flasher tailed by a wedding ring spinner tipped with a piece of worm, and trolled at 1 to 1.5 mph on the gps. Caught several fish, more than pictured, and kept two for the grill cause they were deep hooked. Both browns were caught in about the same area, a drop off, in 25 feet of water. It is a cool feeling to be able to mark the fish then have the downrigger put the lure right on them. There were a few little sections where the fish were congregating (until the sun got lower, then they spread out) and vast stretches with very little fish. They definetely relate to structure, thermoclines, and available food.

There is nothing like using a sturdy inflatable to get around having to pay the $10 fee at the ramp. $5 is fair, but $10 is pushing it. I'm not going to pay that. Seems like they are really trying to milk us anglers with the fees. Just park close to shore and carry the gear down. The giant trolling battery is the only thing that gives you grief, but at my young age it's manageable.

[attachment=7:1lw0vec5]brown.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=6:1lw0vec5]Bow.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=5:1lw0vec5]bow2.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=4:1lw0vec5]Setup.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=3:1lw0vec5]fightinbow.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=2:1lw0vec5]Island.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=1:1lw0vec5]brown2.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5][attachment=0:1lw0vec5]sundown.jpg[/attachment:1lw0vec5]


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## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

I saw you out there on your raft; Sweet set-up you got there. I stopped at DC for about 15 minutes on my way home from Strawberry to see if I could get just one more. Glad you had a good day.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Pretty neat raft setup. Glad you scored a bunch of fish, especially considering where you were.


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Nice pics, you have to love technology being able to assist in the fishing locations. Glad you hooked up some fish.


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## RyanCreek (Dec 8, 2007)

goose said:


> I saw you out there on your raft; Sweet set-up you got there. I stopped at DC for about 15 minutes on my way home from Strawberry to see if I could get just one more. Glad you had a good day.


Thanks! I put alot of time into turning a Cabela's clearance $140 4 man raft with no motor mount into a highly versatile and storable fishing machine that can still fit in a car or truck-bed, and stored in a closet. It can be used on high mountain lakes where motors are not allowed, or on lakes where I can have one. I have a 50 lb. thrust minn kota electric trolling motor, a 115 amp hour battery, a Humminbird PiranhaMax220 fish finder, and a Canon mini-troll manual downrigger. The raft has a 750 lb. weight limit rating which is greater than small rowboats of the same size, so I can still fit another person on the front half of the raft. Being soft and air filled, I find it absorbs choppy waves pretty well and maintains good balance. Any holes are easily repaired in a couple minutes, even on the water, with a patch and rubber cement, but I have never had any problem with fish hooks yet. And it has 3 separate air chambers. If it got filled with water it would still be floating.

I trolled for 6 hours once and the battery still had 55% of its charge left, and at full speed the motor gets you where you want to go pretty quickly.


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It looks like you had a great day thanks for sharing the pictures.


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## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

RyanCreek said:


> goose said:
> 
> 
> > I saw you out there on your raft; Sweet set-up you got there. I stopped at DC for about 15 minutes on my way home from Strawberry to see if I could get just one more. Glad you had a good day.
> ...


Bro, that's awesome, you don't mess around! You should start a t.v. show, "pimp my little fishing raft". Have you christened her yet? What is her name? Sounds like a fun little skiff to roll out with. If you ever want or need a co-angler on your mighty vessel let me know. I'd love to hit a lake up with you on her.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

goose said:


> > Have you christened her yet?
> 
> 
> :rotfl: :rotfl: Easy there!!
> [quote:1dk4airi]If you ever want or need a co-angler on your mighty vessel let me know.


[/quote:1dk4airi]

Plus one on that! I seen ya too. I thought, "who is that crazy dude on a raft on DC in the afternoon" haha then I remembered what we had just done at strawberry in gail force. I would love to join ya if you ever want a co-angler. I'll even sit in the back and drive so you can fish.


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

+2-I was thinking that looked pretty sweet driving home Wed night. I didn't know that it was that set-up. We still need to get out for a mid-week trip-let's go fishing!


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## sfy2004 (Jun 2, 2008)

nice to see that there are still people who apply some good old fashioned ingenuity and will power to their advantage.


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## kastmaster (Nov 20, 2007)

Sweet setup! I can't believe you even have a downrigger on that thing. Thanks for the report. I don't know if you've done this or not, but make sure that you register that thing with the DMV to avoid getting a ticket. I also have an inflatable and I had to register it since I needed to put a motor on it.


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