Christmas Day Personal Best

Christmas Day Personal Best

12/25/13

     After eating plenty of tasty ham, mashed sweet potatoes, turkey, and other holiday goodies Kari and I decided to hit the ice in northern Utah for an evening of relaxation and hopefully some pullage.  We arrived at about 2:00 o'clock and began fishing thirty minutes or so after.  The recent snow had melted from the surface of the lake and refroze which made for some really tough walking out for my girlfriend. Luckily, Santa bought me a set of crampons for Christmas (Thanks Hun!).  

      Once the holes were drilled and lines were in the fun began!  Kari initially chose to sit and soak up the sun while reading a new book.  After watching me bring several gills and perch on the deck she got the itch and picked up the rod. She didn't have much trouble finding a couple of her own and before I knew it she was making me look like the amateur.  While dancing to Miley Cyrus or some other hideous genre of music she managed to pull her new personal best rainbow out onto the deck.  

     After an hour or two more of consistent catching I was able to wrestle my new personal best yellow perch onto the deck.

      As the sun dipped further behind the mountains the bite slowed and the fingers got stiffer.  We packed everything up and called this Christmas catch-athon a wrap and made our way back to the car.  Since Kari had been slipping all over the place all day it only seemed right to let her ride back on the sled.

The trout went about 15" and the perch was just shy of 12" topping my previous best by 0.5".   I also managed to land my first Utah largemouth.

Keep it simple, keep castin'.

Hard Deckin'

 Hard Deckin' and Other Utah Adventures

12/15/13

So far, fishing wise, my stay in Utah has been pretty dull.  Normally, fishing takes it's ups and downs.  I have found that my trips are normally on a 5-trip cycle.   In example, one trip will be horrible (a.k.a. "skunk"), one below average, two average, and one that is truly memorable.  Here in Utah that equation has mostly been skewed to the left.  It seems as if for every "decent" trip I get skunked twice (or more!).

That being said, the reason for this post is that I finally had one of the those truly memorable trips that had been missing from my equation.  To make a truly memorable trip three things are needed.   One, you have to catch fish! Two, you have to overcome some sort of challenge or adversity, and three, you must have some good company around!  The stars and moon finally aligned this past Saturday.

It started out as a relatively cold twenty degree day in northern Utah.  My group was on the ice by 6:10 and we had holes drilled and lines in thirty minutes or more before the first sign of light peeked over the snowy mountains.  It was truly serene, every sound could be heard for miles it seemed.  Well, get those ideas of peacefulness and serenity out of your head, that stuff didn't hardly even last until daylight!  By seven o'clock all the jack ass'ery had begun.  It was full on combat fishing, gas augers, people busting holes through the ice with crowbars, kids screaming, you name it.   That being said, the fishing was turning on!  By 7:30 we had three nice keeper-sized yellow perch and a beautiful rainbow to call our own, not to mention several undersized bluegills. 

Then it happened, the worst nightmare, the hex, the disaster.  My phone hummed its little harmony as I pulled it out of my pocket hoping for the best but expecting the worst.  Upon answering my fears had been realized.  It was my work's automated SCADA alarm system reminding me I still have obligations else where, not just catching slimy critters.  With morale at an all time low we packed the gear and hit the road before 8:00 knowing that the trip that was panning out to be decent, was surely ruined.  Unbelievably, I made it back to work and was able to clear the alarms, fix the problem, and turn the car back in the direction of the lake by a little after 9:30.  

The "good company" component. 

Most people would agree, the bite is best right after sun up and usually only lasts a while after.  I had a "gut" feeling that this particular day things would be different.  The sky was dark and overcast and the weather had been stable. I still felt that we had a chance.  Truth be known I was right!

We fished up until 2:00 and made our way home with a plethora of trout, bluegills, and yellow perch. The bite was steady throughout the day and the weather was rather nice. Work will always try to ruin the fun,
                                                                                  just don't let it!

We each went home with a limit of rainbows, one or two pushing 17", maybe 18".  I was pretty much the only one going after perch and bluegills. I made out with 15 keepers, some probably going 9" or more.  I sure ended up with a dandy mess of fillets! 

Its almost bath time!

I also found a few extra pictures that I wanted to post from this year.  Thanks for reading!

Throwbacks

It really is nice to glance back at old pictures and think about the memories that accompany them.  The fishing, the people, the places and the good times that took place in the past.  Luckily, the internet makes a darn good place to store these pictures! 

Simple but extremely effective shad jigs I tied.

Good friends read for a surf launch at the CBBT

Dinner :)

Good friend and fisherman, Jeff, with a dandy perch in February

Just never could break that 30" mark 

There is just something about cypress trees....

Warm winter bucket mouth

Whose tongue is bigger?

Nice dinner stringer

A good mess of fish

May be my PB crappie, not sure

James River slimer

A nice early spring smallie

Friend and previous KayakWars teammate bowed up

Here kitty, kitty 

A winter day in the swamp

Beautiful RVA

<3 All smiles 

Good times

Girls getting the slime on!

Two awesome grandmas!

Not a bad spring run fish

James river gettin' bowed up!

Snow drifts still around in August? Yes sir!

8,000ft, crystal clear, alpine lake

Bullwinkle

Beating the heat!

I grew up on the easterly side of this picturesque country.  There I had the joy of enduring some wickedly hot, humid days.  While on the east side, never did I see the mercury rise to the levels that it has here in the Salt Lake valley over the past few days.  

One of the great things about the Salt Lake valley is the ability to escape the heat.  By leaving the valley and heading into the mountains it is quite easy to find those comfortable seventy degree temperatures we all love (even on days like today).  

If you are lucky and play your cards right some great fishing can be had as well.  Today the fishing was the best it has been since I arrived three weeks ago.  I feel like the warm temperatures sparked a good insect hatch and the trout were voracious!  I found my limit in less than an hour and then some.  What a great day, great fishing, and great scenery to boot.  Hot setup today was a Goddard Caddis followed by a Copper John with about 20" of 6X tippet between the two.