Grandkids on the Ice!

Taking advantage of what little winter weather we've had this season, we've managed to get 5 of the 7 grandkids out to experience ice fishing on Mantua and Pineview Reservoirs.
They all do a nice job of detecting the light bite you get with panfish, and all have caught fish by themselves without any help from Grandpa. It took a little teaching, but sitting in a warm tent with a heater going makes for a great teaching atmosphere.
We tried setting up "Tiger Traps" for the muskies in Pineview, but didn't have any luck hooking into one of those toothy monsters. Jon and I like the nice tiger muskies who live in Pineview, but have only had success catching them from float tubes and kayaks.
Lincoln, Alivia, Maui, Paxton, and Macy all did a great job handling both the cold and the fishing poles!

A Windlass Tip-Up for tiger muskies.

Maui with a couple of nice perch!

Maui and Paxton showing off part of their catch!

This is what the Tiger Muskies look like. A toothy beast!

A catch of edible sized perch. Delicious!

Pax with a mixed bag from Mantua!

A fish-finder is a must for locating schools of fish.

Tony Grove Lake with 2 Granddaughters



 

Two of my sweet granddaughters, Ali and Maui, show off some of the trout they caught while we were at the cabin at Bear Lake.

Nymph Fishing the Weber River

Cam and I have been using our newly learned nymphing skills to catch brown trout on the Weber River. It's a very fun and rewarding way to fish, and we're loving it! Here's some of our catches.



Browns are beautiful fish, and we're strictly catch & release. We've had good success on San Juan worms, golden stoneflies, pheasant tails, and scuds. Best success has come fishing shallow riffles with rocky bottoms. Of course, this time of year the water flows are up and the river is muddy. But we have a spot where Lost Creek flows into the Weber, and Lost Creek is relatively clear. So that area has a half-muddy, half-clear stretch that has been quite good to us. I can see that we have a new direction for our favorite hobby. I know that when I have to go alone, this is what I'll be doing!

Strawberry on Ice!

Here's a look at a beautiful, dark colored cutthroat trout taken from Strawberry Reservoir today. Check out the bright red gill plate and fins!

Mantua first ice

Jon, Cam and I took Paxton to Mantua twice during the Christmas break. We didn't catch a ton of fish, but did get some bluegill, perch, and rainbow trout. It was cold but sunny for the most part, and we all caught fish. I caught 2 of my largest perch ever; about 13 inches each. And the 'gills were all big and fat. We kept some for filleting for dinner.

Lost Creek in the Fall / Grandkids

Jon and I took 3 of my grandkids to Lost Creek to do some trolling for trout. The kids knocked 'em dead! They caught about 30, and lost almost that many more reeling them in to the boat. Jon stayed quite busy taking fish off the hook, and keeping lines in the water.
We had a ball! Fall is such a great time for Lost Creek. Fish ranged from 14 to 20 inches, both rainbows and cutthroats.

Labor Day on Causey Reservoir

Paxton on his own little kayak. He can really fly around on that thing. He had a blast today.

 

The only fish "caught" on this day was one that Pax scooped up from the spawning kokanee heading up the stream. They are beautiful, and a lot of fun to see as they battle their way to the spawning grounds.



 

Pax posing by the running kokanee salmon. He spent most of the day riding in dad's big tandem kayak, as they made the trip up the middle arm to see the kokes.