Well, I've posted here again after a long absence... Today Alex, Max and I made it out to Lincoln Beach @ Utah Lake for some time on the tubes!

 It's been quite some time since I've posted anything here.  Not that we have not been out fishing, but somehow I just got out of the habit of both taking enough pics from trips as well as taking the time to write things up while they were fresh in mind.  With Alex having graduated this year from High School and Max just being  a bit older, both have asked that we try to get out to do more fishing.  So July 1st isn't really a fast delivery on those requests, but hey we did finally get out. ;)

So we set our alarms for 5am (not as early as we should have as it turns out) with the intent of getting to Lincoln Beach and on the water as quick as we could.  Well it took us longer to get on the way and then getting setup took longer than it should have.  A bit of our practice for Alex and I, Max is also still in the learning things well enough that he can just get to it on his own without a lot of guidance.

So we were still setting up and almost ready to launch a bit after 7:15am.  Everyone was smiles and happy to be there though.

We were unsure how the wind was going to treat us, but as we got there it was nearly non existent (and actually didn't really ever show up until about noon where we had a light wind from the north east).

Alex got going first with Max right after and I followed the two out of the harbor.

I should note that before we launched, a fellow was fishing from the shore on the boat ramp and managed to pick up a couple young white bass.  That gave us some hope that we might get some fish action as we worked our way down the channel, but no such luck.  

Once we were out of the channel, Alex and Max opted to work the area north west of the channel, and I headed south east.  Figured we could see who made the better choice and then adjust.

As I kicked around I managed to snap a few nice pics of the overcast areas and the clouds moved through.  Maybe one will end up being a zoom virtual background for me at some point. ;)

I'm not sure when the boys picked up their first bites/fish as we had not really been that chatty on the radios up to that point, but I ended up picking up a very young white bass on a pink curly tail grub that I had added a bit of worm to and was casting and retrieving on one rod while the other was soaking something I hoped would entice a nice catfish.  The small white bass got sent back to grow up some more.  So for me the worry of a zero trip at least was past.

The carp were out today, though near me they were not schooled up as I've seen before.  Instead they were just all over moving around solo with the top of their backs just out of the water.  I should have taken a few picks of these as they came up really close to me, including one that bumped into my legs.  I ended up throwing out a bobber with a worm just a foot under it wondering if I could pick a carp up for some cutbait.  Instead a nicer sized white bass took interest and I now had my first fish in the basket.

I think the boys had each had some action by this point.  Alex I believe had at least one fish in his basket and both had had a number of inquiries on their offerings they had been trying.  My cell also got a lot of attention (notifications) so ask I took a look to see what was going on I found work was having an issue and I had a couple ideas on how to help.  So I ended up on a con call with 2 coworkers helping them get things sorted out and right in the middle of that (both rods I had out at this point were for cats so I could pay attention to the con call) one of the poles had a big hit and something started pulling line out fast.  Cell phone was set to speaker phone mode so I just kept going as I started to retrieve whatever was on my line.  It ended up being quite the fight and when I was able to weigh and measure it, it turned out to be about 26" and about 6.75lbs which might be the largest cat I've caught to date.  I didn't get a photo of this one out on the water, but I did let the boys know and Max was impressed with the size I told them.  Phone call was done and things had been sorted out for work, so I started to head toward where the boys were fishing.  A few minutes into that trek I had another big hit on a cat pole and big kitty #2 for the day ended up in my basket.  This one a touch smaller than the other about 24" and about 6.4lbs.  I do have a pic of this one. :)

The boys were excited about my news of a 2nd big cat and caught me up on their progress.  Alex had a couple white bass, and a few mud cats in his basket.  Max had a nice channel cat in the upper teens of inches in size.  So nobody was batting zero for the day.  Both had had a few on that got lost on the retrieve.  Both were having a good time and working well together (always a good thing).

It was about noon at this point so we talked things over and opted to start heading back in.  I don't think anyone had anymore action on the way back in.  Alex was in front and Max brought up the rear as we worked back into the channel heading to the ramp.

When we got home we got ready to process the fish.  We set them out though first for a couple pictures to sum up the day. :)

We fried up some of the fish for dinner that turned out quite nice.  Was really nice to have been able to get out and the weather worked out really well for us!

January 16th, Ice Fishing with Alex @ Rockport

Well after the recent weather and some sparse info form the online forums it was an uncertain hope that Alex had to go out on the ice today as part of his Birthday. Last night we made the call to head to Rockport after seeing enough info to suggest the edges were solid enough and that others had had recent success for trout there. Strawberry and Pineview were other contendors but both we lacked enough information to go with confidence (or enough anti-slush monster drive). So we set our alarms for 5:40am and manged to get on our way just after 6:00am. When we got to Rockport temps were hovering between 0 and -1 (Fahrenheit). There was a thick fog/cloud layer right on the reservoir. Per some of the info we saw on BFT we headed to the main boat launch were we headed out on the ice and south about 1/2 mile. When we got onto the ice we were farm from the first ones there. I would expect that there were a couple dozen other camps already setup near the boat ramp or in other places we could see around the lake. We setup near a point in about 32' FOW. We did not have a target depth but tried to look for recent areas of activity that had signs of success. Between the 4 lines we had out we had offerings at the 12', 20', 25' and on the bottom. Just as we were setting up we saw signs on the bottom though by the time we got a lure down there whatever was on the flasher had left. Maybe about 20-30 minutes into things we had a first bite and pulled up a nearly 10' perch. Sized enough that we kept it. A while later we picked up a second about the same size. Then that left us in a dry spell for a while with a few missed nibbles mixed in. We moved all but one line down to the bottom since the perch had made a showing and Alex left the last line up at about 12' FOW to keep an option open for the upper water column. His line on the bottom was the next one to get some attention and he set a hook on something much larger then the perch I had pulled in. After a nice fight he pulled up a bit of a surprise for us (we just didn't expect it). A nice nearly 18" brown trout.

The next fish was a while later and I managed to bring up a foot long rainbow that looked healthy enough (not a snake), maybe a planter from last year? Then after a longer break Alex picked up a rainbow as well, though we sent it back to get bigger.

Shortly before noon we decided to call it a day. Things were still quite cold, even in the tent, and we had both been able to catch a few even though it was a bit slow. The sun by this time had burned off the fog/clouds that had been over the lake and things had slowed down a lot. We never though did get much of an idea of how others were doing. When we left the ice the number of other camps out there had nearly doubled (maybe not quite) compared to when we got on. So with others sticking out there maybe others were having a faster day to keep them going then we were, but we were happy with the trip we had. Here's a peek at what we brought home with us.

Hard to beat a nice day out with my now 14 year old son Alex. :) Happy Birthday Alex!

!Fishing, but still a worthwhile adventure...

So early July we went looking at RV trailers more with the intent of starting to formulate opinion of what we wanted so that as we look at timing, budget, and whatever options we saw that we thought were things we would want that we could start to form up a checklist of tasks we need to cover so that we could get an RV trailer...

Well, as such any good plan is just there to be messed up.  As was ours, but in the end in a good way.  We came home that day having bought our new trailer.  We found a nice deal on a model that was to be moved out quickly as the new years model was already available.  Nice enough that it kind of helped answer the question of should we buy used to save some $ or push up to a new model.  Anyway, we ended up with a StarCraft Launch 24RLS (Link goes to the 2017 model, but the units are close enough for anyone interested in looking.

Anyway we got it home and made plans to get out for our first trip which we did to Starvation over the weekend of July 9th.  Was a bit warm, and we lacked the generators sufficient to run the AC, but it was a nice weekend.  Kids were ecstatic to have a trailer and to be able to camp out more often more easily.  We too fishing gear and float tubes with us.  Shore fishing was a zero for success, but we did get out Saturday morning for a short run on the tubes.  Alex on his and I was on mine...  Max was desperate to go out too so I first tried to put him on my lap, but the tube didn't sit right in the water with the weight that far imbalanced.  So I put away my usual cooler that rides behind me and put him back behind my seat in the triangle there.  My Outcast Prowler has a fully inflated seat base that also extends into that triangle area and this worked very well for Max.  He essentially lounged with his feat over the side back there and fished off my right shoulder.  Before we headed back in as the afternoon wind started to pick up Max had pulled in a ~16" small mouth bass and a foot long walleye.  Both were first catches for him for those species.  Alex and I also managed to hook up with a small mouth each.  Alex's jumped the line at his tube and mine turned out to be a hard fighting 6" that got sent back to grow some.  Rest of that trip went nicely and set the stage for us to plan our next adventure in the new trailer.

So this weekend we headed up Wednesday afternoon toward the Daniels Summit area trying to camp near the Adamson area between point of pine and mudrock.  We got there without any issue, though pulling through the ditch showed that I probably need to adjust the hitch to ride an inch or 2 higher up.  We found the herder camps in full force in the usual areas including the unattended (at least while we were there looking for a camp spot) trailers with dogs chained up.  Since we had brought Diego and Hazel with us (they both lack social etiquette in how they interact with other dogs) we opted to not camp near these areas and headed up main canyon to look for a spot there.  We found a spot a bit over 1/2 way up the road and took it kind of worried that we would not find another higher up.  In hind sight we could have found a spot or two higher that might have been as nice if not nicer, but this was still a nice spot with a fantastic view.

The obvious issue with main canyon is the traffic on it from ATVs.  We were off the road enough that dust wasn't a huge issue and the noise wasn't bad either.  The trees near the trailer offered some fun places for the kids to adventure and fort build in.  Temps were nicer then the previous trip to Starvation so the AC not being usable still didn't turn out to be that big of a deal.  Where we camped did prove to have some nice options for going on some walks/hikes.  So we were able to wear the dogs out quite well taking them with us.  They got to have a meet and greet with the local cattle.  Apparently their manners were not up to the cattle's level and the cattle left... in a bit of a rush...;)  Hazel I think thought it might be her off putting body odder so she even tried rolling in a nice fresh cow pie to be less off putting...  That didn't help with the cattle and only resulted in another hike down to the stream to bath her...  Anyway we had some nice hikes, kids got to do the kid fort/imagination thing, spent time playing games together, roasted foods on the fire with roasting sticks, saw some nice stars at night and aspired to do it again in the end.

New RV (!Fishing I know...) and 2 adventures, 1 with a side of fishing...

So early July we went looking at RV trailers more with the intent of starting to formulate opinion of what we wanted so that as we look at timing, budget, and whatever options we saw that we thought were things we would want that we could start to form up a checklist of tasks we need to cover so that we could get an RV trailer...

Well, as such any good plan is just there to be messed up.  As was ours, but in the end in a good way.  We came home that day having bought our new trailer.  We found a nice deal on a model that was to be moved out quickly as the new years model was already available.  Nice enough that it kind of helped answer the question of should we buy used to save some $ or push up to a new model.  Anyway, we ended up with a StarCraft Launch 24RLS (Link goes to the 2017 model, but the units are close enough for anyone interested in looking.

Anyway we got it home and made plans to get out for our first trip which we did to Starvation over the weekend of July 9th.  Was a bit warm, and we lacked the generators sufficient to run the AC, but it was a nice weekend.  Kids were ecstatic to have a trailer and to be able to camp out more often more easily.  We too fishing gear and float tubes with us.  Shore fishing was a zero for success, but we did get out Saturday morning for a short run on the tubes.  Alex on his and I was on mine...  Max was desperate to go out too so I first tried to put him on my lap, but the tube didn't sit right in the water with the weight that far imbalanced.  So I put away my usual cooler that rides behind me and put him back behind my seat in the triangle there.  My Outcast Prowler has a fully inflated seat base that also extends into that triangle area and this worked very well for Max.  He essentially lounged with his feat over the side back there and fished off my right shoulder.  Before we headed back in as the afternoon wind started to pick up Max had pulled in a ~16" small mouth bass and a foot long walleye.  Both were first catches for him for those species.  Alex and I also managed to hook up with a small mouth each.  Alex's jumped the line at his tube and mine turned out to be a hard fighting 6" that got sent back to grow some.  Rest of that trip went nicely and set the stage for us to plan our next adventure in the new trailer.

So this weekend we headed up Wednesday afternoon toward the Daniels Summit area trying to camp near the Adamson area between point of pine and mudrock.  We got there without any issue, though pulling through the ditch showed that I probably need to adjust the hitch to ride an inch or 2 higher up.  We found the herder camps in full force in the usual areas including the unattended (at least while we were there looking for a camp spot) trailers with dogs chained up.  Since we had brought Diego and Hazel with us (they both lack social etiquette in how they interact with other dogs) we opted to not camp near these areas and headed up main canyon to look for a spot there.  We found a spot a bit over 1/2 way up the road and took it kind of worried that we would not find another higher up.  In hind sight we could have found a spot or two higher that might have been as nice if not nicer, but this was still a nice spot with a fantastic view.

The obvious issue with main canyon is the traffic on it from ATVs.  We were off the road enough that dust wasn't a huge issue and the noise wasn't bad either.  The trees near the trailer offered some fun places for the kids to adventure and fort build in.  Temps were nicer then the previous trip to Starvation so the AC not being usable still didn't turn out to be that big of a deal.  Where we camped did prove to have some nice options for going on some walks/hikes.  So we were able to wear the dogs out quite well taking them with us.  They got to have a meet and greet with the local cattle.  Apparently their manners were not up to the cattle's level and the cattle left... in a bit of a rush...;)  Hazel I think thought it might be her off putting body odder so she even tried rolling in a nice fresh cow pie to be less off putting...  That didn't help with the cattle and only resulted in another hike down to the stream to bath her...  Anyway we had some nice hikes, kids got to do the kid fort/imagination thing, spent time playing games together, roasted foods on the fire with roasting sticks, saw some nice stars at night and aspired to do it again in the end.

June 7th @ Strawberry

On this year's week at Park City, Alex and I headed up to Strawberry on our only day on the tubes.  Forecasts lead us to expect some slight wind, but for most of the time we were on the water it was quite glassy.  We launched over on the "free" area of the east portal.  Fish were breaking the surface all around us with some regularity.  Water temps were in the mid 50's.  So we both started pulling one line under a bobber with some type of jig under that.  Then casting and retrieving the other line, trying to stay near the surface.  After trying just about everything for the first hour and neither of us having had a bite I changed up a bit and put one line just off the bottom with a white jig and a bit of worm on it.  The other line I was letting run deeper as I retrieved.  We started to get some bites now.

So to give an overly short summary it was never "game on" really.  We had to work for each fish we caught.  Bottom jigging proved to be the best for us and often as my finder would chirp on a fish I could work the line I had down there and get a strike.  Most fish we picked up off the bottom were in the 25'-35' fow range.  Totals for the day were 8 fish.  2 for Alex and 6 for me.  All were Cuts in the 17"-20" range except a single Rainbow (forgot to take a pic of him as I rushed it to the basket) that I brought home for dinner.  One Cut was quite the "snake" and sure could use a few extra meals.  Here are some pics from the day:

Was a good day out even if it was a bit slow.  Still not sure I'm fishing Strawberry right from the tube, but were trying.  Wind came up a bit more near noon so we called it a day and headed in.  Was nice to be out with Alex. :)