Ice Fishing At It's Best

   Wake up time 5:30 A.M. Cant wait to get theses poles in the water. Yes the much anticipated trip to Scofield Reservoir. I think this had to rank as one of the best fishing trips ever.

    We made several turkey and cranberry sandwiches. We had lots of drinks, snacks  and every thing to munch on needed. The night crawlers and wax worms in the fridge were excited to. Here we go in the dark to make the drive. Preston and I were going to meet my other boys and there children to enjoy New Years Eve Day ! We had five of my grandchildren there ranging from 11 down to 5 years old. Can you just imagine trying to keep that crew warm, tummies full and lines in the water ? It had the potential To be a long and interesting day. Thanks to more preparation from my sons, it was an incredible day. They brought so much stuff that we had to make several trips out with the sleigh to get it all there. You can see from the pictures we had a pretty good trek out to our chosen spot. As you can see we were going out that far to drill  nine holes in the 2,800 acre lake. What are the chances that we will find any thing in a lake that size with nine little 8 inch holes ?

     Thank goodness for modern technology. Ice tents, gas augers, heaters all made this task easy. Every one was so excited to start fishing. First though we had to get all the tents set up. It was exceptionally cold . The wind was blowing and we need to keep the fisher men and girls warm. I'm not sure what the temperature was ,but with out the tents it would have been a short trip. I remember taking out a big metal bar and chipping out a hole. That was not so bad unless the ice was three feet thick. Then came the hand augers. They would get so dull that three grown men would have to help hold down and turn the drill to get it to penetrate the ice. Some times we were so tired that we didn't even care about fishing any more. That has all changed with the new gas auger.
      Well I hope you can see from the pictures and video that things have changed. We had a blast. We all caught fish. It was slow at times, but the master chief would cook hot dogs to keep us all happy. Funny that no one wanted the turkey sandwiches while those hot dogs were cooking away. The kids would venture out of the tent and pull each other on the ice. I think my oldest grand daughter Carlee pulled all the kids half way around the lake. They would get cold, and back they came to fish and warm up.  I think we caught close to 30 fish. Most of the fish made it back into the water. We caught mainly Native cutthroat trout. There are three main species in the lake, Cutthroat, Rainbow, and Tiger trout. We did venture out and drill a few other places but would soon end up back at the tents. We all had a great time . Lots of food , fish, and laughter. It was a blast to watch the little ones catch there fish and get so excited. What a great day. It was one of those days you just hate to see end ,as a fisherman, dad, and grandfather. Thank you to my boys. Don't miss the chance to get out and enjoy a Wild Day in Utah !   
  
 Happy new year to all. Keep the camera rolling !  Thanks for following . If you could share this site with your friends. Thanks                
                                                   The Bear !!