Fish Lake 1-4-14

[Duckbutter]

Prepped the night before, up at 5:00, and out at 5:30 am. The kiddo slept a long time which was nice. Arrived at Fish Lake just a hair after 9:00, and it was like an LSU coed: beautiful, but conditions were just nasty. Winds had to be gusting up to 50, and it had snowed enough that the drifting snow kept me from seeing the spot where my friends were at times, and that was only 120 yards away.

My friends helped me haul the kid and gear out on the ice, and put my son in their warm shelter while i got everything set up. My son was an animal in their shelter, and caught 15 fish by the time I had my camera running, holes ready and heater going. I ran over to him when he caught this. Look at that !



Fish Lake has to be the single best perch lake I have ever fished. Absolutely incredible in terms of aggressiveness and numbers, (although I wish they never would have been stocked and this thread is not time to argue a point). Never saw less than 4 fish on the camera at any one point in time, and I hardly fished as my son would catch them so quick I was constantly rebaiting and getting fish off while I just watched my rod bob up and down. Mikey caught 11 in my shelter before I brought in my first, including this double.


Did i say the wind was bad? by the time 11:45 rolled around, everyone was clamoring for lunch, and my son wanted to get warm in a cabin as the drifting snow was pelting us from under the walls and I couldn't block it. The wind was also swirling, so the walls that weren't staked kept collapsing as well, so we took a breather and got a warm buffalo burger. Well, after a quick lunch, my shelter looked like this.


A hub blew out of a wall, so the shelter was done. Son stayed in the cabin for the rest of the time while I moved deeper for splake (ended up with just bows) in the bitter....


The drive out there and back is long but incredible. I love southern Utah.



My son ended up catching 34 fish and had a blast. Here are his fish that we ended up catching. The s made everything worth it, and it was a fantastic day despite the jet stream.


Bows were all 14 inches or over, and the perch were all chubby and 7.5 to 9 inches.
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[albinotrout]

Gotta love it when your kid out fishes ya, way to go! Nice report thanks!
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[ChubbyChaser]

LSU coed....

Lol.

Nice job and thanks for the report. Good call on taking the little one, start him early and he'll be your fishing buddy for life. I want to head down there and snag a few of those bigger perch!
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[lakepowellnut]

Great post...thanks for sharing!
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[Duckbutter]

Just got this text from my friends. They left their brand new fatfish 6 shelter out overnight.

"Just got your text. Leaving lake now. wind terrible. All of our stuff was gone this morning. Had to hunt for everything. Tents were clear at south end of lake. Lost some gear."

The wind was that bad.
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[utahgolf]

nice job! we were on the north end yesterday, ice was a bit hairy at times. we had to stake down all 4 sides and have 4 tie dow stakes as well. that wind is brutal there with that clear ice! you ain't lying about the perch, here's a pic of our camera.


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[ScottyS]

It was a windy day down there for sure. That pic of the two 3 man tents with blowing snow behind them is actually a picture of mine and a friend's tents. We had a steady stream of rainbows through the day. My buddy lost his 3 man shelter bag as well as a green camping chair bag. If your friends happened to find those floating around while searching for their gear, I'd love to know. Nice to see your boy did so well on the ice. Love it when the kids have a good time fishing.
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[Duckbutter]

I will ask them about that stuff. They were to able to find their chair covers, and lost a rod.

Is it still windy there when there is a massive high pressure over the inter mountain west, and inversions in the valley's? I would like to take my whole family next time, but don't want to hear complaints from the mrs the entire time, so it would have to be during ideal conditions.
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[doggonefishin]

[quote Duckbutter]
Is it still windy there when there is a massive high pressure over the inter mountain west, and inversions in the valley's? I would like to take my whole family next time, but don't want to hear complaints from the mrs the entire time, so it would have to be during ideal conditions.[/quote]

I was there on Jan 1st (during the inversion) and it was extremely pleasant. Based on previous experience up there, what I had on 1/1 was more the exception as there is usually at least some wind, but what you guys had yesterday was particularly brutal.
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[Basshole40]

Great post, DB! Heading down later this month, very encouraging! We'll be watching out for those Tiger gals...
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[JustJim]

I went up there this morning hoping for a little calm before the blow. No such luck. Clouds of blowing snow rolling across the lake. My buddy called in sick at six am so I was by myself. No way I was going to fight that wind with my tent alone. I was afraid it would look like the one in your picture. As I was at Lakeside, I saw a guy come off the ice on a wheeler with a busted up tent on the back rack. Might have been your guy. I went down to Otter and got skunked, but at least I didn't get blown off the ice.
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[BearFisher]

I had that happen last year on my big 6. I had to take the hub a part and add big 2 inch washers to repair where the fabric ripped. It is a fun lake but that wind can really be unforgiving.
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[PBH]

I've read a number of these posts -- winds, equipment damage, stuff lost....



I've never owned an ice tent. I don't think I ever will. They sure are popular, but I don't get it:

1. The weekend before New Year's was beautiful. Why on earth would I want to hide in a tent when the weather is so nice?

2. We move. A lot. And we don't like to be too cramped. We get pretty spread out. I don't think they make a tent big enough for me to fish with two poles!

3. Work. They sure seem like a lot of work. You have to pack it, load it, drag it out, set it up, anchor it, fish in it, un-anchor it, move it, anchor it, take it down, pack it up, haul it out -- and that's just the tent! What about all the other gear (auger, tackle, buckets, chairs, coolers....).

4. Wind. I've watched numerous tents blow across Fish Lake. I don't know if people were in them at the time or not! I hope not! I'd hate to lose one of those with somebody (one of my kids!) in them!



I love being outside. Even when the weather is frightful, I like being outside. I think I'll just keep watching all of you play with your equipment while I fish!


Nice reports. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
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[Duckbutter]

PBH, you have lots of points, but they have uses. Usually, set up and take down is easy. The shelter is usually in the car when I am by myself. I move too, and wander a long ways on the ice if fishing is slow. When I have one or more kids with me, the shelter goes. My four year old would have had zero tolerance if we didn't have it, and I would have spent 7 hours of drive time saturday with no fishing.

The other benefit of the shelter is the underwater camera. They are a pain in the butt if you are outside as you can't see the screen, but in a shelter it's like playing a video game for the little kids, which helps with the attention span.

Is kite fishing legal? As a pleasant diversion, I am tempted to hand line some perch, attach it to a kite after hookset, and watch the fish fly out the hole as the kite goes airborn. If you are in the wind, might as well use it, although it would probably confuse the resident Bald Eagles, not to mention the fish.
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[RYsenTrout]

Here is a video I took with my phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEp5aaMOB...e=youtu.be


Guys next to us had the wind tear all the stake straps off their tent and it blew about 15 feet with the two of them inside.
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[ScottyS]

PBH, I second basically what Duck has said. If my wife or kids go, it is a must. I don't even set up my tent half the time I go fish, but if a breeze picks up, the temperature difference with the tent is huge. If I set up my heater then it can be 50-60 degrees in my tent (based on my cheap temperature gauge).

As for carrying, set up, etc., I load everything in a sled and it all fits just fine. It takes me less than 5 minutes to set up the tent and put 4 anchors in. Take down is just as quick. I had no idea the wind was going to be as bad Saturday as it was, and if I hadn't brought my tent with me, I would have packed up and made the long drive back to SLC with little to no fishing to show for it. I do agree though, on a nice day, nothing like sitting out in the sun on the ice.
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[JustJim]

PBH, I'm with you about being outside on a beautiful day.

Now the 'but'...the older I get, the more I appreciate the extra warmth when the weather is less than ideal. I have a heater, but have never fired it up. The wife has a bad back and cannot tolerate the cold, thus, the tent. Kids, buddies from Arizona, you know, we all have our comfort levels.

Wind, freezing line in the guides, holes freezing over every five minutes...thanks, but I'll keep my tent and keep prayin' for sunny, calm days when I don't have to use it!
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[PBH]

I'm convinced. I think I'm going to join in, and get myself a tent.

I was looking through a sale catalog from Cabela's comparing different models, sizes etc. That's when it hit me: Why buy new???

I think I'm going to just take a trip up to Fish Lake this weekend. But I'm not going to be fishing for trout or perch. I think I'm just going to go up and go hike the east shoreline looking for a pop-up tent shelter! I'm willing to bet that with the wind that blew last weekend I can probably find myself a "new to me" shelter along that shoreline! Sure, it might be a little damaged, but it's probably nothing I can't fix.

Anyone else need one? I'd bet I could find two!
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[Duckbutter]

I'm sure you can, but you will need to do some surgery where the hubs tore and the ice anchor holes ripped off the bottom. You might find some small children and sleds as well.

I just want to fish in less than hurricane winds there.
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[PBH]

[quote Duckbutter]

I just want to fish in less than hurricane winds there.[/quote]

Just watch the weather forecast and plan a trip for a day or two when there isn't a storm front moving through Utah!
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