Tubing Rock Cliffs 2/13/06

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Tubing? Yeah, right. Then I woke up. Still 10" - 12" of hard ice, with a couple of inches of snow and frozen slush.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Beautiful day yesterday. TubeBabe and I trudged onto the ice about 9 AM and joined up with Slayerace and Jedburton, who had been there since about 7. They had a few perch on the ice and informed us that "The bite just quit". Those kidders.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While I got my new (used) auger started, TubeBabe accepted the gracious offer from our "guides" to drop her jig into one of the holes they had drilled. Using one of my chartreuse "perch urchins", she iced a nice perch on the first drop.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I finally got my long unused auger to fire up and drilled a hole for me. First drop with a new "silver perch" edition of my urchins, I also got a perch on the first drop. Game on.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We were getting bites often enough to be interesting, but not really killing them. Coldfooter showed up on his snowmobile and set up near the rest of us. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The bite slowed down so Slayerace moved off a ways and I moved off another direction. Coldfooter moved over first to the north side, in the channel, and then nearer the bank on the south side. TubeBabe stayed near Jed, who was a good boy and gave her some tutorial on finesse fishing for the now finicky fishes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Slayerace had found another active group of fish, so I moved closer to him. He had the hot rod and probably outfished all of us. We all caught quite a few perch and too many small rainbows. Jed and TubeBabe also moved over to the second area for the last hour or so before we packed it up about 3.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Coldfooter came back and set up a few yards to the west of us and also got into a bunch of nice perch. He got quite a few rainbows through the day and finished with a 19" brown, after the rest of us had left.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the attached pics, there are a couple of the "piranha perch" caught by Slayerace. Looks like someone set the hook too hard.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Beautiful day to be on the ice. 19 degrees early and 35 in the afternoon. No slush and lots of fish. Great fishin' buddies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thanks to Slayerace who carted the old Tube couple off the ice on his wheeler,...one by one...at the end of the day. That was a long hike back to the car that I was not looking forward to.[/#0000ff]
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[Theekillerbee]

By the looks of things, you guys smacked the perchies around pretty good! Thanks for the report Pat.
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[ironworker]

nice report td.
looks like you guys and gal had a wonderful day.
thanks for sharing
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, Beeman, we done good. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A couple of things I might mention. First, as has been observed by others, all the fish we caught were barfing up small perch fry. Looks like a successful spawn last year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Second, while filleting the perch we kept, we noticed a ratio of about 20 females to each male. Both males and females look ready to pop. The perch typically spawn around the end of February into March, depending upon conditions. Some places they even spawn under the ice.[/#0000ff]
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[Coldfooter]

Tubing Rock cliffs?? I think thats wishfull thinking at this time ol' buddy.. Some how I doubt even you can break much of that ice in that bay while sittin' in your tube..

Hey Pat as always it was great to share the ice with Tubebabe and you.. It was also great to finally meet and share the cap Jed and Slayerace. We didnt get to shoot the bull to much because I found I had the bug to wander,, it happens while I'm in the hunt for a certain species.. Yeah it had to have been a super day for catchin' yesterday because even I was able to squeaked out a couple bites.

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Sorry the lightly wasnt better on the fish, the sun had well set by the time I hooked this brown yesterday..
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Way to smack those perchies, tubemeister and the gang! You guys are the first I've heard of who really got into the perch good this year there. Good news about the perch fry too! So, what depth did you guys find the school in, and how thick was the ice? That sounds like a lot of fun out there at Rockcliff nailing perch and small 'bows with the chance of hooking into a reel burning monster brown!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Perch have been showing up in several areas around the lake, in depths anywhere from about 20 feet to 60 feet or more. Most of the perch from water shallower than 40 feet are fairly small and not very numerous. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Our bigger fish on Monday came from depths of 50 to 56 feet. There were fish on our sonar screens constantly, but they did not always wanna play. Where have I heard that before?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Ice depth was about 12", and strong. No slush.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were rainbows cruising through at mid depths all day. Sometimes they would whack the lures while you were sending them down to perchville. Often they would follow your offerings to the bottom and munch as soon as it stopped. I once went 4 for 4 as fast as I could get the jig back down. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most rainbows were only 12" or 13", but some to about 16". We kept a few for a foil broiling session, and even the smaller bows have good pink meat. They must be feeding heavily on zooplankton, which means there will be plenty for the new crop of perchlets too. All the new water in the lake last year apparently increased the overall fertility of the lake.[/#0000ff]
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[Coldfooter]

There been a few of us chewing on perch from X for over a couple weeks. The key is to work for them buy getting well away from the city..

Today the hunt continues for two specific species in X I havent found yet this ice season but I will!! I hope [crazy]
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[fishwriter]

So, where is Rock Cliffs Reservoir? I must be lost.
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[midge]

They are referring to the Rock Cliffs portion of Jordanelle Res.

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Rock Cliffs is well known by "regulars", but evidently not by everybody. Sorry. At least I didn't use "Lake X", the "insiders" term for Jordanelle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here is a map of the Provo River arm of Jordanelle. Rock Cliffs is the name of the campground and launch area at the far left (east) end.[/#0000ff]
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[fishwriter]

Duh, I knew that. Must be all the snow that is blowing my mind and outside my door.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]There, there, that's okay. Sounds like you are suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Doctor TubeDude prescribes a fishing trip. Take two casts and don't call me in the morning...unless it is to go fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[bassrods]

Coldfooter what is the two specific species you are after......


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[Hellsangler69]

Nice brownie Don . You wouldn't be looking for eyes in that water too . Last sunday my bigger perch were on a point only 20' deep but I've been seeing something in 80' of water , but have yet to get it to eat . . I'll still be searching too . I am surprise the browns have been hard to get lately but blame it on the moon .
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[Coldfooter]

Bassrods: HA69 touched base one one of the two. If the eye do exist in numbers in that pond they should be putting on the perspawn feed bag real soon.. I'm sure you know what the other is BASSrods.[]
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[Coldfooter]

LOL yep,, Maybe we need to hook up and surround em []
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