It’s been another fun filled winter chasing the elusive lunker every ice fisherman dreams of. The boys and I have spent quite a few hours trudging across the frozen hard pan, staring down an 8 inch hole in the ice I drilled by hand, in hopes the line will go tight with a 10# brown on the end of it.
We started out the year at one of our regular spots, Hyrum. After multiple outings there, we realized the fishing was quite a bit slower than in years past. The only fish we were able to coerce into biting was some fairly good size perch. Not quite what I was hoping for being that in years past we had caught some good sized rainbows out of the area. However, to a 4 and 6 year old a large perch seems like the elusive lunker. The picture to the left is the boy’s prize catch.
I decided we were going to head for greener pastures or I guess I could say bluer waters. We ended up in Newton…I know Newton water could never be considered blue but that is where we ended up. Come to find out the fishing was slower than we had anticipated; didn’t seem to bother the boys much…they had found a new hobby when fishing turned slow. Sledding! They wandered off to the nearby bank which rose quite quickly to the field above creating a perfect hill to sled on and then again onto the ice. Sounds fun right. Denny didn’t think so; his bucket, fishing pole, and tackle box was the first to experience the wrath of two boys a
sled and a bit of momentum onto the ice. Needless to say this became their goal from there on out. Every time we went fishing there after that was their plan, crash into grandpa’s crud.
After being disappointed by Newton our focus
turned to porcupine, which has now become my passion, thanks to a tasty little fish called the kokanee salmon. Mmm, mmm good! Not quite the 10# brown we originally attempted to catch while up there but much tastier. I have refined my filleting skills and have been filleting every one of those little critters we can catch. Afterwards, they are taken to Bobby D’s smoker and the result will tantalize your taste buds.
Now that the ice season is winding down making it difficult to get on the ice, I will miss fishing on the hard pan. As I look back at this years ice fishing season there are some good memories; whether it’s pulling Greenwood out of the waters at fishlake, picking Denny’s jigs out of the snow at Newton or doing the fish dance at porcupine hoping it will bring the koke school back around, it’s good to be in the outdoors with the dream of the lunker living on.
