Ice fishing trip to Wyoming. 122020

[Mahigeer]

Once more the winter finally arrived and I got going to my ice fishing trip.
Since last trip of last winter, I had spent a lot of time in improving my gear as well as some money.
Could not wait to try them all.

This time was a reservoir called Flaming Gorge. It is a big reservoir that is both in states of Utah and Wyoming. The Wyoming section freezes, but not the Utah section. I again fished with some friends who live in Utah and like to fish the Gorge.

This is a travel log as well as a fishing report. I even went to a state penitentiary in a town called Rawlins in Wyoming!!

So, pour your favorite drink, relax and enjoy the scenery pictures and the report.




1-This was the coldest temperature in Wyoming that I encountered.







Thursday, January 2nd, 2020




Left home around noon on the busy freeways going east and after a stop at Mad Greek’s café for some Gyros (pronounced…you ros) and other stops, got to hotel in Las Vegas around 6:00 PM.



2-Leaving Los Angeles, the first sighting of snow was Mt. Baldy from 210 freeway going east, around Upland.




3-It was at 3:30 PM and the traffic was busy.





4-However, I was picturing the empty highways that were to be traveled later in the trip.




5-I call this picture…sunset in the rear view!!




6-All the way to Las Vegas, there were many vehicles traveling both ways. Lots of trucks as well.
Being a day after New Year, it was mostly on the opposite direction from Vegas. I had planned it that way.



Hotel was next door to Bass Por Shops. Played some BJ and went to bed for early check-out in the morning.






Friday, January 3rd, 2020




Left Vegas around 7:00 AM and after many stops got to Green River around 10:00 PM! It was very hard to keep my eyes open. Roads were clear but long and straight. 80 MPH is speed limit in most of Wyoming. Next time I will stay in Provo, Utah overnight to break the long hours of driving.



7-First sighting of major snow on the ground. Thankfully the roads were clear.




8-I enjoyed some coffee while resting from driving and listening to classical music from an unlikely source.

I even recorded some, but I don’t seem to be able to transform it to my computer.



9-Snow at another stop for rest and coffee.




10-It starting to get cold now.




11-Farming fields are now covered with snow.







Saturday, January 4th, 2020





Today, I fished with Jim and his friend who live in Utah. They had left home around 4:00-5:00 AM to be on ice at first light.


12-I just parked next to Jim’s car and am looking for them. Fortunately, the phone worked and I was able to see him waving his arm.
Between the black SUV that is facing me and a bush, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the distance and after the clear ice patch is a very small black line.



It is always a long distance for me to go to where Jim likes to fish. I have to take many rest stops.



13-Jim is looking at the flasher. He can tell when the fish is moving just by looking at flashes.



14-This is called a flasher unit. It is a fish indicator.


Red on top by zero is the surface. Red at about (14) ft. is the solid bottom. In between the green marks are fish, lure, or an object floating inside of the sonar cone. In this instance my lure [at (9) plus ft.] has fallen from the top to a possible fish. When the two meet, I have to be ready for the bite and hookup. If I pull my lure up and the other green line follows it; it is definitely an interested fish.
The other green lines to the left of the bottom red could be interference. Sometimes there are many green lines between the bottom and top. Is it interference, or fish? Knowing the difference is what makes an angler like Jim great at catching fish.



15-Here is a sample of green line on flasher.




16-His friend that I met last year had come too. All excellent fisherman. Ice or otherwise.




17-My spot to fish. Looking at the distance you may see many tents (mostly red), and the Marina.




18-Got my first fish around 3:00 PM.





19-I got this LED light stick for attracting fish, but I submerged it way deeper than designed, I guess.


Can’t tell if it worked as far as attracting fish. Later used it in shallower water for Burbot.



20-By the time I got to Jim and his friend about 10:00 AM, they had about (10) or so fish. Early bite was the key. Later it slowed down.


This is the total catch for the day.
These are lake trout which are actually a family of char. Locally known as “pups”. I guess they get big. They are becoming somewhat invasive, so at this reservoir, the daily limit is (12) for angler with possession limit of 24 total. Only one could be longer than 28”.

We were fishing in about 70 ft. of water. The bottom was about 84 ft. There is a certain temperature that the lake trout likes to hangout.

Jim and company left around 4:00 PM and I moved to a closer spot to my 4Runner.

I landed one more fish before calling it quit around 6:00 PM.






Sunday, January 5th, 2020




Went back to the Buckboard Marina area as the day before, but much closer to the shore.
It was very slow until late afternoon where an average size “pup” was caught and released.



21-Cold for this Southern California angler, but I traveled there to fish, so no complains.


As I was packing, I saw a local couple arriving to stay and fish in the night for Burbot.






Monday, January 6th, 2020




22-On the way to another fishing location called Firehole.



It was as usual a very nice scenery before getting to the spot. I was the only one most of the day until someone else showed up.
I camped at a previously fished spot while fighting the on and off strong wind gust.



23-I kept seeing a caution yellow signs which read “Free Range”. Later I realized that it meant cows could be on the road. I saw their…..on the road long before I saw any cows.





24-I guess a lot of Western movies were shot in Utah with this kind of scenery in the background.




25-For most of the day I was alone in this location called Firehole. Being a weekday did help keep the “crowds” away.
I had seen many promising reports by others from this place, so I decided to try it.


Not too many flashes on flasher, or fish on the camera. Finally hooked a pup, but lost it at the hole.






Tuesday, January 7th, 2020




Decided to take a break from fishing today. Loading and unloading, getting dressed up for the ice fishing had me worn out.

Today was for sightseeing. It was a beautiful and sunny day.

I decided to make a tour around the reservoir by going south to Utah, then east and back north on the opposite side of the reservoir to Wyoming.



26-This is the Utah part of the Flaming Gorge. I am told due to depth of the water and amount of water; it does not freeze like the Wyoming section of the reservoir.









27-Shame on the truck driver who left this.




28-On the way back from the bottom of the reservoir in Utah, while going north, I noticed a deer crossing the road.
I safely backed up and took the following pictures.

A closer look at the picture will reveal a deer. Look between the two yellow signs and the two trees in between the yellow signs.


29-I Love to see real nature while traveling in places like this.




I had seen a dead doe before on the side of the road before. It was on the way to Heber City, Utah.



30-This is the bottom section of the reservoir in Utah. Apparently, due to its depth and expanse, it does not freeze.





31-There is also a dam at the southeast corner of the reservoir.




32-These must be nets to prevent fish from going through the dam.



It was about (190) miles round trip from and to the hotel.






Wednesday, January 8th, 2020




Once more today to a new location to fish.


33-This location is called “Lost Dog”. I had seen good reports about this location.




34-There is (10) miles of treacherous road to get to this place. Snow compacted by other drivers had made it somewhat better.




35-The black spot is my tent.




36-My best fishing day was at this location. The previous reports were not too off.









37-The underwater camera was very useful and made the waiting for fish to show up and bite, more bearable.




38-The combination of camera and flasher, make it much more effective and fun to do ice fishing.




39-One more on the ice.




Stopped around 5:00 PM to make sure I drive in daylight on the off road, but by the time I loaded the 4Runner, it had gotten dark. No problems thankfully.






Thursday, January 9th, 2020




40-Not easy to leave the bed to get into this kind of cold, but that is what one must do to do ice fishing.



Back to Buckboard Marina area.




41-It had started to snow as I was leaving the hotel.




42-However, as I drove toward the reservoir, not only the snow had not been coming down, there was even some sunshine later in the day!!




43-One of my hangouts! You might have seen in my previous report. It has extensive fishing isle.




44-This was south of “Buckboard” Marina.




45-The angler who had the pickup with trailer, made me very jealous with his snowmobile.




46-It is a very big reservoir. A snowmobile or ATV will make the outing much more pleasurable.




Providing there is proven safe ice.



47-This is the boat ramp of the marina. Speaking of the marina; it has new owners. They are building new facilities to stay at the reservoir. I would like that very much. Eliminates 45 min drive from Green River, and one can go for early bites.




48-Enjoy.




49-The hot soup hit the spot when the fishing was slow. Campbell’s chunky soup. ahhhhhh



Got skunked, but recorded some fish action. Stopped at 5:00 PM.






Friday, January 10th, 2020




Once more I decided to rest and drive east toward Cheyenne.


50-I guess this is a German style beer making joint!




51-This river gave its name to the town. Green River.




52-If you look closely, you can see the train. There are lots of business at Green River and Rock Springs that benefit from the train operation. In terms of lodging, eating places and I am sure other needs of the employees.




53-Having heard of Continental Divide and seen the movie with John Belushi, I thought I check it out.


But, it was a road that did not seem interesting.



54-Since Cheyenne, Wyoming was twice the distance, I decided to stop and turn around at Rawlins, Wyoming.




55-Saw many billboards advertising for the sale of Fireworks all year long.


Fourth of July celebration must be something to see in Wyoming.

While taking a rest from driving and having a lunch, I stopped at a Denny’s next to freeway. I asked the waitress if there is anything to see in Rawlins. She said there is a prison tours!!


That may be interesting.


56-They offer tours of the facility like the Alcatraz Island in San Francisco. I was too late.








57-I wonder how safe one feels living across a prison?



Got back on the road toward Green River going west.

58-Not too hard to fall sleep on long drives with roads like this.







Saturday, January 11th, 2020




This would be the second and the last day that I fish with Jim. Since the bite was good in the early hours, we decided to meet early on the ice. I was up at 4:30 AM getting ready to go to the reservoir. I was on the ice, at the same spot at 6:30 AM. The hell with the cold!!



59-Jim and a different friend showed up not much later than me, even though they had a longer travel time.




60-My yearly reunion with these anglers from Utah.



This would be different than last week. I got skunked, and Jim and his friend had (6) pups if I remember right.


Later we moved closer to the shore. About 13 ft. deep to catch Burbot. Jim’s friend caught three small ones. Regulation dictates to keep all Burbot caught.


We packed around 7:00 PM. It had been a long day.






Sunday, January 12th, 2020




Being too tired due to last days long hours, I decided to stay in and rest. I had a lot of packing to do as well as reloading the 4Runner. Thankfully the hotel had a nice TV I my room and I watched both football games.






Monday, January 13th, 2020



This was the day to check-out. The 4runner was packed and after a hardy breakfast at the local dinner, I got on the way to Park City, Utah, via the dangerous interstate freeway (80).



61-A sample of the pole that I hit last year while doing the zig-zag gig on the road.


It cost me over $1200.00 to fix it. Then some @#$%@@#$^& made small scratch on the new paint.



62-The dangerous I (80) going west.



Once more I encountered very dangerous driving conditions. It was not any ice, but rather strong wind to a point that I had to slow to (40) from (80) MPH and put on my hazard flashers.
A truck to my right saw this and gave me a lot of room. It felt like I was somewhat floating in the air, with little control of the 4Runner. I tried some of buttons of various systems, but it actually got worst.

Finally, when I switched to H4 (high 4 wheel) drive, I felt more stable. As I got more confident, I increased speed, and was relieved.

I will try to avoid this section of the road on my next trips. I even saw and reported a SUV that had wheels in the air to 911.


After a visit with my kin Magic (you may recall his story from the past report), I headed to Heber City for an overnight stay.



63-On the way from Utah passed this lake. Not good for ice fishing yet.







Tuesday, January 14th, 2020




Last overnight stop was at the town of Mesquite, NV to rest and play more BJ. I won enough to pay for the hotel in Wyoming!!





Wednesday, January 15th, 2020



One more stop at the Mad Greek Café on the way to Los Angeles and I was home around 5:00 PM

64-Got home to “holly molly it’s hot” climate.



“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home!”



Last word:
Not because I have done it, but I believe that ice fishing has to be the hardest kind of sport fishing there is.
Just to get to the spot to fish safely, it requires a lot of planning and some driving in adverse conditions.

As much as I have begun to love to do it, there are a couple further steps that I have to take to make it more pleasurable. One is to stay in hotels to cut the driving time to not more than six hrs. Not hard to do.
The second one involves more cost and thus harder to achieve. Get a motorized unit to move my sled.
ATV, and snowmobile are two options that come to mind, but now I have found a third one called Snowdog.
https://www.snowdog.com/

We saw one on the reservoir and talked to the owner. Later I found a website and even joined the Facebook group.

We will see.



The end.