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1/15/12

Provo River, Lunch Hole, Starvation Reservoir

Last week's fishing was pretty slow, so I didn't bother to make a report for it at the time.  A really nice trip to Thousand Lake Mountain was planned, but it fell through at the last moment, leaving me with limited resources for much of a trip.

The Provo River is where I ended up and the fishing was rather dismal for what I'm used to.  Despite the slow fishing (3 small browns all day), the scenery was nice and it's always a pleasure to get out and wet a line anyway.

A few bald eagles were hanging around the area and this one decided to pose for me.


Another treat was seeing some swans in the backed up section of the river, just upstream from Deer Creek Reservoir.


Nothing was working for anyone fishing the river that day.  Flies, lures, bait...NOTHING!  Finally, after fishing for hours, a nighcrawler rested on the bottom of a deeper pool below a riffle got some bites.  Luckily, these dinks were hooked in the lip and successfully released.



In the middle of the week, I stopped at the lunch hole for a quickie and lucked into a pretty decent brown in the irrigation box.

It was nice to feel a real tug on the line, at least.  This one was also released.


After reading about peoples' success on Starvation's ice lately, I caved and just had to see it for myself.  It was a beautiful day and felt more like October than the middle of January.  Blue skies, no snow, no wind, and healthy rainbows!

 The ice was nearly a foot thick and it felt like a mile with the manual 8" auger I was using.  Luckily I only needed the two holes I drilled.

Having never tried ice fishing at Starvation and only catching trout there once before, I carefully scouted out areas where I believed would be a good place to try my luck.

One spot that stuck out to me was a point at the mouth of a small bay, quickly plunging into deep water.  It seemed safe to assume that any fish passing from the main lake into the bay or vice versa would need to swim by that point.  I also recalled reading that the rainbows were typically around 15 feet deep.

All of this was accurate and most of the day was spent running from hole to hole, attempting to set the hook on time.  Great fun!

The rainbows were all the same size, 17 inches and 2lbs on the dot.  Quite a few were brought up and three round females were kept for the table.



Like I said, the conditions were excellent and it wasn't hard to stay comfortable, even though the temperature hovered around freezing all day.


My setup:


The small bay I made camp at the mouth of:


My holes certainly weren't the first in the area.


Once the bite had vanished for over an hour, my attention turned toward the Strawberry River, below the Starvation Dam.  Some really nice fish are in the river and I've seen plenty.

Unfortunately, the only brown that wanted to play today was on the small side.  A few nice ones teased me by following my lure though.  Oh well, it was a great way to cap off a superb day on the water and a beautiful area to spend the time.





Happy Fishing, Humans.


4 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures!!! Just awesome views of the nature, wildlife and trout!!! One of my favorite bird species happens to be eagles, and the Swedish variant of the bald eagle "Kungsörn" (Royal eagle) hatches just a few miles away from where I live. Even if the trout action is absent the wildlife around where you are saves the day for you.
    Have fun fishing and taking beautiful photos,
    M.O.

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  2. Great photos...I hope that I can make it out there one day to fish some beautiful waters.

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  3. Don't those cold water Rainbows just look majestic in that light? Awesome! I will take a lunch time Brown any day of the week no matter what the size. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Glad you've been getting out...Looks like some good times on the water...great photos!

    Well done sir!

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Like it? Hate it? Drop a line.

Some Background...

WHY FISH?

Why not go jogging, hit the gym, start a garden or whatever it is that normal humans do? What's so fascinating about these slimy little creatures that live in the water?

Fishing is a bit more to me than a hobby or a sport. It's an essential part of life that helps me connect with the Earth in ways similar to the long-practiced traditions of mankind. Wherever man has had a water source, there has been fishing.

It's only natural.

Happy Fishing, Humans.