Another unseasonably warm winter day ahead.  Highs expected in the upper 40’s today.  So, with so much sunshine, we are headed for the ice cap on Rockport for another attempt to find a finned and tagged fish!  Wish us luck!

Hopefully more pictures will be taken today than last time and more will be added to this report later on.

It’s fish time!

Bears Butt

Jan. 2012

Well the fishing wasn’t really fast, but we did manage to land about 8, but the special thing was one that Edjukateer caught and while he was fighting it, it actually came up in Weasels ice hole!  And Weasel was at least 15 feet away from Edjukateer fishing.  Watch the video and listen in the background!  I have never heard of this happening before!

Bears Butt

Fishermen are sort of weird.  First off they poise themselves against a pretty crafty finned animal with strange habits.  Each species has its own cleverness that makes the challenge to catch them a game to the fishermen.  Every fisherman I know would like to catch the “big one” every time they hit a lake or stream, but that does not happen all that often.  Maybe it’s just getting out and trying that keeps me and my fishing buddies going.  After all, there is a finned critter cruising past my minds eye right now and it is the biggest fish in the lake.

Fishermen are also crafty on their own.  Ever go into a sporting goods store and look at the assortment of fishing items on the wall?  That is a fun thing to do and the next time you go in, look especially at the names of the things.  Not necessarily what the packaged thing is, but just the name.

Some are called “rat finkies”, “ice flies”, “paddle bugs”, “gitzits”, “swedish pimples”, “daredevils” and there are a ton more.  And then you get into the “sub species” of the names…”tube jigs” can come in sizes ranging from “minis” to huge 8 inch monster pieces of plastic!  Oh and the colors…red, pink, white, green, black, blue, pumpkin, crayfish, oil, pumkin seed and on and on.

Maybe today you should venture into a store that sells this stuff and wander through the aisle with this stuff.  You’ll have a good laugh for sure.  Keep in mind also, that most of these items are there to catch something.  Most of which is the fisherman who imagines his line has one of these “thingies” tied on and a huge fish chasing it down to munch it up and get caught by the fisherman.

Good luck to all!  May your tackle box be filled with these contraptions that caught exactly what is was meant to catch….your bucks!

Bears Butt

Jan. 2012

It seems there have been some tagged trout dropped into a hole in the ice at a lake here in Northern Utah and each of the tags has a number.  Each number corresponds to a prize at a local establishment and fishermen who care to try and catch one or more of these little fish will be rewarded according to the pre-set prize related to the number.  29 seems to be the total number of tags!

Today, my son Mitch, nephew Edjukateer and I are going to meet up with some good friends and go to this lake and try our luck at pulling out a trout with a tag.

They are calling this a “challenge” as opposed to a “contest”, because it does not cost anything to try and catch a fish.  Contests usually cost you an entry fee.  The challenge began yesterday, Jan 1, 2012 and continues until Mar. 1, 2012.  Two full months to catch 29 fish.  And what if there are no tagged fish caught?  Well, there will be 29 fish in the lake with tags and people will catch them and put their hand on their chin and wonder just what it all means.

I’ll try to remember to take pictures of todays event and post them up on this as a continuation.  Wish us luck!  By the way, todays weather in the local area is calling for a high of 41 degrees and at the lake it is calling for a high of 49!  What gives with that?

Later!

Bears Butt

Jan. 2012

Back home by 4:30 p.m.  We caught a bunch of trout today, I’d guess in the neighborhood of 25 between the four of us, maybe even closer to 30.  A couple went upwards of a pound and a half, but most were about 14 inches long without much weight.  Here is one of mine.

It seemed like everyone was catching fish.  You would look up the shore and see people pulling in fish.  Then look down the shoreline and see people pulling in fish.  Look out toward the middle of the lake and see people pulling in fish or fish flopping on the ice.  It was a wonderful day to be out fishing!  Tons of people all with the same idea….get out in the sunshine!  It was at least 35 degrees out there, sunny and a slight breeze to remind you not to go to sleep.

But, none of our fish had a tag…:-(

We heard there was a tagged fish turned in at the store, but when we asked the lady there on our way down the mountain, she said there was some guys who brought in a fish that had a hole in the dorsal fin and they said the tag fell out when they pulled the fish out of the water….sorry guys….no banana!

A fun filled day!

Bears Butt

Jan. 2, 2012

For some reason this year my ice auger is giving me fits.  The blades keep falling off!  For those of you who have ice fished and owned a hand ice auger you know that there is nothing more frustrating than to go fishing and not be able to cut your way down through the ice in order to fish.  That puts you on the bum to get someone else to cut your hole for you or to go see if you can borrow someones ice auger.  Not a good scene either way in my opinion.

Sure, if I see a guy trying to drill a hole and it just isn’t working, I’ll grab up my auger and go and offer to cut him a few holes.  And of course they are way happy that I have offered and even offer to buy me a drink or give me some of their fishing gear or whatever as payment.  I always refuse and just do it because that is the way ice fishermen are.

Well, with my problem this year it has now cost me the price of a new pair of blades!  $35 locally!  I was drilling a hole in Pineview yesterday and my blades cut down through the ice and I pulled the auger up and handed it to Edjukateer so he could cut his and he complained about the way it was cutting.  When he pulled the auger up out of his partially drilled hole, it was missing one side of the blades (there are two on each auger).  I told him it would be down in the ice shavings of his hole.  He removed the ice shavings and there was no blade there.  I looked down my ice hole and there 15 feet below me laying in the mud was that ice blade!  Damn!

I usually come prepared for these sort of things and so we changed out the blades for a new set.  But my mind is saying “Auger building folks.  Please figure out another way to attach those blades so they can’t just come off and float down to the bottom of the lake”!  Now ask yourself if you were an ice auger building company.  Would you want your blades to not fall off after a season or two of use?  Probably not.  So keep building them that same old way.

But, me, as a consumer wants something better than their design.

Today, I got to thinking.  Actually it was the first thought I had this morning when I woke up.  Could I use a plain old every day bolt and use a lock washer and nut and secure it that way?  Is the pitch of the blades such that the bolt head would interfere with the cutting ability of the blades?  I think, they have probably figured out every angle to get me to have to buy new blades when I lose one.  And then I think, if the bolt head is slightly above the cutting edge, I could grind it off and make it work.  I’m setting myself a goal to investigate that today, once all my other “chores” are done.  And so it was, and so I did investigate!

I dumped out my can of bolts and rummaged through the thousands of them and finally found two that had the same thread as the tapped hole of the auger blade.  It happens to be 10X32 (whatever that means).  One of my bolts was about 3 inches long, the other about an inch.  Both went through the mounting point on the auger just fine.  Then I went to find a lock washer and nuts to fit them.  I did not find a nut, but I did find a “wing nut” that fit each perfectly!  I was a happy guy!

So, my new found bolts just happened to have screw driver ends.  One was a phillips head while the other a flat blade head.  So, what else is new?  I can deal with all of this as long as it works.  I put them on and secured the wing nuts down as best as I could using the screw drivers I have and they seemed to be pretty tight.

Then I looked closely at the pitch of the blades in relation to the head of the bolt sticking up.  Using both of my eyes together at first and then independently after that, I could see the heads of the bolts were very close to being even with the edge of the blade, even with the dramatic pitch of the blade mount.  It will be close if not a problem.

The ice is formed down at Willard Bay and so I loaded up the dog and headed down to try out the blade.  At the bay I walked out onto the ice (brave of me huh?  Not really, there had been a ton of people walk out on it the past day or so and there were three guys out there fishing.  I knew it was safe.)  and placed the auger blade edge down and thought about saying a little prayer (but didn’t) and began to turn the auger slowly.  It was cutting the ice!!!!!  I was a happy guy once again.  And I turned it faster and faster until it dove for the bottom of the lake!  YES!  I am a happy, happy guy now!  It worked!  I should never lose another ice auger blade again!

Back home, I hurried and put things back to where they should be and headed to the “Mans Store”, Smith and Edwards, where they have everything you want, if they can find it!  The Holy Cow store!  The Ikea for  Rednecks store.  If any store around will have my 10 X 32 bolts and lock washers and wing nuts they will have them.

Sure enough!  Two friendly guys there found me exactly what I was looking for and all the time we talked fishing and where they were biting and on what were they biting and all of us were excited to hear and see and do!  AND, they are anxious to see if this idea is actually going to work.  I have to give them both a report after my next outing.  And I sure hope my report is going to be a positive one because that time is tomorrow!  With the Grandkids.  Wouldn’t Grandpa look stupid if he pulls out the auger and it won’t cut a hole?

So, here are some pictures of the end result of putting it all together.  Do you think it will work?  Tomorrow will tell for me!  And I’ll report on here if it worked or not as well.  Maybe one of you will find it a useful idea and employ it in your ice fishing adventures!

So, here is a picture of the bolts going through the blades and then through the mounting points on the auger and held with the locking washers and wing nuts.

From this angle, if you look at the sharp edge of the blade on your left and compare it to the heads of the bolts protruding out of the blade on the right it looks like the inside edge of the cutting blade is actually higher than the inside bolt head.  Maybe it’s just the angle of the picture in relation to the blades/bolt heads.  Let’s take another angle look.

This angle shows that the bolt head is actually below the leading edge of the cutting blade.  But is it enough for the blade to actually do its cutting and not be dragging on the uncut ice behind the blade?  Tomorrow will tell.  Let’s look at another angle.

I am thinking that I am seeing the inside edge of the blade on the opposite side of the auger is higher than the bolt head on the inside of this side blade (does that make sense?)  I’m pretty sure I am seeing the cutting edge of that blade over there on the other side and it is higher than the bolt head that is the farthest form my eye on this side of the auger.  HMMM.  This just might work.

Take a look at the setup again.

Well, wish me luck on this one.  The grandkids are counting on the old grandpa to lead them into some action on the ice covered fish pond called Mantua tomorrow and this little blue bad boy must provide!

By the way, isn’t that beer can a nice looking one?  It adds a little color to an otherwise blue and white world!

Bears Butt

Dec. 2011

NEXT DAY!

The fishing was lousy!  MaKenzie caught one bluegill and most of us had a bite but for the most part it was terrible.  A quarter inch of water on the ice met us and before we were done the wind had blown the water from the west side of the lake over to where we were and we were standing in almost an inch of water when we left.  Not the best of ice fishing conditions.

But I must report the ice augers worked!  I was so very happy when they dug into the ice and made for short order holes!  So, I will never lose another ice auger blade to it falling into the lake or stripping the bolt and coming off and any other way that they cause grief and un-wanted fishing time.

So there you have it!  I don’t have to weld the end of the bolt onto the blade and grind off the excess.  Just put in the bolts, add the lock washer and twist down the wing nut!  Done!  Fishing time is good once again!

Bears Butt

Still Dec. 2011

Decided to head up to Pineview for a “first ice of year” fishing trip with Tracy “Edjukateer”.  We were on the ice about 9:30 a.m. and this is what the lake looked like from the boat ramp.

There were a half dozen or so people fishing in and around the boat docks, but no body anywhere else.  We walked that direction and talked with one guy who had been on the lake for some time.  He had drilled a lot of holes and said the ice was a good 5 inches thick.  Lots of fish showing on his fish finder but none taking any bait.  We decided maybe we should fish in shallower water and so we went down the bank and toward the shore.

Fished there for awhile, no bites.  Moved out, no bites.  Moved to the other side of the docks, no bites.  We decided to try one more place.  Just out from a point of land to the South of the docks.  The ice was crystal clear.  Looking down into the water below our feet you could see the brush and moss growing on everything.  There were places where you had nothing to reference how thick the ice was.  No bubbles frozen in down at the bottom of the ice.  Nothing on top except smooth slick ice on top.  It looked like you were going to step right off into 10 feet deep of water.  The very weirdest thing I think I have ever experienced.

We drilled a “test hole” to see how thick the ice was.  Still a good 4 inches, but that did not change the strange feelings we both had about being on that ice.  We slid ourselves out a few more steps and then the ice cracked around us like it was going to drop us into the drink!  We both took quick deep breaths so that when our heads went under we would have some breath in us in order to swim to the surface.  But we did not break through.  Instead we decided to drill a couple of holes right there and do some fishing.  A solid 4 inches of crystal clear thick ice was under us.  The safest ice God makes.

I lost a blade on my ice auger when I drilled my hole and we had to put on new blades.  We fished for maybe another 15 minutes and the sounds the lake was making caused us both quite a bit of anxiety.  I said out loud, “Keep convincing yourself that these sounds are those of ice being made”.  The lake moaned and growned and popped and crackled and some of the cracking went clear across the lake like cracking thunder…..We decide to go somewhere else and not on that lake either.  We headed for Causey Dam.

Knowing the fishing reports for Causey were for slow fishing.  It could not be slower than that at Pineview and we also knew that the ice on Causey was close to 10 inches thick.  Just right for driving “your” truck onto safely.  Notice I said “your truck”, not mine.

We got there around 1 p.m. and scooted down the bank with the bare essentials.   An ice auger, our buckets, bait and a drink or two.  We used some holes that other folks had drilled earlier.  We quickly found the water to be about 20 feet deep below us and that should do for trout.

Dropping the lines down we used small pieces of fresh shrimp for bait and we waited for a bite.  A long time coming but finally my pole started showing signs of a water inhabitant trying to get my bait off the hook.  I set it and it pulled really hard.  A nice fish was on.  It took awhile to get him in and onto the ice, but it was the first every Tiger Trout I had ever caught.

What a beautiful fish.  Notice the hat is off and my bibs are zipped down.  It was a very nice, warm winter day.  Too much for all the warm clothes.

It wasn’t long before Edjukateer changed up his bait and put on a “fairly fresh” minnow and dropped it down.  BAM!  He had a nice bite but missed the fish.  Dropping down again and in short order another bite.  This one softer, but still the indicator that a fish was very interested in his minnow.  BAM!  Fish on!  And another Tiger Trout came to the ice.  Good job Edjuakteer!

We stayed a couple more hours but did not have another bite.  We left the lake about 3:30 and headed home.  A great day to be out fishing!

Bears Butt

Dec. 2011

My wonderful wife picked me up a very nice 4 person ice hut for Christmas this year.  I have never had one before now.  I have been in ice huts before and believe me they make the ice fishing very nice especially if the wind is blowing.  At least 20 degrees warming inside the hut.

This bad boy does not have a lot of windows, in fact it only has two on opposite sides of the hut and they are only about 8 X 14 inches but that is plenty of light while ice fishing.

The hut claims 4 people can fish in it at the same time and I think it will, it measures nearly 7 ft. square and is 7 ft. tall.  Plenty tall enough for most guys.

It weighs in at 26 pounds so it will be a bit cumbersome to take fishing, but once on the ice it will be a great thing to have.

There was a heater with the deal as well….very lucky me!  The grandkids are going to love this thing too and this Thursday we are going out and give it a go!

Bears Butt

Dec. 2011

http://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/rockport/rafterbfishchallenge

Went ice fishing today with Brandon.  Met up with Barney and Parker Barnett on the lake.  Mantua Reservoir that is.  I wanted to target blue gills and try to stay away from the trout.  Well it worked partly.

We caught several trout and six keeper blue gills.  Missed a ton of bites and in all had a great time.

I think Parker outfished us as I ended up two quarters short of what I started with.  I had been fishing for at least a hour and a half before he even got there and within 15 minutes he had 3 of my quarters!  I love ice fishing!  Like Parker said, you can be fishing two feet from the next guy and not getting a bite, while he is catching fish one after the other.  That was sort of the case today.  We were not even 10 feet away from each other and bam…he was yelling fishon!….

It is always fun!  Thanks guys!

Bears Butt

Dec. 20, 2011

Yesterday I got all my honey doos done before noon and was heading back home with nothing special in mind.  I thought to myself…Why Not Go Fishing?…..a good thought for sure.  I called Brandon and asked him what was going on…he said nothing was going on….so I asked him about the thought I had and he said, Sure!  And so he started rattling the kids to see what interest there was with them…Makenzie was on the phone with a friend and had just made a plan to go over to her house to play…WOAH!!!  What a dilemma she had now!  She had just made plans to go to a friends house to play, and suddenly out of no where comes an invitation to go fishing!  Drama goes on!

As quickly as the drama began it ended with the decision made to go fishing!  Good choice!

We were all bundled up and on the ice by 2 p.m.  The forum guys had said the ice was a good 4 inches thick which made me not too nervous.  We used holes that other guys had drilled and were leaving the lake as we got there.  I figure holes is holes when it comes to ice fishing.  But I will drill holes if the holes don’t seem to be too productive.  Sometimes drilling a hole just a foot away from a non-productive one will work…it’s all about luck right?

Anyway, as we fished, I noticed the ice was only about 3 inches thick, which made me nervous, but just a bit.  The ice was not cracking around us.  But there was evidence of it dipping which allowed water to flow out of the many holes the others had drilled and as they fished their big body weight had made for a nice slushy puddle between the holes…..we were not as big as them and so the ice did not dip and I felt we were safer than they were.

Conner was the first to catch a very nice perch!  His first drop to the bottom and he had a fish.  I don’t know who caught the next one, but I think it was Brandon, who caught a nice trout.  Then Conner nails a very nice trout!  And then another!  What is going on here?

Makenzie then nails her first one…a smallish perch, but a trophy fish at any rate..her first ever fish from ice fishing!  She is hooked!

I have not had a bite yet.  HMMMM.  Neither has Cody….HMMMM.  We are fishing with the same bait.  Nearly the same lures.  We are holding our mouths right.  Still no bites.

As the minutes tick by it gets colder and colder and then the sun decides it is time to hide behind the mountain…and THEN IT GOT COLD!!!!!  BRRRRRR!

Suddenly, warmed by the sight of the tip of my pole slowly bowing toward the ice hole.  Then back up it comes and then back down with a sharper pop.  I grab the pole and jerk up…weight!  YES!  Fish on!!!!!!  A nice 14 inch trout comes to the surface and lays itself flat on the ice.  I unhook it and toss it back into the depths!

What?  Conner says I have to keep them!  Opps!  Next time, if there is a next time.

So, Cody is the only one without a bite so far.  I suspect he has been having bites, but does not know how the bite looks.  Ice fishing is much different than fishing during the summer when the fish grab the bait and head for deeper water in a hurry.  Ice fishing bites are like breath against a feather.  If the pole tip moves a quarter of an inch, you just had a GOOD bite.  Sometimes the fish will grab your bait as it swims past and gets hooked and goes crazy.  That does not happen often, but it does happen and that is usually when your pole tip goes into the water, the butt end of the pole goes straight up and the whole thing disappears below the surface of the ice…PLUNK!  But still, Cody has not had a bite.

Minutes have now turned into two hours.  I have caught another trout and so has Conner.  Brandon has also iced another trout and so the total is Seven trout and two perch on the ice….It is VERY COLD and we really need to be going.  But Cody is a die hard and wants to catch a fish.  I can’t blame him….but OHHHH it is SOOOO COLD!  My hands are without feeling.  My ears are falling off.  I did not come prepared to stay this long….did I say it was cold?

Cody’s mittens have gotten a bit wet on the ends and they are frozen to the point he can not get the reel handle to go past the end of the glove when he tries to reel his line in.  Suddenly he pole bends with the weight of a large fish.  He tries his best to reel the line but can’t….HELP GRANPA!  I grab the pole ahead of the reel and start to wind the reel handle.  Cody is yelling GET IT IN!  GET IT IN!  I’m trying and his little hand is still holding onto the butt end of the handle.  A few cranks later and the fish lets the bait go….it’s gone….it’s off.  Sad.

Oh well, that’s fishing!  With the rest very cold they choose to head back to the truck, but not Cody.  He wants to catch a fish.  Grandpa and Cody stay for more brutal punishment.  But not too long.  Maybe 10 minutes and now I can’t stand it any longer and I make him mad by forcing him to go home.

Back at the truck my fingers and ears tell me there is hope they will not fall off, because the blood starts to flow once the outer half begins to thaw.  You know how that feels.  Ouch!  Cry, cry, cry.  Makenzie says, “When I get home, I’m going to get in a hot bath”.  I say, “When I get home, I’m gonna get in the fridge”…….for a beer of course.

It was a fun couple of hours on the ice…..lesson learned….Don’t buy kids princess gloves and socks.  Buy them wool gloves and socks.  Buy them clothing that will keep them WARM when they get wet!  Layering is a very good thing and these three kids had 5 to 7 layers of clothes on their bodies.  It was the hands and feet that got the coldest!  Remember this for the next trip.  By the way, Christmas is coming….WOOL!  WOOL!  WOOL!

Thanks for going fishing with this old guy kids!

Bears Butt

Dec. 2011

With a current temperature of 9 degrees and a high expected to only be 20, I have to ask myself, why am I planning on going duck hunting?  The water is all frozen with at least 2 inches of ice.  There isn’t any open water except the Willard Bay.  Will there be any ducks that do not have their feet frozen into the ice?

AH!  There is hope!  I saw ducks two nights ago and thousands of swans and even though I do not have a swan permit, they are still fun to watch fly past.  I’ll have my camera and maybe!  Just maybe a mallard will come up to where we are hiding.

Bears Butt

Dec. 2011

We ended up leaving the house about 1 p.m., still very cold outside.  Drove down to the duck club and unloaded the gear.  We used the sled I usually use for ice fishing and loaded all the gear in it for the drag out to where I figured maybe there would be some birds.  It was capped with ice about 2 inches thick.  Wow!  I was not prepared for this.

I thought about putting us up in an old box and I began to bail the ice water out of it as Dry Dog set out the decoys.  I bailed for about 10 minutes and there was more water coming in the box than I was able to get out….bag that idea.

So we settled into sitting on our buckets in a stand of phragmites.  It was the coldest day of duck hunting for me so far this year.  Had to break out a couple of hand warmers that I won at Muskrats “unturkey shoot”,   Thanks Muskrat!

We waited in our blind until the season closed for the day…5 p.m….Well nearly, we were back at the truck, loaded and headed out at 5 p.m….cold and ready for a cold drink back at home.

Birds?  Oh ya, I almost forgot.

We had a flock of 7 geese come over and Dry Dog thought for sure we could drop a couple of them.  Six shots later and a whole lot of pellets hitting birds, but none fell…I reckon we did not have any golden beebees in our shells.  We hit them all six shots, but to no avail.

Then after much sitting here comes a lone duck, skimming the slew like a komokazy(sp) pilot right into Dry Dogs lap…Boom!  Too close a shot to do any good.  Boom!  Feathers flew out the back end!  Boom!  Down it comes!  Good Shot Dog!!!!!!!!

Much later, I’m telling Dog about the bearsbutt.com story of his hunt and the sequence of shots of his celebration and suddenly up he jumps and swings on a duck that has snuck in on us from behind…BOOM…down it goes…Good Shot Dog!

So for all of you keeping score….I shot three times at the geese and got zero birds.  Dry Dog shot a total of 7 shells and has two birds!  Not bad for a guy who has not been out hunting ducks since I took him last some two or three years ago.

Thanks for joining me Dog!

Another fine day, even though it was colder than heck, day in the field!

Bears Butt

Dec. 5, 2011