Yesterday we got on 5 inches of ice at Devil Creek reservoir. Trout and large mouths again. I have another friend, also named Shawn. Both fished with me yesterday. The first Shawn just uses a $100 Garmin. But Shawn 2 has a $2000 Garmin live scope. That was awesome watching that live scope. I got a lesson on winter Large Mouths. They do bite in winter. Just not as aggressive. Shawn 2 used a rainbow colored castmaster tipped with wax worms and caught trout and bass. The trout come in fast and attach the castmaster but the bass hang right on the bottom in the weeds and come in slow. Then they just barely bite. The livescope shows the bass in the weeds where my Hummingbird helix 5 just shows the top of the weeds as bottom.

Only if she brings bananas. No Bananas on my boat.

Yesterday we got on 4 inches of ice at Twin Lakes. We were alone on the ice. This is another of my favorite lakes for early ice. Quite a mixed bag of fish. Nice rainbows, large mouths, perch and crappie. My friend Shawn killed the Lg. Mouth Bass, with 14 landed.

If it is two inches in shallow water, out deeper it will be thinner. My dog wanders around, so I can't let her on thin ice. Even though she is a great swimmer, and loves the water, I'm more afraid of her going through, than myself.

I am careful. I use a spud bar and check a lot. I wear a floating parka. But don't expect to ever go through. I will go on 2 inches with just light gear, and only in shallow water. But I don't let my dog on ice that thin. First ice is my passion, I hope not my downfall.

Henry's

Look how close I am from the bank and my truck.

I got up to Henry's on Sunday. 4 inches of ice by the cliffs on the South side. Me and my friend each got a 4 pound cut/bow. But after two hours that's all we had so we moved over by Stanley Springs. I got another one and Shawn got 4 more. We got two more of those 4 pound 22 inch long cut/bows. No brook trout.
And today I hit Chesterfield Resivore. 3 inches of ice. I was first one on the ice there this year. And I usually am. At least three years in a row. It had open water last week.
The first time I dropped a hook in the water, I let it drop to the bottom, (only 6 feet deep)
and before I could tighten the line I had a 5 pound Rainbow on. Then after no marks on sonar in a half hour I moved ten yards out, to 10 and 11 feet of water. Still only 30 yards from my truck. And I got 5 about 1 1/2 pounds. Then my pole back at 6 feet with sucker meat got a 3 pound Rainbow.

I mostly use a 6" Nills with a 1/2" drive drill. If kept sharp it cuts through ice 1" per second and could be used 1 handed. My drill has 450 ft. lbs. of torque and can wrench it out of my hands occasionally.

Thanks hack. I've been pheasant hunting with my awesome 8 year old Wiemeriner hunting dog. I think this might be my best dog ever.

Henry's is starting to freeze. I was on the ice up there in October 2 and 3 years ago.
Yee Haw.

And my new best fishing buddy used to fish the Clearwater around the Lewiston area. He has a nice boat and would mostly back troll with a big lipped bass plug of some kind. He said it was all he used, and it would work from the bank also.
And what did happen to Catfish Hunter anyway. I hadn't noticed he was gone.

It is great to hear they are back. To bad the numbers aren't as good over here on the Salman river yet. I used to chase them from the Wilderness area above Salman (city) all the way down river to way past Chalis, bank fishing. Haven't been for 6 or 7 years. Of course I tried shrimp and other things, but we always did best with egg roe. I was just starting to try bobber fishing when we gave up because no fish. I like your idea about adding the weight to the bobber. No matter what you use the hardest part of Steelhead fishing is detecting the bite. If there is any secret to bank fishing, it might be to constantly mend your line, like a fly fisherman. I use white braid so I can see it good.

Nice. I can't wait to get on the ICE. I'm always one of the first ones. First ice is awesome fishing up there.

I'm from Roy. I have a Utah lifetime license so still fish there a lot. And channel cats are my favorite. I know there are some small community ponds with cats, but mainly you have Utah lake or Willard Bay. Even though Utah Lake is way low, they are still catching cats up to 30" and ten pounds. Chunks of White bass or small whole wb for bait. And I have always done good there with fresh shrimp or carp meat.
I've mainly fished Willard Bay this year. It was on fire the last of May and all of June. Trolling Flicker shad cranks or bottom bouncing with worm harness, you never knew what you would catch. Walleye, Wipers or catfish and even some big perch. Trolling up to two mph. But it is slow right now. Willard has Gizard Shad Planted for food. And right now there is a huge die off of 1 1/4" baby shad. They are everywhere, mainly floating near the top of the water. But we have still been getting some cats, drifting small chunks of chub meat on floating jigs (fligs) 1/2 to 1 mph. Last Friday we caught 20 cats between 7 am and noon.
There are some spots at Willard and Utah Lake for bank fishing, if you don't have a boat.