Hyrum 1-18 Slow for Me

[SkunkedAgain]

Hit Hyrum Monday with the crowds and we moved around several times before I found any fish, then Alan and I got a few, he outfished me as usual, but that wasn't too hard this trip, I only got two 10" perch if I round up...  Boy that water clarity is terrible at Hyrum, up top it looks crystal clear, but put a camera down 27' and it was hard to see a foot, major pea soup down there... We seen some really big fish in the soup, but it was tough to get them to take the bait...  

Did get to try the Clam x-200 on the lake in a non-camping mode and I like it a lot to fish out of, even if it is a pain to load (heavy and awkward) ... I do enjoy the flips for ease of mobility, we were able to try several areas that just didn't have any fish, but rather than stay there and tough it out, we just reeled in and tossed the gear in the sled and cranked up the snowmobiles and moved several hundred yards and tried again until we found a few fish... Really need the mobility now with the fishing getting tougher for the mid winter doldrums...  

Ice was really talking to us and shaking us around a bit, but there seemed to be 7-8" (I didn't measure) so I wasn't worried about going through, but every time I feel that shake like an earthquake I still jump a bit.. I guess playing on the thin ice has made me jumpy... These warmer temperatures are really starting to effect the ice conditions, don't know how much longer we will be able to fish everything we have been able to for the last few weeks... Keep an eye on things, they are going backwards lately, this morning should help we got down close to zero in Cache Valley, but the 40-50's in the afternoons isn't helping things..

One last question, I use the Navionics app on my phone to find areas that I want to fish and for the most part I've really liked it, but I think their map of Hyrum is really tweaked... I was trying to find locations that I expected fish to be in from the contours, but then I'd go check another spot that was supposed to be shallower or deeper and would find it wasn't accurate at all.  I hope they get some better data on Hyrum because I really like what the maps can do, but that assumes they are accurate, and they were not... My question for you, if you use the Navionics App is do you find it to be accurate?  If so which lakes are good?  It's time to pay them again for another year and if it's not going to be good data, I may not renew... Just wondering, thanks J

[2knots]

Lol I think you were watching that camera to much I only got 2 also and none of them were close to the size you got, was cool to see the camera in use and watching the fish for more then a glance and the tent made it much easier to see, might have to add one of those to the load to haul out on the ice. Fun day again on the hard deck, appreciate the invite. Off to chase steelhead on Friday for a week so it will be February befor I get on the ice again, hope it cools off a bit so the ice season isn’t shortened.

[SkunkedAgain]

Lol I think you were watching that camera to much I only got 2 also and none of them were close to the size you got, was cool to see the camera in use and watching the fish for more then a glance and the tent made it much easier to see, might have to add one of those to the load to haul out on the ice. Fun day again on the hard deck, appreciate the invite. Off to chase steelhead on Friday for a week so it will be February befor I get on the ice again, hope it cools off a bit so the ice season isn’t shortened.

Alan, you only kept two but remember the one at least that you put back in the tent, or was it two that you let go... So I know you for sure had three... not that I was counting because I was behind... Anyway best of luck on the big steelhead trip, those fish are amazing and sure hope you get great weather so you can fish a predictable river.. looking forward to a full report with pictures... Later Jeff

[Fisheneer]

Regarding the maps on Hyrum, I haven’t found any thing that works. So, a kayak, tube, or boat in the summer with a gps has been my only solution. At least that has been my best success. That assumes I can try and do math to correct for the difference in water depth, which normally I get reasonably close.

By the way, is it just me, or does the vegetation seem much taller this year. I was running into weeds in nearly 20 feet where I normally was only seeing it in 8 to 10. You seeing the same? I’m thing this may be related to the mess down at the bottom.

[SkunkedAgain]

Regarding the maps on Hyrum, I haven’t found any thing that works.  So, a kayak, tube, or boat in the summer with a gps has been my only solution.  At least that has been my best success.  That assumes I can try and do math to correct for the difference in water depth, which normally I get reasonably close.

By the way, is it just me, or does the vegetation seem much taller this year.  I was running into weeds in nearly 20 feet where I normally was only seeing it in 8 to 10.  You seeing the same?  I’m thing this may be related to the mess down at the bottom.

I guess i need to fess up here, i actually have a fish finder that sends mapping data to Navionics and if I would spend more time fishing in summer months we would have better maps of Hyrum, but I only went out a couple days with that Vexilar finder since it's a cheaper model it doesn't do as good of a job as my Humminbird, so I don't use it real often, but when I do, it will make maps around my path of travel... Part of the reason the north side of Hyrum is more accurate than the south side... So probably my fault for not providing more info for them to make maps from... plus I need to criss cross travel paths to get more accurate data, and I didn't do that... So bad on me... Anyway you must be fishing a different area than I am for finding that much vegetation, so far I've been on sandy or rocky flats with no growth... I suspect you must be fishing the east end where it grows better... I've been closer to the ramp and swim beach, with a little venture to the south side, but I really haven't gotten into the east end much yet... Guess I figured with the lower water, that it wouldn't be very deep up in that end this year...  I wonder if that is what is making all the green blizzard in the lower depth of the lake this year... Might be lots of plankton too, it's sure thick... But the fish were fat down there... Anyway I do really like the maps, my only failure is when I trust them to be correct, you still need to use your tools like sonar to verify that the data is close or not... and if it's not, then don't trust the map to make decisions... but go back to old school methods... or move to where it does prove more accurate...  Later Jeff