Ice Addiction Tournament

[MACMAN]

The Gas station in Wanship usually has them. I believe their name is Rafter B. That would be your last chance. I would get them before there.

[Jmorfish]

I just registered.  How are you moving your catch from your hole to the weigh in and back and keeping it alive and healthy, bag of water?

They have given out buckets in the past, and I’ll usually always have one anyways.  Just before 8:00 I use my scoop to ladle a gallon or so of water into a bucket. When I catch one, I throw it in that bucket and head in to have it weighed. They have those hand held shopping baskets in a cattle trough that is filled with aerated lake water, that you can put your fish in. They handle it from there. It needs to swim off to count, so head in when you catch it. Don’t let it die. After fishing the Rockport tournament yesterday, if you do get a fish- you’ll likely place. Don’t let it die. I’ve seen people just carry the fish in, but if there’s a lot caught it will probably freeze if there’s a line. The bucket works good. That’s how I do it, but a bag filled with water would work too.

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I just registered.  How are you moving your catch from your hole to the weigh in and back and keeping it alive and healthy, bag of water?

I forgot to mention, it is a catch and release tournament (for conservation). They release the fish for you after they weigh it. They write your weight on the pass you have zip tied to your jacket, like a ski pass. These guys have thought of everything to eliminate cheating.

So are you saying Rockport had a tournament this past Saturday, and there's one there also this Saturday, the 22nd?

[MACMAN]

I just registered.  How are you moving your catch from your hole to the weigh in and back and keeping it alive and healthy, bag of water?

They have given out buckets in the past, and I’ll usually always have one anyways.  Just before 8:00 I use my scoop to ladle a gallon or so of water into a bucket. When I catch one, I throw it in that bucket and head in to have it weighed. They have those hand held shopping baskets in a cattle trough that is filled with aerated lake water, that you can put your fish in. They handle it from there. It needs to swim off to count, so head in when you catch it. Don’t let it die. After fishing the Rockport tournament yesterday, if you do get a fish- you’ll likely place. Don’t let it die. I’ve seen people just carry the fish in, but if there’s a lot caught it will probably freeze if there’s a line. The bucket works good. That’s how I do it, but a bag filled with water would work too.

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I just registered.  How are you moving your catch from your hole to the weigh in and back and keeping it alive and healthy, bag of water?

I forgot to mention, it is a catch and release tournament (for conservation). They release the fish for you after they weigh it. They write your weight on the pass you have zip tied to your jacket, like a ski pass. These guys have thought of everything to eliminate cheating.

So are you saying Rockport had a tournament this past Saturday, and there's one there also this Saturday, the 22nd?

Yes

[meancuznalfy]

The Gas station in Wanship usually has them. I believe their name is Rafter B. That would be your last chance. I would get them before there.

Thanks, probably have the better half run to twin falls and get some so I'm sure I have them.

[meancuznalfy]

Wow, what a morning, that's quite the tournament, even though I didn't get any fish was interesting to try, lots of great prizes have out too.

[wiperhunter2]

Wow, what a morning, that's quite the tournament, even though I didn't get any fish was interesting to try, lots of great prizes have out too.

Thanks for the report and pics. Looks like a lot of people were there. Sorry to hear you did not have any luck. were you fishing closer to shore or were you able to get on the outside edge? What group did you go out with?

[meancuznalfy]

I was pretty close to the middle of the grid, I was in group D. I had fish under me all morning, just couldn't get them to hit anything, they'd chase a jig 4' off the bottom.
There was a lot of people there, not sure what the winning weight was, but do know it was #1.5 about halfway through, heard rumor that someone caught a #5 trout, did see a really nice perch go by this morning.

[wiperhunter2]

I was pretty close to the middle of the grid, I was in group D. I had fish under me all morning, just couldn't get them to hit anything, they'd chase a jig 4' off the bottom.
There was a lot of people there, not sure what the winning weight was, but do know it was #1.5 about halfway through, heard rumor that someone caught a #5 trout, did see a really nice perch go by this morning.

Could you tell if most of the fish came from inside the grid or on the outside?

[meancuznalfy]

No, I do know a few guys around me caught some, thought I heard a guy in closer to shore said they weren't even marking fish.

[Zeroid]

I’m sitting in tent on Rockport now. No fish on camera or flasher.
One guy told me 5lb June sucker won first.
Will move a few more times and then head home I guess. First time fishing at night except for Provo river long time ago. Edge was sketchy i thought getting on with snowdog. Sleds basically floated across the gap with girlfriend in the last one. She dropped in quite a bit and was nervous…..however we got across ok. Should be alright leaving I hope. Just go fast.

[MACMAN]

We ended up doing pretty good. 4 of 7 in our group ended up placing. I got 6 fish, measured 3 and ended up taking the 23rd spot with a 1.12 bow. We prefished Friday and found it didn’t really matter deep or shallow, it was more of how you targeted the fish. Browns and perch were on the bottom and bows were throughout the water column. My boy Cole lost an absolute giant brown Friday around sunset. The fish had rolled and line wrapped the dead center of the fish. We had it at the hole for at least 5 minutes. Couldn’t get the head or tail up due to the line being centered on the fish. After all that time holding the fish with my arms in the water shoulder deep, I had to cry uncle- couldn’t take it anymore. I let go, he made a run and that was all she wrote. That fish was pretty similar to the size of the macs we catch at Bear Lake. I’m guessing 8-12 pounds- I usually won’t guess size on a lost fish, but this one I had in my hands for quite a while. Luckily it wasn’t in the tourney today! Overall, we had a pretty good day in the tournament. Our group landed 22 fish and had a great time despite the cold and wind. These guys put on an incredible event.

[DailyAngler]

Yah it was a fun time, slow day fishing for sure though. Does anyone know if they post all the results online anywhere?

[wiperhunter2]

I’m sitting in tent on Rockport now.  No fish on camera or flasher.
One guy told me 5lb June sucker won first.
Will move a few more times and then head home I guess.  First time fishing at night except for Provo river long time ago.  Edge was sketchy i thought getting on with snowdog.  Sleds basically floated across the gap with girlfriend in the last one. She dropped in quite a bit and was nervous…..however we got across ok.  Should be alright leaving I hope.  Just go fast.

Wow, you have a brave girlfriend, not only ice fishing but doing it at night. Did you end up catching anything? I would think anything that glowed would be the ticket when fishing at night.

[Zeroid]

She would brave all conditions if it means she can fish.
Not one fish. I think I might have had one nibble but that was when we got there. Finally saw fish on the bottom at 50 feet. Could not entice them to bite, and then they left. Tried bunch of Pats jigs with spikes. Waxies. Night crawlers. Quite a few glo jigs and I also out out green fishing light. Looked way cool but didn’t help with fishing this time.
Any suggestions as to what should be done differently?
Thanks!

Saw so many deer and elk on the road until I got to the gas station. Four large groups of elk and lost count on deer.

[wiperhunter2]

She would brave all conditions if it means she can fish. 
Not one fish. I think I might have had one nibble but that was when we got there. Finally saw fish on the bottom at 50 feet. Could not entice them to bite, and then they left.  Tried bunch of Pats jigs with spikes. Waxies. Night crawlers. Quite a few glo jigs and I also out out green fishing light.  Looked way cool but didn’t help with fishing this time.
Any suggestions as to what should be done differently?
Thanks!

Saw so many deer and elk on the road until I got to the gas station.  Four large groups of elk and lost count on deer.

About all I can think of that you could do different is fish a different lake. It's not that you can't catch fish at night on any lake but it's all about the location. IMO, you should try Pine view if you want to catch fish at night, especially since you have one of those cool green fishing lights.

[wiperhunter2]

We ended up doing pretty good. 4 of 7 in our group ended up placing. I got 6 fish, measured 3 and ended up taking the 23rd spot with a 1.12 bow. We prefished Friday and found it didn’t really matter deep or shallow, it was more of how you targeted the fish. Browns and perch were on the bottom and bows were throughout the water column. My boy Cole lost an absolute giant brown Friday around sunset. The fish had rolled and line wrapped the dead center of the fish. We had it at the hole for at least 5 minutes. Couldn’t get the head or tail up due to the line being centered on the fish. After all that time holding the fish with my arms in the water shoulder deep, I had to cry uncle- couldn’t take it anymore. I let go, he made a run and that was all she wrote. That fish was pretty similar to the size of the macs we catch at Bear Lake. I’m guessing 8-12 pounds- I usually won’t guess size on a lost fish, but this one I had in my hands for quite a while. Luckily it wasn’t in the tourney today!  Overall, we had a pretty good day in the tournament. Our group landed 22 fish and had a great time despite the cold and wind.  These guys put on an incredible event.

Sounds like you did really well, congrats. Did you win any of those cool prizes they had? Did you only catch trout?

[MACMAN]

We ended up doing pretty good. 4 of 7 in our group ended up placing. I got 6 fish, measured 3 and ended up taking the 23rd spot with a 1.12 bow. We prefished Friday and found it didn’t really matter deep or shallow, it was more of how you targeted the fish. Browns and perch were on the bottom and bows were throughout the water column. My boy Cole lost an absolute giant brown Friday around sunset. The fish had rolled and line wrapped the dead center of the fish. We had it at the hole for at least 5 minutes. Couldn’t get the head or tail up due to the line being centered on the fish. After all that time holding the fish with my arms in the water shoulder deep, I had to cry uncle- couldn’t take it anymore. I let go, he made a run and that was all she wrote. That fish was pretty similar to the size of the macs we catch at Bear Lake. I’m guessing 8-12 pounds- I usually won’t guess size on a lost fish, but this one I had in my hands for quite a while. Luckily it wasn’t in the tourney today!  Overall, we had a pretty good day in the tournament. Our group landed 22 fish and had a great time despite the cold and wind.  These guys put on an incredible event.

Sounds like you did really well, congrats. Did you win any of those cool prizes they had? Did you only catch trout?

Yeah, all 4 of us that placed got some cool stuff. I about had to make two trips to get all the stuff home. We got a ton of value in the prizes, 30 (last place) was a $300 hub shelter. I did catch some perch on Friday while fishing for browns and Cole lost that big boy- but yeah, bows were where I figured the money was so that’s what we concentrated on.

[meancuznalfy]

Congrats, sounds like you guys did well, it was a pretty cool experience.

[wiperhunter2]

Any guess on how many people were there in the contest, do you think it was more than last year?

[DailyAngler]

When I asked at registration she said close to 580, cant remember exact number. I wish they would post all the stats from the tournament online.