To ice or not to ice? That is the question. Utah winters are what ice fisherman wait for. Asking around and checking reports on ice thickness to see if it is safe to walk on is part of the game. I was raised a worm dunker. I was never very good at it. I suppose that I was a little high strung for that type of fishing. As I get older I see the value a little more clearly, especially if you are with the right person and having the right conversation.
I am still a little high strung so although I have been known to drill a hole in the ice and tinkle a jig I still prefer a little more active style of fishing. Living in Utah, that makes winters a very lingering event. With kayak fishing it is near impossible to fish on the ice. Can you imagine if you could even break through the thin ice, where would you throw a luer? Several weeks ago I was fishing the partially iced Utah Lake with my son. He threw his luer first and caught an ice sheet. He was stuck on the sheet as he gave me that look of disappointment. He then began to reel in and drag the ice sheet toward him. Lucky for me he exposed a great fishing spot for me to bring in a nice white bass. Good job son! incidental ice clearing.
Utah Lake is an ice fishing lake however, there have been entire winters where the ice never got thick enough to walk on safely. It happens on occasion. It has a valley location that makes it that way unlike some of the mountain lakes that you can always count on for ice fishing. The valley area will sometimes get 40 degrees weather windows throughout the winter which cause ice melts in Utah Lake. Sometimes these windows can last for a week or two. This causes ice fisherman to search out higher elevation lakes where the ice is plenty thick to walk on. For me I grab the kayak and head where there is moving water entering the lake. That is the first place where the ice will melt. Moving water for a moving fisherman and a diverse fish species gathering.
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