Ice Fishing

While Matt and co were down south having fun, I found myself at my parents house with nothing to do. Thankfully, my dad approached me that Friday night and asked me if I'd like to go fishing with him, my uncle Wade, cousin Derek, and Wade's father-in-law Darrel, and brother-in-law Tyson, the next morning. They were headed to Whitney Lake up in the Uintahs, just off the Mirror Lake Highway. The road in to the actual lake was snow packed, so it would be 15 miles in on a snowmobile and 15 out. Normally I would have probably tried to find an excuse to tell him no; not because I didn't want to go, but because we were to leave at 4:30 in the morning and all my winter gear was up in Logan. This time however, I  took the high road and agreed to go. We scrounged up some old snow bibs and a good warm jacket and I was ready to go.

Darrel 

4:30 came super early and instantly I began to question whether or not I had made the right decision the night before. After a quick breakfast we finished loading up the car and were on our way to meet everyone at Darrel's house in Roy. When we got there I was grateful to see that the snowmobiles were already loaded in the trailer and ready to go. Wade, Derek, and Tyson arrived within ten minutes and we piled in two cars and headed towards Evanston.

My first fish

It took around two hours to get through Evanston and to the service parking lot where we unloaded the snowmobiles. Our cars told us the temperature outside was a bone chilling 4 degrees; albeit was still dark. Between the six of us there were four machines and a tow-sled, which held our gear. I hopped on back of Derek's and we set off on an extremely cold ride to the lake.

Wade looking good for the camera

By the time we got to the lake it was light out and we had our pick of spots because no one was there. Once we chose our place we threw down the tarp and unloaded the sled. Me and Derek used the snow shovels to clear six areas for fishing and Wade started the auger. Luckily, we had a gas powered one that breezed through the three-foot thick ice to the water below. We rigged our poles with a small fly and tipped the hook with a mill-worm. Not five minutes in we all had our first fish of the day, and from there didn't ever look back. 

Dad and his "monster"

We fished for four or five hours and had a great time. What our fish lacked for in size, we made up for in numbers. Derek led the pack with a whopping 38 fish, while Darrel and Tyson brought in 24 each. Wade ended up with 16, me 14, and my dad caboosed it with 12. It was well worth the trip out there and I'd do it again soon.