Learning To Take The Bad With The Good

Fishing School

The simple truth (regardless of how you mask it) stings from time to time. Even the best plans go terribly wrong and the outcomes are hard to swallow.  One recent ice fishing adventure resulted in disappointment and frustration which directed me towards a second trip which resulted in a different outcome.

From time to time, I am asked to teach fishing seminars.  Mark Hutchings (a long-time friend), asked me to teach a short ice-fishing seminar to some of his construction management students attending B.Y.U.

“You could give us some instruction about ice fishing,” Mark began, “and then we would all go ice fishing on the following Saturday.”

We carefully negotiated our busy schedules, found a date and time and executed the plan.  The seminar (well attended by all accounts) lasted just over an hour and ice fishing equipment, safety, lures, and angling strategies dominated the conversation.

The Classroom

The following Saturday we met at 6:00 a.m. and car pooled to Strawberry Reservoir with around 20 eager participants. Two days prior, I scouted an area close to the parking lot at Strawberry Bay Marina, drilled a few holes (off a point) and caught fish.  True, the catching “failed” my expectations (two fish in 90 minutes) but very popular local fisheries rarely meet my overly-optimistic imagination.

On the day of the event, we arrived, loaded our gear and made our way out on the ice.  Two things bothered me from the start.  First, we couldn’t get within 300 yards of the area previously scouted. And second, our area turned out to be more of a “flat” rather than a “point” (a big mistake looking back).

With two augers going strong we drilled holes, checked depths and covered water from eight feet to 22 feet deep.  In three hours, six strikes and one fish that almost made to through the ice, summed up our adventure.

On the bright side, a few more people learned to fish through the ice, and although disappointed, everyone said they enjoyed the experience.

Let’s Try Again

HOWEVER, I was not satisfied with the results and challenged myself to do better the next time.  Last Thursday afternoon, Mike Tuvell (a good friend from Provo) and I traveled to Strawberry to help Mike catch his first fish through the ice, and to redeem myself from the previous self-deprecating experience.

This time, we did exactly two things well.  First, we walked an extra 300 yards to an area away from other anglers.  We pulled my sled and discovered an ice ridge with open water nearby but after drilling the first hole we relaxed realizing that the hole exposed seven inches of crystal clear ice.

I made the decision to make sure Mike caught fish.  It wasn’t really a decision but rather an obsession, so I drilled our first hole, baited his rig, told him how to watch for a strike and within 30 seconds he caught his first cutthroat through the ice.

We found fish in 17 feet of water so (once again obsessing about Mike catching fish) I drilled two more holes side by side so we had three holes together.  Mike dropped two rigs down one hole while I dropped two rigs down my hole and the fish finder went in the third hole between us.

Success!

“This is great,” Mike chortled, as he reeled in his second fish. “We can watch the fish eat our baits.  It’s like watching a video game.”

It WAS just like watching a video game and in the two hours we caught six fantastic cutthroats, two of which topped 22 inches in length.

Lesson learned. At times, even I find myself in over my head. Twenty people on the ice looking for me to help all of them catch fish didn’t work.  One on one, however, with the tools in place to teach and fish side by side, was and is the way to help someone learn to love this sport.  For more information, contact me at www.donallphin.com.

Please follow and like us: