A video of some of the action can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDb0btwLBVQThe Holidays are here! Instead of going back to our home state of Minnesota for Thanksgiving a few of us transplants decided to save the money on airfare and wait a month until Christmas to head back. I decided to host Thanksgiving at my house in Colorado Springs and then we would spend the weekend in the Mountains. Thanksgiving went off without a hitch, the turkey and food turned out amazing! A lot of time was spent in the living room, relaxing in front of the fire place, watching Football, dozing in and out naps, and socializing. It was a great day with good friends.
After the big Turkey Day Kerri, my buddy Alex, and I headed west towards the mountains. We drove about 3 hours until we reached the town of Eagle, CO. Our destination was about 20 miles south of HWY 70. The sun was just tucking behind the mountains as we arrived at our cabin in the woods.
We woke up on Saturday morning to blue bird skies and about 50 degree temperatures. We ate some breakfast burritos and made our way to the ice! I was happy to find a good 6-inches of ice on the West side of the lake. The East side, I was told, had less ice because its more exposed to the sun. I punched a few handful of holes with my hand auger and it didn't take long to mark some fish on my Humminbird ICE 45. The fish were aggressive and were almost always in packs of 3 or more. It was common for all 3 of us to be hooked up with fish at the same time. Kerri would set the hook on one, then we'd joke "get ready" and as soon as we'd say that, Al would hook up with one, and then my Jaw Jacker would go off! We probably iced over 70 Trout on Saturday between the 3 of us - the majority of them were Rainbows with a handful of Brookies sprinkled in. It was pretty consistent action from 11am-4pm. The water was so clear at Sylvan Lake that you could see your jig down to about 16ft of water when you were inside my Frabill shack. Kerri and Alex had a blast watching the schools of trout come in, attack their jigs, and watching them fight all the way to the hole. We wound up keeping 2 limits of stocker sized Rainbows and enjoyed them around the campfire Saturday night.
Sunday morning we awoke to colder temperatures but the fishing was even hotter than the previous day. We hit the ice again around 11am and it was constant action on the West side until we left the lake around 4pm. Alex and Kerri fished inside the Frabill flip-over for the majority of the day and I hole hopped outside. They had a ball sight fishing for trout and the majority of the time we couldn't get our jigs to the bottom fast enough! Between the 3 of us we each probably iced over 30 fish. They didn't like spoons, larger lures, or aggressive jigging but if you presented them with a small tungsten jig with a short wiggle, they found it very hard to refuse!
Of all the trout we caught, none of them were over 14-inches but it was still a great time on the ice and we were surrounded by beautiful scenery. I had a blast being able to teach Kerri and Alex how to use/read a flasher, how to change your presentation in front of a fish, how to bait the hooks, how to use a Jaw Jacker, and how to identify different species of trout. If you haven't been, I would highly recommend checking out Sylvan Lake State Park. If you're looking for a relaxing and fun weekend away in the mountains with nearby multi-use trails, scenic overlooks, and good fishing - I'd highly recommend looking into their Cabins, Yurts, or Camp sites!
