Froze at Joe's

[LOAH]

This week, I was lucky enough to get the wife pass for Sunday, even though I had just fished on Thursday, the 1st. I saw reports that Joe's Valley was frozen over and some people were doing quite well, so I tried to find out the specifics from the forums. A member on the Big Fish Tackle board, "Ktrout" (we'll call him Kory), saw that I was interested and sent me a message.

We arranged to meet at the park and ride lot near the freeway on Center St in Orem at 4:00 to get there early and all went as planned. Unsure of the road conditions at the top of Fairview/Huntington canyons, we chose to go the long way into Price and south to the HWY 29 turnoff in Castle Dale.

It was really, really cold, but the road conditions in Spanish Fork Canyon were just fine other than one patch of rough ice near the mouth. It wasn't too bad and Kory's little truck buzzed right through without a problem. HWY 29 through Straight Canyon had some snow pack that required a bit of caution on the curves, but we made it up to Joe's without plummeting to our icy demise down the steep gorge below.

We arrived and it was still pitch black outside, minus the infinite stars visible from this mountain valley. Kory had never been to Joe's and I'd never ice fished it, so we weren't too sure where to park.

Personally, I like fishing the steep, rocky side somewhat near the dam. Descending the rocks with ice fishing gear (sled, augers, poles, tent, etc) didn

[CarpeyBiggs]

LOAH, you are a friggin' animal. very cool.

[accadacca]

You guys f*ckin' killed it!

[NevadaAngler1]

You pics and commentary are fantastic. it's nice to see someone else likes taking pics as well as fishing. Looks cold up there but it's, as always, Utah! beautiful.

I'm going up to Ely for a $10,000 fishing derby next weekend. That should be great too.

[PolarXJ]

Nice write up!
What brand of ice tent did you use?

[DiscGo]

Looks like a great trip. Last time I was at Joe's Valley I froze my butt off, and have been scared to go back in the winter. Summit has some really cool pictures of being there in Summer, I think I'll need to go back there this year.