FISH LAKE MOUNTAIN 2011

We are able to go Fish Lake every summer.  Fish lake is fun to fish, but hanging a cheese ball is not my favorite kind of fishing.  There are a lot of other fishing experiences around.  The last couple of years I have floated Mill Meadow Resevoir.  It is a pretty little resevoir near the town of Fremont.  I love fishing here because if provides the opportunity to catch good sized Brown Trout.  These are beautiful fish.  I fished the evening and caught 8 fish, all Brown Trout.  The weather turned off nice, although when I first got there I was concerned because of lighting and it was raining lightly.  I was the only one on the lake.  I caught all the fish on a black wooly bugger.  Here are a couple of pictures of different fish. 

The smallest fish of the day

Others were about 15-17"

Beaufiul red spots of the Brown Trout

Brown Trout at night

Brown with storm in background

The other awesome fishing experience I had was fishing UM Creek.  It is my favorite river to fish.  I fish it with huge foam hoppers and it is a blast to watch the fish come and grab the fly off the surface.  It is a pretty river in a pretty valley.  I hooked four, but was not quick enough to set the hook on two. Here is a couple of pictures of the two Cutthroat that I pulled out of the water.

Colorado River Cutthroat with UM Creek in background

14" UM Creek Colorado River Cutthroat

KOLOB RESEVOIR

I always forget how much I love Kolob until I go.  I love where I live because of the close proximity to great little lakes. With the wife out of town for a week, I was able to go on two consecutive nights.  It is amazing to me how the same species of fish can have such different behavior on each individual lake and even on different nights.   For the first two hours on the first night, I could not even get a fish to bite.  I tried different flies, different lines at different depths, and even different stripping and trolling techniques.  Finally, I tied on a black Wooly Bugger and just drifted with it; no kicking and no stripping.  That seemed to work and I caught 5 fish in about a half hour.  They were all big, healthy fish.  One looked like a pure cutthroat and was almost a keeper at 20.5".  The others were cutbows of about 18".  All were very pretty fish.  Just when the fishing was starting to get good, the rain came and washed me out.  Even with the slow fishing at first and the rain the night was perfect for fishing.

Pretty colors on a Kolob Cutbow

Pretty fish with the storm coming in

Nice country on the way to Kolob Resevoir

The fly they liked.  A black BH Wooly Bugger

STRAWBERRY ON TWO HOURS OF SLEEP

I was fornunate enough to be able to fish Strawberry this July. I was really excited because I got a new waterproof camera. We stayed up until 2 a.m. getting things ready and then woke up at 4 a.m. The water was really calm and it was a nice morning. I caught 7, 4 rainbows and 3 cuts. Since the cutthroat have to be 22" long to keep, I put them all back although I did catch a couple of nice ones. The guys at Fish Tech Outfitters told me the fly to use, and they were right on. I caught all the fish on one fly. I adjusted the weight, but never swithched the fly. It was a great day on the water.


This is my first underwater shot of a fish. I think it turned out really well. The reflection on this is cool. Hopefully this is the first of many good underwater shots.


The famous teeth of a cutthroat.

This is what my fly line looked like while I was trolling and stripping. I let the sinking line out all the way to the backing.

A nice typical Strawberry Cutthroat.

The rainbows for the fish fry. 21" and 18" fat bows.

We got off the lake a little earlier than expected, but a great day.

Summer Soltice 2011

Went to Yankee Meadow tonight. The first couple of hours of fishing were slow. The road to the Yankee has been closed and just opened Saturday because they were fixing a bridge. Usually I like to go earlier in the spring. At about 8 o'clock, the fish starting jumping and biting. I switched to a sink tip line and was able to catch fish on that and some dry flies. I love when that works. The fishing was good for about an hour and then when it got dark, they stopped feeding. It was a picture perfect night. I love the Yankee because it is a such a pretty place. I caught 6 and brought home 2 of the bigger ones. I did catch one little cut, but no brookies. I thought this picture would turn out better, but oh well. A good night of fishing.

Paragonah in June

I was able to go to Paragonah Resevoir on a Saturday night and then again on Monday. On Saturday I had success on a wooly bugger/scud combo. I was using a full sinking line. I caught about 20 fish. I brought home 6 of the bigger ones and wish I could have brought home 2 more since the limit at Paragonah is 8 and could use some harvesting. I thought I would catch 2 more bigger ones, but when the fish stop biting, they stop fast. On Monday I tried my sink tip line. I used many different flies, but did not have the same success. I think the full moon might have had something to do with it too. I brought home 2 nice rainbows (for 'Gonah) and .................

A pretty tiger trout.......................................................................................

Snow Goose Hunt?

On the last day of the snow goose hunt we decided to take our float tubes in case the birds were gone. It is a good thing we did. I had caught a couple of smaller fish a couple of days earlier. It was freezing cold but we lasted long enough to each haul in a big rainbow. Check out the nice red spring spawning colors.

SUCCESSFUL DUCK HUNT!

Not only did we bag some birds, this day was Orvis' first retrieve. He is only 9 months old and has a lot learn, but so do I. He makes duck hunting more enjoyable. We had birds coming at us all day. I shot a few and missed a few, but a fun day in the mud.