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.

Deer Hunt 2010

I finally drew a southern unit deer hunt. I was fornunate to have access to some private land to hunt on. It was the first time in a long time I had gone camping and done the deer hunt thing like the old times. My brothers and dad camped and myself, my brother, his son, and some other family went hunting. It snowed a couple of inches the evening before and that was a good thing. We woke up early, waited for some daylight and started pushing. We we all met up, bucks were all around us. We all saw some good deer and I was able to get two shots off at a nice four point. The first shot the deer was on the run, so I didn't feel to bad about that one. The second shot I just missed. I was so mad that I had missed that opportunity. We planned some more and started hunting. After an hour I was certain I had missed my opportunity for that day. Just before we met up again, I saw some horns on the horizion. It was a two point. I asked my cousins if any of them wanted to shoot it and they didn't (They both ended up shooting bigger bucks). I let one fly and I thought I saw it drop to its knees. When we got up there, the deer was gone. I started walking around saying I hit it. My brother and cousin were behind me and the deer was circling. They saw it and it was hobbling around. We finished it off and I had my buck.

I shot the deer a long ways from a road, so me and my cousin drug him about an hour and a half to a road. It was a lot of work, but definately worth it. The next day my cousin shot a deer in the same area and drug it on the same trail I had drug my buck. While he was dragging it he noticed lion tracks in the snow. The lion was tracking my deer's blood trail from the day before.