LOAH
06-29-2009, 10:00 PM
It's been awhile since I've had a decent trip (or weather) to report on, so I was well overdue for some fun in the sun.
My very good friend, Holdsworth (the guy that got me back into fishing), recently moved back to Utah after a 2.5 year stint in Germany and we REALLY needed to get out for a day trip together.
After much deliberation and many plan changes, we ultimately decided to go to and hit the holy Trinity of the Energy Loop. Once the plan was set, another friend, Weston, decided he wanted in on it as well.
With Electric Lake as our main destination (because wild cutts are amazing), we knew that if we were to fish any other waters, we'd have to get them out of the way first, due to the mussel problem at E-Lake.
Holdsworth hasn't been around since I grew some wild hairs and started going on long exploratory fishing quests, so he hasn't seen a lot of the waters I now fish with some regularity. The central region seemed to be a great spot to take someone that has deeply missed the breathtaking mountain beauty that the homeland has to offer.
Within minutes of driving up Fairview Canyon, he understood why I recommended this place over Strawberry. The aspens were full with shimmering leaves and the lush green grasses left no soil exposed. Summer in the high country is just awesome.
Our super wet month of June did its job in hiding the high water marks on all of the reservoirs. Huntington was spilling over and I've never seen it higher.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5528.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5527.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5530.jpg
The surface was exploding with rising fish, so I rigged my 3wt with a dry after tossing out a minnow to soak.
While I was busy making myself look stupid in between de-tangling sessions, Weston hauled in the first fish of the day, a 17.5 inch tiger with a will to live. Not bad for Mammoth:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5519a.jpg
Better pic:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5520.jpg
A short while passed and I was glad to see my minnow rig spitting line. It was a nice break from embarrassing myself with the feathers. Another 17.5 inch tiger. Meat!
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5522.jpg
And finally, after reading the same regulation every year in the proclamation, I was given a chance to obey it. A rainbow pattern kastmaster brought in the only cutthroat I have ever seen from Huntington. Pretty neat.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5526.jpg
We stuck around for another hour or so in hopes of getting Holdsworth onto some fish, but it didn't happen and more water awaited, just down the road.
Even Cleveland Reservoir was spilling over and seeing grass covered by water was just too much for me to resist. Usually it's a giant mud trap to get to the water.
Despite seeing only a couple of smaller fish and some suckers swim by, nothing bit our offerings. Having only brought one pole with me, I spent the first half hour soaking a minnow and the rest of the time casting, to no avail.
Here's Holdsworth killing time while hoping for a take:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5536a.jpg
With nothing to show from Cleveland but sunburned forearms, we set off for the dam at Electric. We probably would have been better served to backtrack and hit the north end instead (where the higher concentrations most likely are...spawning), but my personal experiences up there have only brought me minnows and difficult shore fishing.
The lake is overflowing into the glory hole. What a great water year so far.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5545.jpg
Weston and Holdsworth got started on the dam and I pumped up my tube. With the guys on the far side of the dam and myself in the corner nearest the road, I watched as a CO walked all the way down to them to check their licenses and go over the mussel and whirling disease spiels. On her way back, she noticed me and came to do the same.
Meanwhile, I watched as Holdsworth had some splashing on the end of his line, finally. Good for him.
Off I went on my tube for what was sure to be hot fishing on the fly rod...
Well, no. I actually never got a definitive bump on the whip, but drifting a worm worked alright, once I gave up on casting hardware. It only took a few minutes after my switch up and I had a small tiger thrashing about. Back it went and another came a few minutes later. Already hooked deeply by someone else, I decided to keep it and spare it the possibility of a slow death. My kid eats fish, so I don't mind keeping one dink.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5542.jpg
The fishing slowed way down for me and my friends only reported a couple of escapees when I kicked past them. Holdsworth showed me his cutt and it was a densely speckled and colorful specimen of about 15 inches. Too bad the action wasn't better for us. It would've been great to get him into a mess of them.
It was still very nice to see the water right up to the vegetation instead of the usual bathtub ring though. It's such a pretty place.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5540a.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5546a.jpg
Plenty of fishless time ticked by before I finally got a hard hit on the worm. The fish on the other end tricked me into thinking I had caught a big tiger by the aggressive fight and hard runs it took, but it turned out to be a girthy 16 inch cutthroat, to my surprise. Unfortunately, I held off on the photo until I could get it safely onto the stringer and then forgot to ever take a pic of it. It was only a little bit larger than the average E-Lake cutt.
The guys were getting pretty sunburned and I could feel myself getting pretty crispy on my neck and face, so we thought we'd call it a day and head back to the civilized world. On my way to shore, I picked up one final tiger on my last worm.
So all in all, the fishing wasn't half as good as the company, but I'd be glad to fill all of my weekends with trips like this one, as long as I could spend them with these gents.
It had been awhile since I'd laughed so hard my stomach was sore all the way through to the next day. Good times.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
My very good friend, Holdsworth (the guy that got me back into fishing), recently moved back to Utah after a 2.5 year stint in Germany and we REALLY needed to get out for a day trip together.
After much deliberation and many plan changes, we ultimately decided to go to and hit the holy Trinity of the Energy Loop. Once the plan was set, another friend, Weston, decided he wanted in on it as well.
With Electric Lake as our main destination (because wild cutts are amazing), we knew that if we were to fish any other waters, we'd have to get them out of the way first, due to the mussel problem at E-Lake.
Holdsworth hasn't been around since I grew some wild hairs and started going on long exploratory fishing quests, so he hasn't seen a lot of the waters I now fish with some regularity. The central region seemed to be a great spot to take someone that has deeply missed the breathtaking mountain beauty that the homeland has to offer.
Within minutes of driving up Fairview Canyon, he understood why I recommended this place over Strawberry. The aspens were full with shimmering leaves and the lush green grasses left no soil exposed. Summer in the high country is just awesome.
Our super wet month of June did its job in hiding the high water marks on all of the reservoirs. Huntington was spilling over and I've never seen it higher.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5528.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5527.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5530.jpg
The surface was exploding with rising fish, so I rigged my 3wt with a dry after tossing out a minnow to soak.
While I was busy making myself look stupid in between de-tangling sessions, Weston hauled in the first fish of the day, a 17.5 inch tiger with a will to live. Not bad for Mammoth:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5519a.jpg
Better pic:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5520.jpg
A short while passed and I was glad to see my minnow rig spitting line. It was a nice break from embarrassing myself with the feathers. Another 17.5 inch tiger. Meat!
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u260/justisaurus_bucket/IMGP5522.jpg
And finally, after reading the same regulation every year in the proclamation, I was given a chance to obey it. A rainbow pattern kastmaster brought in the only cutthroat I have ever seen from Huntington. Pretty neat.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5526.jpg
We stuck around for another hour or so in hopes of getting Holdsworth onto some fish, but it didn't happen and more water awaited, just down the road.
Even Cleveland Reservoir was spilling over and seeing grass covered by water was just too much for me to resist. Usually it's a giant mud trap to get to the water.
Despite seeing only a couple of smaller fish and some suckers swim by, nothing bit our offerings. Having only brought one pole with me, I spent the first half hour soaking a minnow and the rest of the time casting, to no avail.
Here's Holdsworth killing time while hoping for a take:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5536a.jpg
With nothing to show from Cleveland but sunburned forearms, we set off for the dam at Electric. We probably would have been better served to backtrack and hit the north end instead (where the higher concentrations most likely are...spawning), but my personal experiences up there have only brought me minnows and difficult shore fishing.
The lake is overflowing into the glory hole. What a great water year so far.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5545.jpg
Weston and Holdsworth got started on the dam and I pumped up my tube. With the guys on the far side of the dam and myself in the corner nearest the road, I watched as a CO walked all the way down to them to check their licenses and go over the mussel and whirling disease spiels. On her way back, she noticed me and came to do the same.
Meanwhile, I watched as Holdsworth had some splashing on the end of his line, finally. Good for him.
Off I went on my tube for what was sure to be hot fishing on the fly rod...
Well, no. I actually never got a definitive bump on the whip, but drifting a worm worked alright, once I gave up on casting hardware. It only took a few minutes after my switch up and I had a small tiger thrashing about. Back it went and another came a few minutes later. Already hooked deeply by someone else, I decided to keep it and spare it the possibility of a slow death. My kid eats fish, so I don't mind keeping one dink.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5542.jpg
The fishing slowed way down for me and my friends only reported a couple of escapees when I kicked past them. Holdsworth showed me his cutt and it was a densely speckled and colorful specimen of about 15 inches. Too bad the action wasn't better for us. It would've been great to get him into a mess of them.
It was still very nice to see the water right up to the vegetation instead of the usual bathtub ring though. It's such a pretty place.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5540a.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP5546a.jpg
Plenty of fishless time ticked by before I finally got a hard hit on the worm. The fish on the other end tricked me into thinking I had caught a big tiger by the aggressive fight and hard runs it took, but it turned out to be a girthy 16 inch cutthroat, to my surprise. Unfortunately, I held off on the photo until I could get it safely onto the stringer and then forgot to ever take a pic of it. It was only a little bit larger than the average E-Lake cutt.
The guys were getting pretty sunburned and I could feel myself getting pretty crispy on my neck and face, so we thought we'd call it a day and head back to the civilized world. On my way to shore, I picked up one final tiger on my last worm.
So all in all, the fishing wasn't half as good as the company, but I'd be glad to fill all of my weekends with trips like this one, as long as I could spend them with these gents.
It had been awhile since I'd laughed so hard my stomach was sore all the way through to the next day. Good times.
Happy Fishing, Humans.