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Joe's Valley Area
My family and I decided to take a gas buster trip this week and Joe's was our primary target. With the weather getting nicer lately, I also wanted to have a look at the E-Loop lakes to check their status.
At the summit of Fairview Canyon, there's still plenty of snow; probably 4 feet covering most of the ground. Fairview Lakes were hard to distinguish from the surrounding snow-covered land and the roadside posts were still buried up to the orange flagpoles in places.
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Huntington is still completely capped with no sign of wet spots, as expected. Cleveland was basically the same, with the only open water at the inlets, but only a few square feet, inches deep. The dam at Electric looked like this:
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8420.jpg
Bummer. It was a long shot, hoping for the slightest bit of fishable water, but it wasn't meant to be this time.
We stopped at a spot on the FLIES ONLY section of Huntington Creek and I scared off many a fish with a purple woolybugger. After switching to a tiny chironomid, my results were still the same, although I saw one take interest for a moment before turning away. It was still nice to give it a try. Gorgeous water in the upper reaches.
Fighting off the many urges to pull over, we made it down the canyon to find a small group of elk in a field:
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8424.jpg
(Some may find a bit of irony in that pic.)
Continuing forth, we enjoyed the scenery of Straight Canyon fiendishly anticipating the giant splake that awaited us.
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Had to stop and check our picnic spot though. We planned on eating lunch there, later.
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Our first glimpse of the lake led us to believe that we'd arrived to good conditions. There didn't appear to be much wind and the sun was shining brightly. Being the large valley that it is though, the conditions were much windier by the marina, where we had intended on fishing. Quite a difference.
The casting was tough, but we stuck it out for a little while. About an hour and a half later, we still hadn't felt any bites and decided to try the opposite side, where the wind wouldn't be such a factor. It was a good decision.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8448.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8449.jpg
It's funny how a short drive to the other side can do that.
My first cast (minnow) lip-hooked a standard issue splake that was released after a snap of its maze.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8439.jpg
Another bite came on a minnow shortly after the first, but apparently the hook never set. My minnow (a big one) was nearly bitten in half when I reeled it in.
My past trips to Joe's had often provided plenty of fish when I threw kastmasters, so I switched to that and quickly picked up another splake, slightly rounder than the first. It was also released.
My poor wife still hadn't had any action yet and I only pulled in two for the day's efforts. We thought it would be fun to explore some of the valley's other attractions. Knowing that we'd likely have to turn around because of snow drifts, we pressed on just to see the land.
We proceeded to take every route in each cardinal direction from Joe's over the next hour or so, just to see what they looked like. Hwy 29 was fine at first, but turned to mud and snow drifts in the usual spots. Knowing these drifts far too well, I wasn't surprised one bit and remembered my trips from '08, when it took until mid June for the roads to open up.
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Miller Flat Road is gated only minutes up the road, as expected, but we saw plenty of deer at the campground when turning around.
Eventually we ended up back at the picnic spot in Straight Canyon, where we ate lunch and I picked on some little browns for awhile.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8476.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8478.jpg
There's usually a fish in each hole that looks like it should have one, but I've never caught anything longer than a foot. Just being next to this water is worth the trip alone, as far as I'm concerned.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8480.jpg
After we had our fill of that spot, we stopped further downstream in an area that has gotten pretty popular, judging by the number of cars parked along the road. The gigantic boulders draw the crowds, but none of those people seemed to be fishing, so I went down and picked up a small brown on my first cast:
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Cool place.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8492.jpg
Another swiped, but missed and that was all I was willing to stand around for while the crowd looked on. My family was also watching from the car and I didn't want to keep them waiting long.
A few more impulse-stops were in order for Huntington Creek while turned our direction toward home. Near the same area we'd seen a few elk before, many more had gathered for the easy greens:
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8493.jpg
A short distance up the canyon, I noticed a feeder creek that needed closer inspection. No fish, but it was worth the stop.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMGP8496.jpg
Several more stops were made along the creek
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Very nice report. I have always loved the blue-green of the creek in Straight Canyon:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LOAH
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Wow! You found some great holes! :hail2thechief:
Smaller fish, but still fun I bet.
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Thanks all! It's such a cool area to be, it doesn't really matter if the fish show up or not.:nod:
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I have been missing your TR's. I need to get the family to Joe's this year!
