Saturday Triple Header

Hello, humans. Sorry I didn't get this post up on Saturday, but I was burnt out by the time we got home.

I'm happy to say that this week, the gremlin in my alarm clock slept in, so we actually got out pretty early. We were pretty tired from staying up late the night before (we saw Transformers...AWESOME!).

We took off around 7:30 (pretty good for us) and made our way through Spanish Fork Canyon to HWY 89. Sonia was tempted to keep driving to Palisade, but I couldn't allow that. This was a trip to see new places and that's what we were going to do.

I was very pleased with the beauty of Fairview Canyon. Very steep and scenic.

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We continued down HWY 31 and took our time. I couldn't help but pull over every once in awhile to take in the spectacular vistas. That road increases in elevation pretty quickly. Upon our junction with HWY 264 we didn't believe that the scenery could get any better, but we quickly found out that Central Utah is full of splendor and is a treat for the eyes and soul.

From looking at the satellite map, I knew that several other lakes were close together, but I didn't realize how close. We drove past Beaver Dam Reservoir and saw a bunch of surface activity and the shore was lined with fishermen. What a tiny reservoir! Just moments later we saw Boulger Res. tucked back a little ways from the road. There were quite a few vehicles there, too. I could only imagine that waters so small would only hold planters and wouldn't be worth our time, this trip...Unless we got desperate.

We hit the north end of Electric Lake first in hopes of trapping some minnows. I didn't expect the fishing to be on fire or anything, but I expected the boat ramp area to be teeming with minnows. I was right. I could only see a few fish surfacing here and there. I threw the trap in pretty shallow (about 6 ft from shore in the weeds) and watched the minnows swarm it instantly. I knew I'd be happy with that bounty.

I rigged Sonia (wife) up with a worm under a bubble at her request while I flipped a Kastmaster (my first attempt at this lure) in all directions. I rigged my other rod with the same worm/bubble setup, since I didn't believe I could get a minnow past the weedline without weight (I don't like to use weights with minnows...natural presentation).

We didn't have any luck in that area and Sonia started complaining. That usually means we're about to either leave or start a scene :rope: . The mood lightened when I pulled up the trap and it had probably 50 good sized minnows in it.:rockit:

We gathered everything up and head around to the dam. When we arrived, I went down to check the area for lions and tigers and bears (oh my). My wife is easily frightened by the media and with the recent bear attack in AF Canyon, she's worse than ever. At least that will speed up our purchase of a handgun.

When I got to the shoreline on the dam, I noticed a large school of decent sized fish making their way past the cloud of minnows. I was sure this place would produce for us. I wish I had my rod rigged with a minnow at that moment, but it always makes my wife mad when I cast out before she's down there.:roll:

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Once I'd convinced her that there were no wild animals, I packed all our gear down and our son. The fish that were right up next to the shore were gone now, and we fished for about 20 minutes with no bites before Sonia's notorious fishing attitude showed its ugly head. She started complaining about everything she could shake a stick at.

It was about this same time that I noticed a lone cutt cruising the shallows, so I reeled my minnow into range and it was devoured. BINGO! My goal was to take home a cutt from this lake, since it hadn't been stocked in over 3 years. I knew that any fish in there would've been from natural reproduction and I was excited to lay my eyes, hands, and eventually my teeth on such a specimen. I commenced with my trademark minnow routine and waited for it to get the meal down its throat. I set the hook (so I thought) and started fighting what looked like about an 18 inch Yellowstone cutthroat. It splashed on the surface for a bit and went under to tangle my line with my wife's line. Somewhere in the process of trying to unwrap our lines, the fish got off clean. I must not have set my hook very well because I rarely lose a fish once they've eaten my minnow. My hook was still on my line and the fish was gone. :frustrated:

Oh well, I thought. There were plenty of hungry cutts in this lake and I was sure to get one, eventually. My wife, unfortunately, had other plans. She started a tirade that would put a 2 year old to shame and after getting her butt kicked in the subsequent argument, stormed off to the car. I stayed with my boy for another 5 minutes or so to cool off before gathering up our gear and heading back to the car.

I got back to the car and quelled the storm after some tender words and explanation. I insisted that we get some more fishing done, but her condition was that we had to go somewhere else. We spent a total of about an hour actually fishing at Electric Lake...both ends.

Sorry for sharing that with you...It's part of the long strange trip I've come to know as "Fishing".

All soap operas aside, we head to Huntington (Mammoth) Reservoir for some tigers. Talk about a gorgeous venue!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/5-2.jpg

We fished the middle of the dam for about an hour without any real luck and only 1 bite when the clouds started looking ominous. Normally when you see this, you're almost done fishing:

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I wasn't about to get skunked for the day (besides the minnows), so I pulled out all the stops in this race against time. I focused heavily on my minnow rod and actively pursued visible structure that should hold some fish. I finally saw my line moving and got a medium sized tiger:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/8-2.jpg

The rain drops started falling and I moved our stuff closer to the car. I could see the clouds were moving fast, so I figured waiting out the storm would be worthwhile. We had an umbrella, so James and Sonia stayed comfortable. The "storm" was short lived and blew right by, allowing us to continue our adventure.

The sun came back out in force and we couldn't help but exploit the sandy beach in front of us:

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We didn't catch anything else at Huntington, so we moved on. It's such a beautiful place, but it was tainted by quite a bit of litter hanging around. I felt obligated to do my part:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/4-4.jpg

We were a little unclear of our next destination, but we thought we might hit one of the tiny reservoirs for some easy planters before calling it a day. On the way there, I noticed a tiny pond in the corner of my eye that called to me. I told Sonia I needed to flip a spinner there or I'd die. I hiked over to check it out.

There was surface activity, but the ripples were small. I thought it would be fun anyway, so I got closer. The "fish" that were rising were actually SALAMANDERS!!! (Or at least a close relative.) I couldn't believe my eyes or my dumb luck (always a good idea to go with your gut, eh?). What a rare treasure. I'd never actually seen them before outside a pet store.

On another forum, there was a recent thread about amphibians being okay as live bait and it got me thinking, so I attempted to catch some. The spinner just scared them off and they were too wary to sneak up on from the shore. I noticed a patch of snake grass that bordered one side, growing into the water as well. When I snuck up to the grass, I could see them trying to wiggle through the stocks to escape. I managed to grab two before they absconded.

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That really made my day! It also helped me decide where to go next. Scofield it was! Why not make a big loop for the day?

I'd never taken that route to Scofield before (south end) and the beauty took my breath away. Clear Creek (that's the name right?) has some awesome looking holes! We didn't stop at any because we had bait in the car and would've been in violation (technically), even thought it was the season opener.

We went to our usual spot and within a few minutes of casting out (minnow for me, worm for Sonia), both of us had a fish on our line. Sonia caught a little bow and I caught a tank at about 16 or 17 inches.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/2-7.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/1-7.jpg

We can alway rely on Scofield for a good time. Even Sonia with her "bad fishing karma" caught one right away after getting the shaft all day long.

I tried the salamander thing, but had a difficult time setting it up. I wanted to see what kind of results I could get, but I already had a good fish and didn't want to hook any takers too badly. I ended up using a bait holder. When I flipped it out, I left my bale open to allow for some swimming. I noticed a bunch of line getting pulled out fast, so I clicked my bale shut and tried to set the hook before it got too far down the fish's throat. It didn't matter. The fish had ripped my mud puppy clean off the hook. The other salamander had similar results as well. I know what I'll do next time.

I caught another rainbow a little later that I didn't get a pic of, but it was about 14 inches.

In closing, it ended up being a great day and it left me wanting more from Electric Lake and my new found pond (I won't tell). We left with smiles and got home around 11:00pm.

Sorry for such a long report, but it was a long day.

Happy Fishing, Humans.