Up In The Mountains

[LOAH]

For the past little while, I've had a hard time getting any real satisfaction from the weekly therapeutic fishing trips I require. It's been driving me nuts, to say the least so this week I made it a point to get out into the mountains for some hike-in fun.

A couple of guys that I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with had similar plans and we spent the latter part of the week crunching our ideas back and forth. It was a tough process and we retired our Friday nights with only a vague idea of where we were headed. We nailed it down to a region, but still nothing concrete. Just the way I like it.

It was just after 3:30am Saturday morning when I noticed the headlights pull up in my driveway. Time to go. 8) I'd loaded my pack the night before with all the gear I'd need including my float tube, waders, extra clothing, a water filter and a few other handy items.

Awaiting me in the driveway were a couple of guys that were fellow members of the old DWR forum, brookieguy1 and FLYFSHR. We'd never fished together but had been talking back and forth a bit over the past year or so. It was about time.

After a long drive in the wee hours of the morning to beat the sun, we had the beginnings of a plan as we pulled up to the end of the road. We unloaded our packs and immediately had to start bushwacking to get to the path. The area had apparently received a lot of moisture recently and a small lake blocked our access to the trail.

It wasn't too long and we came upon a misty morning lake scene:





The water looked rather inviting, but this was not our intended destination. We continued higher to our target.

After the ascent, we reached our lake and brookieguy1 wasted no time in showing us why he is aptly named:



First cast? I can't remember, but it seems like it. It was a good start to the day though and we got right to it.

It was a really pretty lake.



BG1 and FLYFSHR were quick to pump up their tubes while I worked the shoreline for a few minutes. I got a couple of hits on my jig at first, but failed to set the hook and then the action disappeared for me. BG1 was lighting them up out in his tube while FLYFSHR and I were getting the shaft.



What a view from up here though:



I finally changed into my waders and got out on the tube, but the force was not with me. It wasn't too long before we were wondering where to hike to next.



Passing by another 2 lakes without stopping long enough to drop our packs, we got to our next spot right at noon after having to bushwack off-trail for some time. Good thing FLYFSHR brought a GPS with a decent mapping program.

Observing the thick weed growth, we knew that packing in the tubes was a lifesaver. Kicking to a spot where we weren't touching the tops of the vegetation was quite the process. Most of the time, the weeds were within a couple feet of our flippers, but we found some holes here and there.

As soon as FLYFSHR tossed his jig in the first hole he encountered, his rod double over and his drag sang us a song while he fought a beast of a cutthroat to hand. What a great fish! I could see how colorful it was from my position about 100 feet away. I tried kicking over to him for a quick pic before the release, but the fish (estimated 19") decided to leave early. Too bad we didn't get a pic of that one. Not bad for his first fish of the day. Shortly after that, he connected with a smaller cutt of about 14" or so.

I hadn't had any luck with BG1's go to jigs all day, so I'd reverted to tactics that I'm more comfortable with. Like FLYFSHR, I hadn't gotten anything to my hand up to this point. It was a welcome (and relieving) sight to finally see some splashing behind my Blue Fox (#2, Brass).



It wasn't a monster, but it was a much needed break from the skunk.

Shortly after I released that one, I threw the BF into an inviting gap in the green and my reason for being there was validated:



By far, my most rewarding cutthroat ever. Reminiscent of some pics I've seen of the Boulder Mtn cutts. 19" long and really tall with a thick tail! I couldn't believe my eyes and had to sit there hollering in my tube for a few moments. I found it hard to grasp with one hand.

I've caught plenty of cutts that were longer, but nothing of this particular shape. Talk about color too! It seemed as if these cutts were celebrating the spawn a little later than the ones I'm used to handling.



That made my day, no doubt about it. There's just something really special about getting into a place that requires a bit of work to find and then getting what you want out of it. What a great place to be.





FLYFSHR caught another hog a bit later and it was throwing eggs at him when he brought it in. I took a pic of that one with his camera, so maybe he'll post that up later.

After that one, someone flipped the switch and the lake turned off. BG1 was relentlessly trying to round up his first cutt of the day, but it just wouldn't happen for him. Finally, he enticed a 14 incher out from under some flotsam in the shallows. No pics since I was on the other side of the lake at that moment.

We decided to kick back to shore and try our luck at one of the lakes that we passed on the way to this one. BG1 had a little accident upon his arrival to shore and got a little wet.



As a witness to the event, it looked like the tube flipped on him without much help. We all had a good laugh.

When I made it back to shore through the weeds, I wiped the smudge off of my lens (which I didn't realize was there ALL DAY) and grabbed a quick shot of an aquatic flower:



FLYFSHR had a hitchhiker on some of his gear that we were glad to peel off.



We rolled up our tubes and were back to bushwacking in no time.



After a short while, we made it into one of the lakes we'd previously passed and messed around for a bit. BG1 couldn't resist and pumped up his tube once more while FLYFSHR and I stayed on the shore.

Once again, I was snubbed by the brookies but it didn't really matter at that point. FLYFSHR got into a few while BG1 continued to lecture us in "brookie 101".





What a day! It was really great to start out early and get so much fishing in, even though we never found the big brookies we were looking for. Stumbling onto those massive cutts was more than satisfying for me and just being in the wild again filled the void inside my heart.

The ride home turned into an adventure once we were in Utah Valley again as the weather turned sour and we had a heat-pounding experience as a major accident due to another car spinning out right in front of us was averted. Whew!

FLYFSHR and brookieguy1 know their stuff and it was a great privilege to get out fishing with them after saying the typical "We need to get out sometime" for so long.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

[Jaxx]

That is a huge fish. Congrats! Thanks for the TR.

[LOAH]

FLYFSHR sent me a bunch of pics from his camera so here are a few of his pics:

[Jaxx]

beautiful pics. I still can't believe how big the tails are. Thick.

[accadacca]

Freak LOAH! Your TR's are becoming legendary.

[safira]

A passionate man that can't be satisified. Interesting.

[chickenlicken]

WOW! That is a great fish. That looks like it was a fun trip and very rewarding.

[tanya]

For the past little while, I've had a hard time getting any real satisfaction from the weekly therapeutic fishing trips I require.

Perhaps handsome... that means you have done enough fishing and its time to catch something else.

[old.man.surly]

i will throw my line in on that coment...

[tanya]

i will throw my line in on that coment...

[LOAH]

For the past little while, I've had a hard time getting any real satisfaction from the weekly therapeutic fishing trips I require.

Perhaps handsome... that means you have done enough fishing and its time to catch something else.

Are you insinuating that I should put down my rod?

[tanya]

For the past little while, I've had a hard time getting any real satisfaction from the weekly therapeutic fishing trips I require.

Perhaps handsome... that means you have done enough fishing and its time to catch something else.

Are you insinuating that I should put down my rod?

Never! What good is a man without a good rod?

[LOAH]