Multi-Member Trip to Boulder Mtn

[LOAH]

This past weekend, several members of our various forums got together for a trip to Boulder Mountain, this being my inaugural visit. Sawsman started organizing a group of us over a month ago and time couldn't have possibly ticked by any slower!

With so many bodies and schedules on this outing, we came in several parties, at several times. Sawsman and his brother Gabe got up there on Thursday and the rest of us trickled in later. Nor-tah, scientificangler, and FishMogul carpooled in one ride, meeting up with troutgass and brandonlarsen, I believe. They fished different areas than we did and we didn't see them, but the word is that they did pretty well. Hopefully they'll post a report or an add-on about it.

Orvis1 and a couple of his buds shared a ride in and camped with sawsman. Brookieguy1 brought me along and we camped with that group, arriving Saturday morning.

DAY 1



Sawsman's camp trailer and orvis1's "Redneck Hilton" greeted us when we showed up, but the troops had already gone to battle. BG1 and I set off to track down a lake of interest and ended up meeting our fellow campers by accident, a bit later at a different lake.

So far, the fishing for BG1 and I was pretty slow, only yielding a few fish each. The lake where we all met up was decent enough to give a few fish to some of us before we shut it down with the pressure.

We all decided to meet up at another lake where it seemed like everyone was getting in on some fast action for fat brookies topping out around 16 inches. Personally, I was a flop at this lake and couldn't cash in on the few bites I was afforded, even when the darn things chased my fly out of the water! That's fishing though.

Orvis1 and sawsman had the hot hands at that lake, keeping their rods bent over most of the time. The rest of the group was also catching their fair share. We all went back to camp and enjoyed each others' company until it was time to hit the sack.

Here are some photos from day 1 for BG1 and I:

It really is a gorgeous place with a special flavor of its own.





BG1 parked along some grass and nailed a very radiant brookie after a long wait:





Close up:



He also caught a good female and I think that was it for him there.

After trying for at least a couple of hours, I finally got one on the last-resort nightcrawler hung below a bubble. Really dark male:



Same fish:



BG1's catches:



Where all of us met up by coincidence, BG1 worked over a few grayling on the fly rod and I scored one too. I also got a chubby brookie:





At our second group lake, my camera didn't come out of its pocket since I was too busy wrestling a SKUNK to take any photos. It was still fun to watch from the window while the other kids played (that's kind of what it seemed like, hehe).

DAY 2



Orvis1's group took off super early (3:30ish - am) to find another spot where some good tiger trout fishing was reported by the other guys. Hopefully they did well. That left 4 of us to do some investigating at a couple of lakes before sawsman and Gabe decided to break camp and head home.

BG1 and I kept after it a bit longer to shake off our day-2 skunks, which we eventually did at a grayling lake.

Here are some pics from day 2:







What an awesome place! The lakes are so beautiful.









This was the only fish caught before everyone split up. This one was Gabe's:



The fishing was terribly slow, but it didn't seem to get on anyone's nerves. Getting skunked would be a privilege from such a mighty mountain, surround by such incredible land.

When BG1 and I got to the grayling lake, I finally got a break and started getting into some nice ones right away on my fly rod. Previously, I had only caught one grayling in the Uintas that was about 5 inches. My first fly cast changed that in a flash of shiny scales.

This guy was plump!



More nice ones followed quickly and BG1 started getting into them too, although I didn't get any pics of his and wish I would have.



This guy may hold my personal grayling record for quite awhile, stretching out to 16 inches!



Cha-Ching! Having never tasted grayling, I decided to keep that one. The other fish were all successfully released.



After that, I entertained a couple more with various nymphs and really enjoyed the fight that a big grayling puts up. The ones I was catching didn't splash around much, but took powerful runs along the bottom, not giving up until cradled in my hand. Fight vs size is very deceptive.

After we'd had our fill and the bite slowed, it was time to call it quits and head back to our lives and real world responsibilities. Return trips are sure to come from this Boulder noob.







Sawsman and Gabe were extremely hospitable with their trailer, food, and welcoming disposition. These guys are a couple of class acts and it was my pleasure meeting and spending time with them. They kept a tidy camp and didn't leave anything behind except for some good firewood for the next folks.



Orvis1's buddies were also great to meet. Good guys all around! Great to hook up with you again, orvis1. We'll do it again!

There were so many people on this trip and there are surely some great stories and pictures waiting to be told. Hopefully they'll stack them onto this post and tell us how the trip went for them.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

[jman]

Woah ,good lookin grays and trout.
Looks like a very nice trip! Thanks for sharing!

[ibenick]

[uintahiker]

Nice big brookies and greyling. Fun, fun fish to catch!

[accadacca]

Epic report. Those grayling are so cool!