Last Couple of Weeks

[LOAH]

Though I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, I've still been fishing. Finding a convenient time to throw everything together for a report has been tough until now.

Last Week:

For last week's solo trip, I thought I'd head to the Manti to check out some curiosity spots. The autumn colors were popping on the way up Fairview Canyon and it glimmered nicely in the young morning light:



The creek also grabbed my attention for a little while, only yielding a couple of small browns, but it sure is a nice stretch of water:



The primary objective for this trip was to seek out and fish a lake that has tickled the "what if" corner of my mind for several years. Lying at the headwaters of Lake Creek, just off Skyline Drive near the summit of Fairview/Huntington, this nameless puddle required a pretty steep drop from the closest access point.



The hike down was pretty slippery since the entire hillside was saturated from recent storms. On top of that, the higher elevation chill covered every surface with a thin coat of ice crystals. I ended up on my back a couple of times before making it to the marshy shoreline.

Turns out, my hike was purely for exploration since the lake was only about 5 feet deep next to the dam. The rest was a shallow weed flat, just below the surface. My verdict: No fish. Maybe I'm wrong and there are 30" cutthroat, but I doubt it.

For you quackheads, it looks like the ducks really like it there though. About 30 of them sought refuge on the lonesome lake while I was there. No cover to speak of, but they didn't notice me until I got pretty close to where they were.

So once again, I beat myself up to go and check on a fishless water, but it was still good to lay that curiosity to rest. The hike back up to the rim was a butt-kicker for how short it was and it really got my heart pumping. Oh well. There will be more places like this, but one day I'll find what I'm looking for...

My backup destination for the day was Electric Lake and on the way there, I found a decent hole in the trickle known as Gooseberry Creek (upper), where I pulled in a few tiny cutts on the fly rod.







There was hardly any water in the creek and most of it was all weeded in.

Electric wasn't too eventful, but I caught plenty of 14 inch (+/-) tigers and one cutthroat on the north end. They liked soft plastic and real minnows, worms, and the Blue Fox. The water was low enough that the access road by the boat ramp could be driven for quite awhile.







It was good to get out, but only catching one cutt from E-Lake left me wanting more. Even though I'm a real fan of tiger trout, it pains me a little to see my treasured cutts chased out of their usual haunts once tigers are introduced. I'm sure my gripe would fade if I were to find some tigers in there with any real size though.

My trip came to an early conclusion and I enjoyed having some sunlight on the way back down the canyon.




This week:

My family and I got out for a long day of fishing and exploration in Sanpete County. En route to our first destination, my boy needed a rest stop while we were near the turnoff to the Painted Rocks area of Yuba Reservoir.

The water was so low that the islands were totally beached! I've never seen it so low.



We didn't waste any time fishing there (not for the outrageous fee, at least) and were quickly off to try our luck somewhere else.

The fishing was pretty slow to start until I dialed in on the presentation the fish wanted. A missed take on a dead shiner had me itching to connect. The fish I missed was pretty nice looking.

Soon after the big miss, another take was played well and a serious battle ensued. As I set the hook, I felt an immovable resistance on the other end. There wasn't much pulling or head shaking; only enough to justify the belief that I wasn't snagged on a rock.

It was really surprising that the fight carried on the way it did, since I'm used to strong runs or surface acrobatics. This fish just seemed to park itself and refuse to budge. Getting it in was a task involving a lot of hoisting and standoffs with my rod in full arc.

When at last, my fish came into view, I was impressed with the size, but a little perplexed that a rainbow of that size could plant itself the way it did. As it came in even closer, I saw the cause for the strange fight: As the fish swam with my minnow, it managed to thread the line through several tufts of thick bottom vegetation, which had provided most of the resistance to my tugging.

After all was said and done, I was glad to feel the weight and girth of a pig rainbow in my hands. This thick male went a little over 20 inches:



Next up, my boy reeled one in for me. He's really starting to enjoy our trips more since he started helping us reel some in:



My wife has had marginal success for smaller fish for the past couple of years and she was well overdue for a bruiser. Well today was her day and she was thrilled to hook into this porker:



Way to go! That lightened her mood dramatically and really took the pressure off of everyone for the rest of the day.

]

The fishing slowed for awhile and the sun started to beat down on us pretty hard, so we took a scenic drive up a nearby canyon. The first lake we drove by was full of camp trailers and required a fee for day use, so we bypassed that to check on the next spot, just up the road.



HUH? Well, apparently I didn't get the memo that it would be drained. There was actually a little bit of water in there and I saw several fish surface, but the only somewhat decent access to that was on the other side of the basin and my family surely didn't want to wait for me to check into it.

Further up the road, I pulled into a nice little spot that was chocked full of pretty little brookies that I harassed with the fly rod.







It was a pleasant drive to kill some time during the heat of the day. What a great area.





After our drive, we returned to test our luck at a different part of our first lake. Our catch rate was a little faster at this spot, but the fish were a bit smaller on average. My boy did the honors of reeling in the biggest fish for this part of our trip:



My wife caught a couple as well, so we ended a great day of fall fishing with smiles all around.



Happy Fishing, Humans.

[accadacca]

Killer dude!

[Dr. Nebz]

Where did your wife nail that lunker at? That is a nice fish!

[accadacca]

We need a Bogley shirt in one of these.

[ilanimaka]

Shoot, LOAH... Everytime I read one of these, I feel like I'm reading the script from a fishing show. Seriously, Dude...

[LOAH]

Wow, thanks! I'm just glad people read them.

Nebz, this is 9-Mile Reservoir.

Here's the funny part: My fish was actually an inch longer than hers, but any fish looks huge in her hands. She's only 4'7".