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Thread: Uintas 12-14 July 2011
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07-21-2011, 06:15 PM #1
Uintas 12-14 July 2011
Day 1- Left fairly late heading up to Echo Lake around 1730. The road up there was pretty rough and slow going. I was surprised to see a couple minivans that made it all the way up. As we neared the lake we saw a whole bunch of scouts camped along side the road. It was too late to change any plans so we just decided to get as far away from them as possible. By the time we made it to the lake it was dusk and getting dark fairly quick. We had a hard time finding a dry campsite but settled for anything we could find do to the lateness of the hour. After setting up camp, we decided to do some midnight fishing. I caught a small brookie then decided to head to bed. My father-in-law and brother-in-law decided to stay up until they caught one and didn't head to bed until around 0200 fishless.
Day 2-I woke up early to hit the prime fishing time and was welcomed by some beautiful scenery
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After snapping a few pics it was time to start fishing. The fishing turned out great, however, small fish was all that was to be caught. This guy was my first success at using a fly.
After spending the morning fishing Echo, we decided to try and hit some of the lakes down by the highway. We hurried and packed up our stuff as the rain was coming and headed down the road towards the crystal springs trailhead. When we arrived, we talked with a few people getting back from Long Lake and Cliff Lake. We were debating on trying Wall Lake, but since a couple people that went to Cliff lake were talking about a couple 14-15 inchers that they caught, we decided to head that way. According to some horseback riders Long lake had a lot of snow around it. The trail to cliff lake was fairly easy to follow and even on the numerous snow drifts we had to cross thanks to following the foot prints of the group that went before us. It was, however, very wet because of the snow and snow melt. When we arrived at Cliff lake, searching for a campsite proved to be very difficult as all the flat areas were covered in snow or flooded with snow melt. After walking around the entire lake, I found really only 1 place to pitch a tent.
We set up our tents and grabbed our poles. We fished for about an hour with no bites or any signs of fish, then came the rain and hail. The rain lasted for a few hours while we tried our best staying dry and cooked our dinner. Afterwards we tried fishing a little more with still no luck so I decided to grab the camera to get a couple pictures of the lake
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We were able to get a fire going despite the drenched wood and tried our best to dry off our gear, only for another storm to come rolling in. So, we decided that was enough and went to bed.
Day 3- I again woke up early determined not to get skunked at this lake. However, it was meant to be with still no luck or any signs of fish. I decided to hike up the ridge to defeat boredom and to get an idea of how the other lakes were in the area. Petite lake was completely covered in ice. I did hike above that and got a glimpse of Clyde lake which looked clear and I also saw a few people sitting around a campfire there. Afterwards, I headed back to camp determined to try another lake. I got back to find my tag-a-longs awake and anxious to catch some fish. We decided to go to trial lake since my bro-in-law had to head home early that afternoon. The hike back was a little easier since the rain and cold temps during the night made the snow drifts rock solid. Well, at least we didnt have any post-holing.
The fishing at Trial Lake was superb. Between the 3 of us we caught around 100 fish. I caught some Albinos, Rainbows, Browns, and much to my surprise a Grayling.
All in all, I would say it was a pretty good trip despite the wet conditions. The fast fishing at Trial made it all worth it.
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07-21-2011 06:15 PM # ADS
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