Boulder Mountain - Again (and assorted other fishing)

Life has been absolutely nuts these past two weeks, hence the long break between posts. I have been out fishing, however, and last week I made it back to Boulder Mountain - this time, for 3 days of relaxation and fishing in paradise.

The mountain is a magical place that never ceases to amaze me. It's amazing how at peace with life I feel when I'm on this legendary mountain. 

The fish are just as incredible. This cutt was still dressed up for the spawn! 

And so was this one

A splake, FROM A CREEK (I just think catching it from a tiny creek is the bees knees) said hello 

Note the lack of blue halos and the forked tail that mark this fish as definitely a splake. 

A skinny brook trout came to hand as well. I caught a lot of fish from this creek, but most were small, 5-inch brookies biting off more than they should be able too! 

After messing around on my favorite trickle of water in the state of Utah, I headed up to the lake, pumped up the tube, and got to work with my fly rod. 

Now, I'm not exaggerating when I say this - I caught something in the range of 80-100 fish while I was on Boulder. The vast majority were cutts that looked just like this

The best part? These cutts were taking dry flies. A seriously epic mayfly hatch was going on, and the fish were feeding all day long. I can't remember the last time I saw a lake boiling all day long, and well into the night. 

I also made a hike into a lake I'd been wondering about for a while. While I didn't see any signs of fish, I saw quite a few salamanders. The view was gorgeous, too. 

The last night I was on the mountain, I got back on the tube and found myself in the thick of things once again with the cutts. When these fish took the fly, they didn't just try to eat it - they tried to drown the thing! Cutthroat fishing isn't usually this intense except during the spawn, but Boulder Mountain cutthroat apparently didn't get that memo.

Leaving Boulder is always hard for me, but I knew I'd be back soon enough when fall rolls around. I have a few hunches to check out when the leaves start turning, and if they pay off, I could be coming home with some really nice fish. 

Now, after Boulder, I went and hit a few spots for brown trout after work earlier this week. The browns were rising on hopper patterns! This guy jumped quite a bit before I got him in, giving my 3-weight quite the workout. 

Then, I took some time to go hit a fun little creek home to a solid population of cutthroat and rainbow trout. The cutts didn't want to play, but the bows were a dime a dozen. 

The fish weren't too big, but they were hard fighters, and a lot of fun on a 3-weight fly rod. 

I did catch one cutthroat, the skinniest and most haggard-looking cutt I've ever laid eyes on. Long fish, though. 

And then, on Pioneer Day, I hiked into a fun little stream in search of some larger brown trout. The creek is swift, deep, and unforgiving. I slipped and fell on the rocks more than once, and have some nice bruises to show for it! 

However, that was all worth it when I hooked into a chunky little brown. I was tossing a black hopper into the slack on the side of the current when I saw a quick flash in the water and my fly disappeared. 

I yanked up on the fly rod, tightening the line with my left hand, and felt a nice solid fish on the end of the line. He took a run up into the current, sitting on the bottom and shaking his head at me. 

Ever so carefully, being wary of the swift current that could knock me off my feet if I wasn't steady, I tried to tug the fish down to me. He didn't like that much, took a huge jump clean out of the water, then tore off downstream.

The streambed was littered with huge, slippery boulders covered in moss, and I was having an insane time trying to follow the fish downstream and not kill myself! After maybe five or so minutes, I finally tuckered the fish out enough to get him to hand. 

Without a doubt, one of the fattest browns from a river I have ever caught! 

I caught a few cutthroat very similar to size, but they didn't stick around long enough to take pictures. 

I also nearly got bit by this bad boy.

Without a doubt, that is the fattest rattlesnake I've seen in the wild. Probably digesting a mouse or something, considering how its stomach was bulging. I was hiking along the bank when I tripped, and as I was laying on the ground, I heard that unmistakable rattle. I looked up, and not three feet away from my face was this rattlesnake, all coiled up and ready to strike.

After a few heart pounding moments, I back away slowly and stood up, and the snake was still hissing and rattling like nobody's business. I snapped this picture as it was slithering back into the rocks, then I poked it a bunch with the tip of my fly rod (yay for 9 foot rods!!) to make it hurry away from me before continuing fishing. That was quite an adventure! 

Fishing has been good to me these past few weeks, and hopefully it remains that way! I'll be getting into some more water this weekend, so look for that post soon! 

A Week of Gorgeous Cutts On A Fly

l have this problem when I fish. Well, it's not really a problem, as much as a preference to make my fishing trips the best - I like to fish alone. Being on a lake where I'm the only guy there is magical. Fishing a stretch of river and never seeing another human is relaxing in a way that nothing else quite is.

And the 4th of July weekend is absolutely horrible for finding alone time in the great outdoors.

Nevertheless, I soldiered on and hiked into a gorgeous lake. A few people were there when I arrived, but they left and I actually ended up having the place to myself for about 3 hours.

This is the same lake where I caught my gorgeous, giant cutthroat (pictured below) a few weeks ago.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! I also spent a day earlier this week fishing for cutts. 

A small, lonely pond up a popular canyon holds some decent sized fish, and I found one willing to come out of the water for pictures. 

I'm almost certain this is a Bonneville Cutthroat (the large one, and all the rest, are) and it's cool to see them color up like this. 

After catching that fish, I followed the stream that feeds this pond up a ways, without finding any decent fish. I did get some amazing pictures of the sunset, though. 

Absolutely breathtaking. Man, I love Utah. 

Now, on Saturday, as I hiked into the cutthroat lake, I stopped by a very small trickle of water, probably no more than 3 feet across in most places and basically a series of deep pools connected by about an inch of running water. I saw some fish running around, so I tied on a caddis (all my flies are made by myself) on the end of my fly rod. The water was so clear, and I had the perfect vantage point, to sit and watch as the fish lazily swam up and swallowed my fly. It was amazing!

I know this isn't a cutthroat...or is it? 

The fish wouldn't hold still, but if you look closely, you can see a faint orange slash peeking out right under the jaw, in the same place where a cutthroat would have a slash. I wonder if this rainbow is actually a cuttbow. 

Another rainbow ate my fly before I started hiking further into the cutthroat lake. 

Pretty fish! 

I got to the lake, and found my favorite spot for the fish. They were being incredibly picky and not liking my first few offerings. Finally, I found a pattern that seemed to do the trick. 

After I cracked the code, the fish came in pretty regularly. Not fast, but fast enough to keep me in the same spot for nearly 3 hours. 

Then, it decided to rain. I haven't been in a good summer thunderstorm in a long while. This one was welcome! 

After the rain stopped (it took a good half hour for it to stop enough for me to fish without getting drenched) I got back to fishing. 

This next fish was absolutely gorgeous! So colorful! 

The fish in this lake are some of the prettiest cutts I've ever had the opportunity to catch. Amazing fish, they are. 

This was probably the biggest fish of the day. Nothing to write home about, but a gorgeous fish nonetheless. 

I caught more tiny fish like this than I can count, but this one was really pretty so it needed a picture. 

Then, I moved to another spot on the lake. I had my spinning rod with me, and decided to throw some spinners for a while. Another nice cutt hit my blue fox. 

After him, the clouds that had dumped rain on me a while ago looked poised to come back with a vengeance. I was already soaked, but I didn't necessarily want to get more soaked, so I left the lake and its colorful cutthroat behind.