Sixthwater Trip

I was sitting at home Saturday morning after an amazing date (thanks Kari!) the night before, wondering where I should head out fishing. I checked fishing reports from a few different places, keeping in mind I'd be heading to Scofield on Sunday anyways. After checking out Vernon Reservoir, a few lakes up Fairview Canyon, and Strawberry (the ice needs to come off!), I settled on heading up to the top of Diamond Fork Canyon, to fish for Cutts in the beaver ponds.

Well, as I was driving up Diamond Fork Canyon, I remembered a favorite spot of mine just about a mile east - Sixthwater Creek. Now, quite a few people fish Sixthwater near and around Ray's Valley Bridge, but very few venture to the spots where I do - in fact, I haven't ever seen another living soul on the particular stretch of river I've fished today.

So on a whim, I decided to make the hour long trek up the face of a mountain and down the back side, into the valley that Sixthwater runs in.

I was hiking/bushwhacking my way up this steep slope for a good hour. The scenery and views were worth it, though. Oh, and so were the fish!

After finally getting up and over, I pulled out my trusty Ford Spoon, tied it on, and threw it into a choice spot. And then WHAM! Something whaled on my lure within seconds of it hitting the current, but I was just a second too late in setting the hook, and I got my favorite and most reliable spoon snagged. Even worse, the snag was so bad I had to cut the line and lose the lure.

I tied on another spoon, this one red and white striped, and cast again into the same hole. I saw the white belly of a fish roll on the lure, but the current tossed the lure out of the reach of the fish's mouth. I decided I'd hit that hole again on my way back and walked up the river, searching for more holes.

This is a gorgeous river.

I switched lures again, and ended up using a size four Panther Martin. Nearly every cast, I was catching fish. The problem was, the fish were too big to land without a net! I'd wrestle these huge Browns into relatively calm water, but there was no way to get them up on the bank without a net. So they'd just flop off and swim away. 

Finally, though, I managed to hook one and land him. 

17.5 inches, 2.5 pounds! An absolute whale of a fish for this river. It was a great day, and the hike was worth every minute of it for these fish. 

The Creek, IN THE SNOW

So, the weather was great and peachy until a few days ago, when Utah got the usual early spring snowstorm. After dumping about 4 inches at my house, as well as dumping on my fishing plans that day, the storm moved on and some warmer weather came in today that enabled me to get up and fish the creek again, this time in about a half foot of snow!

I couldn't believe how much snow was still up there, after the two days of warmer weather we've seen. I thought my truck was going to get stuck at one point, but I kept pressing on to a favorite spot of mine.

No one, not even any animals, had been down into this hole. The snow was clear and untouched. So, I threw on my secret weapon for this creek, tossed the line up into the current, and WHAM! Not even 10 seconds after the line hit the water, I was pulling in a fish.

I know, it's small. But it's pretty! All the fish from this hole today were more beautiful than the last, it seemed. And every single cast, I successfully pulled in a fish. I even pulled in a few in the 7-9 inch range, which is bordering on a beast for this creek. 

This was by far the most beautiful fish I caught all day. The nice, thick red stripe down the middle and the little boxes, all coupled with a beautiful rainbow splash on the gillplate. Wow, just an incredible fish. 

That fish took a little coaxing to get him to swim off, but after a few minutes he splashed away, back into the deeper waters. 

Believe it or not, this fish isn't even the smallest I've caught from here - although it's very close! Even at this tiny size, this guy whaled on the line and managed to put some spring into my brand new ultra lite Ugly Stik (by far the best fishing pole on the market, IMO).

He really was tiny!

By this point,unhooking so many fish and getting my hands in that frigid water was starting to take its toll. I decided I'd catch one more fish, and then call it a day. I'd been fishing for about 45 minutes now, and had literally caught a fish on every cast. Then, I pulled in this surprise. 

My treble hook had hooked through the loop of a leader line that was sticking out of the mouth of this little fish! I felt bad that he was swimming around with a hook so far down his throat, but there was no way for me to remove it. So, I cut the leader line as short as I could and threw him back. 

Deciding that was enough, I hiked back up to my truck. I got this very cool picture of ice on the river as I was leaving.

All in all, after a rough day, this was exactly what I needed - to hear my reel sing and feel my pole shake.

If your hands don't smell like trout after a day of fishing, you're doing it wrong. 

Southern Utah Trip, Lake 1

Well, on a spur of the moment idea, I decided it would be a great idea to take a trip to the warmer end of the state and get some fishing done. A whole bunch of reservoirs, lakes, and rivers await down here, and most of them have minimal pressure.

Every time I'm down here, I always here amazing things from friends about Sand Hollow and Quail Creek reservoirs. However, every time I pay those places a visit, I come away empty handed. Also, I'm not much for bass fishing. I prefer trout, so I tend to not spend as much time on water that has a larger population of bass, like Sand Hollow and Quail Creek do.

Anyways, I started out my fishing on a small, out of the way reservoir that's fed by the Santa Clara river. I've always had some great luck down here for really big browns (we're talking 4-8 pounders every time I visit, I promise I'm not exaggerating) but all I caught this trip was rainbows.

I think that any browns living in this reservoir died when it froze solid. This reservoir rarely freezes, but we had such a cold winter this year it ended up being a solid sheet of ice. Browns aren't the greatest species of fish to survive a freeze like the one this reservoir experienced.

I started out using a small green tube jig, throwing it about 20 feet off the shore. I didn't have any action on it whatsoever, so I switched to my favorite Kastmaster lure.

This Kastmaster has served me well over the years, and about ten minutes after tying it on, I had a hit. The fish took it so hard, I didn't even have to really set the hook. My drag was tightened up pretty good, but this fish just pulled it out. I let the fish tire itself out for a while, and started pulling it back towards shore. It jumped a couple of times, and I was surprised at the fight I was getting. 

I finally landed the fish - it was a rainbow, and I'd guess it was about 18 inches long. I didn't get a chance to measure it or take a picture before it flopped out of my hands back into the water.

I kept fishing for another three hours, and pulled in this good-sized rainbow. Even though it was a planter, it put up a great fight. It was a little over 16 inches long. 

I also got this little guy on a worm. The action slowed down on spinners, and I had to send a few emails for work, so I threw a worm out into the water for a sec while my attention was diverted elsewhere. But I still managed to get a nice little fish out of it. 

It looked absolutely gorgeous out there yesterday. I had a great time, and I'm going to try and get to at least two different waters today. I'll be chasing a trophy size cutthroat! 

Local Lake

The ice finally came off a little local lake that I frequent. It's stocked with rainbows every year, but there's also a population of stunted brook trout in this lake as well. (Yes, DWR, I'm upset with you for thinking that rainbows and brookies could live together without the brookies becoming stunted.)

I like this lake because it's close by, but manages to feel remote at the same time. The thick forest around it makes me feel like I'm up in the Uintas.

The gates to the road leading up to this lake are still locked, meaning if you want to get in and fish, you're in for a hike. The hike is beautiful though, and very worth it. 

Once you've hiked in, you'll come out facing the lake from the east. I've always found the best fishing to be on the southwest corner, near the dam. Also, as you walk along the lake you'll notice a stream flowing in and a bridge crossing it. If you fish the inlet at the right time of day with a wooly bugger or a small panther Martin, you're sure to catch brook trout after brook trout. The bigger ones usually hang out here at the inlet, and swim along in the beds about 10 feet off the shore. I've very rarely ever caught a brook trout from the middle of this lake. 

The fishing when I went was slow - much slower than usual. I hike into this lake every year before the gates open, and never fail to catch at least 50 fish in a few hours. I only pulled a few in, the most notable being this one right here. 

I love me some small brook trout! They're always very pretty fish. I hope to make it back up there soon and see if there's any monsters waiting to be caught.