I visited places I've never been, even ended up in New York City for almost three months (an ill-fated attempt to serve an LDS mission that led to me returning home very early due to health problems) but I still managed to find some gorgeous fish. So let's take a look back at 2013.
I started this year doing a lot of work on Diamond Fork, a favorite river of mine. There's a very healthy population of browns in there, although they've eluded me in recent weeks. Fishing this river will never get old.
A view of the valley that holds Diamond Fork River, over an expanse of unbroken snow.
My first 'big' brown out of Diamond, a 14.5 inch 2 pound male. Landing this fish was a lot more work than it should have been, but I got it in for a picture before letting it swim back into the cold winter waters.
Fishing through the ice at Fish Lake is something that will never get old. This splake was one of three the same size that day, and I ate a very good dinner that night.
So many of these perch at Fish Lake!
There's nothing impressive about this fish at all. But the memories behind it make it worth sharing. I'm blessed to live near a lot of good ponds, even though they're stocked with planter rainbows. But these are the days that I'd spend fishing with my friends after school until well past dark, just shooting the bull and relaxing. This is what fishing's all about sometimes.
Brook trout are incredibly pretty, and I was able to catch a few this year. Not as many as I would have liked too, though. This little guy was taken at one of my all-time favorite lakes near my home, because the action there is always lightning fast. I've never been there and not caught at least 5 fish. And last year, I even managed to find the lunkers in there, pulling out a few two pound rainbows.
Southern Utah has become a home for me this year because of work, so I had to find a trout fishery down there. A small, out of the way reservoir holds planted rainbows like this one, and brown trout that don't like to hold still for pictures. I hooked into a pretty nice sized brown, one that I'd estimate to be between 4 and 6 pounds, but he didn't want to come in for a picture that day.
There's a creek by my house that is chock full of the most beautiful rainbow trout God has ever placed on this earth. Yeah, they're small, but this stream winds its way through the most beautiful canyon I've ever set foot in, and the fishing never disappoints.
Diamond Fork was really good to me this year. This is a 17.5 inch, 2.5 pound brown that I pulled out of an eddy tucked into a tight bend in the river. Maybe this year I'll beat my record!
More brown trout from Diamond Fork. This river is honestly one of the best kept brown trout secrets in the state. So don't tell anyone about it.
My fishing pal Colby posing with a little rainbow at our favorite lake to fish together, the same one the brook trout came from. So many memories of hitting that lake up after school come to mind when I see this picture, so it had to be posted.
There's a section of Sixthwater that I was lucky enough to find, and in this stretch of river, the brown in the picture above is the smallest fish I've ever pulled out of there. I'm not kidding when I say there's 5 to 8 pound fish in this river, and I'd wager that this stretch of river rivals the Green in terms of fish per square mile.
The stretch of Sixthwater that I love to fish. And no, I'm not giving up the location of this stretch of river! This is a closely guarded secret!
The current record for my adventures on Diamond Fork - an 18.5 inch, 2.7 pound brown trout. The coloration on this fish was spectacular, and this photo doesn't do it justice.
A gorgeous picture of a beautiful rainbow trout hooked with a Jake's Stream-A-Lure, on the upper reaches of my favorite river close to home.
More fish from the same river, this time with my best friend Lander jumping over a fallen log in the background. And yes, that's a waterfall on the left side of the picture. This is honestly fishing paradise.
I tried a different stretch of Sixthwater here, a lot higher than I usually go. Smaller fish were abundant, but they were fun. I also caught rainbows and cutthroat out of this stretch, as opposed to the usual browns.
A Sixthwater brown with not very many spots.
Another Sixthwater brown.
Getting into Sixthwater Valley just after sunup.
My second-favorite tiger trout lake in the state (the first isn't pictured here, and never will be) was very productive this year. This tiger is absolutely gorgeous!
This little Cutt attacked a J-7 Rapala lure, which was nearly as long as it was! That earns it a spot in the year's review.
Not sure why I'm making such a face in this picture, I'm holding a 19.5 inch tiger.
21 inch tiger, this guy tipped the scales at 3 pounds.
The crowning jewel of my fishing adventures this year, a 5 pound, 23 inch tiger trout that's in the process of being mounted. Such an incredible fish, I had a blast reeling this hog in.
One of the Cutthroat I nagged while skipping my girlfriend's choir concert on Thousand Lake Mountain. This fish was beautiful, so the tongue lashing I got when I returned home Saturday afternoon was worth it.
This tiger had a lot of fun coming to hand, even though he wasn't kept. Another one from Thousand Lake Mountain.
This is the first time I've ever fished at Joe's Valley Reservoir, and I caught more splake like this than I can count. It was an absolute blast, many thanks to Justin Craddock for taking me.
A pale cutthroat from Joe's Valley.
Justin Craddock again let me onto a new fishing spot, this one a small little pond full of beautiful cutthroat.
More Diamond Fork brown trout, with a little bit of white on the leading edge of the rear anterior fin.
This year was the first time I've fished Straight Canyon Creek, which is full of browns all about this size. The fish are small but the setting is dramatic and ultimately worth it.
This is the only picture I have of the most beautiful cutthroat I've ever caught in my life, during a trip to film a fishing video at Joe's Valley about a month ago. You can view the video we made here.
Fishing is the most relaxing thing I do, and I enjoy it beyond words. It's my escape, my one true solitary hobby that makes me happy when nothing else can. For that reason, I've decided to write a book detailing my fishing experiences and knowledge. I'll have it finished before June of this year, and hopefully published soon thereafter.
Thanks for reading and supporting this blog, there are many more amazing fishing adventures coming your way this year! Look out on Sunday for my next post detailing my ice fishing adventure to Mammoth reservoir.
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