Tiger Trout Extravaganza 2014

Memorial Day Weekend - usually the first weekend every year when outdoors-men and women take up the first camping trip. Despite the fact that hauling a trailer, four-wheelers, and enough food for a month up into the mountains doesn't qualify as camping at all (I call these people 'pretenders' - those who want to live a country life but don't, or don't know how too) this weekend is usually a good one for fishing.

My rant about 'pretending' outdoorsmen aside, this weekend was fabulous for me in terms of fishing. A week ago, I took a trip to a lake and saw it still had some ice on it. I figured Memorial Day Weekend, the ice would be coming off and the fish would be hungry.

I figured right. I spent three days enjoying some of the best fishing of my life.

Saturday 

Saturday was cold and rainy, which was perfect because only the serious fishermen were out.

The first fish of the weekend was hardly a harbinger of what was to come.

One thing needs to be said right here - these fish fought HARD. I have never had consecutive days of fishing where the fish fought as angrily as they did this weekend. When they took the jig, these tigers tried to drown the darn thing! Honestly, I had several fights with fish that took upwards of 5 or so minutes to horse into shore. Seeing as there was a whopping 20 feet of open water, a 5 minute fight felt like an eternity. 

Most of the fish I caught this weekend looked just like this - fat, long, hungry, mean, aggressive, and healthy. These fish wintered over spectacularly well! 

Yay for beautifully patterned fish! 

On Saturday, I ran into a family who was having a hard time catching fish. I ended up bringing them to my side of the lake and helping them out, and they were kind enough to snap a few of these pictures for me. 

Seriously. These fish are so healthy, it's amazing! It's been a very long time since I fished a lake with such an abundance of large, healthy trout. 

This was the catch of the day on Saturday (thanks Clay for taking this picture!). That tiger was about 20 inches long, and tipped the scales at nearly three pounds. He wasn't the biggest fish caught, though! Here's a closer look at that big boy. 

Just a pig of a fish! 

Sunday

I headed back to the lake Sunday with a buddy of mine, hoping for more of the rod-bending aggressive action I'd had on Saturday. Seriously, the fish were SO aggressive and feisty. I can't overstate that enough.

Sunday was a slower day by far, and colder than Saturday. A few decent fish came to hand, though. 

This guy wasn't too long, but he was fat! Talk about girth! Man, these fish are healthy.

Monday

Monday was the best day of this three-day fishing extravaganza. My good fishing buddy rYsentrout and I got up before the sun did and headed up to the lake.

My buddy snapped these next two pics - truly epic shots! 

The morning was chilly, but that didn't stop the fish from coming. They were all generally bigger, and this was one of the smallest fish caught all day. 

Now, all of these following fish put up an amazing, incredible fight. Definitely some of the best fighting fish I've ever caught in my storied fishing career. 

I still can't get over the girth on these things. Every single fish was a pig and fought like a trophy trout! 

One of my buddy's best fish of the day. 

And finally, the biggest fish of the fishing weekend, a roughly 22 inch, 3.5 pound tiger trout! 

That smile on my face barely conveys the emotion I felt at catching such a fish. And the thing was, most of the fish were just a bit smaller than that one! This fishing trip was hands-down one of the best, most amazing trips I've ever had. I certainly got into more fish, and more big fish, than I have in quite some time. 

I'm not sure what this next week will bring, but I doubt it will live up to how epic this weekend was. 

Thousand Lake Mountain & Electric Lake!

I started a tradition last year, kind of by accident. My girlfriend a year ago had a thing she wanted me to be at on a Friday night. I didn't really want to go (I think it was some kind of concert she was playing in, or something important like that) so in the middle of the day on Friday, I loaded up my truck and drove down to Thousand Lake Mountain. I fished all weekend and didn't get home until Sunday night. My girlfriend was waiting at my house when I got back, and we had a bit of a fight.

That happened exactly a year ago, on this very weekend in May. Looking back, it was a good thing we broke up. She accused me of loving fish more than her, and I realized she was right!

Regardless, I decided that in order to commemorate that moment of revelation in my life, I should head back down to Thousand Lake Mountain.

This time, I brought my dad along with me for our first trip together since last September.

We arrived to this gorgeous sight.

We came down and around this rise to get to the lake. We hurried and pitched the tent, then ran down to the water to get into the fishing. We arrived at the perfect time. On the second cast, I had a fish.

My dad and I caught about 2 dozen fish, each this size, during Friday night and the better part of Saturday. Now, I know there are a few bigger fish in this lake (having caught a really nice 15 inch cutt there last year) and it took some coaxing before they'd come say hello. 

This bow fought good and hard, and had a nice plump belly to him as well. He was a welcome break from the constant barrage of 7 inch cutts I couldn't keep off my hook.

The rest of the night passed in a flurry of cutthroat before the sun set and it got too dark to fish. My dad and I busted out the Mountain House beef stew meals around the fire, and had a grand old time camping. 

The next morning, we woke up to this sight. 

I love being down on Thousand Lake Mountain. Every time I've gone there, I've had the place to myself. Being alone in the middle of nowhere is the greatest feeling in the world. 

The lake looked amazing as well. 

Dawn on Thousand Lake Mountain. Just breathtaking. 

We decided to make a short hike to another lake that morning, hoping to get into some slightly bigger fish. 

The fish here are usually bigger, and this lake is home to a good population of splake and cutthroat trout. My dad and I must have been wearing smaller-fish cologne, because that's all we kept catching. 

I introduced my dad to jigging on this trip, as well. He's primarily a fly fisherman, but wanted to give my kind of fishing a shot. We caught all of these fish on Gulp minnows on a 1/16th ounce jig head, my standard rig for fish everywhere in Utah. 

This was by far the prettiest cutt I caught on Thousand Lake Mountain. Just spectacular coloration. 

The tiger trout even decided to visit as well.

After a few more hours of fish that size, we decided to head back to camp and get started on the 3 hour drive home. While my dad was packing up some gear, I ran back down to the water for one last cast. I hooked a couple decent rainbows that both managed to throw my hooks before I got this guy. 

We decided to say goodbye to Thousand Lake Mountain. The views from the top over Monument Valley are absolutely breathtaking. 

The lonely road awaited us. 

Sunday

I woke up Sunday, took one look out the window, and knew that I had to go fishing. A buddy of mine caught a very nice 4 pound brown at a little pond on Saturday, so I decided to go up there and see if another monster was lurking about. 

I tied on the trusty Gulp minnow, and got to fishing. Probably an hour passed, with no bites, so I decided to go upstream from this pond a bit. Beavers have made a marsh of the area, and little ponds are everywhere.

I found a few small fish in one pond, but spooked them before I could even get a line in the water. After throwing around some jigs with no luck, I returned back to the main pond. 

I switched to a ghost-rainbow Lucky Craft PointerSP 65, and about five minutes later, I brought this very nice cutt to my net. 

He had some pretty colors. 

I spent another 45 minutes at the pond with no luck. I decided to try my luck on other waters. 

After a good two hours of driving, I ended up at Scofield. I was thinking about fishing along the dam inlet, but once I got there, I saw the massive crowds and decided I needed to go somewhere else. I drove up through Fairview Canyon, around the north end of Electric Lake. It was open water, but down low and really murky. I kept driving.

I merged with highway 31, and headed south. After fishing a few other lakes along the way with no luck, I ended up on the dam of Electric Lake. Using my always trusty Gulp minnows, I caught some nice tigers. 

I caught about five or six this size. They all fought really well. The dam had about 10-15 feet of open water, just perfect for fishing in. The fish were hungry and feisty. 

Colors!!!!!

After catching this fish, I realized I was late for dinner. I hightailed it off the mountain, wishing I could have spent more time there. 

This weekend was a blast, I needed all the relaxation that comes with a good fishing trip. Until next week! 

Gorgeous Backcountry and Pretty Fish

This week was an interesting one. I started a new job on Monday, working in Salt Lake. I live in Santaquin, so that's a bit of a commute. I've been up at 5:30 every day, home at around 6:30, with almost no time to fish. But Saturday rolled around and I knew I had to get out.

A buddy of mine, Bill, wanted to go as well, so we set out on an hour-long hike in the middle of the day up some gorgeous country.

Spring is the best, especially in Utah! Our hike took us up a long ridge, overlooking a beautifully scenic valley. Our destination, a small out-of-the-way trickle of water, lay at the bottom of a valley. 

We topped out on the ridge and couldn't resist a quick selfie in the backcountry. 

After we stopped at the top of the ridge for a quick snack and some water, we clambered down the backside and started doing what we do best - looking for fish. 

Talk about some gorgeous country to fish in! 

Bill got the first of the day, a solid brown. 

For a river brown, that's pretty chunky. We were using some fake worms on the end of a 1/8th ounce jig head, and the fish seemed to love them. Bill caught two more before I wrangled anything in.

Quick note - all these fish, seeing as they're wild and gorgeous, were tossed back unharmed. Even this guy, who swallowed the plastic worm a ways, only had the hook in the roof of his mouth, thank goodness. We got him and all the other fish back into the water after a quick photo op. 

Bill gettin' funky with another nice brown. 

Bill pulled those three in pretty quickly, but I was still fishless. This all made me come to a conclusion - fish karma is a real thing. Last week, with my buddy Dallin, I caught a very nice brookie, and Dallin only got a few small cutts to hand. This week, Bill managed to land almost all the fish, and certainly all the big ones, while I was stuck missing fish or getting snagged on the bottom.

Eventually, I pulled this gorgeous cutthroat out from behind a boulder before letting him swim back off.

After that, Bill got yet another fish on a spinner.

I tied on a spinner shortly thereafter, and I had a really nice sized brown roll on the lure, only to miss it as the spoon tumbled through the fast water. I couldn't coax anything else to bite on the lure. 

With dark about an hour off, and Bill needing to get home before it got too late, we decided to hike back out. 

The river looks so small from up here! 

It's incredible how pristine this country is. Just awe-inspiring and beautiful. Being able to romp around out here with a day pack and fishing rod is a great blessing. 

That nice rainstorm Saturday night was creeping in right as we were hiking back to the car. As soon as we popped the trunk and loaded our gear, the rain started coming down. We left at just the right time! 

It was a great trip, and a fun first one for Bill and I to get into fish on. Backcountry fishing, where I don't even see signs of other people, is great. This river is a true gem and I'm glad I got to spend some time there on Saturday.