"The Ghost Fish" October 2009

A friend and I decided to head out fishing after work. He had been telling me about a reservoir that he took his boy to a few days ago where they caught some albino trout. I had seen pictures of them before but had never caught one myself. That one small detail is all it takes for me to get interested in going after it! We arrived and were fishing by around 5 pm. He had told me that the times he had fished this particular reservoir, the fishing had always been fast. Well....not so much this day! There is a big snow storm on it's way in tomorrow and I think the pressure change had alot to do with the slow bite.
The albinos were really easy to spot crusing the surface. We both cast spinners using our ultra-light rods and had alot of follows and slight hits but it was tough to get them to commit. I had 3 albino's that I fought all the way to shore only to have them throw the hook at the last second. I'm not going to lie, I was getting a little bit frustrated! The first fish I ended up landing was a nice 15" fat rainbow. That settled me a little bit but that's not why I was here.
It started getting dark on us and then I hooked my last fish of the evening. It was an albino and I wasn't about to lose it this time. I finally landed my first albino trout! At 12", it wasn't the biggest fish ever, but it was still nice to be able to cross this species off my list. Talk about an interesting looking fish. From it's white body to it's red eye's, I couldn't think of a better fish to catch around Halloween.

My first Albino Trout "The Ghost Fish"

I like how their fins are see through.

Utah DNR Gill Net Study, October 2009

I volunteered to go help the DNR with their gill net studies at Strawberry Reservoir. What a great experience! I arrived at the strawberry fish trap about 8 am and the boats were on their way back with the netted fish. they set nets in 8 different locations in the lake. Once the nets arrived, we strung them out one location at a time. There were marks along the net for different depths (there were other reasons too, I just don't remember what they were) and we took the fish from the specified spots and measured and weighed them. There were alot of Utah chubs, bear lake cutts and crawdads with a few Utah suckers and rainbows. There was even a single kokanee caught.
The wildlife biologist's did alot of different studies on the rainbows and cutts depending on the location of the lake they were netted in. It was interesting to me to see what the fish had been eating. There sere small chubs, crawdads and even a cigarette butte pulled out of one of them! They took down the age and sex of each fish as well. When they were done with the trout, they filleted them and we got to take some home. Unfortunately, I forgot my share! This is an activity I plan on doing again. All the DNR guys were great to work with and very friendly! I learned alot of things and forgot even more! I need to work on my retention. After we were done, They cooked up the crawdads and we had are fill of them along with some sandwiches.
On the way home I stopped at various spots in Provo Canyon to take some pictures. This canyon is breathe taking in the fall. There are so many great photo opportunities. There is also the Provo River that runs through it as well. This is a blue-ribbon fishery and is known for big browns. I cast a few times and caught a small brown on a spinner. I would have had more success if I would have had my fly rod. All-in-all, it was a fun day and I learned a ton!

This is how they came back from the boat.

Getting the net set out so we can get to the fish.

One of the big cutthroat's pulled from the nets.

Measuring and weighing the fish.

One of the wildlife biologist's doing his thing.

Spawning kokanee salmon in Strawberry River.

Bridal Veil Falls

One of the many great views in Provo Canyon.

Upper Falls

The vibrant colors of Fall.

11" brown trout from the Provo River.

Duck Hunt Opener, UT October 2009

This is the hunt I wait all year for, especially opening day. My brother got up at 2:45 am and he and a friend went out to save our spot. My brother is by far the most avid duck hunter I know and he has no problem getting up and out in the Bay. I on the other hand wanted a few more hours of sleep so a couple other friends going out with us picked me and another buddy up at 5 am to go out. We arrived at our hunting spot and the few guys that went out earlier already had some decoys set up and ready to go. We all found a spot in the reeds and then it was a waiting game for shooting time at 8 am. As we waited for 8 am to arrive, we could only stand there watching all the ducks flying around. It was quite a sight to behold. I bet we saw between 2-4 thousand birds while in the hour or so we waited which only made the time go by slower. At about 10 minutes to 8, we heard a shot ring out in the cold autum air and well, that was all it took. soon the bay irrupted with gunfire. It sounded like popcorn on steroids! You would have to experience it first hand to truely take in what it's like. That only intensifed our group to want to start shooting as well but my brother was sure to make us wait until 8 to start shooting. The second my watch said 8 o'clock, it was on. We all started downing birds immediately. It was I think the fasted I have ever limited out. The bag limit in Utah is 7 birds and 3 of the 6 of us in our group limited out in under twenty minutes! The others soon followed. There was a group next to us that took some of our birds we downed with them when they gathered theres so we ended up with 35 birds total. We ended up shooting mostly Green Wing Teal with a few Cinnamon Teal and Gadwall mixed in. It was indeed an incredible hunt and one that I will certainly remember.

View I had while filling up the truck on my way to hunt.

Sunrise through the reeds.

A few of the guys with the hunts spoils.

All in a days hunt.

21 of the 35 ducks we bagged.

Just waiting for shooting time.

Early Shooters (cell phone video)

Snap Shot Of The Week Video, UT October 2009

Here is the clip from when I won the snap shot of the week contest on Utahs Roughin It Outdoors show. Its not the best quality, but its what I have. Also, be sure to turn off the music player before watching so they don't both play at the same time. You have to check out the huge small mouth this guy caught too. It's most likely the heaviest smallie ever caught in the state but since the lake he caught it in has a strict catch and release policy in place, he couldn't keep it for a new state record. Thats to bad for him but is still an impressive catch and he gets much respect from me.

Lunch Break, October 2009

I found a little community fishing pond a few blocks from where I work and I figured I needed to go try it out. I'm typically not real big on fishing these types of spots but I saw it as a good opportunity to take a break from the office and unwind for a few minutes. I fished for about a half hour and in that time I landed 8 planter rainbows with the biggest going 13" and most going alot smaller than that. I'd guess the average fish I caught was in the 8" range. I used a mepps XD spinner size 1 rainbow pattern and I had hits or a fish on just about every cast. It was actually more entertaining than I thought it was going to be. I went back to work and the day seemed to go better. I think I may hit it more often now. I had my cell phone with me so I took a few pictures.

13" rainbow

Small community pond

This was about average. This bow still had par marks.