Catching Rainbows and Taming Tigers

My father-in-law took me fishing for my birthday a few days ago. We headed up to a lake that we've had some of our best days on numbers wise. This lake is mostly known for it's rainbows and Cutthroats, but in recent years,  it is starting to become a good spot to hunt for Tiger Trout.

 

We launched around 10 am to perfect weather. We both started trolling flies making our way around the lake. We would pick off 10-12 inch rainbows from time to time, but nothing consistent. I wanted to try getting into some tiger trout, and after a couple more rainbows, I decided to switch things up. I put away my fly rod and pulled out my spinning rod and decided to try a big Rapala. I also adjusted where I was fishing on the lake.

 

I've always had more confidence when fishing Raps compared to flinging flies, and since it was my birthday, I figured I had good vibes on my side. That must have been correct, because on my third cast, I had a great hit. Once I felt a couple of violent head shakes, I knew I had something good on the end of my line. At first he came straight to me, and I could hardly reel fast enough to keep tension on the line, but the second we made eye contact two things happened. 1: the fish took off on one of the hardest runs I've felt from a fresh water fish, and 2: my mindset went from having fun to "holy crap, I need to land this fish" because I knew it would be a new personal best if I could land it. My father-in-law said my voice got higher and higher as I fought this fish and got more excited. Each time I got the fish close I'd get a better look and realize just how big it was before it tore off again on another hard run.

 

My first attempt at landing the fish didn't go well, as I didn't get the net low enough and I thought I had knocked the Rapala out if its mouth. Luckily I got one more try, and this time I got him in the net. This Tiger measured 24 inches in length which confirmed that it was a new personal best by a few inches. What a great birthday gift! My Father-in-law snapped a few pictures, and then I released him to grow bigger. While taking pictures, he had a fly drifting in the water that a rainbow apparently couldn't pass up. He hurried and put the camera down and grabbed the rod so he could land it. That's multitasking at it's best in my view.

 

I ended up landing 3 more 14 inch range tigers, but had a couple good sized fish follow me all the way to the boat. My Father-in-law landed a bunch of rainbows making for a fantastic day on the water. On the way home, we saw three bull elk just off the road, and just around the next bend a cow moose right on the road. They were the exclamation point on a perfect day.

We had the lake to ourselves.

Typical Rainbow we caught on this trip.

 

Beaver lodge.

 

Thick, with solid shoulders.

Great colors.



24 inch Tiger; a new personal best.

The Good Kind of Hard Water

ICE FISHING TIME! A lot of the lakes iced up the past few weeks, and have hit safe-ice conditions. I made a solo trip to Mantua Reservoir this morning to try and get some Perch and Blue Gill for dinner tonight. A friend of mine fished it on Saturday with his boy and killed it, catching over 40 fish between them!

 

I arrived around 8 a.m. to about 10 trucks already parked along the south road. So much for no body fishing on Mondays. I was so surprised to see that many people out on the ice today. Most people were fishing out in the middle. Luckily, no one was where I wanted to fish. I made my way over to my spot, and drilled my first two holes. The second my jig hit the bottom there was action. I set the hook and had my first fish on which turned out to be a nice sized perch. I got him off the hook and immediately sent the jig to the bottom again. Same thing as before, and I soon had my second perch on the ice! It was a blazing fast start to the day, and it stayed that way for the first hour. I landed several nice perch and bluegill during this time. I even had a Rainbow Trout take my jig off the bottom.

 

 

I basic map of Mantua Reservoir.

There were a lot of people that had the same idea I had...

My first stop produced for about an hour.

Once the first stop slowed, I moved about 30 yards away and drilled two more holes. This spot is where I caught the biggest perch and gills of the day. I was really impressed with the size of the fish. They are way bigger on average than last year. I kept 25 of the 52 fish I landed today; 12 Bluegill, 12 Perch and one Rainbow. White was the color that worked today, and I fished in 10-12 feet of water the whole time. I left around 1 p.m.

I filleted the fish, and fried them up for my wife and I. I went the easy route, and just used a Cajun fish fry mix I bought at Cabelas. It was better than I expected, so I think I'll be using it from now on. it saves have to pull everything out to make a batter yourself. I love fishing the first few weeks that the ice sets up. It seems that the fish are always more willing to eat than later in the ice fishing season.

This is one chunky perch!

The Perch needed to go on a diet, so I put him on mine...

The keepers, minus one gill.

 

Dinner tasted great!

Frozen At The Berry

We had our winter camp for Scouts at Strawberry Reservoir this year. The plan was to camp on the ice and fish, but we arrived late. We decided to set up by the vehicles since it was dark. We made dinner and stayed close to the fire. Sitting around the fire is one of my favorite things about camping. Stories always seem to be better around a fire. After a few hours, we all hit the hay in hopes of staying warm through the night.

As it turned out, the majority froze. It was a balmy -9 degrees as we woke up and got ready for the day. He quickly had heaters running and started getting breakfast ready. It was interesting cracking frozen eggs in preparation of making french toast. While we were doing this, a couple of air boats cruised by on the ice. The snow the fans kicked up instantly turned to fog which lingered for about an hour.

As we wrapped up breakfast, it was voted that we pack up and hit a pond closer to home with warmer weather. We headed back to civilization, and allowed our bodies to thaw along the way. We reached the small pond and once we found the fish, we caught several. Some of the boys fished while others went sledding and had snowball fights. We spent a few hours doing this and wrapping up the trip with a hot dog lunch. We returned home tired, and with sunburned faces. It was a fun trip, but I'm all-the-more thankful for a nice warm bed.

 



Swamp People... Utah style!

All the kids thawing. The car heaters were popular on this trip.

Getting breakfast ready.

This is what frozen eggs look like.

One of about a dozen fish caught. The warmer weather was a plus!

More Succesful Trips on the Weber

Since the last post, I've hit the Weber two more times. The first trip, I met up with Rob and we fished his property. This was going to be a fly fishing trip, but I forgot the most important thing to make that happen; a fly rod! Luckily my spinning rod was in the truck so at least I could still fish. Rob had his 5 weight, and was catching lots of fish. He was using a Hairs Ear with a Rainbow Warrior dropper, landing fish on both. Rob makes fly fishing look easy, and I always learn something from him when we fish together.

 

The fish we landed on this trip ranged from around 12-17 inches. As we fished, I would usually hit the hole behind Rob, and I picked up a few hear and there. We made it up to the whole where I caught big browns back-to-back, and I was chomping at the bit for another. I made my first cast and started reeling. As I jigged my lure in, I saw a huge flash in the water and had a monster hit, but I missed him! That was the biggest flash I have ever seen, and I missed a shot at what likely would have been a new personal best! While we were there we also saw a big brown come out of the depths to sip a fly off the surface. I wish I would have got it on film, because it happened right below the bank where I was standing. We didn't pull anything from that area, but we left seeing some big fish. On to trip number two...

Brown Trout.

Cutthroat Trout.

Mountain Whitefish.

On the second trip I hit a different section of the river that I haven't fished in a long time. This particular stretch of river has really changed from the last time I was here. Some of my favorite holes don't exist anymore from how much the river has shifted. The catching was a lot slower than previous trips, but this is the first time I have seen spawning beds this year. It seems that the spawn is finally starting!

The few fish I did catch all had good size to them. The surprise catch of the day was a thick 21 inch rainbow that gave me a great fight! With the way it ripped drag from my spinning reel, I can only imagine what it would have been like on a fly rod! I don't catch a lot of rainbows on the Weber,  so I looked at this fish as a major score! I also caught a nice cutthroat, and several browns in the 14-16 inch range. These were some fun trips, but the hunt goes on for that lunker brown...

21 inch rainbow. The biggest I've caught from the Weber.

Cutthroat Trout.

Rainbows and Tigers and Cutts, Oh My!

When deciding where to go, we had a feeling to hit Current Creek Reservoir so we decided to follow our instincts and head out. We arrived at the lake around 10:30 am with sunny skies and a little breeze coming off the mountains. We set up our tubes and were soon on the water enjoying the great views that Current Creek has to offer. I tied on a black wooly bugger and trolled around with my fly rod. It wasn't long before I had hit after hit and soon had an angry rainbow dancing across the water on the end of my line. I actually lost several rainbows due to the fact that they fought me just as much out of the water as they did in it.  I then caught a cutthroat and today, they choose to dive instead of flying, so they came to the net alot easier.

My Father-in-law and brother-in-law on the other hand also caught a few good sized tiger trout as well as the cutts and rainbows. They caught they on castmasters close to shore. The tigers were so beautiful and one had a big hump on his back which made him even better! There was also a few guys I talked to in a canoe that landed several tigers with Rabalas.

All in all, the fishing was fast for most of the day and it turned out to be a great move to fish this reservoir. We will be hitting Crrent creek again for sure this year.

All set up and ready to go; a Super Fat Cat and two Renegades.

Cutthroat Trout

Rainbow Trout

Trolling around the lake.

Tiger Trout

Tiger Trout with some shoulders on him!

Flyin High On The Weber

I met up with Rob to hit the Weber, but today's trip was going to be different. Today is the first time I have fished the Weber only using a fly rod. You see, I have always been more comfortable and confident with a spinning rod in my hand and I would always take one when I fly fished. I guess you could say it was my crutch. Today was also a chance to try the new fishing rod I finally received from winning the Utah Trout Slam a while back (it's a long story). It didn't hurt that Rob is a fly fishing instructor either. He really helped correct some of my bad habits.

We got set up and started fishing, and Rob had the first fish of the day within five casts which turned out to be a nice rainbow. It didn't really slow down much from there which made for an incredible day. We both caught fish after fish with Rob landing around three to every one that I did. We were using beaded hairs ears with a dropper. We got into a mess of white fish in a few holes. I forgot how fun they are to catch and how hard they fight. They fought harder than any of the trout we caught, which may be why they have the nickname of "Rocky Mountain Bonefish". We even had a few doubles with them today. I don't get into them when I'm throwing big swim baits and plastics with the spinning rod. We also landed a bunch of browns, and a  good sized cutthroat for this river. This turned out to be one of the best fly fishing experiences I have had, and the new rod worked like a champ. The river treated us well today! 

First fish of the day; a rainbow trout.

Biggest white fish landed.

Fish On!

Brown trout.

Rob and I had a double on the white fish.

Who needs a net?

The only cutthroat trout landed.

Rainbow trout

White Fish (AKA Rocky Mountain Bonefish).

Brown trout

Schooled By An 8 Year Old

I met back up with rob to see if we could replicate the fast fishing of a week ago. This trip Rob brought his son Matt and I brought a friend that had never been ice fishing before. We arrived at the lake at dark o'clock got set up and as always, Matt had fish on the ice before I could even sit down in my chair! We got a quick picture and then he had a rainbow on the ice before I had my camera put away. Not to long after that my friend Ryan landed his first rainbow through the ice and I later found out that was also his first catch ever which was fun to see. The fishing slowed to a creep after that with fish here and there. It was nothing like the fast action we had last week.
A high note for me on the trip was catching a new personal best for green sunfish that went 8". As I was feeling good about my sunfish, Matt walks over to me with a 15" rainbow he had just landed and says "8 inches huh?" as he looks down at his fish with a smirk. He then walks away with me realizing I just got put in my place by a trash talking 8 year old! I laughed because there wasn't much I could say. He caught more fish than any of us! We also caught some bluegill and a few small perch for a 4 species day on the ice. Although the fishing wasn't as fast as we had hoped, it was a fun getting out on the ice again.

Matt's first fish of many.
Ryan's first ever catch.

Matt and Rob with some keeper bows.

Ryan's first bluegill.

Great shot Ryan took.

My new personal best; 8 inch sunfish

Decent sized bluegill going 9 inches.

Who Says Hard Water Is Bad?

I got up bright and early this morning to meet up with my friend Rob to hit the hard water for the first time this season! we made it to the lake and we out fishing at around 7 am. I always forget how much I like to ice fish until that first fish hits my bait and the fight is on. We both slayed them today! the first hour and a half I we couldn't get our second poles going because the fish wouldn't stay off long enough to get them set up. We caught lots of rainbow trout and blue gill with a few yellow perch mixed in. The trout went 14-16", Bluegills were 6-8" and the perch we kept went 9". We were using Jammin Jigs tipped with maggots. Pink and white jigs were the ticket. I couldn't think of a better way to start off the ice season. We kept a few to eat but released the majority of them. Guess what I'll be doing next week? until then...

Rob getting set up

We were not alone on this cold but beautiful day.

A few for the frying pan.

Tiger Hunting At Current Creek

My father-in-law and I made our way over to Current Creek Reservoir to hunt down some tiger trout. This was the first time this year we fished this reservoir and it was sell worth the trip. The weather was perfect for launching the pontoon and float tube and we were on the water at 7 am. The 67 degree water was like glass and we all but had the place to ourselves. We made our way over to a bay that looked promising and started fishing. We started out throwing a variety of spinners and it wasn't long until we were into fish. My Father-in-law landed the first fish which was also the biggest tiger trout of the day. It was also his first ever tiger trout! I soon had a tiger of my own to battle with and soon had him landed. After he landed a few more fish, my Father-in-law switched over to the fly rod and trolled a woolly bugger. He had take after take and landed several more fish.
I settled in throwing a jointed rapala and continued to have success with the tigers. I regret not bringing my fly rod because the conditions were perfect to pull out the dries. There were fish slurping bugs off the top all around us. We called it a day around noon having had our fill and headed home. I plan to make another trip to Current Creek soon.

First ever tiger trout.

Typical Current Creek tiger.

Beaver lodge.

Now thats a backdrop!

Another nice fish.

Tigers are one of my favorite fish to catch.

A nice view of Current Creek reservoir on the way home.