SOUTHWEST ANGLER

4TH OF JULY

2019-07-07T14:57:00.001-07:00

Enjoyed some great weather and fantastic fishing in Southern Utah.

Many more trips to come this summer!

TIGER TIME

2019-06-16T17:08:00.001-07:00

BOULDER MOUNTAINS UTAH

2018-06-24T13:46:00.005-07:00

Made it out of the searing Las Vegas heat for a couple of days to enjoy the cooler temperatures in the Boulder mountains. The most exciting part for me about the Boulder Mountains is; just finding a remote lake that might get fished a handful of times every year. After a driving Polaris Razor for about 1hr from camp, then another 25 mins to go 4 miles on a rugged side road that lead me to a fantastic lake!

A view of the lake!

This area of the Boulders is not known for trophy fish, but there was some good sized hard fighting fish in this lake!

Brooks and Cutthroat trout with and enjoyable view all day long!

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

2018-05-28T13:31:00.001-07:00

Spent a few days in Utah, fishing, exploring and relaxing. Actually it was in that order, so mainly the first two were accomplished. I managed to catch every type of species in all the creeks/lakes that I fished. The only one I didn't land this time was a Tiger Trout. The lakes held grayling, Brook, and Bonneville Cutthroat. The creeks were browns & rainbows. The weather was great and the fishing was better!

Hope everyone enjoys there Memorial day with family and friends!

SPRING TIME

2018-04-02T17:40:00.003-07:00

Now that spring is upon us, some of us that live in the desert enjoy desert sports along with fly fishing. The winter time is when, I put down the fly rod and strap on a helmet! I feel lucky to be able to enjoy both very different settings!

Dune season comes to an end, another season opens!

Spent 3 days in Southern Utah enjoying nice weather and great fishing!

BOULDER TOP UTAH

2017-09-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Spent my labor day exploring some lakes on the Boulder top. The weather was great, roads were rough and fishing was good. I managed to fish 3 different lakes; one of them was hike in only.

I am not the most knowledgeable lake fisherman but the fishing in these lakes can be very finicky. Do not expect, just because most of these lakes do not receive a lot of pressure the fishing will be outstanding. Also with hard winters a lot of the lakes winter kill.

A few pictures of the lakes I fished.

All of the lakes produced a bend in the rod with 12" Brook Trout fairly regularly when the bite was on. I did manage quite a few 14+ fish as well. I was not able to land into any tiger trout some of these lakes hold.

Cant wait to make it back to this area! Happy Fishing everyone!

BLACKFOOT RIVER

2017-08-14T15:22:00.002-07:00

Made it out to the Blackfoot river for 2 days of fishing. With so many fires in the area the smoke was very thick much worse than last year. This did not stop me from fishing. The weather has been warm and not any rain at all, which made the fish stop feeding after lunch. So you had to get to the water as early as possible.

The scenery is unreal floating this river....

The highlight of the trip was landing a 22" Brown, earlier in the morning I had another fish snap off 3x fluorocarbon which was frustrating but this fish made up for it.

Video of landing & releasing this nice brown trout!

https://youtu.be/1rXYJtVmvRc

https://youtu.be/RFhNfng0Zfo

The rest of the fish we anywhere from 12" to 17" range, Westslope Cutts, Cut-bows & Rainbows

Happy fishing everyone!

SOMEWHERE IN UTAH

2017-07-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

With all the heat were experiencing here in Las Vegas; it was nice to get out of town and into the mountains. So far this year it has been hard for me to get out and do some fishing. Work, vacations, bad weather all have had a role in my decline in fishing days this year.

With a new rack on the Polaris razor, this allows us to make it up to some high country lakes; that are hard to access and also bring along the normal comforts of camping.

A couple of the lakes I fished, I did not bring the float tube on this trip, which would have made fishing much easier.

I did manage a variety of fish,cutthroat, grayling and brook.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

UTAH 3-18-17

2017-03-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

With the recent warm streak in the high country, I figured it would not be a bad idea to jump in the side by side and do some exploring of some of the lakes below the Griffith Top. Most of the typical fisheries will need a couple of more weeks to fully be free of ice and be fishable. I did manage to find 1 small lake that held some Tigers/Rainbows!

Still holding about 90% ICE!

My 1st lake fish of the year!

Until next time.......

MISSOULA MONTANA

2016-09-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Took a weekend trip to Missoula to fish a few of the many rivers of the area. This time of the year you can wade fish almost all of the rivers. The creeks in Missoula are bigger than most rivers I am used to fishing. Standing in the Blackfoot river swinging a fly rod sure feels much more intense than the rivers I am more accustomed to fishing. Not a huge float fisherman, but the Blackfoot is on my bucket List for 2017 to float.

A few scenery pics.....

Mainly caught Rainbow & Cutbow the fish were hard fighting acrobatic leapers. Most have caught 15+ per day ( that's not including the Whitefish I caught) most fish were between 15& 17". Plenty of Bull trout chasing them to the net.

This Cutthroat was camera shy....

Great fishing; great times!

UTAH HIGH COUNTRY

2016-08-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend camping at some high elevation lakes. This area of Utah is becoming one of my favorite places to fish and just enjoy the weekend. Not an easy place to reach, but that makes it all the more interesting. I have yet to see another human in these parts. A good map, polaris razor and a chain saw can get you up to some great locations.

A view of one of the lakes!

The fishing was great! Especially in the afternoons, caught plenty of nice sized fish!

Below is a huge Bonneville cutthroat I managed to catch on the 1st cast of the day.

Caught several more in the 12 to 15" range.

Also some nice brook trout in these lakes.

Hopefully on labor day weekend I can explore a few more blue spots on the map.

CODY,WY

2016-07-19T17:39:00.001-07:00

Was able to make it out of the heat for the weekend, to fish one of my favorite rivers. The past few years the river was not fishable due to bad weather (chocolate water). This trip; I fished the same river for 3 days, the water was clear and the fishing was awesome!

Some views of the river! Great looking water & scenery!

This river has Yellowstone Cutthroat, Rainbow, Cutbow, And Brown trout. There is not to many rivers you can catch this many species in one river, not to mention the size of the fish!

Yellowstone Cutthroat:

Brown Trout:

Rainbows & Cutbows:

These fish are hard fighting and very fun to have on the end of a fly line! I caught about 15 fish per day that was over 16 inches. Great fishing great times! The Snake river is next in the next couple of weeks!

SOMEWHERE IN UTAH

2016-07-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Made it up to some high country lakes/creeks for some weekend fishing. Utah has some great places to explore if you have the time and effort it takes to locate these waters.

This little creek had 20 to 30 wild Rainbows in each pool.

Some of the lakes that rewarded me with great fishing.

Some of the different species caught!

Exploring the various lakes and streams Utah has to offer, has become a second to Flyfishing!

ESCALANTE MOUNTAINS

2016-05-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we had to turn back after 4 miles of driving due to high snowdrifts, mud and finally gave up after getting stuck for an hour.. Fast forward 2 weeks and the snow drifts were gone, still some muddy bogs that required a heavy foot to navigate. Driving anywhere on this mountain is not easy, it took 1hr 20mins to drive 7.5 miles. But the reward was lakes all to ourselves and we didn't see a single person all weekend!

This area of the mountain has some beautiful lakes and many different species of trout to catch. The catch is you need to do your research to figure out how to navigate to them.

A couple of lakes I fished....

A fly over of the area where we camped.....

FLY OVER VIDEO

The fishing was phenomenal! Fish after fish and it was always a surprise as to what you might land!

Cutthroat

Brook Trout

Grayling

This was the 1st time I have caught Grayling, these fish are amazing to see in person!

I hope to make up to this area again this summer/fall to explore some new lakes!

Happy Memorial Day!

Spring Time

2016-05-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Attempted to make it up to a high altitude lake. Unfortunately it will be a couple more weeks before the road is passable. Had about 1 mile to go out of 8 and the snow drifts were just to much for the truck! After 30mins working to get unstuck, it was time to head down to the valley.

The stream was blown out and off color. But it was a great day to be outside!

https://goo.gl/photos/tk3o8737x7gp2yyQA

SPRING WATER

2016-04-03T15:28:00.003-07:00

Made it out for a quick weekend trip. Spring fed creeks are always running clear and clean!

Looking back on the hike with a drone photo!

Escalante Mountain

2016-03-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Made it out for a couple of days to enjoy the excellent weather in southern Utah. It has been a few months since, I have had a fly rod in my hand!

There was a lake at 8500 feet that I hiked up to; but unfortunately it was still 90% covered with ice. But after a 3 hour hike to the lake, I did some exploring and ran into another small lake that was positioned better to thaw. The great thing about fishing a lake you have no information on is you have no idea what type of fish you may catch.

A couple of fish from the lake...

A view from the top of the mountain before the hike down.

Some drone pictures of the valley I camped in, the weather was perfect!

After a long day of hiking Jake and Hunter needed a break.

Looking forward to many more trips this year!

LOOKING BACK 2015

2015-12-26T17:14:00.001-08:00

A few memories from 2015!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

UTAH HIGH COUNTRY

2015-11-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Made it out for most likely one of my last mountain trips for the year. This lake will be 100% covered in ice within the next few days.

This lake has some wonderful scenery!

I did manage a handful of fat rainbows.

Jake & Hunter enjoyed the snow on the hike!

FALL FISHING

2015-11-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

Made it out for the weekend, to one of my favorite small rivers in Utah. This was my first time in 2015 fishing the river. One of the interesting parts of fishing the river is the variety of fish you can catch. On this trip I managed 4 species, it is a nice change for me to not know what is on the end of the line. Most rivers hold only a couple of species which makes things predictable.

It was an enjoyable weekend on the water.

I did manage a lot of smaller fish, more than in previous years.

Hope everyone has enjoyed this years fall fishing!

EXPLORING UTAH

2015-10-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

Utah has some of the best places; to just get out and explore. There seems to be fish in all the creeks as well!

Everyone was exploring!

Couple of fish from the cold clear creek!

BOB MARSHALL WILDERNESS

2015-08-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

A good friend and I were able to make our second trip inside the Bob Marshall Wilderness. All the trail heads except one; were closed after a day of us entering. There was 3 forest fires burning in the area. Made for some smoky skies/air, it did not have an effect on our fishing. We caught a ton of fish.

We set up our camp at the confluence of Gordons Creek and the South fork of the Flathead, our home for 4 days.

Some of the views while fishing the South Fork, the background scenery is mostly clouded by the smoke. But this smoky scenery is better than most rivers best scenery!

We averaged about 30 fish per day, the Westslope trout are hardy fish and put up one of the best fight you can find in a cutthroat. The river was running low from the lack of snow pack this past winter. It was still bone chilling cold with lots of fishy pools. The one great thing about the 4 days of fishing the river is; we never seen even one person ANYWHERE!

Some of the Westslope I caught.

Bull Trout!!

White Fish!!

The Bob Marshall Wilderness is an excellent fishing experience for anyone that enjoys solitude, long hikes, remote location and great fishing!

The last day we fished the Bitteroot river outside of Missoula.

A couple of Brown Trout from the river.

Fall fishing is next in store for 2015!!

2015-07-26T16:04:00.001-07:00

CUTTHROAT COUNTRY

2015-07-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Fantastic fishing and scenery in Wyoming/Montana!

SPRING TIME WATER

2015-06-14T13:54:00.003-07:00

Great day to be fishing a clear Utah creek.....