Utah Water Log

Time For An Update

2024-11-02T01:41:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone. It's been almost a year since I last posted. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy, though!

Since around Father's Day of last year, I've been logging my experiences in a different format. Instead of the written trip reports I have poured so much time into previously, I have made the jump to video.

My YouTube channel has been getting nearly weekly updates, so I will post links to those videos since my last post.

Here's a trip from Strawberry from late November, 2023.

Strawberry On The Float Tube:

A fun Ice trip from December of 2023.

Ice Fishing Huntington Reservoir (Splake Fest):

Next was another ice trip, just down the road from Huntington, at Cleveland Reservoir in December of '23:

Next up was a crazy day (my birthday - Dec 23), where I drove all over the place for the few fish I caught.

Next was a video chronicle of the Year 2023 in Review. I caught a lot of nice fish in 2023.

First trip of 2024 was an ice trip with my buddy Wade and his (now) wife Sadie:

Next, I was invited to join a small group for a day on the ice at a couple of different waters. TroutHowler and his buddies Dan and Reagan, plus a mutual buddy Ron made great company throughout the eventful day.

My next trip was with FishFearMeStudios to Currant Creek Reservoir, where we caught a bunch of rainbows and a few other fish, including a huge tiger trout of over 5lbs!

Early open water was too much to resist when TroutHowler and friends extended an invite to join them on Deer Creek Reservoir in the middle of March, 2024.

This was also a landmark trip of sorts, as it was my first video after a major gear upgrade. I had just purchased a GoPro Hero 12 and as the video shows, still hadn't quite dialed in the settings just yet. Regardless, this was a big milestone for the channel, and the quality of my content from this point onward.

Next trip was another ice trip on Currant Creek with Jason from FishFearMeStudios, where we both caught wild fish that were not stocked in the lake. He caught a nice brown and I caught a brookie, among the other fish that would usually be expected at Currant Creek Reservoir.

Now halfway through the month of May, it was high time to sink a few hooks into some really nice brookies and cutthroat.

Lacking a decent 4x4 to get to some of my favorite areas, I met up with Greg Hills for a fun trip on Boulder. A lot of brook trout were bothered that day and one of them hit 3lbs!

My buddy Ron drove us to some high country tiger trout, where we floated and caught some dandies.

My next trip was a pretty long hike to a great area in the high Uintas, where I actually ran into a whole pile of other YouTubers purely by chance. TroutHowler happened to be at the main lake I hiked in to with his buddy Reagan. Backcountry Exposure approached me at another lake nearby after people he'd met up with recognized me. I ended up meeting Packs-A-Lot and Christian Paul Photography immediately after that. What a fun place for a random meet-up! Great day.

Next up was an early July trip to a place I just love to float. Nice brookies and a big Colorado River Cutthroat Trout were the highlights to a day filled with stocked catchables.

My wife wanted to get out with me for the following trip and I showed her an area that I really enjoy in the Uintas. She did great and made the 8 mile round trip without incident. She also caught the most fish that day and the biggest. Way to go, Sonia!

My buddy Dave Debes and I got together for a Uinta day trip in hopes of finding some nice tiger trout, but it ended up being a pretty tough day. Still, it was great to get out and see some country I hadn't seen for a very long time, plus catch a cute little Bear River Cutthroat.

Sonia wanted another trip and I was happy to show her a wonderful little pond in the high country that yielded only a few fish for us, but some were quite nice and the serene venue couldn't be beat.

My next trip was the grand culmination of many years of interest, research, and willpower. TroutHowler and I embarked on a major Uinta blowout where we hike big time mileage to go and chase the highest elevation fish in the state (highest stocked by the DWR). I ended up putting 34 miles on my feet over the course of 48 hours (including two sleeps) and achieved what I had set out to do.

I will never forget this trip. It was a pretty big deal to me and I'm so glad I could do it. Having TroutHowler to help keep me moving was a huge plus and his involvement is greatly appreciated.

Excellent trip. Highly recommend this watch.

In the Shadow of Kings - Highest Fish in the State with TroutHowler:

After a solid recovery period following my huge Uinta trip, I made my way to a nice area on a really stormy day. I still caught some great fish, but the storms pushed me around a bit. Still, it's always a pleasure to visit such an area.

Another buddy (Jon) needed a chance to shake a stick at some nice cutthroat and brookies, so we went to a good spot for those and ended up with some pretty good Bonneville Cutthroat.

Strawberry had picked up for some folks and it was enough to call me in for a full day session on the tube.

Mid September led me to an old haunt that has only gotten better with time. I had a blast catching big healthy rainbows, a nice wild cutthroat, and a solid wild brown trout. Amazing day.

My next trip produced the biggest fish I've ever caught from the Uintas. My buddy Wade and I floated a lake known for better tiger trout and I ended up hauling in a 25" monster. Great trip!

Huntington Reservoir needed a visit and I obliged with my float tube, catching some pretty nice fish throughout the day, with the fish of the day coming in at the last moments. Excellent day!

How about a giant brown trout and some good tigers? A good day at Electric Lake put me on the right fish.

A day off work led to some fine looking cutthroat and a few brookies. Another great day in the high country.

My daughter hit me up and wanted to go out with me to Strawberry, so we went fishing. It didn't work out for her, but I ended up with a few good fish and some cool underwater footage of the kokanee.

And to finally catch us up, a monster cutthroat and some other nice fish joined me for a great float on Cleveland Reservoir. It's not every day I catch a 5+lbs cutthroat. What a day!

I will periodically post a thread with more links like this in the future. As always, thank you for taking the time to visit this old blog and for watching the videos.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

Deer Creek Reservoir on the Tube (Fat Rainbows!)

2023-11-16T10:04:00.001-07:00

Strawberry on the Tube

2023-11-16T10:03:00.002-07:00

Two Trips, One Week

2023-11-16T09:59:00.003-07:00

Bunch O' Brookies

2023-11-16T09:58:00.003-07:00

Strawberry with Sonia

2023-11-16T09:57:00.003-07:00

Big Tigers & Fall Colors

2023-11-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

Brookies & Cuttrhroat with Trout Howler

2023-11-16T09:55:00.004-07:00

Big Browns and Bows - Amazing Day

2023-11-16T09:42:00.002-07:00

Currant Creek Reservoir on the Float Tube

2023-11-16T09:41:00.003-07:00

Hiking In Waders (10 miles in the Uintas)

2023-11-16T09:28:00.002-07:00

Big Brookies and Tiger Trout in the Uintas

2023-11-16T09:27:00.001-07:00

Uinta Tiger Trout

2023-08-25T11:12:00.004-06:00

Fun day of floating a high country lake for tiger trout and getting rained on.

Fishing The Uintas

2023-08-18T10:46:00.000-06:00

A solid hike to a few new waters provided a day full of brookies. Fun trip!

Cutthroat & Brook Trout

2023-08-08T16:32:00.002-06:00

A combination of two previous trips and a current trip to a place where I enjoy the company of big beautiful Bonneville cutthroat and some very healthy brookies.
Cutthroat & Brook Trout

High Country Brookies

2023-08-08T16:29:00.004-06:00

A long drive south and a quick hike led me to some spotty fishing for healthy brookies at a beautiful natural lake, high in the mountains of Southern Utah. High Country Brookies

Loft Lake Loop

2023-08-08T16:27:00.005-06:00

Yet another Uinta trip (3rd in so many weeks), this was another good hike with mileage. A full day's adventure left me beaten and smiling. A friendly forest creature introduced itself and the day ended up being very memorable, despite the fishing being on the slow side. Lofty Lake Loop

Big Uinta Brookies

2023-08-08T16:24:00.001-06:00

A mean hike yielded great spoils for the effort required to float a lake in the Uintas. This was a great trip! Big Uinta Brookies

High Country Quickie

2023-08-08T16:22:00.000-06:00

An afternoon trip to the Uintas didn't quite bear the fruit I sought, but I got to visit a couple of puddles I enjoy and had a good time anyway. High Country Quickie

Big Brookie Beatdown

2023-08-08T16:19:00.003-06:00

A lot of nice brookies were caught this day. Big Brookie Beatdown

Lost On A Hill

2023-08-08T16:17:00.004-06:00

A familiar hillside hosted me for a healthy stomping, but no life was found in the first lake. A plan B ended up saving the day. Lost On A Hill

Father's Day 2023

2023-08-08T16:15:00.001-06:00

Hey everybody! Since Blogger isn't working too well with the images I usually post, I'm switching formats. From now on, my reports will be in video form. I actually have several posts that I wrote up that never got published because the images wouldn't render or display.

I've had a YouTube channel since 2009 and have never posted much more than quick release videos or other short clips. Starting this year though, I have begun creating actual content and I will start posting the videos here, as well as my other social media.

So here's my first video: Uintas Fishing Father's Day 2023

Let's Catch Up

2022-04-08T14:47:00.004-06:00

Well hello! Long time no see. It's high time I make up for lost time on here.

My last report was the beginning of 2019, with some nice browns from the east and some really nice cutthroat from Joe's Valley. That year did not suck! As well as it started, I made sure to fish hard and wander all over the state.

This will mostly be a long photo reel, but I'll chime in occasionally and add some narration.

A slot buster from Strawberry was the next noteworthy fish of 2019, after my trip to Joe's.

Next up was a westward trip to wet my tube.

Big Sandwash provided some scenery just as the ice was coming off, but not much else.

Then I had a float in late April with a buddy we all know, BG1:

He was able to fish a spot that he'd never messed with and caught himself a pretty good brookie in the process. We both got to try a new water body after that, where I found a really nice rainbow hiding in a pipe, under a road. Gotta love those culvert creepers.

Quite the surprise.

Early May brought on a solo trip where I floated a little bit and also pounded some beaver ponds. Throughout the day, I found some healthy brookies and some really pretty beaver pond fish.

This one was exceptionally beautiful. The pond holds cutthroat and rainbows, and a few hybrids as well.

Little family trip to Red Fleet where we planned to camp but ended up fishing for a short while and taking a hike instead.

See the high point on this rock?

Some perspective:

Good stuff.

Next up was a trip to get a buddy his first tiger trout and he ended up with some pretty good ones on the day.

My own weren't bad either.

Love that place.

Another solo trip to a favorite beaver pond system for very colorful cutthroat, rainbows, and hybrids on the fly.

They're mostly small (not all), but they are some of the prettiest fish around.

It wasn't long until I was on another float with BG1, where we caught a mess of brookies. Always a great day with Dave.

Then it was back to solo status for a series of trips throughout the state. Fine scenery, crazy weather, and a few good fish.

Hail - lots of it.

A family trip to the Uintas was up next and we visited the very first Uinta lake I'd ever been to, Ruth Lake. My last trip there was with my Dad at the age of 10, so it was neat to see it through older eyes. It's a beautiful hike.

Tiny fish though.

We also took a quick hike to check on a lake that usually holds solid tiger trout and I wasn't disappointed there.

More solo roaming was in order for the next couple of weeks. Some places were found to be dead and others were very much alive and thriving.

This little puddle had some prisoners in it from the runoff that year. I have a video of that on my IG. Pretty funny. I caught a few brookies and grayling on the fly rod from it.

This little snake was interrupted having a salamander snack.

Another solo day left me exploring new (to me) territory. Having never been to Cottonwood Reservoir, I made a day of it and thoroughly trashed my Rodeo in the process. Note: The northern shoreline road is not very good. Getting down was easy, but I almost got stuck trying to get out of there.

Cool place. The fishing was pretty slow though. I caught a smallish wiper on my first cast, a bullhead awhile later, and a toad.

Next was Labor Day. Beautiful scenery and very slow fishing, but well worth the wait.

A 7lb tiger ended up in my lap after a tug of war on my fly rod. What a beast!

To date, my 2nd largest trout. Same fly as the largest too (olive Sculpinator from Fly Fish Food). That was my only fish for the day, but what a fish it was. The sunbeams kept me company along the ride home.

Soon enough, it was float time with BG1 again.

Does it get much better than solid brookies from a tube? I'm not sure it does.

I was able to go camping with my Mom and her husband Kevin, which was fun. They got a little tour of Goblin Valley and the surrounding area.

Probably my favorite campsite in the area.

Always a great time in GBV.

Another solo float to an obscure water came next. Windy day. Lots of mid-sized rainbows with one missed hog.

Got some stream action too for a short while before heading out.

October held a rare opportunity to get out with my son, who accompanied me for some shore fishing at the Berry. It was kind of breezy and cold, but he was able to help me with some camera work as I hooked into a gnarly kokanee.

I also caught a really nice cutthroat of over 5lbs.

I love to take him with me, but he doesn't really want to go very often. That may change, since our shoe size is now pretty close and he will fit into my old wading boots. I've got another tube and another pair of waders, so he might just enjoy that a bit more than the usual bank fishing he's accustomed to. I also could use a copilot. We'll see.

A late season solo trip to the high country yielded some beefy tigers. Some had some very strange dimensions.

I promise I didn't mess with this image at all:

What a freak.

One more trip rounded out my 2019 and it was a weird one. I drove in on blacktop with slight cloud cover, took a hike and floated (only a couple of small fish), then finished the day at a beaver pond on the way out, in a blizzard. Last catch of 2019 was a brookie. Nothing wrong with that!

Happy Fishing, Humans!

2019 Will Be Glorious

2019-01-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

The year is young, but it's already off to an amazing start. Even though I've skipped a couple of weekends, the two trips I've taken have been more than satisfying.

The first trip of the year was a trip to ice fish Starvation Reservoir on the 12th with Holdsworth. It was ridiculously slow and I only caught one small rainbow with nubby fins. Aaron caught two. It wasn't really worth the drive, so we decided to make due on the river.

We went to a stretch that I'm pretty familiar with and nice brown trout were waiting in most of the usual spots, although some recent/current changes in effect have messed up one of the better holes for now.

Aaron struck first and the floodgates were open to some healthy butterloaf action.

My first catch:

Plenty more after that.

Some banks had a thick enough border of ice that I could stand on them.

An afternoon on a river was just what I needed to start off a great year.

It was a slow day on the ice that turned into an excellent river trip.

Really good day. Much needed.

Our next trip didn't happen until yesterday (Jan 26) and with ice thickness increasing at most viable spots, I had been on the hunt for ripe lakes with thinner ice, since we have to use a hatchet or a spud bar to get through it.

I have a good Nils auger, but dirty ice killed the edge and it's more work than it's worth until I get that sharpened. Aaron's bar works well though. 6-8" isn't too bad, but anything thicker gets rough after a couple of holes.

Reading through the DWR's fishing reports, I saw that we may have an easier time with the ice at Joe's Valley Reservoir, which I hadn't fished for about a year. I was hopeful that fishing a different location than last year's flop would yield better results.

Mid-sized splake and maybe some cutthroat were what I expected to find, based on my history at Joe's. We noted the low water level and walked well out into the Seely arm and settled right between the two points on either side of us.

I chipped out a couple of holes and Aaron dropped down into the first of those while I cleared away the slushy snow from between them and fished my other hole with a Gulp leech. It didn't hit the bottom before he had a fish on a Gulp minnow.

He pulled up a splake of about 17" and we continued to work the the bottom in about 45ft. Time ticked on and nothing else was happening, so Aaron got his own holes made and I went to change up my gear, realizing I had left the minnows and worms in the truck.

It took awhile to get that problem fixed and Aaron was just getting another bite from that first hole when I returned. It never materialized, so he moved back to his holes and I dropped a big white salted tube jig (with black speckles) tipped with a red side shiner minnow.

That never touched the bottom either and a nice cutthroat of just under 19" met me briefly.

After I let that go, I re-tipped my jig with another minnow and got another nice cutthroat, just as it hit the bottom. No pics of that one, but it was near the same size.

Rinse, repeat. BOOM! Another cutthroat on the line, this time, a big male with a set of shoulders. I set it in our little reservoir between the holes (the slush was out of the way, so about 4" of standing water filled the gap between my holes) and fumbled for my camera while it swam to the other hole and vanished. I wanted a pic of that one, but no matter.

Meanwhile Aaron wasn't getting any more action and I felt bad to announce that I had another on. He turned to look at me with my rod firmly bent and just shook his head in disgust for that last one. That's fishing, isn't it?

It was about then that we heard some excitement erupt from a tent about 100 yards away from us. We watched as two guys burst from the tent holding a nice fish. They were shouting to another angler nearby about how big it was and I thought I'd volunteer my scale and measuring stick.

As I got closer, the guy with the fish was happy to get some stats on his prize, which he said he was putting on his wall. My measuring stick is 25" and it was about a half inch longer than that and it scaled at 6lbs, 12oz.

Wow!

I went back to my holes and caught another fish right away, also nice, but not like the hog I had just measured. Aaron still didn't have anything going. I gave him one of my tube jigs and my hole so he could have the best chance to get something going on.

Soon enough, more excitement came from the tent with those two guys (from Huntington) and they asked me to come and measure an even bigger fish. What?

Had it been a smaller fish I may have declined because I was just getting a bite in Aaron's hole (sad, right?), but an even bigger fish was too great to resist and I jogged over to them another time. They met me part of the way and I was aghast at the monster I saw.

The fish buried my measuring stick and we'll stay safe with 28"+ and it weighed 9lbs, 8oz!

Holy cow, what a fish!

Seriously the biggest cutthroat I've ever seen in person and from Joe's Valley! I always knew it had some nice fish in it, but no idea that they were there in numbers. Always catching smaller fish led me to believe that catching the bigger ones was a pure chance happening.

Not anymore!

Back at my holes again, I caught a new personal best cutthroat within 10 minutes. It was a great fight and the slabby cutthroat took a few runs after letting me see how big it was. Once it finally breached, I was proud to hoist up my trophy for a couple of pics.

What a pig! Aaron worked my camera for a quick video of the release:

Talk about a great day on the ice! A little while later, I found my first of three splake on the day.

Aaron finally got a bite on his jaw jacker and pulled up a good sized spake, which was nice to see. His next fish was yet another splake, which was 21". Guess what hole that came from? Yep, my first one again.

Crazy how one hole was producing the best. To be fair, I caught fish from every hole except one of Aaron's, but the bite was noticeably better from that first one.

Nice fish. He held out for a big cutthroat that had to be in the cards for him and kept fishing. I kept fishing, but without any sense of urgency. My day was already made and I was happy to enjoy the beauty of a sunny day in Joe's Valley.

It took awhile, but Aaron hooked a solid fish in the lucky hole and a battle to the surface ensued. Finally, he had a cutthroat on the line! I was at the ready for measurements and also with my camera.

Yes! A 24" beast of 4lbs, 11oz filled his hands.

It was great to get that monkey off his back. The bite really died after that and the last couple of hours were very slow. I thought I might catch a fish I wanted to keep, but ended up with two more splake of about 20" or so.

As we debated on leaving, we were approached by a Conservation Officer who checked us out. He mentioned he had seen photos of the big ones those two guys from earlier caught, so he wanted to come and see how everyone else was doing.

It was actually refreshing to see some enforcement there, as I don't recall ever being checked at Joe's.

After that, the light started fading and we decided to leave, satisfied with one of our better days on ice. What an amazing day it turned out to be from a place I expected much less from.

This trip changes everything I thought I knew about JVR. Expect more from this place in the coming times.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

2018 - That's a wrap!

2018-12-31T15:44:00.001-07:00

2018 was glorious. The fishing was pretty bad to start out with, but that's how the last few years have been.

A couple of trips to Strawberry were uneventful, save a few cookie cutter cutthroat within the slot. Currant Creek Reservoir treated me about the same, but with less fish.

I didn't even bother with photos until a severe skunking at Fish Lake on ice with the Aarons. Both Aarons caught several smallish splake and rainbows, but I could do nothing to coax more than a bite that I missed. One day I'll do well at that lake. Until then, I guess I'll just appreciate the view.

Nice "clouds".

That's as exciting as the fishing was for the first couple of months. Pretty weak.

To break up the monotony, my family and I embarked on a fun desert day trip, down to Kodachrome Basin State Park. What an awesome place that was!

The drive to get there was also pretty good, having an opportunity to show them Red Canyon on the scenic Hwy 12.

Kodachrome was awesome and would be perfect for an overnight adventure sometime. A day trip was just right for us to take the longest loop in the park and see some of the more notable features.

Next fishing trip was Joe's Valley Reservoir, where Holdsworth and I thought we'd find open water to float near the inlet. We were wrong.

There was some open water near the dam, so we fished that after getting skunked on the ice for a couple of hours.

Each of us caught a splake, then hit the canyon below. The stream was fishy enough and it's always a pleasure to visit.

Big Sandwash was our next target, where we took our first float of the year.

Aaron caught a couple of medium sized rainbows and I got another fat skunking.

Thank goodness for a river when the lakes won't give! I hooked several large browns on the river, but each one broke off! Talk about bad luck!

Next trip was a family adventure to Moab. The weather was forecast to be crappy, but we went anyway and enjoyed our time, regardless.

Moab looks every bit as amazing in any weather. It was actually nice to see it in a different light.

Corona Arch, just before some selfish jerk vandalized it to score brownie points with his wife.

Near our campsite:

We were happy to go into town in the morning, where we got a hot breakfast and some great coffee at Wicked Brew on the south end.

We'll be back again, for sure!

The first decent fishing action of the year came to us at Forsyth Reservoir, which was a plan B after getting skunked elsewhere on ice.

Open water gave us space to cast and the fishing was actually great for 15-18" tigers and splake.

The fishing was good enough that we returned the next week with my family. The highlight was definitely watching my daughter catch her very first fish with no assistance from cast to landing.

Way to go, Critter!

Next trip was with Holdsworth to another area with a cluster of lakes to fish. We tackled almost all of them and had a good time, though a couple didn't give up any fish.

This little lake has been forgotten by the DWR for many years, but I've since reminded them that it looks like a viable fishery. I put in my 2 cents of what I think should go there. We shall see if that comes to fruition. Either way, I'm glad it's on their radar again and hardly anyone knows about it.

Just my kind of place.

It's a great area.

Something of note, my talented friend and artist, Travis Sylvester had taken on another one of my photos to reproduce in colored pencil. In my opinion, he is unmatched when it comes to making trout look wet. Simply the best.

Original photo:

His rendering, which he generously gave me a gallery canvas of:

Not to discredit the work of a few other very talented artists in the same field, but nobody does wet trout like Travis. Pay him a visit at Travzart.com.

Great work from him, as always. I'm incredibly grateful that he took on another one of my photos.

Soon enough, I was able to access the high country again and fish some of my preferred spots. After a march through the snow, I was met with open water and active fish.

First cast provided a gorgeous Bonneville cutthroat (yes, it's a Bonnie, trust me):

Awhile later, my biggest brookie of 2018 was sitting on my lap, at 4lbs, 10oz and 21". Boom!

Quite the handful.

Another trip led us to a new place I'd wanted to fish for many years. We took Holdsworth's Tacoma on a OHV trail and managed to get all the way to the meadow, where a couple of small lakes awaited us.

It turned out to be a really fun day, catching a lot of fish on the fly rod, plus some surprisingly nice tiger trout from a mere puddle.

The tigers were incredibly vibrant in color and vermiculation.

Our next trip kept us slightly closer to home with a visit to Currant Creek Reservoir, where Aaron caught some nice looking fish.

My best that day was a decent cutthroat, but nothing very big.

A trip south provided a healthy brookie at a small lake, then some put-and-take action at a lake I'd never gone to.

Our next trip was an overnighter to a productive lake with big fish. We didn't get the big fish, but we had a good time and caught a few.

Gorgeous place though.

Day 2 was spent investigating an entire basin of new waters for us. We caught fish almost everywhere and some were pretty nice, considering all factors for these small lakes.

It was amazing, fishing a total of 9 different lakes on that trip, 8 of them on Day 2! Crossing 7 waters off our ever-shrinking list of lakes for that area was excellent.

Memorial Weekend arrived and took a trip to a favorite lake with my friend Keoni. We spent the day catching all sizes of beautiful Bonneville cutthroat and a few nice brookies as well.

Thanks to Keoni on the camera.

Even got a brookie on the fly:

Others were present, but hard to trick.

2018's fire season was really bad, pretty much everywhere in the west. we were no exception. I'm just grateful that most of our precious waters were spared, though some will not recover for quite awhile.

Keoni's summer cabin was actually a victim to the resulting flooding from one fire and the whole place was left with about a foot of mud. The river is basically destroyed for a few years. Very sad.

My first trip of June was one I'll always remember. A new personal best trout was caught, among a few other really nice fish. Top 3 fishing trip, for sure!

My first cast from shore was on my fly rod. I sent out a decent cast into some deeper water I could reach and it got hit within a few strips of sinking it. I saw a large flash as a good fish rolled, set the hook, and the line failed after a head shake.

After that, I put on new leader and another high quality "Sculpinator" I bought from Fly Fish Food, then set off on my tube to hunt more.

Normally more of a jig angler at this lake, the quick luck on the fly rod kept me focused on that for the time being.

I recall sending out a longer cast toward shore and stripping back a bit of line before I saw a jolt and lifted my rod to set the hook into something heavy.

Whatever it was didn't appreciate my hook in its lip and really let me know. I could already tell it was larger than anything I'd ever hooked on the fly rod. My forearm quickly grew tired as I fought the fish for several minutes.

As I fought it closer and closer, run after run, it occurred to me that I didn't have a net and that my leader was longer than my rod. Not wanting to risk hanging up the knot in the guides, I had to get creative, but eventually leaned way back and got the fish close enough to scissor-lock it in my legs.

My new PB trout, weighing 7lbs, 10oz @ 27" was finally landed!

Thank to Aaron for the camera work on those.

What a beast! I couldn't have been happier and on the fly rod taboot!

As if the day couldn't get any better, I kept catching nice fish, including a couple over 6lbs on jigs. Even broke off a couple of other nice fish on the fly.

Some videos from that day:

What a day! The only downside was that Aaron somehow got skunked that day, having to watch me rake in slabs the whole time. That's rough.

Next up was another family campout. We went to a lake with big fish and got skunked, but still had a good time in beautiful country. A couple of fish were caught at another lake near our campsite, but they were small tigers.

We mostly just enjoyed the scenery all around.

Gorgeous land.

Next trip was with Holdsworth to try our luck in a lake that should have had some incredible Colorado River cutthroat, but the few fish we saw actually appeared to be sick and dying. Hopefully a few pulled through, but it didn't look good.

Aaron accidentally foul-hooked one decent looking fish, but it hardly fought and didn't swim off very strongly. It actually stayed close to us, swimming very slowly around us for awhile.

We left to find other fish, somewhat nearby. The lake we hiked to was very weedy and shallow, but I was able to find one good spot to dangle a jig around some undercut shoreline.

Cross another lake off the list for that mountain! That's a tough one to fish,but there are some decent brookies in it.

The next trip was another long drive, complete with crappy roads and several new lakes crossed off the list. We brought along yet another Aaron that I'm friends with and got busy catching small brookies and big grayling, which would proved to be a theme for the coming months of summer.

The grayling were quite nice.

We also mashed our way down the road to a shallow grassy lake with cutthroat in it.

Somehow Holdsworth found a couple of nice grayling in that one too.

He's always finding species that aren't supposed to be present in the lakes we visit in that area. Crazy. Nice fish though!

It was a good day with three new lakes and new personal best grayling, by length.

The next week, my family and I hiked up to Twin Lakes Reservoir at Brighton Ski Resort. We were hoping to catch some cutthroat, but my wife was the only one to get any bites that were missed. The minnow fishing was great though and I caught a few pounds' worth by using some Ritz crackers in the trap.

The next week was a trip to a lake that Holdsworth and I have had good luck with in the past. We'd hoped to find nice brookies, but the lake wasn't doing very well. The fish we caught were small and skinny.

We chose to get out of there and spend some time at a different lake, somewhat nearby. This one is always a fun detour, and the fish were actually of better size than I'm used to seeing there.

Gorgeous little hole! The fishing was a needed refreshment from the sick lake we'd abandoned earlier.

Our next trip was another hike-in natural lake that holds decent brookies. It's a tough one to find, but we checked a different route this time and actually had a trail, most of the way. That was nice.

Sadly, this lake wasn't treating us very well. I managed to catch a few fish, but they were mostly uninterested in feeding. Tough fishing. Not much in the way of size either.

Regardless of the slow action, it's a beautiful place to spend a rainy day.

I love a long drive south.

Next up was another family camping trip to an area I've always wanted them to see. A few hours in the Rodeo and a bouncy ride for the last bit lead us through some really cool country at 11,000ft.

At long last, we arrived at our home for the night. Not too shabby.

After setting up camp, I had to float for the remaining daylight.

Very cool place to fish.

First catch was a really dark brookie, then its buddy.

A small tiger also met my hand as the light started to fade.

Just as I was coming to shore to beach my tube, I caught another tiger, this time about 16" and healthy. I may have wanted to keep that one, but it flopped out of my hand and broke my line in the process. No campfire fish for this trip, but that's alright.

In the morning, I floated for a couple of hours and did some nearby wandering to check some other water.

A decent brookie came from the float and some surprise grayling came from the side trip.

I only got a photo of that last grayling, but I actually caught two more that were likely my new personal bests, being thicker than the ones from an earlier trip and of similar length. Quite the nice surprise!

Once I'd returned to camp, we ate some breakfast, packed up our gear, and did some exploring together, rods in hand.

That lake didn't give us any action at all, but I felt as though I was missing something. I didn't believe it was dead, but couldn't dial in on what to offer. We enjoyed an incredible vista close by though.

Ah, I will fish that meadow someday. True story. Relic native Colorado River cutthroat trout are found there.

After that, we made our way back down that bumpy road, stopping for another lake along the way, where I made a scramble to inspect the situation.

I caught small brookies and saw some other fish that I wasn't able to hook.

My next trip was another camping trip, this time with Holdsworth. We went to the same area, well equipped to get into the fish.

We fished hard that first day, but only caught small brookies. In the morning, both of us got sick and had to leave early. Very nasty, not fun. We suspected the cold brew coffee I brought along. Though unopened, the seal came off very easily, leaving me to think that it was spoiled.

Bleh! Could've done without that.

Developing a bit of an obsession, I went back on my own the next week, taking a few detours throughout the day.

It was a pleasant day and I ended up hiking to some new water after visiting some others.

Good stuff. I will have a busy 2019 in that area, I'm sure.

On the way home, I stopped at a small stream I've driven by a bunch, but never stopped to fish. A few pretty little cutthroat came to hand.

The next week was another solo trip, this time to the land of giant tiger trout. I didn't break anymore personal records, but I still had fun and caught some decent fish.

This guy was close to 6lbs.

Check out that split-jaw:

Got a video of that one.

I also pulled in another fatty, a bit later:

Video of that one:

This big female fought hard on the fly rod.

The rest of that day was spent exploring some new water, around the hills nearby.

Some wild cutthroat and rainbows were caught in the small stream:

That was a really fun day.

Can't ask for a better solo day trip than that!

Next trip was an uneventful day on Strawberry Reservoir. Just one skinny cutthroat came to hand. Nice day though.

The next week, Holdsworth didn't have to work, so we embarked on another long trip south, catching some nice grayling in the process.

It was a nice trip to some new water. We wished we could have stayed another day to explore the surrounding area more.

We spent the next week at a preferred water, catching nice cutthroat and a couple of brookies.

Nice looking fish.

After that, we stopped to explore a big beaver pond and a small stream.

The stream held some little wild rainbows, but we didn't find anything in the beaver pond.

The next trip was another solo trip to tiger town, plus some other waters in another area.

This went well.

Here's a beefy hunchback:

Got a video of that one:

Another big one:

The other fishing was slightly less productive, but still enjoyable and I fished two new lakes and a beaver pond in the process.

Lots of fun.

Our next trip was to a pretty lake at 10,500ft. Before we could do that though, we had to check a little puddle that's been on my radar.

Nothing there but some salamanders. Oh well. The main attraction was as beautiful as ever though.

Slow day though. I caught one fish and Aaron got the skunko.

Our next trip was another long drive with a crappy road and some fat brookies.

Aaron struck first with a dandy male:

Then it was my turn to hook a nice male:

Video of that release:

The next month involved very little fishing. I can't find any photos from the last 2 weeks of September and the first 2 weeks of October. If I fished, it wasn't very good because I kept no record of it.

The next trip I found was a last-ditch attempt to get to some lakes before their season closed for the year. Holdsworth did a fantastic job of grinding up the nasty road.

He'd recently gotten some new tires for his Tacoma (KO2's) and was excited to give them a real test. Test the tires, we did! We made it to the lakes, despite snow and mud.

There was still some hiking required and we got busy, stopping briefly to target some visible splake.

We hiked up to a new lake for us and were rewarded with some splendid scenery and some small brookies. There were some bigger fish in the lake, but they evaded us, mostly.

I love a clean water source though.

Soon enough, we were back down the hill catching splake again.

I found a decent tiger trout too.

Mostly splake though. Pretty fun.

It was good to bid farewell to the mountain until the springtime.

The next trip was actually a cleanup day at my friend Keoni's cabin, where he had a huge turnout with lots of help to remove the mud. Many hands made for quick work and it was nice to lend a hand, though I was a bit late and only helped for a couple of hours.

After the cleanup, I made a quick stop at Stawberry and pitched jigs for about an hour. One good cutthroat was on the line for a good battle, but in the end, it won and broke my line. That was definitely over the 22" slot, but I'll never know for sure.

No matter, since the next fish I hooked was even bigger and this one didn't get away.

A solid 25", this one weighed 5lbs, even. Sweet! Not bad for an hour of casting.

Our next trip was back to tiger land, where some ice had formed and we did our best to catch some big guys.

After all was said and done, I could only catch one fish and that was a blind rainbow trout. Not a bad size, in fact, I believe it's the same big rainbow I posted from the day I caught the real hogs.

Here's a video of that:

On the way home, we found ALL of the turkeys in the neighborhood.

There was well over 100 birds that crossed the road. Why'd the turkey cross the road? Well it was almost Thanksgiving, so maybe that's part of the answer...

With that early ice bug nagging me, my next trip was to the land of big brookies and cutthroat. The fishing was slow and the brookies weren't playing, but I at least ended up with a fat cutthroat and a couple of smaller fish.

Nice fish anyway.

Here's a video of the catch. I'd first thought it was much bigger, by the fight. It fought pretty hard for a fish that was only 6ft below me.

I stayed a bit too long, holding out for a big brookie. I barely had enough light to get out of there.

Aaron and I needed another float before everything got locked up with ice, so we took off to Starvation Reservoir and fished around the bridge for the day. It was dismally slow, but I eventually caught my only fish for the day, a small ratty looking rainbow.

The fading light sure looked nice though, from my perspective.

The next week required that I stay close to home, so I fished the Provo River for the first time of 2018.

Again, slow fishing in a usually productive stretch, but it was nice to spend a little time in the canyon and wrap my hands around a couple of browns for a change.

And the very last trip for the year was on my birthday, December 23. Aaron and I went to Strawberry and fished through some early ice, close to the main marina.

I struck first with a slotbuster at 22.5".

Nice! Already set for the day, I wasn't too concerned with how the rest would play out, although I wanted Aaron to get into some nice ones too.

I caught a few more before Aaron got one,but his was pretty nice, also a slot buster.

I caught a couple more fish, but then I got the best one of the day, just before we decided to leave. This was also a slot buster, but really thick and heavy at 24". I rarely estimate weight, but I believe it was over 5lbs.

Here's the video of the catch:

Way too fun! Already having kept a slotbuster, I let it go to get even bigger. What a way to end the fishing for the year, and on my birthday, no less!

It was an amazing year and I can't wait to see what 2019 brings me. I have a feeling it could be one for the books...

As always, thank you for taking the time to at least buzz through the pics in this long report. There's quite a bit here that hadn't been previously written about on this blog, so it's good to get all caught up.

Onto the next year!

Happy Fishing, Humans.

(Keoni Kawe - photo)