West Fork Cuts

Nothing makes a weekend better than fishing!  Saturday, August 24, Bishop and Eric took a quick trip to the West Fork of the Duchesne River.  We fished the same stretch of river Erin & Eric did back in mid-July.  We fished hopper patterns, both dry and drowned.  Eric caught a 12" and a 13" Colorado River Cutthroat.  Bishop gave a little fingerling a nice aerobatics ride when he set the hook and plucked him out of the water at the same time!

Serendipity and Fish Lake

August 9th-10th found Eric & Alyssa on Fish Lake with two other friends.  The Fish Master took its maiden voyage down the lake searching for deep dwelling lake trout.  No luck there, but we caught dozens of perch.  The fishing was slow, but the lake was beautiful and the weather was nice:  except for the 40 minute rain delay.
We made several discoveries:
1. The Fish Master doesn't go very fast with over 600 passenger pounds in it
2. There is a way to fish with pop gear on copper wire wound around a board
3. Serendipity #1:  The Country Kitchen in Nephi, UT has really excellent food and great banana cream pie
4. Serendipity #2:  The Road Creek Inn in Loa, UT is a really nice, affordable place to stay
5. The sign in the picture below
While we didn't catch any big ones on Fish Lake, we had a great time, because we'd, "Gone Fishin!"

This lake would be much better fishing in June when the ice first comes off and the fish are shallow--for future reference.

The Pineview Muskie

It's not too often you get to hear your fishing buddy scream like his 6-year-old daughter.  The opportunity came for me when Mortensen--thinking he was snagged on the Fish Master trolling motor--lands about a 28-30" long 10-12lb Muskie on Pineview Reservoir.  The Mortensen's & Gourley's went camping August 16-17 at Anderson Cove Campground.  Erin & Eric went out fishing Friday evening after camp was set up.  The fishing was slow.  The water level was low, and the boat traffic was ridiculous.  We were fishing on the west end of the lake by the dam.  Eric caught two Small Mouths, one of which was on a fly rod.  That was a first.  Mortensen puts on his killer #4 Mepps spinner as we are goofing around a few feet from shore.  Eric starts backing the boat away with the trolling motor when Mortensen's rod bends more than in half.  Eric stops, as Mortensen thinks he's caught on the trolling motor.  Then he says he has a fish.  Eric says, "I think your snagged."  Then his rod starts moving, and Mortensen again says it's a fish.  Eric doesn't believe him for some reason, even though the "Mortensen Magic" always pulls out the big ones.  I just could not believe a fish that big would come out of Pineview.  Eric says, "Are you sure it's not a rock?" to which Mortensen exclaims, "IT"S A FISH!!!"  Then the drag sings, he fights, and finally we catch a glimpse of the fish.  Mortensen yells, "I've caught a Tiger Muskie!"  Eric tells him it's a Carp!   The drag sings again as the fish runs towards the shore.  Finally, it surfaces, and we get it in the net and on the boat.  We're yelling in celebration at the size of the fish and the fact it is a Muskie.  Eric tells Mortensen to flip it out of the net and unhook it.  He's screaming like his little daughter, "It's going to bite me!" and dancing around the boat.  Luckily it unhooks itself, we snap the pics below, and toss it back in the lake.  We estimated its size and weight.  What an amazing fish!  What fun!  Mortensen does it again! His biggest fish yet!

2013 Annual Fishing Trip

This year's annual fishing trip was from July 18-20th.  Erin & Eric fished local Utah waters this year.  Sadly, Bishop was not able to join us this year.  We need to remedy that problem! We found some flops and some spectacular places.

One spectacular place was the just down river from the River Bridge on the Middle Provo River at sunrise streamer fishing.

Erin caught two nice 12-13" Browns that morning.  One is featured below with an added special treat of a glimpse at, "The Boron".  

Another spectacular location was the West Fork of the Duchesne River near Hanna, UT.  At the dirt road that goes back to the river, we took the high fork, drove about 12 miles in and bush-whacked down to the river.  Eric caught about 10 beautiful Colorado River Cutthroats from 6 to 10" and, true to form, Erin caught about six with two of them being 12-13" cuts all in about two hours.  We were fishing hoppers both as dry flies and as drowned bugs.  The river was stunningly beautiful.

We followed up the West Fork with a stop at the North Fork of the Duchesne River, also by Hanna, UT.  It was equally as beautiful.  The fishing was slow in the afternoon, but around 6 pm Eric caught the beautiful Brook Trout and a nice 10" Rainbow soft hackle fishing with a Partridge and Green.  After somehow retrieving his fly from an overhead tree limb, Erin once again lands an amazing 12" Rainbow in the same spot where Eric was fishing.  He is a big fish whisperer!  Eric had some fun with him, and told him it was another Cutthroat since he already had his limit on cuts!  His reaction was quite amusing!  

Two other stops on this year's fishing trip were partial successes.  One was Trial Lake along side Mirror Lake Highway.  It was a scenic drive to get there.  The lake would be a nice place to camp.  The fishing was...interesting.  We could see fish in the lake, but for nearly an hour we could not get them to take a lure.  The fish would follow it in or watch it go by, but never take it.  We realized these were less than stupid fish; they were stocked fish.  What happened next is a matter of perspective.  From Erin's perspective, Eric then stooped to an all-time low, and put on chartreuse, original scented PowerBait to catch pellet feed fish.  From Eric's perspective, he relied on his skill as a fisherman, intel he gathered by reading fishing reports from, "Fisherman Bob catching fish on chartreuse, original scented PowerBait" and prowess to catch his and Erin's limit of Tiger Trout.  The word "prowess" is used here, because even when Erin finally sunk to an all-time low and put on PowerBait, he missed the bite he had, and caught no fish!  Please note at this point that 90% of all "fish stories" arise not out of an overdeveloped sense of size estimation, but as an enjoyable method of banter meant to bag on and needle one's fishing buddies!  

The other partially successful stop was at the South Fork of the Ogden River up Highway 39.  Erin & Eric started at the Magpie Campground.  The river is accessible from this campground all the way up to roughly Camp Beaver Campground or perhaps Camp Red Cliff on the map below.  Erin caught a nice Cutthroat within a few minutes of fishing.  The rest of the day was poor fishing.  There were a few hits on soft hackles, and Erin lost one fish.  We could see fish in the river during the day, but the water was very clear and shallow.  There was also the problem of heavy river traffic by campers and tubers all along the river.  Finally, towards evening, Erin calls his shot at a deep, rocky hole, say, "Prepare to be amazed!"  He then catches a 6" Brown on a some kind of a fly Eric had never seen before.  Fitting, given the friendly banter of fishing buddies.  The South Fork would be a good place to fish, just not when there are so many campers.  

The true flop of the trip was the Ogden River itself.  There was no known--by us or the DWR--public access to fish the river.  Plus, it was very shallow, brush covered and heavily labeled with private property/no trespassing signs.  On the upside, we did find a lovely hobo nest.

Finally, I posted below the top moments of this year's Annual Fishing Trip.  While I typically don't like inside jokes, these are worth remembering, and they make for good stories for those who don't know the inside joke.

The top three "Mortensen Moments" on the this year's fishing trip:

1. "I think it is another cut" "NOOOOoooooooo!!!!! Hurry, let's put it in the car and go."

2. Mortensen scaling a mountain slope then stepping in and slipping on a giant mountain of cow dump.  Response:  "Sick" 

3. "Prepare to be amazed"  

Top Gourley moments.

1.  "How do you manage to catch the biggest fish of the trip?"  "I read a book on how to catch large fish."  

2.  "Prepare to be amazed!"  "What! You have to be kidding me!"

3.  "How do even manage to catch any fish?  You don't follow the rules or proper techniques."  

4.  Powerbait?  Enough said.

5.  How did you manage to miss out on flag butt? Luuucky.  I'm still struggling with that.

Make sure you ask Erin about the story behind--pun intended--number five!  Classic!

Silver Lake American Fork Canyon

July 6th Alyssa and Eric hiked to Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon.  It is above Silver Lake Flat on the map.  It is a strenuous hike, but beautiful.We caught six nice Brook Trout on small spinners at the northwest end of the lake where there was a stream inlet.  Fly fishing would be better in that lake.  Fishing when the ice is just off in June would be too.

Past Trips

I thought it would be good to throw some random pictures up from past trips with some dates.


These are from a Middle Provo River trip from March 15, 2013

Logan River between First and Second Dams on August 25, 2013