2011: Year in Review

Well it sure has been a great year for fishing.  Though I didn't accomplish all of my fishing goals, there were still quite a few highlights.

During 2011, I was able to break a few personal records:

Best Rainbow (22")
Best Brookie (19")
Best Tiger Trout (Twice!  1 @ 25" and 1 @ 25.5")
Best Walleye (26")
Best Golden Trout (only golden @ 8")

Aside from breaking some personal bests, it was a lot of fun anyway, as always.  I think I only got skunked a couple of times in 2011, so that's nice.

I've taken a little time and gathered up some of my fondest 2011 fishing related photos, in chronological order:

Oh, did I forget to mention my huge 36 inch albino cutthroat?  N'yuk, n'yuk.

Here's my buddy Holdsworth with a splake from Fish Lake and some cool ice patterns from there:

Otter Creek Reservoir:

Holdsworth with a 23" rainbow:

Here's my best rainbow, although it doesn't look 22" in the pic, it really was.  9 Mile Reservoir:

Millsite Reservoir and the hardest fighting cutthroat I ever met.  It fought harder than any other trout I've caught and it was only 18".  Stubborn thing took me 5 minutes to bring in.

Straight Canyon Creek (outflow from Joe's Valley Reservoir):

Joe's Valley Reservoir:

Back to the creek:

Neat sunbeams bursting through to bid us a good morning, which it was.

Got into some pretty good tigers this year and got Holdsworth out to my big tiger spots too.

Breaking my personal record the first time with a 25" tiger:

Ice off at Strawberry Reservoir:

Nice cutthroat from Currant Creek Reservoir:

Quail Creek Reservoir, southern Utah (on the way back from Vegas):

Lunch break white bass with the lakeside power plant in the background:

My buddy Keala with a gorgeous Colorado River Cutthroat.  Riley is sitting in the background.

Riley cashes in on some CR cutt lovin':

Keala with a hoggish tiger from a small stream:

Danish Meadows:

Ahh, the bulge of a well fed tiger.  Pretty big for water you can jump across in spots.

Nice CR Cutt donning its spawning colors:

Fish Lake Plateau:

Gotta get the kids involved.  They're the highlight of my life:

Not afraid to get dirty.

My last fishing trip with my best friend was to be epic.  It certainly was and "epic" is not a word I use liberally.

Great brookies and fast catching.  It was a great note to see him off with.

The Narrows of Strawberry Reservoir:

High Uinta Golden Trout Hunt:

Got it!  Very rare.  They are no longer stocked in Utah, for quite a few decades:

Trapped some alien fish, aka fathead minnows:

More Fish Lake Plateau:

Found a wild population of cutts in this pond and the DWR contacted me about it.  They didn't know that the fish could survive there.

Family hike to Twin Lakes at Brighton Ski Resort.  That was one of my skunks for the year, but I kept the trap full and made out with about 7lbs of minnows.  Not a true skunk, I guess.

Some beautiful cutthroat from Lake Creek in Central Utah:

Sixth Water Creek:

Gooseberry Creek (upper then lower):

My first kokanee salmon (Flaming Gorge Reservoir):

The lunch break spots kept me sane throughout the workweek:

Wild raspberries and brookies in the Uintas:

A couple of pretty tigers from Huntington Reservoir:

More lunch break action:

A ragged smile from a Strawberry cutthroat:

And the biggest tiger I've ever been able to land @ 25.5 inches:

Got the wifey into a chubby Colorado River Cutthroat:

More fun in Central Utah:

Starvation Creek:

Price River:

A city park with a creek running through it!  People thought I was crazy to fish there.  So what if they were right, I still caught fish, muahahahahahahaha!

Nice rainbow from 9 Mile Reservoir.  Sonia's biggest fish of the year:

Yes, more lunch break fun:

City park again, found the female:

Slot buster at Strawberry (over 22"):

Lunch:

A buried creek with about 6 feet of exposure!  Downstream from the city park about a mile:

Lunch break walleye!  Breaking my personal best by 8 inches (26"):

A little spot on Deer Creek Reservoir that is separated from the main lake by a railroad dike:

Some splendid cutts and tigers from a productive lake:

My buddy Keoni at the spot:

He had a great day:

Half-frozen Daniel's Creek.  Gorgeous little cutts in there:

Another slot-buster from the Berry:

Dry Creek, Alpine Utah:

Super spawn-colored browns:

Big fall-run rainbows from Starvation Reservoir (Starvation Steelhead, as some have nicknamed them):

More lunch break:

Round 2 with the same walleye from before:

One of two 20 inch rainbows from Deer Creek

Family ice fishing (that's a first) at Millsite Reservoir:

Top of a splake (lake trout X brook trout):

And my last fish of 2011, a 22 inch cutthroat from Strawberry Reservoir TODAY (12-31).

Happy New Year!  May your glasses be full and good fortune befall you in 2012!