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9/9/12

Scofield, Electric Lake, and Small Stream Cutthroat

My family and I thought we'd test the water at Scofield Reservoir yesterday (Sat).  It had been 2 or 3 years since our last visit, so our hopes were that we might be able to coax a couple of nice tiger trout to find our gear.

Unfortunately, Scofield is still a prisoner of the chub.  I'm sure the hogs are still in there, but most catches were chubs or skinny little cutthroat.



We used quite a few different methods to get the big ones, but it wasn't meant to be this time.  We still had a lot of fun though.



The Chub Family, celebrating Chub Day, at Chub World:


I'm just glad that we caught a few trout in the mix.


The kids were getting restless at Scofield, so we tried our luck at the north end of Electric Lake, where the weeds choked most of the shoreline access.

There were plenty of minnows in a small bay that we stopped at, so I started throwing a Gulp! minnow.  It was getting small swipes right away, but it actually took about 10 minutes to get one to stick:


That might be my biggest tiger from there.  A couple of cutts also stopped in.  One had a whirly looking tail.  No pic of that one.


Sonia took my rod and tried for awhile, but only got a few follows.  The weeds were a pain and the kids were starting to complain again.  There was one more spot I thought we'd have time to fish, so off we went to a creek I'm fond of.

Usually when I've dragged the family to this creek, I've had them wait in the car or eat lunch while I hit a couple of holes quickly.  This time we all actually took a walk along the creek and it was really nice.

Sonia and the kids didn't want to fish anymore, but they were happy to come along and watch me work about 1/4 mile of stream.

The fishing wasn't on fire, but most of the holes had a few fish and I usually caught one or two from them before the rest would spook.


They sure are pretty in that creek.

While we were sneaking up to one hole, I saw a good one and told everyone to hold still.  As they watched, I carefully tossed my jig a few feet past a nice fish and slowly worked it along the bottom toward it.  It swiped at it two times and missed before finally connecting on the third.

Charming.


That was a strong fish.  It fought really hard and put on a good show for the family.


After that, we checked a couple of my go-to holes, where I got a good rainbow and another mid sized cutthroat.



A black marabou jig was all I used until I lost it.  I'm really loving those lately.


After I lost the jig, I thought that my favorite Vibrax might serve me well for the walk back to the truck.  It wasn't as effective, but it got me a few bites and one to hand.


It's always a pleasure to fish the creek, but it felt great to share the excitement of it with my family.  To top everything off, we got to share a classic summit sunset together too.



Day well spent!  Time to finish driving to the mountain in the middle and get ourselves home:


Happy Fishing, Humans.

Some Background...

WHY FISH?

Why not go jogging, hit the gym, start a garden or whatever it is that normal humans do? What's so fascinating about these slimy little creatures that live in the water?

Fishing is a bit more to me than a hobby or a sport. It's an essential part of life that helps me connect with the Earth in ways similar to the long-practiced traditions of mankind. Wherever man has had a water source, there has been fishing.

It's only natural.

Happy Fishing, Humans.