Springtime Update (Channel Cats, Tiger Trout, and Big Brookies)

It's long overdue that I share what I've been doing for the past few weeks. Though I haven't posted lately, I've been fishing about 5 days per week to some extent.

Lunch breaks are always fun, whether I head south (warm water species) or north (Provo River). I get skunked a lot on lunch break, but most 20 minute spurts on the Provo provide a couple of dinks to pass the time. Occasionally, I nab a decent specimen.



My warm water spot is much more hit or miss. I haven't spent as much time there lately, although the other day, I finally landed a good sized channel catfish.



My previous personal best was only 9 or 10 inches. Not very impressive. This one was really fun to catch, especially on lunch break.

A good lunch break can do wonders for bad day at work...or a good one.

On Easter Sunday, I thought I'd try fishing a big tiger trout spot I've done well at, which happened to be on the same day I fished it the first time. 4-20-07 was my first visit, and that went very well.



The 2014 redux was much less impressive.

11 hours were spent on that mission. I walked around the entire lake (it's not small) and never got any action until I had made a complete circuit around the lake, from the first spot I fished from. Go figure.



A 19" Tiger Trout found my minnow after such a grueling wait. My history at the lake would cause me to feel some level of disappointment for a catch of the day under the 20" mark. Likewise, spending 11hrs at a body of water with absolutely NOTHING happening would normally be disappointing.

Regardless, I still enjoyed getting out and visiting that crazy lake again. Plus, I even saw the Easter Bunny!



This week, my fishing libido required something a bit more productive and rewarding. Given the time of year, it would likely involve a lot of work, but that's alright. I'll work for big brookies.

There was a degree of anxiety about this trip, since I was unable to find my GPS unit, leading up to Saturday. Having my normal access point to the lake snowed in, it was necessary to use a different trail head I had heard about.

Detailed notes were taken about the route from the maps and I was confident that I would find my happy place, once again.

The hike was actually somewhat difficult with a fully inflated tube on my back and a backpack across my chest. My notes instructed me to stay left on a series of clearings that would lead me to the promised land. Those clearings were filled with knee-deep snow, so it was actually easier to bushwhack through the naked aspens along the edges.

Somewhat quickly, I found the lake and was greeted by a pretty good snow storm. It didn't take long and I had my first catch, a 3lb 4oz brookie:



Big brookie.

Shortly after, a small cutthroat came to hand. There were a few of these that I met today, but all were about this size:



On occasion, a nice brookie would introduce themself.





And this one probably outweighed my first one:



I was really glad to have made the trip. The weather was awful, but that doesn't really matter to me when I'm doing something I love. There were a couple of times when the storm let up, but most of the day was spent getting snowed on. It was actually really peaceful. The only person around for miles.



The hike back to the car got interesting with a lot of snow flying around, but I eventually found my way back to the clearings. What a day!

Happy Fishing, Humans.