We usually do desert trips, but being June, the mountains seemed more appealing and off we went to the Wasatch Plateau. Our campsite was right by a fun lake, but we spent most of our time fishing a different lake, with very picky fish.
We didn't have any luck with that lake, but in the morning, my boy and I fished the one we were camped by and a couple of small tiger trout were caught.
After that, we fished the hard lake a little more, than took a nice ride along Skyline Drive. The views were incredible, as always. It was really nice to see a part of that road I previously hadn't, though we were still forced to turn around because of a snow drift.
Here's Emerald Lake from above:
Island Lake:
They're both such beautiful lakes. It's a pity that Island can't seem to sustain fish life. It would be a charming venue to catch high mountain trout.
It's so beautiful on the Wasatch Plateau. All our high plateaus in Utah are amazing.
Speaking of high plateaus, Holdsworth and I visited another good one last week, meeting up with a couple of web buddies from Nevada.
The lake we chose to meet at turned out to be a bit of a flop. The fish looked unhealthy and lethargic, hardly bothering to notice us as we stalked them from shore. I got one legitimate strike that I fought with for a moment before the fish escaped, then I accidentally hooked a tiny one in the tail somehow.
Aaron got a decent one to play.
We left to try our luck at a different lake, where we really needed our waders to get through the marsh.
Pretty lake, but from shore, it didn't look very fishable. Even with a tube, there's a lot of shallow weedy muck to push through before finding any depth.
Any casts would be covered in slime instantly, so it really looked grim for us. Eventually, I got brave and found a patch of grass to hold me up long enough to drop a jig next to the undercut shoreline and instantly pulled in a fish.
Then another from three feet to the left. This one was a little bit bigger.
Another drop about 4 feet to my right required a couple of hops of my jig before a big brookie came out and hammered it. Unfortunately, this brookie had some tricks and somehow left my jig lodged into the shoreline grass as it escaped. Had to be over 18" and pretty thick. Bummer.
Oh well, that'll happen.
Sometimes good things happen too, like this week! Holdsworth and I brought another buddy of mine (another Aaron) and took another long drive to hopefully sniff out some big grayling in new places.
We finally arrived at our first lake and it still took awhile before I was able to get anything to bite. Eventually, I found a presentation that worked.
Boom.
The brookies liked it too.
The brookies were on the small side, but not the grayling. I only measured one of them, which was 16", matching my personal record. Then I caught a bigger one.
It was at least 17". A new personal record grayling. Very cool.
The brookies tried their best to get in the way, between the grayling. They fought hard though, so it was fun, especially on the fly.
Aaron W was able to jig a few brookies to hand, but Holdworth wasn't getting anything from his tube. One fish gave him a short-lived battle on the fly rod, but his line went limp and it was back to the drawing board.
I gave him one of the flies I was using and he eventually got a good sized grayling.
That one may have broken his personal record. At least by length.
Meanwhile, I was hooking up somewhat regularly and this was the smallest grayling I caught all day:
After awhile, I even switched back to jigs, just to throw something else and I caught both a brookie and a big grayling with that.
What a great place!
We saw two other people show up and leave right away, but otherwise had the lake to ourselves.
Columbines seems to be present in the places that have treated me the best this year.
With a long drive home in front of us, we left with a plan to swing by a couple of other ponds on our way off the hill.
Our next stop was surprisingly productive, though it would have been easy to dismiss at first glance.
Aaron W scored first with a pretty little cutthroat:
Then Holdsworth with a nice grayling:
If his first one likely broke his personal record grayling, this one smashed it. Awesome catch.
I finally sent out my first cast on my fly rod and quickly found a beautiful cutthroat to play with.
That was a really pretty one. Great colors.
Aaron W had a couple more come in and Holdsworth actually got an even bigger grayling right before we left. I was too far away to grab a pic, but he was really happy with that one.
One last stop was warranted, so we made our way over there for a few casts.
It was really shallow and weedy. Casting from shore wasn't productive because the jig or lure would get slimed right away.
I took a little walk along the shoreline and found a small opening in the weeds, where I dipped a jig and pulled out a small brookie, then missed another.
That was all I needed to see and we left shortly after, enjoying the splendid scenery on our way down.
It was an incredible day and we crossed three more lakes off our list, with pretty good results! I've needed a good grayling day and this one definitely filled my quota for awhile.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
They're both such beautiful lakes. It's a pity that Island can't seem to sustain fish life. It would be a charming venue to catch high mountain trout.
It's so beautiful on the Wasatch Plateau. All our high plateaus in Utah are amazing.
Speaking of high plateaus, Holdsworth and I visited another good one last week, meeting up with a couple of web buddies from Nevada.
The lake we chose to meet at turned out to be a bit of a flop. The fish looked unhealthy and lethargic, hardly bothering to notice us as we stalked them from shore. I got one legitimate strike that I fought with for a moment before the fish escaped, then I accidentally hooked a tiny one in the tail somehow.
Aaron got a decent one to play.
We left to try our luck at a different lake, where we really needed our waders to get through the marsh.
Pretty lake, but from shore, it didn't look very fishable. Even with a tube, there's a lot of shallow weedy muck to push through before finding any depth.
Any casts would be covered in slime instantly, so it really looked grim for us. Eventually, I got brave and found a patch of grass to hold me up long enough to drop a jig next to the undercut shoreline and instantly pulled in a fish.
Then another from three feet to the left. This one was a little bit bigger.
Another drop about 4 feet to my right required a couple of hops of my jig before a big brookie came out and hammered it. Unfortunately, this brookie had some tricks and somehow left my jig lodged into the shoreline grass as it escaped. Had to be over 18" and pretty thick. Bummer.
Oh well, that'll happen.
Sometimes good things happen too, like this week! Holdsworth and I brought another buddy of mine (another Aaron) and took another long drive to hopefully sniff out some big grayling in new places.
We finally arrived at our first lake and it still took awhile before I was able to get anything to bite. Eventually, I found a presentation that worked.
Boom.
The brookies liked it too.
The brookies were on the small side, but not the grayling. I only measured one of them, which was 16", matching my personal record. Then I caught a bigger one.
It was at least 17". A new personal record grayling. Very cool.
The brookies tried their best to get in the way, between the grayling. They fought hard though, so it was fun, especially on the fly.
Aaron W was able to jig a few brookies to hand, but Holdworth wasn't getting anything from his tube. One fish gave him a short-lived battle on the fly rod, but his line went limp and it was back to the drawing board.
I gave him one of the flies I was using and he eventually got a good sized grayling.
That one may have broken his personal record. At least by length.
Meanwhile, I was hooking up somewhat regularly and this was the smallest grayling I caught all day:
After awhile, I even switched back to jigs, just to throw something else and I caught both a brookie and a big grayling with that.
What a great place!
We saw two other people show up and leave right away, but otherwise had the lake to ourselves.
Columbines seems to be present in the places that have treated me the best this year.
With a long drive home in front of us, we left with a plan to swing by a couple of other ponds on our way off the hill.
Our next stop was surprisingly productive, though it would have been easy to dismiss at first glance.
Aaron W scored first with a pretty little cutthroat:
Then Holdsworth with a nice grayling:
If his first one likely broke his personal record grayling, this one smashed it. Awesome catch.
I finally sent out my first cast on my fly rod and quickly found a beautiful cutthroat to play with.
That was a really pretty one. Great colors.
Aaron W had a couple more come in and Holdsworth actually got an even bigger grayling right before we left. I was too far away to grab a pic, but he was really happy with that one.
One last stop was warranted, so we made our way over there for a few casts.
It was really shallow and weedy. Casting from shore wasn't productive because the jig or lure would get slimed right away.
I took a little walk along the shoreline and found a small opening in the weeds, where I dipped a jig and pulled out a small brookie, then missed another.
That was all I needed to see and we left shortly after, enjoying the splendid scenery on our way down.
It was an incredible day and we crossed three more lakes off our list, with pretty good results! I've needed a good grayling day and this one definitely filled my quota for awhile.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
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