Starvation Reservoir Rainbows!

Memorial Day we decided to go fishing even with the weather not being very cooperative. 14 days of rain in Utah! Unheard of for our arid state and continues to rain as write this entry Wednesday night. We loaded up at 5 am and then went and got Jimmy out of bed! He almost got left out on this adventure. We drove through some rain in the canyon and past our favorite spot, Deer Creek Reservoir due to infestation of Quagga mussels, we won't be fishing it in the boat this year or for a while. We went to Heber and pulled into the local stop and got breakfast items. Still not sure where were heading and looking at the skies I decided to go east to try and outrun the rain.

We headed east for Starvation Reservoir a beautiful reservoir in the Uinta Basin area of eastern Utah and right beside Duchesne. It is 2 hours from the homestead so we don't do it that often. It is known for its Walleye population and housing some huge Brown trout and Rainbow trout, along with a good population of Perch. We pulled into the check station and talked with the attendant for a second and asked where we could find fish. He asked us what we were looking for, we replied trout, and he told us where to try over by the bridge. We pulled into the marina and ramp at 8 am. Remember we had to wake up Jim! We readied the boat and launched.

We ran to the area the attendant said would be good. We pulled into the bay and were the only boat in there. We set up and started trolling pop-gear and dodgers with a worm trailer. We fished through one section and got a couple hits right off. We thought alright we may have a good day. We missed the first few, I think because we were out of practice and just excited to be getting into them like we were. Finally boated a nice sized Rainbow and the game was on. We didn't go much longer than 20 minutes between hits. We fished most of the day without much weather or wind and a couple boats coming into our bay and trying our pattern. We continued to get hits and catching fish. The others weren't quite as lucky so they moved on. Except a pontoon boat they were running fast and trolling rapalas and were getting hits like we were. The weather changed at 1 pm and so with 10 nice rainbow in the live well we decided to call it a day before it got nasty with wind and rain. We easily missed or did not net 20 more fish on this outing. We were definitely out of practice of netting them having at least 10 at the boat and knocked them off the hook with the net. We made fun of each other for our great skills!

We got to the cleaning station and took a few pictures on the stringer board and had a few comments on the nice haul of fish. One other boat came in with a nice load of Walleye but no one else had any numbers. We had a great day on the lake. We thanked the attendant for giving the area to fish and showed him a picture of the stringer and he was even surprised at the size and number. We finished off the adventure with lunch at a local Cafe in Duschesne called Cowan's Cafe. We thought first going in maybe not, but we stayed and were damn glad we did the food was great service was fun and quick. All handmade burgers and meals. We are going to frequent Starvation more often now that we have a couple weigh points to go off of, and we will go back to Cowan's Cafe.

Max and the Catfish!

This past Saturday we took my grandson out for catfish and some pan fish. We went to Utah Lake. Utah lake holds the greatest variety of fish in the state with Bluegill, Crappie, White Bass, Large Mouth Bass, Walleye, Blue cats, Mud cats, and Channel cats, it also now has Northern Pike that someone dumped illegally so if want to catch and keep all the Pike you want they want them out so they don't kill off the June Sucker which is endangered.

We loaded up at 7 am and went to the dock thinking we might get blown off the lake. Utah Lake is not a lake to trifle with, if the winds come up and they do often you get off the water. Many fisher and recreaters have lost their boats and lives on this lake. We launched with a little skepticism and an eye on the sky. The weather this spring has been crazy. We made a run for the willows. Pulling into the willows, we had to shut down the big motor about a quarter mile short of our destination because the lake is low and we were in 2 ft. of water quickly. Utah Lake at its deepest point in high water is 12-15 deep in some small holes, generally only 6 ft. deep and the shallows are just that. Carefully we worked our way back into the willows with our electric and set up for some pan fish and cats. We fished there for about hour and got nothing. Not even seeing movement we decided to abandon the willows and go for rock piles down on the south end.

Making the run south Max enjoyed the trip with the motor running full out. We skipped along and pulled in about 10 minutes later in an area I knew the rock piles are and set the anchor. We put the poles out for cats on this hole and within 10 minutes we were getting action. Finally getting one to take the bait. Max reeled in his first ever catfish a beautiful 3.5 lb. channel. Max was thrilled his biggest fish he had ever caught. He wasn't too keen on touching the ugly mug but he was excited to have caught it. We explained to him the importance of not getting stuck with its fins and I think that may have contributed to him not wanting to touch it. He is excited to go out again and soon. That is what is all about getting the young ones excited and wanting to go again.

Flaming Gorge Kokanee Salmon

Friday night we made our annual fishing trip drive to Flaming Gorge in Northern Utah. We stopped in Evanston and picked up our license and permit to fish Flaming Gorge, you need a reciprocal license to fish the Wyo. side of Flaming Gorge. We arrived in Manila around 10:30 pm and crashed at R-Hideout, not the greatest but the only place left since it was the weekend of the fishing derby. Didn't know that when we booked our fishing trip with Monty's Fishing Service.

We woke at 5:30 excited to go and had breakfast in the room, because it was 30 degrees outside. Yes freezing on May 16th. We were happy to see sunshine and clear skies. We were prepared to fish in a snow storm all day. We arrived at the Lucerne Marina just as Monty's Fishing Service arrived and we met him at the dock in time to hold the boat while he parked. His boat "The Fish Teaser" is 26' Thunder Jet and it gets up and screams on the water. Moving from area to the next is never a bother because it happens so quickly! We launched and was fishing by 7:15 in an area Monty knew was going to be good for us. We had the line out for about 2 minutes and our first hit and fish was on line.

Kokanee Salmon have very soft jaws, you can't muscle them like a trout. Slow and steady retrieve is the secret to much horse or set action and you pull through the jaw and lose a fish. I reeled nice and even until it was netted. A nice 2lb Kokanee Salmon to start the day off right. We didn't even have the other poles set yet. Monty got all four poles setup with the down riggers and scent placed on the squids we were running. Our next hit happened in about ten minutes this time Jim reeled it in, got a little excited and lost it. Parker was next and missed one, Jim tried the next and got it to the boat another nice 1.5 lb Kokanee Salmon. Parker was next he missed yet another, but this time the fish took bait right off the gear! Monty run's 20 lb invisible leader on his rigs. That fish hit and the line went limp, Parker was getting frustrated with himself until he seen the whole setup was missing. We started laughing and Monty said "Yep I can hear it now, Dang guide doesn't know how to tie his rigs on the line" We laughed some more knowing that the fish had to be pretty good sized to take the leader like that.

We fished all morning in the same area, no need to move we were catching fish and missing fish every 15 minutes or less. We boated 9 beautiful Kokanee all in the 1.5 – 2 plus range. Each of getting our own limit. Monty was wanting to take us down to the Utah side of the reservoir and go for some Lake Trout or "Mackinaw Trout". Monty fired up the “The Fish Teaser” and we flew down the lake about 15 miles into the narrows and started trolling for some Mackinaw trout. We found a section pretty quick that showed fish stacked heavily on the outside of a cliff drop. Monty rigged up the poles and got them down to depth with his down riggers and we fished. We had a couple hits but no hook ups. Mackinaw especially the bigger ones are very smart he told us they will come up to the bait and tail slap it to see if it something worth eating. We think that is what may have been happening we had several hits that took the lures out of the riggers but no hookups. We watched a number of Osprey fish and feed their young in their nests it was quite a sight. We fished for about 2 hours trying different colors, speed, depths but no luck. Monty reminded us that Mackinaw are the fish of 200 hours, meaning you must fish long and hard before you get them figured completely out.

Remember that sunshine and clear morning? Well by 2:30 some thunderheads rolled in and we started getting wet. We still fished for another hour so but then Monty looked to northwest and said that is snow. We were pretty hammered by then and agreed time to get off the lake. Monty nailed it, we made it to the dock just it started pounding us with sleet snow. We loaded the boat and Monty filleted our catch for us there were fishing parties at the cleaning station only one other had a full limit of fish but we were the only ones with a full limit of Kokanee. We put our fillets in our cooler and wished Monty well and were on our way home after picking up some ice.

We had a great day on Flaming Gorge and Monty's Fishing Service is the reason why he is full of stories that keeps the day moving along and keeps a smile on your face. The Kokanee were distributed when we got home. Mine were put on the smoker with pecan, cherry and cedar chips. Next year we will put together another outing and have more memories to reflect on.

Jordanelle Small Mouth Bass.......

Morning started off early and clear. Bluebird day perhaps not ideal conditions for fishing for small mouth bass but we didn't really care we were going fishing. 5 am and on the road a quick stop for breakfast at the local stop in Heber and on the lake by 6:15 am. A quick run out to our first stop and lines in by 6:30 am. Yep we were ready to slay some small mouth bass, well catch and release with a few photo ops.

Kelly started of jerk bait as did I and we fished the first stretch for 40 minutes without even as much as a sniff, no followers, bumps nothing. Kelly jinxed us from the get go, bringing up the fact that the lunar charts showed it wasn't going to be great fishing today and what little bite was going to happen was to start at 9 am and run till noon. Since we had to be back for his business meeting by noon that didn't give us a large window of opportunity. We moved and cast for the hour or so and to different structure and throwing different colors shapes and action of lures. Parker had been up a couple weeks ago in the Rock Cliff area and caught 6 very nice Brown trout from the bank. We finally decided to go back into the cliffs and give it a try. We fished again for about an hour and got nothing. Me not being a big fan of bass, I got out some heavy metal and started throwing it to center of the lake while Kelly continued to fish for the small mouth bass. I changed up colors and presentation a few times as did Kelly from the back deck. I put on a rainbow pattern and 3rd cast got a hit, slowed down and another got the lure next to the boat and this little bow was determined to catch itself so I let it! It had been a couple weeks since a fish had been in the Fish Steeler so I didn't care and brought it in with a quick tug.

I fished the same color for a little while and another hit good solid thud, and then it went limp! I watched as this rainbow continued to dance like it had been struck by lightning, tail whips, barnacle removing breaches everything just going nuts and my line was limp!! I reeled it in to see that Berkley Vanish 10 lb. test had broken! I have lost more lures with this line than I care to think about. I could understand if it was old and the fish were monsters but the fish was a carryover rainbow and snapped the line like nothing. Guess that line will go into the dumpster since it has cost me more in lost lures than I really care to think about.

Okay off the rant now and back to our absolutely gorgeous day a little breeze and a warm 77 degrees. Kelly still working the bank and I retied but I lost the only rainbow pattern I had to a much surprised rainbow. I retied a couple different patterns and then finally found another color that was liked. A little Brown trout decided to come onboard for a short visit and couple photo ops. We quickly got the little guy back in the water and continued on. We changed banks and Kelly tied on a plastic worm and finally got a few hits but couldn't coax them to eat it. We finished the morning with a quick run back to the marina. We asked other boats and they reported about the same outcome as us. Other boats though that were trolling the channel were very productive. Kelly is a hard core Basser and I wanted to learn how to catch them better but the Lunar Chart jinxed us....LOL. In the infamous words of Arnold "We'll Be Back" for another day and challenge.