Thursday morning 3:15 am came fast and with a lot of anticipation. Shifty and I were heading to Steinaker, a reservoir north of Vernal, Utah. Two and half hours east of the Wasatch front at the foot of the Uinta mountains. The lake is known for its bass fishing and that is what we were targeting for the day. Shifty had never been to the lake before and it had been a decade since I last fished it. One of those destinations that seems so far but when you get there it wasn’t nearly as far as you thought. We hit the road running at 4:00 am from his place and didn’t stop until we pulled into Vernal at 6:20 am. We stopped at the Maverick and put some gas in the boat and then stopped at MickyD’s for breakfast. We pulled out of Vernal by 6:50 am and made our way to the lake, a quick 10-minute drive up the canyon road and we were at the dock by 7:00 am, launched and fishing by 7:15 am. Earlier as we crossed the Strawberry Valley we noticed the temperature was 32 degrees and sent out an Instagram stating that the ice would soon be here!!
We left the dock and started across the lake and seen fish feeding on the surface almost boil like. We couldn’t tell if they were carp or game fish. We tossed a few lures into the mix and returned nothing and figured out they were fingerling trout feeding on midges that were covering the surface of the water. We trolled our way toward the dam and into a bay but was getting nothing. Shifty was getting antsy to say the least he could see on the other bank huge rock fields and that were screaming, fish me! So I kicked the trolling motor up to high speed and made for the other side of the lake. I trolled as we crossed the main body and watched the second boat launch, we were the only people on the lake. As we edged closer to the rock banks Shifty got excited started tossing hard plastic like a mad man. I was fishing a Rebel red crawfish pattern and when we got the rocks I got three Large Mouth Bass in three casts. Shifty changed over to the same pattern and got a couple on the boat as well. We were fishing tight to the bank and tossing front and back deck along the bank with long casts. Hitting the points and seeing the deep pockets and calling our shots, we caught fish most of the morning. We kept working areas until the fish tired out and then we moved to the next area and finished up at the dam. We changed color, type and presentation of our lures as often as the fish were changing their minds on what they would hit. By 8 am we had seven fish on the boat and by 10 am we had 20 fish on the boat. Then the dead time set in at 10:30, we kept changing and even went to a top water plug and Shifty got a number of hits from the juvenile Large Mouth Bass in the bay we pulled into and had some snacks and water before hitting it hard again. Watching the top water bug get hit was fun and watching Shifty pull in a little one was fun none the less. We did watch a big one swim up and take a gulp at the top water but missed it.
After a rest period and throwing top water plugs we went back across the dam and worked crankbaits again. Shifty was up on me 22 - 18 fish and it was 1:00 pm. I noticed a number of the fish he brought in looked like a crankbait I had in my box so I tied it on. Of course every time I tied something on or pulled out of the water Shifty would throw into my open water and each time he would catch a fish. He likes to steal fish from me like that……lol. This time however it worked out, I tied on the lure and in four casts I had caught up to him. We had set a time if they weren’t hitting that we were going to leave by 1:30 pm and by that time I had caught up. The time changed to 2:00 pm and then to 2:15 and then finally ended at 3:00 pm. We fished the dam rest of the day working the rocks and pockets and catching fish until we each had landed a total of 26 fish a piece, giving us a total of 52. One of the craziest catches was a Rainbow trout on a Speed Trap, I caught it while working toward the dam, nice colors and size to it. Shifty caught two Bluegill at the end of the day which was fun.
Shifty and I were tired by the end of the day and hungry. We loaded the boat, stopped at the ranger station and talked with the ranger about the reservoir and the fish that were in the lake. He told us that rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Sunfish and a small population of Smallmouth Bass, which were introduced illegally a season ago, populated the lake. Nice guy and lots of knowledge of the reservoir. The facilities were great. The lake itself was drawn down quite a bit for irrigation, and the ranger said next year at this time they will drain it down drastically to repair the dam. The entire day was great weather a little breeze once in a while and cloud cover in the morning with a light sprinkle to begin the day. As the day progressed in turned into a bluebird day and glassed out a few times. We were one of three boats on the water the entire day. Not counting the DWR boat checking water quality and for quagga’s. Some shore anglers showed up in the afternoon, so we had the lake to ourselves basically the entire day. The water temperature stayed right around 67 degrees and the water was stained heavily with algae, enough to turn our lines green.
We ended the day over lunch at Freddy’s in Vernal, for those from the east it is like Steak and Shake. Good food and good service with smiles. We headed for home and made it back the Shifty’s place by 7:20 pm. Great day an Epic day on the pond. Till next week “Keep It Bent!”
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