Fishing Our Favorite Lake! Utah Mountain Lakes

Last week Parker and I were able to join up on the Fish Steeler again. It has been a while since he and I's schedules matched up. Parker chose the lake for the adventure and I wasn't surprised since it is our favorite lake. I picked him up at his place and headed south. We started talking about how long we have fished this lake together and it has been 20 years since we started fishing this lake. At that time we caught monster Colorado Cutthroat. Since then the lake dynamics have changed due to many reasons. Now they stock it with Tiger trout and Kokanee. Kokanee was the target for the day.

 We arrived at the lake around 7:30 am. We launched and drove to the lanes we knew would produce Kokanee or so we thought. We putt he trolling motor down and got lines in the water. We fished for two and a half hours and didn't get a hit. We changed everything multiple times but nothing produced hits. We went through what we thought were large schools of Kokanee but got nothing. I was watching the bank line and noticed a boil take place. Where fish drive the shiners to the banks and then ambush them. I said let's try throwing some jerk baits to the bank.

We did just that. I had multiple followers but no hits. I told parker to run a crankbait that dove a little deeper and he got the first Tiger Trout to the boat finally. I changed over to a crankbait as well and got my first Tiger trout to the boat. Not what we were targetting but we caught a fish. We fished the banks and landed a couple Cutthroat trout as well.

We crossed the channel and started trolling the crankbaits to see if we could get a taker. The wind came up and started to push us backward just a little and right then Parker got Slammed! Parker fought it all the way to boat but couldn't get the last 10 feet to get close enough for the net. I jumped over and stopped the boat motor but it was too late. The big Cutthroat had wrapped itself up in the line. With one quick and hard head shake, it broke the line and did a tail dance as it swam away with the lure in its lips. We were devastated, this was the type of fish we had become accustomed to catching here and it got away!

We fished for another hour or so and didn't get another hit. We talked with other boats on the lake and they were having the same luck. In fact, a couple of boats saw us casting and catching and they started doing the same thing. We didn't notice if they caught any or not. Not the typical day on our favorite lake that we are used to having but it was great to be back on the water with Parker.

Fishing Jordanelle Smallmouth

Shifty and I went to Jordanelle initially looking for trout and then we would go after Smallmouth bass, wipers, maybe even some Kokanee. We launched at sunrise and were quickly in a trolling lane. We fished with hard baits both shallow diving and deep diving trying to cover as much of the column as possible. We only trolled for a little while in the first lane and then moved to the next lane and then the next lane and got nothing. Shifty was anxious to get on bass and wipers.

We went to areas where we had got wipers previously and tried to stay on top of them and jig for them. Shifty threw his anchors out and we started jigging. We didn't have any bait other than grubs and they weren't interested in them. At this point we had a visitor join us, my brother showed up on the bow of his friend's boat. It was awesome seeing him on the water again. We pulled anchor and went to some coves that we knew held smallmouth bass.

Kelly followed us over and fished the rest of the morning with us. We were all catching smallmouth bass. None of them were large but we caught plenty. We fished just past noon working banks with crankbaits and Shifty used some plastics as well. It was a good day for the smallmouth.

Fishing Deer Creek with My Brother - Trifecta

My brother and I got back on the Fish Steeler together. It has been a couple years since we got together and fished. Our schedules wouldn't line up and so on, but we finally got it together. We decided to make a quick trip to Deer Creek. We launched just before sunrise and had lines down immediately. We fished for a couple hours trolling for trout. Kelly landed a decent Rainbow trout in that time but the bite just wasn't there. We figured the full moon might have been part of the equation and the area we were trolling. I haven't had good luck in the Snow's Marina leg, but I also knew that the topwater hit for bass might be good up that leg. So I figured we would catch what we catch. The entire leg is now wakeless, I figured we might as well fish while we were going back the inlet. After the slow start and only one fish, we decided to try our luck with the bass.

We turned our attention to the reeds and willows along the bank and started off with topwater baits. We fished different types of walkers, poppers, buzz baits, and got no reactions. Kelly moved to a spinnerbait and I put on a crankbait. We fished into the inlet hitting every nook and cranny and then back out again. Not a hit or follow. Kelly moved to jerk bait and got some followers and then a good hit with a smallmouth. I switched up quickly and not long after I got my first fish of the morning, a perch!

We fished Snow's for a couple hours moving along the banks keeping a jerk bait on I got a few smallmouth bass, but Kelly didn't get another hit. We decided to move to another part of the lake. We thought well let's move as quickly as possible so we trolled out of Snow's and fished for trout on the way out. Reaching the end of the bay we switched to casting gear for a minute and hit the banks. Not getting anything we dropped the motor and quickly to another bay.

We reached the bay I thought would be productive and we started off with jerk baits. Kelly landed the first and then I got one, both smallmouth bass. We worked the banks along a couple of the west bays and caught quite a few smallmouth bass. Then I hooked into a largemouth bass, not big by any means but still a largemouth bass. That gave me a trifecta. Not long after mine Kelly landed another largemouth bass giving him a trifecta as well and we were looking at a possible Deer Creek slam missing only a brown trout, walleye, and bluegill. Kelly switched up to a lizard for a few cast but got nothing and moved back the jerk bait and landed one immediately. I was running crankbaits and still catching smallmouth and the occasional largemouth. All the fish were nursery size except for a couple in the 12-inch range. We fished until early afternoon and the bite had slowed considerably. We loaded and headed for the ramp. It was a great day on the Fish Steeler with my brother. Look for more trips with him coming up.

Fishing Mill Hollow - Utah

At the western edge of the Uinta's a lake is nestled in the high pines and aspens. We fished this lake frequently with my father in law and the week before he passed he wanted to fish there that was nine years ago. He couldn't hike down to the lake so he watched from the truck as I reeled in a few of the small trout. A couple weeks ago I ventured back up there. So did the rest of the state! I did find an open area that let me make my cast between all the fishers. It was a breezy day and with some gusts once in a while. Most of the other anglers were using power bait which made it easy to cast and reel around them.

I got to my spot and started throwing my Kastmasters. It wasn't long before I got one to bite. A rainbow trout nothing of size but a fish nonetheless. I changed colors and sizes for about two hours on the bank and caught a few rainbow trout. All healthy with all their fins which was nice to see. This lake is stocked often due to the traffic it receives. Like I say I only spent a couple hours casting and called it good. It was good to get back up there after a couple years of not going there.

Fishing Rockport Rainbows and Smallmouth

Last Thursday Shifty and I hopped on the Fish Steeler and fished Rockport Reservoir. We arrived at the lake at sunrise and were the first on the lake. We started the morning off trolling hard baits and covered the water column with different depths of diving crankbaits.