Where have we been?!

Howdy folks! Sorry we have been off grid for a while. Labor Day proved to be a costly one for me. I was helping a neighbor with the sprinkling system and when I reached into the water control box to turn off the water I did some damage to my hand and finished off my thumb. In short I had surgery a couple weeks and this happened..

..a new titanium thumb joint, one step closer to becoming Wolverine. Needless to say it has put a dampening effect on the outings. Not only that my body no longer reacts to anesthesia that well anymore. I have also had to rely on the Mrs. for help even putting on pants. Learning to do everything left handed has been eventful. Especially some aspects of life. I have learned that everything oriented to the right hand person and that using your left hand even with the simplest of tasks can be unnerving. However I am now on the mend and ready to get back out doing things although it will be one handed for the part and trying to type this with the cast on is taxing on the speed and accuracy, when even with two hands it was slow.

We did however take a trip back to Pittsburgh and take in a Steelers game. We had 18th row isle seats in the end zone! As you may have guessed I am a diehard Steeler fan and it was a bucket list item to see them play live in Three River Stadium. We did some seeing and shopping in Pittsburgh. We went to Erie PA, to see Lake Erie not enough time or ability to fish but we have now been to 3 of the great lakes. Monday we visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton OH. Overall it was a great trip and the people of Pittsburgh are great. I had a very hard time not breaking the bank on souvenirs in both Pittsburgh and Canton.

Hope to be on the trail or lake next week even in the cast. Learning to cast left handed is interesting to say the least!

Fishing Jordanelle with Joe and LeeAnn

Saturday morning I took Joe and LeeAnn out on the Fish Steeler on Jordanelle Reservoir. We got to the lake and on the water by 7 am and had our first fish on board by 7:15. Running the small boat ramp pattern we fished there all morning until we limited out. LeeAnn had never been trolling before so it was fun to see her get a few fish in the live well.

Joe, LeeAnn's husband, is seasoned at fishing with a fly pole in his hand, actually one of the best nymph fishers I know. He can find fish when no one else is catching anything. He has a little experience trolling, so it was fun having both on board the Fish Steeler. Rainbow trout were the target today and they were plentiful and decent sized. The hit was hot in the morning until about 9 am and then it slowed down. We tried several different patterns in the area and found fish in each of them.

The morning was spectacular, no wind and just a little brisk. The sunrise was great. We fished until 11:00 am and gave up fighting the recreation boats and wakes, but did limit out and the final fish of the day was a nice 16 inch Brown trout with wonderful colors. It was put in the hole so quickly we didn't realize we had caught a Brown trout until we were loading up the stringer for a picture. The morning was kept lively by few mishaps here and there and we had a few laughs at each other. The best was when Joe was being guide and holding LeeAnn's fish for a photo and it jumped out of his hands and tail slapped her.

We were rolling, even LeeAnn got a chuckle out of it. The fall colors are coming in strong right now with the oaks turning fire engine red and oranges. Hope you get out this weekend and enjoy this fall weather. Tight Lines and keep smilin'.

 

Small Mouth Bass at Jordanelle

Went fishing with my brother Kelly on Jordanelle Reservoir. We started off at 5 am on Thursday morning, drove up to Heber stopped for supplies and back on the road. Next stop Jordanelle, we pulled in at 5:45 and the sun was nowhere to be seen so we readied the boat and waited for enough light to see the lines on the ramp without lights. Launched to the boat and noticed the wind had picked up significantly. We planned on fishing for Rainbow trout in the morning and then going after some Small Mouth Bass after we limited out on trout.

With the wind blowing as bad as it was we decided to stay in the marina bay that was protected for the most part. We fished down the south bank into the bays and caught the first fish within a few minutes. The lake is loaded with small mouth bass and has large ones over 4 pounds. They have opened the lake to spearfishing and some fishers think they have devastated the large fish, but each year the UDWR find big small mouth bass in their survey. We fished for about an hour in the bay moving all the way around it and thought the wind had laid enough to go trolling in the small boat bay so we left the protection of the marina bay and found out quickly that the wind was still howling. Three to four foot swells were still rolling with whitecaps, so we went across the main body into another bay that we thought would be protected from the wind, but we were wrong. The wind was blowing directly into the bay we entered.

We still tried our luck at catching some bass but quickly tired of fighting the wind and waves and moved to the dam and into the Rock Cliff leg of the reservoir. Along the dam we got into the fish again catching a number of small mouth bass within a very short period of time. We fished along that stretch for a couple hours and continued to catch fish by the bucket full. Kelly did hook up a nice Rainbow trout and got it to the boat but it quick released as I was putting the net in to land it. Kelly started fishing a big purple worm on a drop shot and started catching fish buy the dozens most of them were small and he could not keep them off the line. We fished until noon and the wind continued to blow and started to come from all directions and down the draws we were fishing and grew tired of fighting the boat to stay in a position to catch fish. Plus we were thinking of getting a nice big garlic burger in Heber, but they were not open so we ended up at the Heber City Cafe at the Heber Creeper station. A great choice for lunch, I had a Cajun Cheeseburger special order and it was great! The day ended with the ride home and telling stories. Until next time tight lines and keep smilin'.

Fishing Starvation with Shifty

Thursday morning came early for me, rising at 3:30 am to ready the boat and make sure I had the correct gear in the boat for the tenth time. I had the boat loaded and out of the garage by 4 and to the gas station for a fill up. Last week we ran it out of gas and only put in a few gallons. Gassed up and on the road to pick up Shifty at his place at 4:30 and then on the road to Starvation Reservoir. Starvation is a good hour and a half drive and we pulled into Duchesne at 6:00 am and got some supplies and a breakfast burrito. We were on the water before sunrise and at our first area as the sun was breaking the horizon. One of the reasons to fish is to see the sunrise on a beautiful lake.

Starvation is a mini Lake Powell in looks and structure with legs and arms going off the main body in every direction. We started trolling for trout in a pattern that served us well back in June. This time however the water level had dropped and the pattern was in shallow water of 29 feet and I like to troll in 60-80 feet of water so I changed the path a little and changed colors to a Rainbow Cowbell. I was also running a school of fish with gold diamond cowbells and trailing a chartreuse flasher. Shifty was running silver JoD with a squidring and worm. We fished for about an hour before we found our first hit, I got one on the rainbow and got to a visible length and then we watched it release. The school of fish got a hit but didn't hook up and got a free meal.

The next hit was the rainbow gear and we landed a nice fat Rainbow Trout to start of the morning. Shifty got his first fish in the boat next another nice rainbow trout with large shoulders. Then I got another and another which gave us 4 in the live well. By this time the wind was blowing stiff out of the west and white caps were forming so we decided to go for some Small Mouth Bass in the coves to get out of the wind and be protected.

We fished and changed colors and presentation multiple times in and out of coves and along the rocky shorelines. We nestled in against a set of boulders that were submerged and started casting in between them and running our lures deep. Shifty put on a perch pattern and was swimming it back to the boat when Bam! he got hit hard and fought the fish to the boat for a few minutes we landed it another nice rainbow trout that made five in the live well. We continued to fish for small mouth bass along the shore and boulder structures. We stopped for a sec. and ate a little lunch before mooring to the north end of the reservoir to see how it looked the wind had it all chopped up and not feeling good about the area we went back south and found another cove on the east side of the lake this time.

We started casting along the shore and Shifty got a fish to the boat quickly, well it resembled a small mouth bass but just a fingerling. Shifty caught a couple more of the smaller fish and I continued to change lures until I put on red eyed and red bellied crank bait. This lure proved to be successful for me I caught a bigger small mouth in a couple cast. After that I continued to catch larger sized smallies and one over a pound. We noticed the water had calmed down and we ready to finish the day off without limit of trout. We started to troll the center of the lake down the main body toward the bridge, and I told Shifty he was going to catch the next fish and sure enough he got a nice rainbow trout. I was running rainbow pop gear with a rapala chaser and got one hit so then I change to a lure we actually found floating in the water.

Shifty finished out the day with three more fish. He missed two more one of which he had at the boat and one last fight by the big bruiser and it quick released at about 10 feet from being landed, we both gasped. It was 3:00 pm by then and we had a full limit of trout which made the day great. We loaded and filleted the fish at the cleaning station and headed for town. Cowan's Cafe was the next stop a small diner in Duchesne which serves great food. After a late lunch or early dinner we headed for home and shared our favorite experiences of the day and there were many. It's always great getting out with Shifty and Shifty Outdoors. Till next time tightlines and keep smiling!

Welcome Home Jordan!

Tuesday evening I picked up Parker and Jordan and headed for Jordanelle. Jordan had just returned from his 2 year mission serving in Argentina. As we drove to the lake and stopping to get needed supplies for the evening Parker and Jordan shared stories of their experiences and plans for the future. Jordan working on his firefighter certifications and Parker starting his PhD at BYU this fall. Both with great ambition and enthusiasm, it was fun to listen and hear their thoughts and plans. We arrived at the lake unloaded the boat and I parked I returned to the dock and the boat wasn't running.

Strange Parker always has it ready to go, we tried to start it a couple times, and Parker said “I think we are out of gas!” I was thinking no way, but then he said "Yeah it was running then just sputtered out, I didn't turn it off." So he look in the tank and sure enough out of gas! I was frustrated because I didn't even think it possible we usually run a tank all summer, but this summer we have been to a couple different lakes and making runs to find the fish and hadn't checked the gauge.

I just put the trolling motor out and we left the dock. Fishing was on the agenda and we were going to fish. Parker asked if the dock had a gas pump, I didn't know of one and we couldn't see one, so we continued to fish. We fished the marina bay for a couple passes and then cut across to the docks and started looking hard for a gas pump and finally hidden back in the very back of the docks we seen a pump. We went over asked how much a gallon, knowing it was going to be highway robbery but found out it was even worse $4.95/gallon I swallowed hard and gave them a $20 and just smiled. We got 4 gallons and left. We went around the point to our small boat launch pattern and within seconds Jordan caught the first fish of the evening.

We fish the pattern for about an hour fighting the wind and wakes, oh yeah it was blowing hard! Not getting any more hits we ventured down the west bank and found them. We had 5 in the boat within minutes all nice Rainbow trout. Jordan had 3 to the boat and lost them but he was happy to get the chance. We all had a great evening and caught some nice rainbow trout. We loaded up at night fall, cleaned the fish and headed for town. We stopped in Heber at the local hot spot the Dairy Keen and ate dinner. Hope you have a great adventure this week. Headed to the Uinta's this weekend and hope to have a fish tale or two to share.