On Oct. 3, aquatic biologists with the Division of Wildlife Resources sampled the reservoir using gill nets. What they found should cause any trophy angler’s heart to beat a little faster. Biologists captured good numbers of both tiger and cutthroat trout. Most of the fish fell within or exceeded the slot limit of 15 to 22 inches. All of the fish were extremely healthy and robust. The biologists even collected a 32-inch, 14-pound tiger trout. That’s just a few pounds shy of the official state record! In recent years, Scofield has had no shortage of record tiger trout. In 2013, the state angling record was broken twice, and the catch-and-release record was broken once.

Chub meat, lures and flies Since the onset of fall, anglers have been catching trout using chub meat cast from the bank or toward shallow water from a boat. Predatory tigers and cutthroats seem to be patrolling the shoreline for unwary chubs.

Although anglers commonly use nightcrawlers, big trout would rather eat fish. Putting chub meat or even whole dead chubs on your hook can be the ticket to catching a trophy fish. Chubs can be caught anywhere in the reservoir with a piece of worm cast in shallow water. Most recently, anglers have had the best luck finding chub along the rocky east shoreline.