I have heard that the maximum size the Uintas can produce is right around 3 lbs. I remember as a teenager, catching a brook trout in Pituresque Lake, that we thought was close to 5 lbs, my cousin was with me and recall the same size and has since been a profession fishing guide. But time has a funny way of changing things. Your 2 cents.
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3 pounders are good fish from the uintas and it caould be tough to get one over the little scrapper brookies. but i know what you mean by some 5 pounders, ive seen big brookies and tiger trout that look to be close to that size but they look alot bigger in the water[
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tightlines
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To be at 5 lb it would have to be a healthy 24" to 25". Not sure that is possible for Brook trout up there. That is tuff even for Henry's Lake.
I have caught an 18" Albino and some 17" to 18" Brookies but the weight would be closer to that 2 or 3lb mark. Weight is impossible to guess to me, size is another story and calculations can get you a weight.
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I've seen fish upwards of 18-19" from the Uintas but they usually lack the thickness that you see from fish out of other waters. I think an over population of fish is the biggest cause for this in the majority of the Uinta lakes.
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3 lbs is about max (normally) There are always those odd exceptions. I've caught healthy cutts up to 20" in a small drainage in the east Uintas. Fat 18" brookies in a couple of secluded lakes. Last year we caught 2-3 lbs tigers out of east Castle lake. Whitney used to have cuttys up to 8 lbs. That changed when the forest service put in a good road. Now 14" cutts, tigers and rainbows are the norm. Bigger brookies and tigers are in the boulders due to the longer growing season. Way bigger cutts in the wind range. Having a lake where fish only successfully spawn periodically definitely helps growth.
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The growing season is so short up there, you'd be hardpressed to find a fish 5 lb. unless it's broodstock that the DWR would have planted. (old broodstock).
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This is too broad of a question to apply to all UNITA lakes. Depending on fish pop, availability of food, size of lake, etc I don't doubt some lakes will never produce fish over 10 inches but I have caught and measured dozens of Brooke's over 21 inches but for everyone are hundreds of dinks. I also found a dead cutt that measured over 25 something had eaten the guts and other parts of it. I have also caught several 3-4 pound cutts. The lakes that hold them tend to be deeper to prevent winter kill and are not always easy to get to[reply][/reply]
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I just caught this tiger last week in the uintas. 24 1/4" and FAT!
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So many factors need to come into play to produce big alpine trout.
1- Numbers control: Either inability to reproduce, periodic winterkill, sterile fish or some other factor to keep the population relatively low.
2- Feed: Scuds, scuds, and more scuds.
3- Age: Fish need to live long enough and in perfect conditions to reach maximum potential size.
4- Timing.: Finding one of these lakes in the Uintas can be very challenging. I have discovered lakes with slab sided brook trout one year only to find it filled with headed-out stunted fish the next. The dynamics and ever-changing conditions that cycle through the different waters are what keep it a fun game.
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At Moon Lake If you count that as the Uintas which it is on the map. The old state record splake used to be out of there. Can't remember the size but it was big.
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I am impressed, there is somewhat of a consensus. You don't see that much here.
I do appreciate the insight, and the different ways to arrive at that conclusion.
Most pointed out the obvious, not overpopulating, and then also, food, food and more food. I do appreciate the views that other factors play in. I've been fishing the Uintas a long time and still haven't figured it out. Maybe that's the challenge that keeps me coming back.
Hope to bump into some of you up there, but maybe not at my special lakes. That would be ok too.
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The biggest fish I have caught in the Uintas was in a lake up in the divide north of Fox Lake. I had fished with flies and no success. I was not sure there were even fish in the lake. I switched to a jakes and hooked into a 23 inch, thick, heavy, cutthroat. That size fish in Strawberry would only be a few years old. Up there he was probably the old man. The fight was like dragging in an old wet boot. I am not good at judging weight but had painted marks on the pole that gave me an accurate length. You don't see too many like that in the Uintas.
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I guess that is just it. I narrow the TERM Uinta's down and forget that some lakes are indeed Uinta's.
I can say, the popular lake I caught the 18" Albino is about 60' deep, which will play into it.
So while I do think it is possible to hook a 5 lber, I do also think it will be rare, and getting more rare with popularity.
People aren't afraid to hike anymore.
I have caught 5lb Brookie, but I would never imagine that out of the Uinta's (meaning the Mirror Lake hiway path) There is one lake off the path that has produced as I said, 3 lbers
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[quote fishmaniac]I just caught this tiger last week in the uintas. 24 1/4" and FAT![/quote]
24 1/4"? Whoa!
Dude, you got some big, big hands.
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