Well I survived once again, took the family and my toon into White Pine last night and camped over did a little fish'en it was a great time... Love this tradition we do it every summer and the kids all love it and so do us older kids.. Anyway got out on the toon on the pond and caught 3 last night, didn't get on the water until the sun was down so I thought it was pretty good for the time I was there... Then this morning I hit the pond again for a couple hours and caught 12 more, it was really fun, made it worth packing that 17 pound toon in there, too bad noone used the 4 pound float tube I also packed in.. Anyway I'm a little tired tonight but I'm glad I can still make this trip it's a blast.. See some photo's for the details... Later J
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Good report, I love brook2 it has some really nice colors!
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[quote CatchinCompany]Good report, I love brook2 it has some really nice colors![/quote]
Agreed! Those colors completely make up for the lack of size! Gotta love brookies on the fly....the colors, the fight and the taste of that orange flesh! Thanks for posting.
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I wish the White Pine Lake down here had as many brookies! Nice work up there. Makes me wanna go there sometime!
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Nice trip. Great looking crew. And I thought the Dolly Varden were pretty polka-dotted! Great colors.
Must be fun packing all that gear up/down those switchbacks! You need an Alpaca or Llama!
Wish the picture would have been a little better, that fish was the most colorful I've ever seen as far as dark and the red fins were gorgeous, but it was and old fish it really showed some years and if there was a little better feed in the lake it would have been a nice fish if it had grown into its head... But at least it wasn't as snakey as some I've caught in other high mountain locations... But they have a short eating season up there, seems like last year it was froze over from November to June... Well I left it there to get older so I hope it can get back to eating soon and doesn't have too sore of mouth.. One thing that was sort of fun the fish would totally hammer my lure but they were after the spoon not the hook so I missed three or four hits for each one I caught and several I caught were snagged on the outside of their cheeks instead of inside their mouth... One other thing, I didn't notice anyone else catching any fish, not many others were trying, but it made the toon transport worth the effort of a 60 lb pack... A tube would have been just as good and about 10 lbs lighter but I still prefer the toon.. Some day I'll have to give up on the toon and go lighter, but I hope I still have a few good years to take it... Catch ya later J
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I think if I had the Uintas closer I'd be going somewhere else, but since this is the only option in the Cache Valley Mountains for a back country fishing trip we love it... But that does put a lot of pressure on the poor little lake. I don't think there was a camp site left open by 6:00 so it isn't much of a wilderness experience other than early in the morning when everyone is still asleep... Oh and for your twin, I thought these are pretty good fish for high mountain lakes, I know they don't compare to the Boulder's but compared to the Winds and Uintas they were okay... Most were from 12 to 14 inches, even though they were skinny they still fought really well and tugged my toon all over the lake, that's the fun part... Do you guys take your tubes or toons to the lakes you're hiking into? If not buy a cheap tube at the DI and try it... My tube is like 4 lbs so it's not too much of a penalty, other than waders were 3 lbs but for 7 lbs it's well worth leaving out a change of clothes and being stinky... It will open a whole new world of back country fishing... Thanks for the feedback.. Later J
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Thanks Yote, somewhere I have a picture with me loaded with the toon, I'll have to add that when I get it from my brother, then you'll know how many screws I have loose. Every year I keep thinking about somekind of pack animal, if I just didn't have to feed it for the rest of the year it would be great... Maybe someone needs to rent them? Have to check with Brian over to Beaver Creek and see if he will start running a few.... But I need something easy to take care of, those horses require too much attention and growing up on the farm I should have learned how to, but I took to a Kawasaki instead of a cow pony so now I need something without much of an attitude and easy to use... But yes that is a great idea, my legs are fried today and my back isn't much better, but I still think it was worth it.. Looks like you guys had fun out to Newton, nice job, you are sure turning into a panfish slayer no matter where you go, I'm going to have to tag along sometime and see if you can teach an old dog a few new tricks, I need to improve my panfish game several hundred percent... I love to catch those guys, but have found my success rather intermittant... Well have a good one...Later J
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[quote SkunkedAgain]I think if I had the Uintas closer I'd be going somewhere else, but since this is the only option in the Cache Valley Mountains for a back country fishing trip we love it... But that does put a lot of pressure on the poor little lake. I don't think there was a camp site left open by 6:00 so it isn't much of a wilderness experience other than early in the morning when everyone is still asleep... Oh and for your twin, I thought these are pretty good fish for high mountain lakes, I know they don't compare to the Boulder's but compared to the Winds and Uintas they were okay... Most were from 12 to 14 inches, even though they were skinny they still fought really well and tugged my toon all over the lake, that's the fun part... Do you guys take your tubes or toons to the lakes you're hiking into? If not buy a cheap tube at the DI and try it... My tube is like 4 lbs so it's not too much of a penalty, other than waders were 3 lbs but for 7 lbs it's well worth leaving out a change of clothes and being stinky... It will open a whole new world of back country fishing... Thanks for the feedback.. Later J[/quote]
Hmm, I did get a free float tube from fish tech and I am in the process of getting a decent bike tire pump for it.
Now I have hauled a hand auger all over the mountains while backcountry skiing/ice fishing.
In fact........I am going to do some research on how to pull off White Pine Lake in Cache for one of those trips. I have a few books on the area for backcountry skiing stuff but maybe you can save me some reading. So what do you know about access in the winter? You can PM me if you don;t want to give out too many details.
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Normally you drive up to Tony Grove lake, and hike from there up and over to White Pine. I think it's about 5 miles. But the road access shuts down to TG in winter. You can park at the bottom of the road and there are several trails you can ski up.
I think there's also the potential to go up from Green Canyon to get there. But that can involve a pretty fair bit of trecking.
Do you winter camp?
You might check with the Ranger station at the mouth of Logan canyon.
Sorry my account didn't ping me that I had a reply. I'm not sure what you were looking for but to access white pine you go to Tony Grove Lake and take the trail north. In the winter this is the center for back country skiing in this area. Depending on when you try it you may or may not be able to drive to Tony Grove but there will most likely always be a ski or snowmobile trail into there. White pine is just north of Tony's. Let me know if this was what you were asking for or not? Later J
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Man that sounds fun. It's been a long time since I've been there. I think it would be a lot different having a bunch of other campers around, years ago you would have all by yourself. Rod
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Yup it's more like going to town for this country boy. I couldn't believe how noisy the other camps were until after midnight. But I guess I goofed I didn't think you could have a camp fire so we headed to bed after the mountain house and the other camps had fires so I thought they were being illegal and I heard yesterday that the hills were still open for fires so I guess I blew it. Anyway it's a lot more crowded than it used to be but still fun. Catch ya later J
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[red]I'm not sure hauling an auger up there in the winter would be much more of a wilderness experience than the noisy summer campground. It is more like the launching off point for crazy folks on snow machines. Every time I have X-country skied up there I have feared for my life, decided to leave it to the two-stroke folks and go somewhere else. I'm not trying to discourage you, it's way nice up there, just pick weekdays instead of weekends if you are on foot or consider an iron horse.[/red]
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You know, I remember Dad driving the family there in the old Willys Wagon, make ice cream using the snowbanks still there in July and August. The fishing was awesome.
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Thats a great memory. Probably good they closed that road or it would have been ruined by now. Even though it would be fun to do. Wish we had more back country lakes. Oh well Uintas aren't too far. Later J
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