I have read the board on and off for years and decided I better sign up and contribute when I can. I appreciate all the information you guys are willing to share. This place is great! I prefer fly fishing but at best consider myself and experienced beginner. My favorite places to fish are the High Uinta lakes and streams and I know I have barely scratched the surface up there. I don't mind the small fish because I love the sense of adventure I get finding somewhere new every time I go.
Anyway enough introducing. I finally caught a Golden, multiple actually. I understand this isn't quite the feat it would have been a few years ago. Nonetheless, they are still hard to get to. The fish were very active in the morning readily taking Griffiths. I switched to an olive leech hoped to find slightly larger specimens but they were all in the 5-8 inch class with one going 9, and they were very hungry.
As I was leaving the DNR showed up They asked about the size we were catching and were pleased with the growth. They said they were stocked at 4" inches last year.
Some photos
Nice job and congrats on your first goldens. I got my first ones last year and was pretty psyched myself about a 4-6 inch fish. Your fish do look a bit improved over how they were last summer. Nice work.
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Love fishing the Uintas, those golden are beautiful, too bad we can't have them in more lakes, and certainly more productive lakes feed wise. I understand not putting them with cutthroats for cross breeding. Then Bookies, easily out compete them. Maybe a lake with poor Brookie reproduction, quit planting brookies, then add golden. Just a thought. I know they are trying to keep Colorado Cuts on the Colorado River drainage.
Good for you, fishing the Uintas is always a hoot, you never know what you'll get from year to year. Half the fun is the exploring.
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Welcome to the site and those fish are breath taking! Thanks for sharing.
I am with you that size is relative. These are spectacular.
Personally I say DON'T introduce them to more waters. Keep them special and something to work for.
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Great shots. I'm with FG about keeping them special. In the late 60's early 70's, you had to hike to the headwaters of the Kern River in the Sierras to fish for gold, but nice they are now found in similar high-country environments.
If you want to catch big goldens, try the Wind Rivers in Wy. I've been with folks that have caught them in the 15-18" range; however, their markings made me wonder if they were pure oncorhynchus aguabonita.
Unlike most things in life, size doesn't matter when it comes to golden trout -- only the appeal of them and their surroundings
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[quote flygoddess]
I am with you that size is relative.[/quote]
Hmmm...[
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(haha only joking!)
There definitely isn't a trout that is much prettier! Great fish!
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Great post and beautiful fish. About 35 years ago, I went on a 50 mile backpacking trip with my scout troop to the Wind Rivers area. We hiked into a point called Pyramid lake. The Golden trout were spawning in the outlet to the river. There were so many in the shallows that we caught them with our hands and threw them on the bank in the snow until dinner. Well, I was only 13, and I couldn't get my hands on one despite spending abouty an hour in teh river chasing them. Anyway, I remember how delicious they were. They were big too. At least my 33 year old memory remembers them as big. Who knows. I would love to see goldens that size in Utah somewhere. Maybe someday soon.
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Great looking fish! Thanks for sharing.
FWIW the Golden Trout lose their parr markings when they get bigger, so they aren't as pretty.
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Welcome and cool fish!
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Many golden trout do retain their parr marks unlike most other trout. Redband trout are the only other trout I've caught that generally retain their parr marks. I think there are a few other isolated trout species that evolved from rainbows that also do this. The 2013 DWR stocking reports says 5.45 inch average size stocked. I thought they were a bit bigger than that but maybe the grew by the fall. Keep all those stunted brookies and maybe we'll get a record golden out of there in the future.
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Welcome to the site good to see you survived the road with all your fillings still intact..
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Those are some beautiful fish. You are making me want to make a trip up there soon.
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Thanks for all the kind replies. It really was an epic day!
Concerning the brookies. The catch ratio was 1 brook for every 10 goldens. The DNR guys seemed proud of "turning this place around" and stated there were no plans to continue any brook trout stocking. Clearly hooking one won't be as rare moving forward as it was in the past, but if we are lucky in exchange we will get a couple nice golden fisheries.
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I don't think they've stocked brookies in the Uintas in years. The 10:1 is partly stocking and partly that they congregate where they were put in last year as well at the inlets and outlet around spawning time. I've caught as high as 1 golden per 3 brookies in there late May earler June prior to stocking only to catch hundreds of brookies without a single golden later in the year. The balance has been tipped but without aggressive efforts to take brookies out it'll probable slowly revert back. I think if the Uintas had unlimited harvest of brookies it could only help keep those sardines in check.
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The DWR stocks a large number of Uinta lakes with brookies still, so discontinuing brookie stocking on "Golden Pond" is a good step. However, due to "Golden Pond's" very good natural brookie recruitment, you are right on that we need to try and harvest a limit of brooks every time we go up there. Hopefully, it will help and we'll see those golden 5 inchers thrive into colorful 10's.
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Welcome to BFT and great shots. Nice goldens. That is one fish I would like to try for one day, but won't be happening too soon. Thanks for sharing.
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