2015 started out interesting enough. Spring time was fun. I joined in the kitty contest for the first time and I can say I caught more cats than in previous years and in more places than ever.
It was also a year of firsts for me. Caught fish in the pacific for the first time. Tried my hand at pier fishing and will continue since I have 20 more years of visiting the Bay Area before retirement. Fished many new waters. Fished in Arizona and Nevada for the fist time (caught fish too). Caught my first wiper ever. Obtained a new RV for my fishing adventures. Fixed the boat up more.
Just hoping next year will be better than this.[
]
[signature]
2015 was an awesome year for me Willard fished the best ever for me, then I caught some monster kokes from the gorge. got to fish with some fellow BFTers and fish some new waters thanks wiperhunter and old coot, still hoping to catch my first bear lake fish with curt next year , and get back out on the ice.
[signature]
Fishing wise I think next year should be awesome. I am adding saltwater gear to my repertoire.[
]
[signature]
For me it was a rough year. I only end up going to the Uinta like 6 times instead of 15-25 weekends because how cold it was up there all summer long to the point their never was any major caddis hatch. Spend most spring time on the Weber river or Jordanelle other than that fishing really sucked this year.
[signature]
Spring started out great. It came early and I was catching a lot of nice largemouth from March-June. Then I got to go to the boundary waters in Minnesota and catch a ton of smallmouth and see the northern lights. When I got back though it was hot, sunny and dead calm pretty much every time I got out. The water levels were either very high and the fish were scattered, deep and non aggressive, or low and very murky. Either way conditions were tough and fishing was only so so for me. Summer kind of held on into October with the fish never really falling into their aggressive autumn feeding frenzy, and then the bottom dropped out and it's been very cold ever since.
I'm curious about this next year. One thing that should make it interesting is that I'm going to South Africa in February and am going to fly fish for yellowfish. That will be a new experience for sure. So far snow pack is good, so hopefully that will contribute to some good fishing here at home too.
[signature]
For fishing not that great for me. I only got out a couple of times all year. But hey I finished school so now no more home work. I did however get a friend on to the wipers once this summer and I think he is hooked so I am looking forward to hitting Willard with him next year not to mention I want to get my motor back in running condition and get my kids out there a lot more in the coming year. Both my girls are asking about going Ice fishing and now I have a shelter I think I might actually finally get to hit the hard deck a lot more then I have in precious years.
Lets remember the good of 15 and have a great 16.
[signature]
[quote mtncat1]2015 was an awesome year for me Willard fished the best ever for me, then I caught some monster kokes from the gorge. got to fish with some fellow BFTers and fish some new waters thanks wiperhunter and old coot, still hoping to catch my first bear lake fish with curt next year , and get back out on the ice.[/quote]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same for Me
Thanks wiperhunter and old coot
Did good fishing for Big Lakers at FG.
All I need this coming year is to go fishing with you for Kokes.
[signature]
2015 for me was not as good as last year but still a very good year.
The big differences on the downside:
1) No 26"+ lunkers from Scofield for me this year. Part of that is low water and part of it was lack of fishing time
2) I didn't spend nearly enough time on my Tube this year -- particularly topwater bass fishing at Deer Creek.
I did catch my largest Strawberry Cutthroat and Kokane this year. And by the end of the season I finally started feeling like a kokanee fisherman.
And I added Lake Trout to my "caught" list thanks to a couple fun trips to Fish Lake this year.
[signature]
Great pics [cool]
[signature]
it was great talking with you at the dav the last couple of years Robert , we will have to team up a few times next year and really coral those kokes [cool]
[signature]
Thanks, I enjoyed taking them [
]
[signature]
Top shelf year here. Started the spring off with a dozen fish out of the dream stream over 4 lbs and one in the 10lb range. Moved to Utah the next weekend hit the ground running. First grayling courtesy of Boulder, first tiger courtesy of duck fork, and nice brooks out of ferron. Learned how to fish stillwaters out of the tube finally, had it for 8 years and had it out twice. Now probably 20+ times. Got back into tying flies and came up with some awesome easy leach patterns that I was able to slay Brooke's with. Over all is 2015 was bad for ut I'm excited to see 2016.
[signature]
It was a good year for me, not great, but pretty good. Never found a big catfish and I worked pretty hard for them this year. 27.5" was my best one this year. Small mouth was ok, found 3 between 15-16" one day, they were my personal best, one of my Youngmen fishing with me got my goal wiper at 23". Got a 25.5" cutthroat and 20" whitefish and three 12.5" crappie. Everything else wasn't close to my goals for the year. Didn't make it to Lake Powell or Utah Lake, but I did have a fun Wind River trip and I was still healthy enough to pull that off so it was a great year. I know none of these are monsters but they made me happy to catch them. Got to fish with TD and many other BFT'ers this year including a very wet Willard Flotilla, cool informal Bear Lake Whitefish armada and a couple other chance meetings. All in all it made for a fun year. Guess I even caught a couple dinky rock fish from the Pacific. Looking back I think I was pretty spoiled this year. Hope everyone else met their personal marks as well and had a chance to enjoy this great sport with family and friends. Let's hope next year will be even better. Later J
[signature]
Had an excellent year considering the few times I actually got out. Had a home expansion project that took 4 premium months out of the spring/summer. I had a few phenomenal days at Mantua where I caught piles of bluegills and bass. No monster bass, but I caught 4 bluegill over 13 inches one day, 2 another day, and over 30 between 12 and 13 those same 2 days. I don't usually measure all my fish (except at Strawberry), but I was so surprised by the size of everything I was catching that I couldn't stop myself. Only hit the Uintas 3 times, but did well each time, and added grayling to my regular catch. Had a big bull moose walk out of the forest between my son and I, hop in the lake and swim across. Not something that happens everyday. I hope to make up for the lack of trips last year and get out a lot more. Nice to read everyone's posts. Good luck and watch the ice.
[signature]
2015 - I'll call it a "not so bad" but "not so good" either. Have done better, and worse. The 2015 spring was pretty wet and the weather a bit odd up thru May. Entered the BFT Catfish Contest again, and again finished out somewhere down in the bottom 20% of the North Team. Took home more "skunks" from Willard this year than any in the past 5 or 6. But had one trip to WB where I came close to a limit on 3 different species (Wiper, Walleye, Catfish) all on same day, and didn't keep any. Made several trips up to Skunkedagain's back yard (Benson Marina and Upper Bear River) Lots of mudders and a few BIG Carp. My #2 son and his wife relocated to Utah from Tennessee by way of a short stay in California. First time we have been fishing in over 18 years, we spent a nice day on East Canyon, we each caught one planter size Rainbow. In July I took him to Upper Bear River and Benson where he got to horse in several large and full of fight Carp. Then in October I was finally able to get him out on WB with me. Sitting anchored in Freeway Bay he caught 3 very nice Cats, one of them would have made a nice bump to my Cat contest score, but, he caught them, I didn't. And of course he gets 3 his very first time on WB and I get skunked.......again.[:/]
Enjoyed the meet and eat in May at the BFT Willard Flotilla even if the weather did run Yote and I off the water with nothing but soaked clothes. The running into several other BFT members as far away as Utah Lake, and the Cat Contest Awards dinner were highlights of the season for me. My dad always told me, "Any day you don't learn something, is a wasted day" Well, none of my fishin days were wasted, even when I when home empty handed or skunked.
I'm not a ice fishin guy, but I still log on to see whos doing what, where.
Wishing ALL the folks here on BFT a Happy and Safe New Years. Maybe, just maybe we will have a better water year in 2016. [
] [fishin]
[signature]