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Echo Canyon: wide open - BigE - 06-02-2004
[cool]It has been a while since I have put in a post but this would definitely qualify as very good. Went up to Echo Canyon res. over memorial weekend and had wide open fishing for trout,bass, and crappie. Got there friday afternoon and setup camp{we were with a group that reserved the group sites above the dam}. Decided to toss some lures at the dam while waiting for the rest of the group to show. No sooner than my wife and I get there I have my first fish,a trout, on my first cast! Then my wife gets hit on her cast. I,m tossing a little cleo in blue and silver. She is throwing a thomas bouyant in copper color.We quit after five fish each and countless missed strikes. Saturday we hit the lake in our floattubes. Me with a flyrod and a dazzle eye olive woolybugger and my wife with a spinningrod and red trout power worms. Almost every cast was a fish if not a hit. This is no bull. We fished for about three and a half hours and our score was 30 trout, 10 crappie, and five bass for the flyrod and 20 crappie, 10 bass, and five trout for the spinningrod!! The trout were between 8 and 11 inches average. The crappie were 5 to 7 inches. And the bass were 6 to 10 inches on the average. All fish were released. I went shore fishing at the dam that evening with my lures and got only four fish. I should have brought the flyrod because ther was a massive mayfly hatch and the whole lake was alive with fish gulping them down. Sunday morning and we are at it again. This time the bite slowed down to a fish every other cast or two. We went towards a spot that we heard had bigger bass. We ended up catching just more of the small guys along with loads of crappie. We saw a couple bigger bass but didn't hook up. This time I was using the flyrod/woolybugger setup to get to the spot but switched to a spinningrod with a small spinnerbait{gold blade and body with black feathers} for the bass. This lure got beat up! Most of the gold paint is gone and the feathers are haggerd. I pulled out 15 bass on that spinnerbait before going back to the flyrod. My wife was still tearing them up with her spinningrod/power worm setup. We finished our day{ another three and a hours} with 18 bass, 15 crappie, and 6 trout for me and 15 bass,10 crappie,and 8 trout for my wife! That evening all you could see on the lake were rings from all the rising fish. I have to say that this was the " most caught fish" fishing/camping trip of my life! We were so thrilled about catching{not fishing but catching}so many fish, that we didn't bother to go fish Eagle Valley res. which was just 15 miles away. We can't wait to hit that lake again and maybe we will go to Eagle Valley next time. This is a place where kids will only get bored at catching so many fish. I will post some pictures when I can figure out the procedure.
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Re: [BigE] Echo Canyon: wide open - southernman - 06-02-2004
wow, what a great report, nice detail, and glad to see you're back BigE! Let's see those pics! Just upload attachment . . .button below text box when posting . .
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Re: [BigE] Echo Canyon: wide open - Telbone - 06-02-2004
Heya Big E,
Man am I glad you had a good trip up at Echo. It happens to be one of my favorite places, though I must admit I don't get up there all that much any longer. I caught my first trout in that lake, it's also the first place I used a float tube for the first time and my first trout on a fly rod... alot of firsts there
... The lake has been in dreadful shape since the drought however, which is the main reason I don't fish it much... two years ago it was so low I though it might've killed off... I'm glad to hear that it didn't. It's a nice spot 'cause it's rarely crowded and I really like the camping area. The fishing is also pretty amazing, but Eagle Valley and Cave Lake both offer the same fishing.
Did you catch anything of size? Usually when a lake is seriously stressed like Echo was the big fish die first. Used to be you see a couple of 5lb+ bass come out of there every year, though it'll probably need some recovery time.
Was the reservoir full or if not how full was it?
If you don't mind catch and release and lure fishing you really gotta take the trip to Kolob... it's as close as anything and you get the same fishing, except they average 15+ inches.
We should get together for a beer sometime, I know most of the lakes within a few hours drive pretty well. I can also set you up with a "Kolob starter kit" if you will. I tie my own flies so if you want next time I sit down I'll tie you some of my favorite Kolob patterns. Let me know if you're interested.
Feel free to drop me an email before you go fishing next time... I can give you the low down on quite a few lakes. Though I mostly concentrate on fly fishing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against spinner or bait fishing, I just don't do much of it so it's hard to give advice. I find a lot of fly fishing guys to be snooty (no offense meant to anyone) and think their way is the only way. I definately am not one of those guys... just thought I'd let you guys know if you were wondering.
I'm still planning on makeing a Cave Lake camping trip, but with my schedule it'll probably be after July...
Later guys,
Mark
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Re: [BigE] Echo Canyon: wide open - Powermaker - 06-02-2004
[size 2] [font "comic Sans MS"] Welcome back BigE, thanks for the great report. I've never fished Echo but after reading your report, I may have to load up my daughter and the boat for a road trip. [/font] [/size]
[size 2] [font "comic Sans MS"] David [/font] [/size]
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Re: [Telbone] Echo Canyon: wide open - BigE - 06-02-2004
[cool]Hey Telbone, We didn't catch anything that I would call of size. Mainly alot of fish from 5-6 inches up to about 11 inches, in all species except crappie which stayed under 10. We did see a few bass that would have gone at least 3lbs. but they had lockjaw. We also heard from the ranger that a couple of 4 to 5lbers. were caught last week. So there are still some larger ones being caught and available. As far as how full it was you may be able to tell from the pics that I posted. If you are familiar with the dam it was about 30' below the spillway tower in the middle of the dam. I don't mind catch and release but my wife likes to keep some good sized fish to eat when she fishes. The only reason we didn't keep any was I came back from the eastern sierras of california only two days before our trip to echo canyon and brought back some nice red meat trout from there. I will indeed drop you an e-mail here to meet and discuss various lakes. I also tie my own flies and can always use more recipes as well as share those of my own.
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Re: [southernman] Echo Canyon: wide open - BigE - 06-02-2004
[cool]Hey Southernman, thanks! I finally got the hang of posting my pics. More to come from future outings.
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Re: [Powermaker] Echo Canyon: wide open - BigE - 06-02-2004
[cool]Hey Powermaker, Yeah its only about three hours away. Be sure to bring bug sray. I got hammered by some little black flies and a few mosquitoes. Also don't wait too long because that lake will heat up. Or you could wait till around Labor Day when the weather will be about the same. Good luck.
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Re: [BigE] Echo Canyon: wide open - Telbone - 06-03-2004
Thanks for the pics... the lake is a bit down, but it's fabulous compared to two years ago... I could've cast across it at one time two years ago and the dam was fully out of the water. One thing about it being low was I could see what cover was there... at the base of the dam was several sunken trees and whatnot for crappie so try fishing there if you want crappie.
Powermaker... if you want to bring a kid fishing then Echo or Eagle Valley is definately the place to go. The action is generally non stop at both and that little boat of yours will up your odds quite a bit... I've done real well where the creek comes in at both lakes. They load both those lakes up with so many stockers that it's hard to miss. Bank fishing becomes harder as the year progresses because of the weeds, but it's never a problem in a float tube or boat.
My son is only 1 years old but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will spend many a trip at both those lakes when he get's a little older... Make sure you toss out a pole with a worm on it at Eagle Valley, 'cause it has a few big browns swimming in it
.Later guys,
Mark
ps. BigE if you tie your own then I"ll just let you know what colors and styles work and let you take it from there. Let's get together for that beer sometime!
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Re: [Telbone] Echo Canyon: wide open - Powermaker - 06-03-2004
[size 2] [font "comic Sans MS"] Thanks for the tips guys, bug spray and sunken trees (check). I'll try to get away next week sometime. Now that my daughter is almost out of school for the summer, it'll be a little easier to get her out. [/font] [/size]
[size 2] [font "comic Sans MS"] David [/font] [/size]
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Re: [Powermaker] Echo Canyon: wide open - Telbone - 06-03-2004
Hey David,
I read an email recently claiming bounce sheets repelled bugs. I don't know if this is a load of balogny or not but maybe you should put a sheet at each end of your boat and check it out. It also claimed that using used sheets to clean your tv screen helped keep them dust and static free and that works, I've done it to all my tvs, so maybe the bug part works as well.
Thought I'd mention that, again, I've never tried it, I just read about it.
Later,
Mark
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