Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - Printable Version +- Fishing Forum (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum) +-- Forum: Utah Fishing Forum (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=386) +--- Forum: Utah Fishing General (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=58) +--- Thread: Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 (/showthread.php?tid=541720)

Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-12-2009 [cool][#0000ff]After last week I figured I knew where the fish would be at Huntington and that it should be good for at least one more tubin' trip before hard water time. I figured right.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Based on weather forecasts for the general area, I figured that it would probably be about mid 20's air temp in the morning and fairly calm until about 11 or so...after which it should turn windy. Wrong on all counts. Sometimes I love it when I'm wrong.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Tropical paradise. 40 degree air temp at the dam when I got there about 6:30. Water temp was colder at 37.5. Dropped a degree since last week. It was cloudy but calm. Looking good. But, there was a small patch of floating ice along the dam in one area. It won't be long.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]What a day! I caught 25 tigers in the first hour and anywhere from 15 to 25 per hour until I left at 2 PM. Want a count? Fuggetaboudit.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Found the fish where I left them last week. Stacked up along one area out from the dam. Fish all the way from bottom to almost the top in water from 30 to 49 feet deep. (see sonar pics)[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]It was one of those days to try to find something the fish would NOT hit. Only found a couple of things that would not catch fish. Had hits on everything I tried, but could not hook up on spinners or diving crankbaits. Also did not catch anything on a pure orange jig...but did get hits.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]I did not even bother with bubble and fly rigs this week. I kept two rods rigged with a jig and fly setup and kept changing the jigs and the fly patterns just to see what worked...or wouldn't. I caught fish on several colors of jigs and just about any fly I tried. I sometimes rigged the jig on the bottom and the fly drop shotted a couple of feet above. On the other rod I would rig the jig on the drop shot and let the fly trail on a 2 foot leader. Didn't matter. They ate it all. [/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]I kept two rods soaking...as per my permit. I would cast out about 30 feet and set the first rod in my "quick draw" rod holder. By the time I got the second one out the first would be bendo. I had doubles on multiple times and landed doubles several times. The smaller fish make that possible. It would never happen if they were all bigguns.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Biggest I brought to net today was about 17 inches. Got quite a few in the 15 inch bracket. Most were "teen-inchers", "foot longs" and "under footers". I did have a purty hooky over 20 inches that I would have released anyway. I wanted some pics of him in the water. Just as I was ready to shoot he did the tiger flop and gave me the jig back. Mighty thoughty. Creative release.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]I expected wind before midday. Never got more than a light breeze. I had figured I would be fighting wind coming into the ramp about noon. I figured wrong. It was almost glass when I got off the water about 2. But, I dealt with it.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]One of the small tigers I caught had a 6 inch heavy leader snell with a snap swivel hanging out it's mouth...and it still hit my fly. I took my fly back and cut the leader off from the other hook. Tough little guy. [/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Another tiger cub had a wierd-shaped nose. Kinda looked like it might be a cousin to Flipper (the dolphin). Wonder if DWR is experimenting with some new hybrids.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Great day on the lake...and I was ALL ALONE. No other boats, tubes or toons. A couple of bank tanglers fished a while to the west but left quickly. Either caught a quick limit or had enough of nothin'.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Now I can close the book on Huntington tubing for this year. I'll be ready for the ice fishing though.[/#0000ff] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - albinotrout - 11-12-2009 Very nice! Now what is up with flippers cousin? That looks a little freaky.[] Glad you had a good time up there. [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - bowhunter3 - 11-12-2009 You have got me even more excited for the hard deck. Thanks for the info. You are right that it won't be long.... [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - fuzzyfisher - 11-12-2009 wow TD thats a far cry from what it was yesterday.. i was up there in the boat yesterday and only cought 4 fish. in 4 hours. and could not find any fish by the dam.. good job dude.. [sly] [signature] Re: [fuzzyfisher] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-12-2009 [quote fuzzyfisher]wow TD thats a far cry from what it was yesterday.. i was up there in the boat yesterday and only cought 4 fish. in 4 hours. and could not find any fish by the dam.. good job dude.. [sly][/quote] [cool][#0000ff]You couldn't find any? Man there is one pretty good sized area that is stacked up. I guess I just figured out where they stocked it this week.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]There were quite a few fish on the other end until last week. Then they all seemed to move east. I fished the whole lake last week and the only fish we could find in concentration were those damn dam fish.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Funny. I have tried minnows the last couple of weeks and they haven't done much. Caught a lot more fish tipping jigs with crawlers. But, I suspect I could catch bigger ones with large whole minnows. Didn't have any big ones.[/#0000ff] [signature] Re: [albinotrout] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-12-2009 [quote albinotrout]Very nice! Now what is up with flippers cousin? That looks a little freaky.[] Glad you had a good time up there.[/quote] [cool][#0000ff]For some wierd reason I seem to catch a lot of freak fish. Just another one to add to the list.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Trout are notorious for having deformities, especially hatchery fish...like hybridized tiger trout.[/#0000ff] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - sewfish - 11-12-2009 here is a snubnosed from a couple of years ago. must be huntington genetics? sounds like you had a good day. [signature] Re: [sewfish] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-12-2009 [quote sewfish]here is a snubnosed from a couple of years ago. must be huntington genetics? sounds like you had a good day.[/quote] [cool][#0000ff]Yeah, it was a good day from just about every perspective.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Wonder if those Huntington tigers keep running into the rocks. Like that old riddle about "What did the salmon say when his way upstream was blocked? Dam."[/#0000ff] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - mactuna - 11-12-2009 Nice catching, looks like their healthy and getting bigger. [signature] Re: [mactuna] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-12-2009 [cool][#0000ff]Thanks.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Actually, the average size of the tigers in Huntington has been decreasing the last couple of years. Three years ago it was possible to have days with lots of fish and most of them over 15 inches. The past two years it has been tough to catch anything over 15 inches.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Unfortunately, Huntington gets hammered by the ice anglers and of course they always keep all the bigger fish. Lots more guys fishing Huntington the rest of the year too, and unless they take home a limit of big ones it has not been a good trip.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]I kept a couple for the table yesterday, but just a couple of 14 inchers. [/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]DWR maintains a good stocking program for the lake and there are always lots of smaller fish. But, like any lake, if all the big fish are kept the average size goes down.[/#0000ff] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - mactuna - 11-12-2009 Thats too bad [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - pkred - 11-12-2009 Nice report Tube Dude another banner day @ Huntington. That freak looks kinda like a grayling. [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - FishKillr - 11-13-2009 Glad to hear you got in to em this trip!!! Compared to your last outing (the Eulogy), this was a birth and a baptism!!! Ilookforward to more posts and maybe even an outing with the master after ice up---Shawn M. [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - flygoddess - 11-13-2009 You know, this is true of allot of lakes lately. I know the ones I visit up north, 27" use to be fairly common...now more like 20" or even 18" I don't keep them and try to release unscathed so they can get bigger...but I guess someone is taking them[laugh][laugh] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - Out4aFloat - 11-14-2009 Well I hope you left some in there for the rest of us.[cool] Glad to see that ice forming even with your paradise morning. I plan to be down there for turkey day. [signature] Re: [Out4aFloat] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-14-2009 [quote Out4aFloat]Well I hope you left some in there for the rest of us.[cool] Glad to see that ice forming even with your paradise morning. I plan to be down there for turkey day.[/quote] [cool][#0000ff]Fear not. I left far more than I "exercised". Only removed a couple of middle sizers for the table. I did release a lot that were talking funny with their new lip piercings but they should be fully recovered by the time you visit them.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Good luck on the ice. I hope you have much to be "thankful" for.[/#0000ff] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - LloydE - 11-17-2009 I'm a little late in reading the fishing posts or I would have commented on a great report and tremendous pictures earlier. I am going to try to tie some of those fantastic jigs and flies (or get you to sell me some more). It was interesting to see how many fish took the jigs this time. What a great trip! I admire your endurance even when the weather gets cold. [signature] Re: [LloydE] Huntington...Boy Howdy 11-11-09 - TubeDude - 11-18-2009 [cool][#0000ff]Thanks Lloyd.[/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]I have been using the jig and fly rig for the past two years and it has worked well whenever I use it. But I have been refining the jigs and flies and now they seem to work even better. [/#0000ff] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]Would be happy to show you how to make some of the patterns.[/#0000ff] [signature]