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+--- Thread: She wanted to fish (/showthread.php?tid=898135)
She wanted to fish - gaardvark - 09-18-2014
About 2 weeks ago, my wife told me she wanted to go fishing for her birthday. This was the first time in 20 years she has spoken those magical words. Of course, I wanted it to be a memorable trip in hopes that it could ever happen again.
I don't get out to the Uintas much anymore, but it is one of my favorite areas of the world, so I decided we should go for a hike and fish someplace new. I also wanted to make it memorable for her, and cross a new species off my lifetime list, so we were to pursue grayling. After searching my options, I thought maybe we should try the Fish/Round/Sand lake area, but everything I saw said it was a rough hike and better for an overnighter. After checking some other sources and asking help, I found a more proximate water which was rumored to have them.
We drove up and got to the trailhead, where we saw a couple of people, but they were apparently not headed the same place as us. Going on a weekday really helped with the solitude. Anyway, we hiked in to the lake, and it was a perfect day for hiking. It was cool, but the sun was shining, and there was even a little bit of a breeze. When we got to the lake, we found we had it all to ourselves.
This was the first time I have been to that particular water and it was absolutely beautiful. I wish I had taken more pictures of the scenery, but most of the pictures we did take were of each other enjoying the day.
After rigging our rods with bubble and fly (black foam ant and a prince nymph for me, she chose a zug bug), we both cast out. She cranked her reel a couple of times and got a bite, but didn't convert it to a hookup. Then my line got slightly more resistant, and I reeled in my first ever grayling. It was about the size of my index finger. I was a little disappointed in the size, but glad to catch fish. I then caught an 8 incher on the next cast, and was a little happier. Cast 3 yielded a 9 incher while my wife was still just getting bit, but no fish. I decided I would like to try eating grayling, so I kept that grand 9 incher hoping the bite would hold up, but hedging my bets. Then the wife hooked one, and said it was a big one, I assumed it couldn't be bigger than 9 inches, I was sure to keep the big fish record for the day, but she pulled out an 11 inch grayling, which weighed as much as any 3 fish I caught that day. We kept it too, and must have angered the fish gods because they continued to bite for the first 30 minutes we were there, but then stopped almost completely.
We moved down the shore, with little improvement in the bite.
My sweet wife decided to cast from a rock in the middle of flooded grass, and on the retrieve, she had to try to jump the bubble over the grass. That worked just fine, but the bubble then hit the rock and splt the bubble in half right on the seam. She put it back together, but it wouldn't cast right. When she moved to my left and cast again, all the water flying out of the bubble splashed me, and I advised her again that she would be more successful with a new bubble. She then decided to tie her own line and re-rig. Yes, she is a keeper but needs to learn some new knots. The first cast with the new rig went pretty far, but it was not coming back.
We got her rigged up again with a big ugly experimental fly our 11 year old tied, and she surprised me by getting more bites on the ugliest looking thing in the box. She said it looked ugly, and so do bugs, which is why she tried it. She got a fingerling right up to shore, but that was it for her. I got a couple more, but about 4:00, we decided to hit the trail again. The only people we saw all day were one couple headed in as we were headed out.
We cast a few times at Trial lake with no success, then went to Mirror for a few minutes, but the sun was behind the mountain, the wind was a stiff breeze, and it was cold. We decided to call the day a success, and went home.
We ate the grayling for breakfast yesterday, and I don't know if she cooked them well, or if they are just that good, but I liked them better than any trout I have eaten this year.
The moral of the story is, she declared this the best birthday she has ever had, and wants it to be the new birthday tradition. I couldn't agree more.
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Re: [gaardvark] She wanted to fish - brookieguy1 - 09-18-2014
You're one lucky man. Great trip!
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Re: [gaardvark] She wanted to fish - akammerman - 09-18-2014
Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a great time. Haven't brought my wife fishing yet, but she's said she's willing to go. Hitting the Uintah's is a great idea, because the fishing is just a bonus to the beautiful scenery. Hope that's the first of many fun trips for you both together.
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Re: [gaardvark] She wanted to fish - DKStroutfitter - 09-18-2014
Great report. I love stories like this.
Thanks for sharing your day with us.
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