Manning Meadow

[hedgesd]

I'm sure you all were wondering where I've been? I've been fishing Manning Meadows.

The first day I threw just about every spinner or spoon I had and only one hit on a small silver castmaster. The second day I hit the lake in the tube and managed a big 0. Did managed to catch one when I landed and started to reel in fast and get something for lunch. Sat in that cove for another couple cast and missed a dozen and landed one more. Went out again after some of that good canned food. Everything always tastes better when your in the high country. Any way I missed more that after noon then the entire trip. Only landed a couple but they sure did fight good.

Southernman found me the next day and we set up camp and talked a little about the fish and fishing. After that night I was sure it was going to be some good fishing. We tried the other end of the lake were I seen the fish start jumping a couple hours before the rest of the lake. Southerman didn't catch anything but the bottom and lost about half his lure before he gave up. I landed one with in minutes and nothing after that. Missed a few but no good hook ups or strikes for that matter. Needless to say the rest of the trip was like that one fish and a few misses and nothing for southerman. I wanted to do a little stream fishing but most of the good ones didn't have much or any water so I didn't catch anything or fish.

I did manage to catch a couple of tigers after southernman left and that made my trip worth it besides the trouble I had with rocks smashing my oil pan up and my alternator going out so I walked about 4 miles until some nice family from Monroe picked me up and gave me a ride off the mountain and feed me dinner and they even went back up the mountain to fix my car. I couldn't say enough about how much they helped me that trip. I'm just glad I made it home after this trip.

The roads are in horrible shape coming from Monroe and the Greenwich side is washed out in more places then it wasn't. Took the Marysville road for 10 miles and that was the best road I seen yet. Lots of does and some small bucks but nothing to brag about. I can see why most of southern utah is a 5 day hunt now. I think this year I'm going north to kill some of those big bucks my brother has been seeing all year long. When you see a truck hauling out some monster bucks stop and say hi.




Lower Box Creek



Manning Meadow



My first Tiger trout about 14" sorry about the picture the fish didn't want to hold still for any of them.
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[southernman]

Yah it was a rough road and a rough trip . . . I had just purchased a vintage garcia 408 spinning reel to go with my 8' bubble chucker rod - i had tied float and wooly bugger and nymph on carefully before leaving home . . .lost that all on the first cast - i lost over 10 daredevils and kastmasters, at least 5-8 spinners, every bubble/float i had, a dozen assorted nymphs, another dozen or more jigs, tubes, scuds, and buggers . . .and i got one hit . . . and it rained . . and my line constantly tangled when i wasnt hung up . . when i got there hedgesd was going back to camp for his waders, cause he was hung up on his fly rod! . . .ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh maybe ill try this again in 10 yrs or so . . .but then again maybe not . . . 660 miles roundtrip for me . .[unsure][shocked][mad]

deer in the aspen grove on the way up the mtn . . .



hedgesd's fish . . fri night



same fish . .



barney lake sat morning



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[Xman]

nice pic guys. the only thing that is missing is my smiling mug. whats goin on haha. well are we having a mead trip fellas or what?
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[hedgesd]

Oh man what were we thinking. I should of let you know about this trip. I enjoyed my time up their even though I had a bear come thru camp. I guess I left that out since I was to busy cleaning my shorts. Ha Ha that's about the only thing that could scare me enough to pack up early.

Ya I'm ready any time for a mead trip I just don't know how much time I'll have until school starts up again. I should also let you know that Southernman is planning a trip back to boulder. I was thinking it's going to be around the 3rd week in September but I'm sure that can be easily changed. I'm always in the mood for spawning brookies and what ever bites up there. If anybody else wants to go PM southernman he's planning this one.

Hey Xman did you ever get that trophy crappie you wanted.
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[southernman]

yah we could've used you out there x-man! whats your plans in late september? anytime you're up for a mead trip let me know . . .the boat will be on me . . .

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[Xman]

heck im ready anytime the stripers are suppose to be hot down there.

a bear through camp? dang that gives you some excitement. havent hooked my crappie yet so still working on that one. maybe get one in mead hmmmm. alright guys lets get it figured out im excited to hit mead never fished it before.
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[hedgesd]

Ya I've had a couple close encounters and didn't want to make it a 3rd.

Sounds like a plan. It looks like you'll be planning another trip southernman. Any of the holidays I can make. I think the next one is Labor day on the first of September. Lake mead has good fishing all day and night. I've never had a bad day yet.

Xman you going to make it to the fish lake party.
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[Xman]

yeah i should be able to make the fish lake party. will be one of my first times ice fishing haha. ok wait. labor day is out i will be in colorado. how about the end of september or something? maybe maybe, or does that mess with your school? dang things are starting to get complicated.
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[southernman]

oh screw the holiday stuff . . .just pick a sat or sunday and lets get it on . . .

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[hedgesd]

My schedule this semester sucks but any weekend I could probable make. From sept. 12 thru sept. 24 I know I can make.
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[hedgesd]

Just got a email from the DWR about the email I sent in. They wanted to know more about the bait fishing and violations I sent in. The thing that gets me is he didn't say anything about removing the dead cow in Barney.

What really pisses me off is that they are payed to do this but expect everybody else to do it for them. I'm just like everybody else when they go fishing and don't want to worry about watching violators when I should be worring about what the fish are biting on. I don't see why they don't raise the license costs and start fixing the problems themselves.
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[southernman]

i say hire people - give 'em training & minimum wage - and then give em a couple lakes all to their own and an rv and tell them to be sneaky and give 'em 10% of the fines they produce . .. hell i know i could write $5000 a day at kolob and other places . . . esp at $120 pop for no license and $65 for an extra pole, and $xxx amount for every fish not in the slot or over limit, ect. . .

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[PBH]

Would you become a CO for minimum wage? CO's can't be everywhere all the time. They are not Santa Claus. Hiring spies is not a good idea. Can you imagine the hell that person would go through as soon as someone breaking the law found out he was watching? CO's have a hard time dealing with lawbreakers, I don't think someone with limited traing, making minimum wage would think it was worth it.

This is a big problem. It's good to see that people like hedges aren't afraid to turn people in, although it does distract from his fishing. I walked away with a new spinning outfit at Manning one spring. We went up to do some work on the spawning channel and there was a vehicle parked down at the dam. as soon as another vehicle showed up (us) a guy started running around on the shore in a panick. He soon jumped in his pickup and drove towards us. He pulled over to talk to us and show us that he didn't have any fishing gear with him, and he was just checking things out. We then drove down to the dam, where I saw a nice spinning out fit stashed in the rocks, near where this guy had been. I took it, because he had already claimed to not have any fishing gear with him. He showed up at the dam a few hours later, and looked for a good half hour for something near where I found his pole. His license plat number was then phoned in to poaching hotline. I don't know if anything else happened or not, but at least he lost his pole!

Hiring more CO's may be a solution to the problem, but then we create more complaints from sportsmen for increased license prices. People are still upset with the last increase. Heck, where else can you get a years worth of entertainment for $26. I would gladly pay more, but many do not feel the same as I do.

Anyone else have any suggestions on how to stop illegal harvesting, fishing, etc.?
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[southernman]

they wouldnt be CO's - they would be double secret probation fishing enforcement officers . . . 2 weeks training would be fine . . . and yes like i said minimum wage and 10% of the fines . . . all they would do is write tickets all day long . . .

and your story of how you stole the guys pole is pathetic . . .

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[PBH]

You think 2 weeks training in law enforcement is enough? Wow, if that was the case I don't think the shooting last week by a CO would have been the first......

How 'bout we give you a ticket book and you can start writing tickets? In fact, I'll start letting you know everytime I see an infraction, and I'll ask you why you weren't there to write a ticket. Everyone has a simple solution to a complex problem. When was the last time you (not hedgesd) called in a violation?
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[southernman]

man i just go fishin, i could care less what others are doing most of the time, i usually avoid the lure only places or restricted holes, so i dont see many violators . . and ive found minding your own business is usually a good way to go . . if i saw something blatant i guess i would report it, but i dont go looking for it .. .

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[hedgesd]

Southernman I had to admit it but PBH has a good point. I turn people in at the expense of my own fishing enjoyment but when the same situation is reversed how many people do something about the problem instead of whinning about the problems. The only reason I sent a report was to get that dead cow out of the lake and let them know they need to get up there more often. I used to pack around a little fishing log book but it turned into a violation and description log book so I quit packing it.

I don't mind passing on what I call info about poaching violations. Some times I do get a kick out of walking up to somebody that's breaking some easy law to follow and seeing how long it takes for them to crack.

I wouldn't mind to see a huge increase like 20 dollars but I would like to see half of that to improve fishing and pay for a dozen CO that don't do anything but get out and say hi and make sure that people understand that they are trying and not just hidding and watching with the spotting scopes. I could care less what people were doing if I'd see them more often and not just on the way home from work. I guess I live to close to there office.

I'm sure we have enough qualified people that would do what Southernman suggests. Make it the entry level job to become a CO but give them old name back "fish cop". Give them a truck and a certain number of lakes and let them give as many tickets as they want to.

[#ff0000][size 1]Quote---if i saw something blatant i guess i would report it, but i dont go looking for it .. . ---[/size][/#ff0000]

[size 1]Just for mine and PBH's humor how many people did you notice bait fishing while you were there.[/size]
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[southernman]

i think the lady was baitin' when i left sat - but nobody else was really fishing when i was there - remember?? i did find that hunk of p.b. at barney . ..hahah . .. . . im not saying im not going to say something to someone obviously breaking the rules or doin something stupid, its just utah has so many damn regs from lake to lake, its not my job to call in someone that keeps two fish on a 1 over 22 lake . . .but if i lived as close as some of y'all do to some of these fishin holes and saw violators regularly, yah id get pissed and call em in to the state boys . . too bad theres very little cell service in the southern mts or none at all....its nice to catch em in the act



manning meadows steamin' at dawn

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[hedgesd]

It doesn't take any special training to notice who's baiting fishing artificial lakes. I'd say it kind of is your responsibility to inform the DWR about what you see. I wouldn't say this but after hearing your spill on how crappy the stocking program is in Utah you should care enough to do something about it. I'm sure everybody who's fished Kolob knows how bad the bait fishing situation is. The one comment that nobody has said yet is we all own the natural resources so why not take the time and help out a little or a lot.

Cell service works great on Monroe Mtn. I know because I used it a couple times after I broke down. If you drive around you'll find a good signal. My hunting buddy used to always calling his ex-wife on those long trips to make sure she's not slutting around but of course she was.

I don't know if you've checked out Washington states regs or Oregon. I'd say Utah's regs are much simpler then most states. Every reg. has been standardize to reduce that confusion and I'm sure you noticed those signs that give the current regs for those people that don't take the time and check the proc. I wish the DWR would put a sign on every parking area and bays so the only thing I need to say to any body is "Did you read that sign".
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