Report: Marshall and Echo Lakes, Uinta's

[Cowboypirate]

Cookie and the Cowboy-Pirate were joined by fellow BFT's Catchinon and Fishhound for a Saturday run up to Marshall and Echo lake in the Murdoch basin of the Uinta's. Had a great time with some good guys, swapping stories and wandering the mts. Fishing was very slow - maybe related to full moon/high pressure. Everyone we talked to in the basin said the same, slow on any baits offered.

Catchinon, did catch his Golden trout and Brookie Trout, so add two more to his grandslam checklist. Fishhound did well on smaller brookies on dry flies. Thanks guys for joining us, hope to do it again soon.

REPORT

MARSHALL:

We tried all the suggestions made by the brookie boys including: jigs, spinners, bait, and various fly combinations. Only had two follows on a Jake and Meps but they would not tap it. No takes on jigs (tried green, purple and black, tipped and not). I tried both cast and reel direct tied to the line in the deep and under a sliding bubble to give a vertical presentation. I had line movement one time, but it was so subtle, not sure if it was a bump or, something else. A lot of moss even out deep, so it was really hard to keep them jigs clean on the retrieve if you bumped the bottom. I had prepared multiple fly combs (which are normally really effective for me on finicky brookies) such as a attractor (renegae, wollyworm, ext, with nymphs, scuds, leaches, san juan worm or beadheads on the weighted trailer) no hits at all. Also nothing on bait. Watched a guy work hard off a float tube with no action.

ECHO

Craig and Cookie got action on bait - worms under a bubble floating with the waves. Fishhound got action on various dry flies. My combo set up of an attractor with a nymph also got attention with Cookie. But it was very slow in general. Everyone we spoke to, and there were quite a few at Echo, had the same results - one or two fish.

Now, I know this basin produces much better than this - I have multiple trips into it with great catch rates, so will try again after the moon phase changes and the weather pattern (high pressure) changes and see if that is it.

But what a great trip - fall is made for us fishin lovers and the best is still coming as the colors change.

See ya there

Here is the video (Craig got a staring roll, but fishhound always seemed to be out of camera range)

https://youtu.be/-Vz_88BUrQ8
[signature]

[brookieguy1]

I was on a southern Utah alpine lake on Saturday and I feel your pain. At a lake we should have caught 3 dozen fat brook trout we caught about 6 each. Damned moon! At least that’s my excuse. Saw so many fish in negative feeding mood. Did catch a few fatties though.
[signature]

[Jmorfish]

Nice report and video....you guys have way too much fun! Joan, Gem, and 'Overlook Lake', 3 of my favorite Uinta lakes, with Echo as base camp....Yeah, I'd like to get back there again sometime also....spent some good time there, several years, with my Boy Scouts....those brookies sure are purdy, nice going....Guluk...
[signature]

[catchinon]

Thanks for the report, especially the video. I showed it to my wife so she could see what ruffians and galoots I've been fishing with. I loved your drone shots, too. In the winter I can look back and reminisce on the beautiful fall day we had.
[signature]

[Fishhound]

What a great day in the mountains ! Thank you one and all. As reported by the Pirate we did a powerful lot fishing but as also mentioned the catching was on the lessor side. Not a problem though the scenery, fresh air, smells of mountain water and trees filled in quite adequately for any deficiency of getting our hands wet or slimy.

There hardly anyone up there and the road was basically to ourselves going in but folks did appear as we left. Very little company of strangers on the water while we fished - exactly as I like my mountain lake and stream fishing.

As for the actual fishing part, I got absolutely no action on any of the dozen hardware options I tossed out. The sparse activity I did enjoy was all on flies with the fly rod between the gusts of wind that were not too frequent. I was able to try out a few home grown flies in the mayfly, caddis, hound hair attractor, and dragon fly ( which got mutilated and some ambitious little bait fish sized minnow of a brookie ate one of the little beady eyes I so laboriously tied on to my creation). The blue damsel only got the most cursory of side glances from the brookies that came out from under the aquatic flora to check it out. I never saw any goldens other than Craig's catches.

The Pirate did try to get me in a dive bombing run, but lacking anti aircraft point defenses or air cover support I opted to dive for cover and hunker down until the asualt from above quieted down.

All in all it was a great outing with great company and great conversation.
[signature]

[Fishhound]

Ah Dude !?!? Say it aint so. You didn't really show off the wanted poster mug shots to your wife and tell her the truth about us ... Did you ? Is she still speaking with you, or have you gotten back in the house yet ? Did she even believe you ?

Sorry if you had to sleep in your truck. Maybe you can tell her it was all just a fish story and that the likes of us really don't exist in this world - and if we did, most certainly the institution that owned us would know better than to let us out.
[signature]

[riverdog]

BG1 that one fish weighed several times more than all the minnows they caught in Murdock basin. And here I almost swear ever time I catch a brookie because they are usually stunted. We should meet up so I can discretely place a GPS tracking unit on your vehicle [laugh].
[signature]

[BULLOCK9]

I love the Murdoch basin, my grandpa used to take us up there all the time when we were younger. My cousin and I still fish it but grandpa is 90+ now and hasn't fished for years. He didn't believe us when we told him how sh*^tty the road in was so he made us take him up a couple weeks ago as he was sure we took the wrong road. So we loaded the poles and headed up and we made it about half way up the road before he made us turn around and get off that damn road. We ended up doing the loop, stopping at Whitney were I caught one small rainbow on a dry fly before we headed home.
[signature]

[catchinon]

Three things I can think of that are in constant flux: roads, lakes, and women. Never assume that they'll be the same as they were last time[sly].
[signature]

[riverdog]

Yeah, I have a friend that used to hunt occasionally in Murdock Basin 30-40 years ago. He said it wasn't a bad road back then. However the road is in better condition than a decade ago. It seems they improved it slightly before they restocked it with Golden trout. I assume so the stocking truck could make it in. It isn't the worse road I drive in to fish in Utah. That would be the road above Motoqua up to the remaining cabin to fish Beaver Dam Wash in the winter.
[signature]