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Leg Day! First Trip of the Year
#1
After getting some car stuff out of the way and finally having everything line up the way it needed to, I went fishing on Saturday! Somehow, that was my first time fishing since December 4th of last year. Wow.

Many venues were considered and after some deliberation, historical review, and some good old fashioned guess work, I had a spot picked out.
The chance of having to find a plan B was very real due to possible snow pack, as was the possibility that I'd end up finding a frozen lake after putting in some work. I recruited a copilot in a buddy named Wade and we set off to the unknown, early Saturday morning.
Signs from the mountain ranges surrounding us looked ominous, with snow lines way below where we were planning to park. They didn't get too much better as we approached the general area either, but we were able to make it close enough that we chose to go for it.

The snow through the first area wasn't too bad, being more exposed to the wind and sun, but as soon as we got into the trees, it was awful. Wade doesn't weigh much, so he had an advantage, but he still popped through quite a bit. I was dying though. I post holed the whole way there and it was over 3ft deep in a lot of places.  It was the hardest work I've had to put into a hike for a long time. Had I been alone, I probably would have aborted.
A stream system along the way provided a place to catch my breath and get my legs back. During that break, I tossed a few times to find a pretty little cutthroat and what appeared to be a little cuttbow (slash, cutthroat spots, red stripe along lateral line, and white tipped anal fin). Those would be my first catches of 2022. I didn't hang onto them long enough to grab photos, but it was nice to get on the board for the year, at least.


After the break, it was time to get back to work, chugging through the snow. It didn't get any easier and it took a long time to cover the remaining distance. Upon arrival, I was very glad to see open water at the target lake. I fished from shore while I regained some motivation to dig into my pack and inflate my tube. Within 10 minutes of our arrival, three guys showed up, looking every bit as "thrilled" as we were to see them. Oh well, that'll happen. Time to pump up that tube!
Wade fished from shore and I planned to catch a couple of fish, then let him use my tube if he wanted. I shoved off and got to work in the frigid water. The visibility was pretty low, and the fish don't have to try very hard to feed there, so it was slow going. Add to that, I was cramping up a bit in my feet and legs, feeling a bit colder than what I had expected.
Wade struck first from shore, catching a solid brookie and I was far enough away that I didn't get any photos. From the looks, it was pretty nice. At least 3lbs, I'd say. I kept kicking along, casting in all directions when I finally lifted to something heavy that wasn't a submerged limb.

After much protest from the fish, I netted a very chubby cutthroat of 22" and 4.5lbs.


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Quite the belly on that one.
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With the skunk subdued, I hoped to catch at least one brookie before handing off the tube. During my quest, I noticed Wade hiking around to the far side of the lake, through a brutal hillside of deep snow. He couldn't stay on top of it, but pressed on anyway. Dude has spirit, I'll give him that. I wouldn't have wanted to do that.
Time ticked on and the three guys who followed us in left without a catch. I found a silver lining to their presence in that they'd surely flatten out some more snow on their exit, that I could then exploit for my own departure. They surely used out tracks to get in.


Wade was out of my sight for quite awhile before seeing him again, on my back to the launch area. He had gone halfway around the lake at that point, without much luck. I was shivering by then and was ready to give up the float. It wasn't long before seeing Wade again that he hooked into another brookie, this one even bigger than his first. Well done!
I had almost reached the launch area when I tried a few more casts, parallel to the shoreline, about 10ft out. To my glee, I had a firm take and watched the dark sides of a sturdy brook trout roll while I battled it in. At last, I'd gotten a brookie.
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A very nice specimen, at 20" long and 3lbs, 5oz.
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I really needed that!
Having accomplished what I'd set out to do on the tube, I was happy to get out of the water. As soon as I had a solid place to stand, I stood up and instantly realized why I'd been so cold throughout the past 2.5hrs of floating.
I had a leak!
During my beastly hike in, the crotch of my waders must have blown out and I never noticed. I didn't even notice when I should have, as I launched my tube, but that's likely because of the leaky seat bladder on my tube causing the tube to taco around me tightly, forcing my legs together. The water must have made its way in slowly.


Having done cold water floats many times, I usually did just fine with my double sweatpants layer under the waders. It didn't help so much with the new ventilation though. Suddenly my shivering and cramps made a lot more sense.

While I worked the shoreline near the launch area, Wade eventually made his way back around, reporting a couple of smaller cutthroat making his acquaintance in the process. He agreed that he didn't need to float and that leaving wouldn't be a bad idea. We still had the dreaded hike back to deal with.
I'd like to report that the hike back was easy and that there were no issues, but I'd be lying. It sucked. Sure, it was a little bit better than the hike in, but I was still up to or past my knee in deep snow much of the time. I required many stops to catch my breath and to work up the gumption to move my legs, which were somewhat heavier by then, with the water weight and general fatigue.
One particular step I took onto an existing footprint popped through unexpectedly and my leg went all the way down. I heard a loud burst and looked down to see that my waders were beyond recovery at that point. The small compromised area that may have been repairable was a wide tear. It only got worse as we made our way out of that mess, but at long last, we finally did.
Once we'd gotten back to the road, we still had a bit of a walk to get back to the car. Thankfully, the snow that had fallen throughout the day was of the course "corn snow" variety that didn't really stick to the road or anything and we made it back. I had to get out of the wet sack I'd been hiking in and then I was back in the car, staring off into nothingness as I worked up the will to drive us home.
Thankfully, we made it back safely and another crazy day of beating myself up was history. It was a great trip and I'm glad I went. I'm sure feeling it now.
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Happy Fishing, Humans.
(PS: To their credit, those waders were long overdue for destruction. They outlived every expectation and a great deal of punishment for over 5 years. I have nothing bad to say about them. Great waders.)

(Spacing is weird. It's not letting me fix it, sorry.)
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UTAH WATER LOG
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#2
You definitely earn your fish dude. Nice story.
I am glad you weren't alone in that situation!
One upon a time, I worked in the footwear department at Sportsman's. The one thing I would say when someone was waffling over spending the money on a good pair of boots or socks was "when your out in the wilderness and your feet are cold, you would pay any amount of money to have them warm and dry." That usually convinced anyone that has been in that situation before that spending the money now was worth it.
I guess you can convert those Orvis waders to Orvis gators now lol.
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#3
Looks like it is time for me to head back up to that lake. It is a helluva hike to get up there this time of year, but there are some great fish to be had no doubt.
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#4
Great story, sorry about the cold... I got a little too cold after steelhead a couple weeks ago and when I couldn't tie on a hook or talk without mumbling I decided it was time to go get warm... At least I was only a couple hundred yards from the car, so I didn't have the fun you went through... Glad you made it okay... Later J
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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