Number Day

[LOAH]

Last week, I worked really hard all day for two fish (and a couple of pretty little stream fish). They were great fish and well worth the effort, but this week would be a stark contrast to that battle.

A call from brookieguy1 last week led to a really fun day on Saturday. Like me, he's had other things in his way, preventing him from fishing for the past while. It was high time we did something about that so off we went for his first trip of the year and my second.

Like usual, the drive was long. We debated about the route, ultimately deciding to take the shorter option in hopes that we could make it over a pass, rather than a longer access around some geography. Gambled and won!

Before long, we were in old familiar territory where the fishing is always pretty good. We readied our gear, donned our waders, pumped up our tubes, and made a quick scramble to the water.

Before launching, we fished a snaggy nearby pond for about 15 minutes, catching a few brookies and a couple of cutthroat.





Just a quick diversion to catch some easy fish before our float. 

As I shoved off on my tube, BG1 already had a fish on the line and reeled in a healthy brookie. I could tell it would be a good day. As soon as I was out of his casting area, I tossed over toward some logs and my jig was grabbed on the drop. A solid brookie.

That same thing played over a few times before Dave even got on the water and pretty soon we were both floating. He took one shoreline and I took the other. He was throwing marabou jigs to start and I was using scented plastics. Both caught fish.

The next few hours for me were probably the most productive hours of fishing I've ever had, if not very close in the running. For some reason, I usually have really good days when I fish with Dave. Just a couple of fishy guys, I guess. My last experience that was close to this productive was also with him, up in the Uintas.

As I worked my way down toward my true target area, I picked up fish regularly. Mostly brookies with an occasional cutthroat or  rainbow. The cutthroat seemed to be deep while the rainbows were very shallow. The brookies were everywhere.






Once I got to my spot, it was almost automatic. Without exaggerating, I caught fish on 95% of my casts, or at least got a bite. I couldn't cast in certain directions without catching a brookie. Taking photos wasn't much of a priority, as most of the catches were between 13-16" and it just became redundant. Still, here are some brookies.

Probably the smallest of the day:



Most were like this:

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The odd cutthroat or rainbow showed up too.





Some were bigger, some smaller. It was an all-out beatdown. The times I had to go to shore, I actually took long breaks. The action was nonstop and my constantly wet hands needed a rest and to warm up.

After my first break, I had caught enough fish to try catching them on flies for a bit. My first setup was with a green beadhead scud trailed by a chironomid Frenchie. Sadly, that got no love. I worked that for quite awhile before going back to jigging and catching another couple dozen fish.

A second break ended with me trying the fly rod again, this time with a purple weighted streamer. Again, nothing doing. Back to jigs again, and back to catching fish, one after another.



At one point, I recalled saying to myself that I had to have caught well over 50 fish by then, just given the amount of time I had spent fishing, and how almost every cast turned into a fish. I caught at least another 30 fish after that.

It was an amazing day of insane catch rates for fish that weren't exactly small and fought quite hard. Getting out with Dave again was great and especially seeing that part of the state again. I couldn't ask for a better day of fishing in our beautiful water. I'm very grateful to be able to enjoy it.





Happy Fishing, Humans.

[Kent]

What a great report. It has been many moons since I caught a brook trout. I remember my first one (as a youngster) was at Big East Reservoir (up Payson canyon). I remember thinking that was about the prettiest fish that I had ever caught.

[SkunkedAgain]

Sounds like a blast, thanks for sharing the trip... Later J

[lovetofish]

Sounds like a great trip and success. Nice photos too. Thanks for sharing another one of you trips.