October at Strawberry

Jon, Paxton and I decided to hit Strawberry for some of the usually great fishing in October. As we predicted, the cutthroat trout were busily cooperative. Jon used this weird rig he saw his brother-in-law using on a previous trip. A big white Rooster-Tail, tipped with a small 2" white grub, and a gob of nightcrawler to top it all off. It looked like a tangled mess. But that combo got hits every couple of minutes for our entire time there. We were just trolling with mono near the top of the water. No downriggers this time.
The wind was quite blustery, and I only fished for about an hour. I couldn't fight the wind and fish very well, so I abandoned my pole after a big tangle with one of Jon's poles. I didn't have on the magic combo lure anyway, and hadn't had any hits at all. I changed up 3 different times, but to no avail. Also, we didn't go to our usual spot along the rocky edges because it's a long trip across the lake, and we didn't want to go far in the wind with Pax on board. So we fished the mouth of Mud Creek, and it was excellent. Fish were being marked on the finder from 10 to 25 feet down, for the most part. It didn't matter how deep of water we were in, the trout kept on biting everywhere.
The trout ranged from 17" to 20", and were scrappy fighters. Paxton brought in a couple of them himself. He seemed to have a great time. We even stopped to get him a couple of crawdads on a chicken leg, and he played with them for over an hour.
I don't wager a guess at how many fish Jon caught, even though he was getting hits continually. Many of those he landed before we headed back to Park City and the condo Jamie and Jon and the kids were staying in. Paxton's nap time.
But it was a very promising trip, and I'd like to go back one more time and try to hit a calm day.

As you can see, the 'dads out of the Berry are quite large, and a lot of people fish for them for a dinner entree'.

Lake Tahoe vacation

On our vacation to Lake Tahoe, we decided to take time out for a fishing trip for lake trout (mackinaw). We also spent time sight-seeing around Tahoe and Carson City. Here is Cindy with a 9-pound mack that she caught off a down-rigger, using a Needlefish.

Cindy has the patience to fish, which makes her good at it. She always catches the biggest and most fish on any trip we take.

Any good captain will have a good supply of spoons for deep-water fishing for macks.

Cindy and I pose with one of the lakers that I caught.

You can see on the fish finder that the lake trout were stacked up on the bottom. That's those curved arches you see on the white screen.

"Captain Brad" did a great job keeping us on the fish, and made for a pleasant trip with his knowledge and expertise.

As you can see, Tahoe is a beautiful blue lake. And on this day we had hardly any wind. Perfect for trolling, and enjoying the morning out on the boat.

Mantua for Panfish

Here's grandson Paxton out fishing with the family, and pulling in some bluegills and perch. He really likes to fish, and is pretty good at doing most of it by himself.

Diamond Fork

I went down to Utah County to fish the "Little Stream" at Diamond Fork today. Fishing was fair to good, with mostly cutthroats succumbing to my Panther-Martin spinner. I like the black body with gold blade model.
I had 2 really nice fish roll at my lure, but failed to hook up. And they only gave me one look, so that was it for those guys. I also caught one of the prettiest browns I've landed in a long time. But I had left my cell phone in the truck, and couldn't take a picture of him. The blue haloes around the spots on his side were gorgeous.

The stream has changed drastically changed since the big run-off a few years ago. But things are pretty much back to normal now, with a few new features in the stream bed.

Paxton Hits the Ice

Paxton makes his first trip onto the ice at East Canyon for a little fishing. Unfortunately, we were late getting on the ice and the bite had pretty much ended for the day. So he did some sledding down the hill, and played around with his fishing pole for a few hours. We had a nice time, regardless of the lack of fish. I only saw 3 on my fish finder, and never had a hit.

East Canyon on the Ice

My cell phone was dead, so I was unable to take any pictures. But I had a really fun day on East Canyon yesterday morning.

The truck said it was only 4 degrees, and it felt like it. The ice was slick and hard, with a spattering of snow in spots.

My first hole was over 70 feet of water. So I cut another and moved in to only 50 feet. I began here, placing my "nail tail" jig down about 10 to 12 feet, looking for cruising rainbows. I found them. I landed 5, and missed probably twice that many. The bite was rather aggressive, but they only gave you one quick shot and they were gone.

I only stayed about 3 hours. Since I was alone, I saw it as a good opportunity to get home early and do some things. The bite died off about 10:30 or so anyway. But it was my first trip out in several weeks, and I had a great time. Even though the catching wasn't that great. I caught rainbows in the 14 to 16 inch range, and they fought well.

I'm looking forward to going back soon, and possibly arriving a little earlier; before daylight.

It's now late November, and Huntington reservoir is already frozen and has safe ice. Schofield can't be too far behind. In both lakes you can pursue Tiger Trout, pictured above.
I'm ready to head out! But Cindy says we are Christmas shopping this Saturday. Maybe next weekend . . .