Fishies and Freshies

Already this year we'd put some time into fishing this challenging water. Derek and I are addicted. We're determined to figure out all the ins and outs and ultimately get to witness the ultra pigs that this water holds. After running it through the chain of command a good friend of mine, Matt, drove up to join us for some spring fishing.

We met up at the usual spot at the usual time. We were all amped for an epic day. We got permission from the ladies to stay till 8pm. We talked fish the entire drive out and arrived as it was rapidly getting lighter. The weather wasn't bad as we rolled up, but we knew we'd be in for some rain and junk. Either way it didn't matter. It was gonna be an epic day with two really good friends. Matt just started his fly fishing addiction a few months prior and has been frequently fishing some of the great skinny waters that southern Utah has to offer. After his short time fishing he was completely stoked to try and chase some pigs. He asked advice on fly choice and we all rigged up some streamers. It wasn't long before Derek got bent. As the sky lightened none of us had much luck as we eagerly stripped our bugs. We opted for some fly changes.

Derek and I have been putting in a lot of time into trying to figure out this tough water. I switched over to a rig that we had found to be quite productive. I walked over and scoped a bankline that I like to see a nice male cuttie cruising less than a foot off the bank in about eight inches of water. I'd seen this fish before and gotten snubbed. I got into position and made my cast about six feet in front of him as he slowly cruised away from me. I made a few short stips and the fish spotted the
chunkly little morsel that I had tied up especially for him and his fat buddies. He quickened his cruise and I felt my line stop. I set the hook and he took off. Yes! It was gonna be a good day. As I got him closer I saw just how beautiful he was. One of the fish I'd been waiting for.

I gave Matt one of my chunky little morsels and we
worked the spot together. A few minutes went by and I was interupted by a somewhat confused Matt. "I...I got one?!" The water erupted and as quickly as it began it was over. Matt threw his rod down and held back the eff bombs. I completely empathized that feeling of getting this close to getting what you've been dreaming about. He got busted off. I was so bummed. I was really excited for him to get his first tiger and get his first big fish. It wasn't long before I heard him yell to me. Yes! It was still early and we all had the skunk off our backs. Now it was time to get to work.

It was Derek's turn. Derek always comes through. We got a yell from a ways down the bank. A fat lady with a hunchback. The fishing continued to be pretty sweet and time actually seemed to go slower than usual. I got excited everytime I looked at my watch to see that the day was already so radical and we still got over ten hours of fishing left!

Derek told us he was going to go fish another part of the lake. After a while a shrill, girl-like scream broke the silence telling us to come over. As we approached I saw in his net one of the biggest trout I'd ever laid eyes on (the last biggest fish I'd ever seen was one he caught last fall). He'd done it again. We were so stoked. We high-fived and just stared at the beautiful lady he had coaxed into his net. I shot some photos and we sent her on her way to be hooked by us again next year when she's even bigger. It was only 10am and the day had already been epic.

So Derek and I headed up for another morning and continued our search of some big guys. Let me just sum up the day: Derek got some sweet sweet lovin'. Like I've mentioned before, Derek has secret ninja skills when it comes to getting big fish. Whether it's big Montana bows or notorious bull trout, he just finds a way to do it. He's my homie so I'm stoked for him, but at the same time I would also like to kick myself in the face/weener.

Today was a little bit slower. Not as many fish as yesterday. We did, however, luck out with a little warmer weather and a little less wind. Maybe mother nature decided to make sure that the blessings were balanced. Anyway, my first fish was a funky looking male with some great colors. Beautiful. I snapped a few shots which actually turned out great.


I didn't get into anything too intense. But still enjoyed the usually gnarly tigers and plump cutties. Man, I love the cutties here. They always seem to be tight-bodied little machines. They must work out.


Ok, so now for the big guys. So like I said, Derek likes to catch big fish - so he does. We were fishing in one of our usual spots and all of a sudden his indicator tanked. He set the hook and the fight was on with what seemed like a good fish. It turned out to be a kyped out male. 25 inches and four and a half pounds. Oh ya, Derek has a digital scale. Dork. Big fish number two came at the very end of our fishing day - about noon. Derek was back to tossing streamers and had waded clear into a shallow bay. He was excited to finally be able to throw a full cast without having to worry about hanging up.


The hit came hard and I could definitely see that it was putting a pretty good bend in his his 8wt. (He had his 6wt rigged up with chironomids, etc.) I actually didn't even realize until now that that fish was brought in on an 8wt. I had also given him some 1x fluero that morning for his streamer rig and so I don't think any fish was going to take advantage of him on that rod. He mentioned that morning that he didn't mind being overgunned so that he could switch back and forth. So anyway it was quite a fight. The fish wanted to take him in the weeds and after he prevented a tangle the fish did a good job running and really didn't want to come in. When he did the fish was sufficiently tired. Now looking back I can only imagine what this fight would have been like if I had hooked him on my 5wt. Dang, he probably would have put good use to my drag. So he got it in and waded over to shore so I could net it just to be safe. It was a thick female. Really solid-bodied. It reminded me of a steelhead. I was only and inch or so longer than his big male, however, weighing it revealed that it was three pounds heavier. This lady was yoked.

The excitement didn't end with the fishing. On the way back there is a part in the dirt road where there is a short shortcut that's a straight shot rather than taking the big bend. The shortcut is a straightaway and it looked pretty smooth, so naturally I bombed it. I was in 4wd and cruising at like 70mph, when I saw a dip in the road coming up quick. Ah shizzler! Slamming on the breaks obviously wouldn't be a good choice so I breaked as much as I could before we hit it. A big DIP and BOUNCE. Yahoooooo! Well sorta. Scared the crap outa me. We hit the dip at about 50 or 55 and caught some serious air. I ski off of big jumps every winter so catching air isn't really new to me. Not really used to doing it in the car though. After hitting the dip there was a solid second before the second smaosh as we stomped the four point landing. Derek was guessing that we got a solid 2ft of air off the ground. After stomping the landing and putting my heart back in my chest I stopped the car immediately to assess the situation. We looked at each other and couldn't believe what just happened. We gathered the items that flew off Derek's lap, put my subwoofer back in it's place, checked the under carriage of my vehicle, and everything seemed to be ok. Toyota makes tough vehicles. That was a relief. Next we ran back to the dip to see exactly how much air we got. After analyzing the tracks we figured it to be about 30ft from the dip to where the back tires hit. Intense.