A big skunk

It doesnt happen very often but it rears its ugly head from time to time. its hard to have success each and every time you hit the water so actually getting skunked doesnt bother me all that much as long as it doesnt become the norm. haha

more streamer eating browns

just another day another couple of hours on the river. doing what i love to do.

A little longer

i went out and fished a much longer stretch. the fishing was kind of slow but it certainly couldve been worse. it was nice not seeing another soul out there.

quickie

went out for a bit and pulled a couple of fish.

a rain soaked hour

went out in the rain for a quick minute. moved 4 and mustered 1

A cold ass kicking

Me and dbone fished 3 different sections of the river throwing streamers. i didnt move a fish all day and D only ended up with 1 small fish. it is what it is.

Checking the spawn

Getting into late november i decided to head to the river and see if the spawn was coming to the end. i only saw 2 fish on redds which tells me that the spawn is coming to an end. threw some streamers, got into a good handful of fish so things should start picking up.

The Uintas are shutdown

As i was dreading, we drove up into the uintas to try and hit a couple more lakes one last time but in a matter of 3 to 4 days the lakes froze over. we were driving up the highway and based on the fact that the lower lakes we passed were froze over there was no point in hiking up to the higher elevation ones. we did an immediate uturn and headed back down the mountain. we stopped at a couple of other spots but the fishing was garbage. this time of year is always tough

Last Hike?

This November the weather has been absolutely phenomenal. but weather is supposed to be coming this week, so me and scott figured this weekend could be the last chance we'd have for a hike in the uintas. i chose the spot and i feel fortunate to be able to take scott to someplace that he hasn't been. there was a particular lake that we had in mind with a few stops along the way. so instead of hiking straight to the main lake we took the scenic route so we could hit a couple of other lakes along the way. i had only taken this route once before and it was about 6 years ago. the last time i did not catch a single fish in the first 2 lakes but this time was different. the first lake scott did not rig up and just ended up being my spotter. the sun was just coming up so i was blinded for awhile. i did spot a fish cruising the shore but then soon lost it in the sun. luckily scott was able to see it and talk me thru it to the point of hookup. it was a decent little male brookie. we didn't spend much time at the first lake so we continued to hike up the trail above the tree line until we got to lake number 2 which set at just about 11,000 feet. the second lake is not much more then a puddle compared to a lot of uinta lakes and it doesn't look like it would be much more then maybe 12ft deep. my first cast and 3 strips later i was into a heavy fish. based on the size of the lake i was expecting to catch, if anything, maybe 10 inch fish or so. huh, definitely not the case, we caught 6 big and healthy bonneville cutts. the condition of these fish was incredible and based on the size the lake clearly does not get winter killed. these fish have been in there for awhile. after we spent a few hours there, it was hard to leave it, we took a slight detour to another lake that scott was showing on GPS. we hikes down to the detour lake and it was full of brookies but other then a few we they didnt seem real committed to the fly. we fished our way around and decided it was time to hit the  main attraction. i had caught fish in there before and it was all 13ish inch cutties. i was up there this summer and saw a few really nice cutties dead along the shore. the fish were certainly bigger then i had seen before but couldnt figure out what was up with the about a half dozen dead fish. based on the size of the dead fish and on how the higher lake fished i had high hopes. we got to the lake and soon after i got blown up but something that i could tell was really big. my first thought was man these cutties really got big. as it splashed around i could tell it was a tank of a fish but then it ripped line off of my reel and the strength and size was confirmed. not only was the 22 inches a big surprise but the fact that it was a tiger trout blew us away. i had only seen cutties in there and according to the stocking report for the last 3-4 years only shows cutts being stocked. as kick ass as that fish was it ended up being the only fish out of that lake. it was an amazing day up to that point but then things started to go south from there. as we were on the back side of the lake, walking over a boulder field, i had a boulder roll on me and took a nasty fall. i fell on my shoulder and arm and with the burning sensation and the intense throbbing that i had in my arm i truly thought i broke it or at least fucked it up really good. my stomach was nautious for a few minutes. as it turns out it is just scraped up, bruised and sore as hell. on the hike out we had stopped to take some sunset photos and after a few shots we continued to hike back to the jeep. i had just told scott that we are only a couple minutes away from the jeep and then i realized that my hands were empty. when we stopped for photos i had set my rod down and forgot to pick it up. we had to walk back about 3/4 of a mile to get my shit. things were not going well after a good day of fishing. on the drive home we drove up on a truck and once we hit a long straight away i thought about passing the truck but then right away decided we were going fast enough and would stay behind the truck. instantly after i decided not to pass the truck he hits his brakes because 2 moose bolted a crossed the road in front of him. had i tried to pass the truck i would have drilled the moose and my jeep would have been done. what was such a great day of fishing turned out to be a nightmare after we were done, but certainly could've been worse had i chose to pass the truck.