Trolling

I'm driving through Nephi canyon reminding myself of the potentially great fishing in store for us and using it as motivation to stay awake. My two boys are in the car with me and although they're awake you wouldn't know it from their silence. I'm keeping an eye out for deer, and good thing too as we come up on a nice buck just off the right shoulder. Pretty cool to see, but I'm glad he wasn't actually in the road. Feeling like leaving my fly rod at home is a mistake, but I know there wouldn't be much of an opportunity to use it. Besides, I don't like leaving it in the car anyway. Still, I can't shake the feeling a major piece of my equipment has been forgotten. 

Getting up to Bountiful where we'll meet my brother and his son is just the first leg of the drive. From there we'll be in his truck towing the boat, and heading up to Strawberry Reservoir. 

The 'berry' has been known as Utah's premier trout fishery for many years. When I was a kid there were some years we'd fish it almost weekly through the Summer. Mostly we'd troll popgear & worms (till I really started hating this method of fishing), though there were evenings when the flyrods came out to cast to risers. The drive is considerably longer for me now, and with so many opportunities closer to home, I just don't get up there very often. In fact, I hadn't been there for quite a few years so I was excited to see what a few more years with the slot limit had done to the quality of the fish (all Cutthroat Trout between 15" and 22" must be released).

Did I say the kids were quiet? I meant until they got together with their cousin. Then they became extremely loud and excited (though I don't think the excitement had anything to do with fishing). I've never seen "The Lego Movie", but I'm pretty sure they quoted most of it. This included singing that annoying song from it repeatedly. Oh well, at least they were having fun.

Kids being nerdy

Once we arrived at Strawberry Bay Marina a DWR Officer came over filled out an invasive species checklist for us and we were good to go. Then I remembered why having a big motor on your fishing boat is so nice. Talk about mobility! This, along with the nice (expensive) fish finder and downriggers make catching fish seem like a certainty. Sure enough we were quickly into some Cutts that the kids enjoyed catching.

Cado with a Cutty

For some reason, Cado was the only kid we got pics of with fish

When the initial bite quieted down the kids took to entertaining themselves in the bow of the boat while My brother and I did some catching. We were trolling dodgers with everything from Apex lures to Wedding Rings trailing. But the day's best producer by far was a Kokanut in rainbow color that my Brother claimed I tied (basically just a bucktail with flashabou instead of bucktail). I don't remember tying this one specifically, but it's very possible and I'll claim it since it worked so well. We went hoping for Kokanee Salmon but they eluded us. Not a big let-down, since those Cutts were so fun, but they'd have been nice to see. 

Nice one

 About 1:00pm we decided to pull out and make our way home. By the time we were back in Bountiful the short night caught up with me and we crashed at my Dad's for a few hours till I could attempt the drive back home. It would've been nice to see the Wife today, but you can't have everything, and sure enough she was already in bed when we pulled in just after midnight. 

Hope you can get out there, be safe, and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

Not my favorite way to fish, but it's still pretty fun