Bad Omens Equal Poor Success

Fishing Time:  6:00 AM to 2:30 PM
Weather:  Partly cloudy, calm wind, T-70s
Moon Phase:  Full Moon
Location:  Fish Lake/Johnson Reservoir
Best Baits:  Lake Trout- tube jigs, Tiger Musky- jointed J-13 rapala
Who Went:  Bobber John, Rick, Dunc

Following the most frustrating planning for a fishing trip in my life we finally agreed to bite the bullet and make an extreme day trip to Fish Lake.  To make the trip happen my wife had to babysit Bobber Junior while we were gone.  Not too big of a deal, except we left at 2:30 AM.  The things my wife does for me and my addiction!  We should have known after all the hurdles to make this trip happen that we were doomed for poor fishing. 

Rick, Bobber, and Bobber Junior arrived to my house and we loaded the boat, got Junior settled in, and hit the road.  Once we arrived to Fish Lake the wind was calm and the temperatures were chilly.  It felt good after weeks of no reprieve in the hot Salt Lake Valley.  The wind was calm and there were only a few boats around.  It looked primed for good lake trout fishing.
 
The morning brought two bites, but no hook ups.  However, it did keep our confidence high and in return we gave it our full attention until about noon.  Unfortunately there weren’t that many fish around the hump we usually fish and no big fish were landed.  Right before we called it quits we found a shallow hump (50 ft) and the fish finder screamed at us showing multiple fish.  We all missed a lot of hits until Rick finally landed the only lake trout of the day.  It was about 15 inches and he wouldn’t even hold it up for a photo.  After seeing proof of the size of the fish on this hump we called it quits and once again conceded to the almighty trophy lake trout.

We loaded the boat and headed down the road to Johnsons Reservoir.  The wind was still calm (not normal) so we launched the boat and work the SE shoreline for muskies.  Rick threw a spinnerbait and the perch wouldn’t leave it alone.  I was throwing a jointed perch rapala size J-13 and hooked up on what I think was a musky, but it came off shortly after so we will never know.  We worked the shoreline back to the boat ramp and once again admitted defeat, this time to the almighty tiger musky. 

It was a long trip with no big fish to show for it.  To make matters worse, Rick got pulled over in front of the Fish Lake Lodge on the way home.  We thought a ticket was going to cap off one of the worst fishing days we’ve had in a long while, but the sheriff was very lenient and let him off with a warning.  That was the only successful part of the trip.  Until next time…