Big Dries on Strawberry Reservoir

Fishing Time: 8:30 am to 6:00 pm

Weather: Clear, windy the entire day, T-30s

Moon Phase: 12% Moon

Best Bait: Spinning Rod: White tube jig on ¼ oz jig head tipped with worm. Fly Rod – Chubby Chernobyl with bionic ant trailer.

Who Went: Chad Fuller, Stuart, Dunc

I’ve been itching to get to Strawberry to try tossing a dry fly around.  My cousin and his buddies have been doing it with success and it sounded like a blast to watch the big cutthroats come up and slurp up your fly.

Chad has been bugging me to take him up there, so we made the trip happen late in the year.  His brother in-law Stuart joined us.  We launched on a snow-covered ramp on the Soldier Creek side and the lake was glass.  Seemed like it was going to be an epic day.  20-minutes later a stiff breeze kicked up and didn’t stop the rest of the day.  We found a few canyons in the narrows to hide from the wind and one rocky point was on fire casting tube jigs into deep water and slowly letting them drift back to us.  It was too windy to use the fly rod, but we had fun catching a bunch of cuts and rainbows.

We finally found a small bay where the wind couldn’t get us and I pulled out the fly rod.  Within minutes I saw my first submarine come from the depths toward the shore where my dry fly was sitting waiting.  It was awesome to watch the big cut slurp up the big dry fly.  I was lucky enough to land five big cutts on the fly and now I’m hooked.  I will definitely be doing that again in the future.

When the sun slipped behind the mountain it got cold and the snow covered ramp we left in the morning was pure ice.  It was a bit scary as we couldn’t pull the boat up the ramp and the truck would just slide around on the ramp.  With a little ingenuity and dirt and gravel we were able to get out of there with the boat!  Cold but fun trip!

Midge Hatch on the Provo River

Fishing Time: 7:30 am to 1:30 pm

Weather: Partly cloudy, Cold, T-20s

Moon Phase: 82% Moon

Best Bait: midge pattern

Who Went: Roger Parks, Hyrum, Dunc

Roger and I made plans to hit the river and I was excited to dust off the old fly rod, but when he called to say his buddy, who is a fly-fishing guide, was coming as well, I wasn’t thrilled.  I envisioned a snooty fly guide that may not see eye to eye with my style of fishing.  I was wrong.

Hyrum was a stud and he taught me a lot about fishing the Provo.  He fishes the river weekly and knew every bend like his backyard. The morning was extremely cold and to be honest it was all I could do to keep casting and stripping that freezing cold water through my hands.  At one point I put my hands in my pockets and sat and enjoyed the amazing views in Provo Canyon and turkeys walking through the campground.

It turned into a beautiful day when the sun came out and Hyrum and I found ourselves on a deep bend with a midge hatch just beginning.  It was incredible to see how many fish were surfacing and some of them looked like really nice fish!

Hyrum hooked me up with a midge pattern dry fly and totally went into guide mode teaching me the ways of the fly.  Sounds annoying, but it felt like I was fishing with my buddy not a guide.  We caught some nice fish and had a blast.  The only annoying part of the day was me having to be home that afternoon for a commitment.  I didn’t want to leave!

Family Reunion at Sand Hollow

Fishing Time: 8:30 am to 12:00 pm          

Weather: Sunny, clear, T-90s

Moon Phase: 77% Moon

Water Temp: 68 Degrees

Best Bait: Roboworm (Aaron’s Magic) on drop shot rig

Who Went: Mike Kraus, Cameo James, Alex Covili, Sam Barney, Devin Duncan, Dunc

We had a family reunion in Hurricane, UT, so I decided to drag the boat along and take some people fishing on Sand Hollow.  The drop shot rig with a roboworm was working a few weeks ago at Sand Hollow, so with the boat a bit overcrowded I pre-rigged a bunch of rods and we hit the water ready to go. 

The weather was warm with no wind, so it made drop shotting easy, working the bottom anywhere we could find grass on the bottom in about 25-30 ft deep.  Devin was the first on the board landing two bass on his first few drops.  

Everyone on the boat landed at least one fish except for Mike.  He was doing everything right but still took the skunk smell home.

It was fun to get some new faces on the boat and put them on fish.  We caught a couple chunkers, but no monsters.  A great trip and fun family reunion.

Early Fall Fishing in St. George, Utah

Location: Sand Hollow/Gunlock Reservoir

Fishing Time: Morning

Weather: Warm, no clouds, no wind, T-90s

Moon Phase: 50% Moon

Water Temp: Forgot fish finder!

Best Baits: Roboworm (Aaron’s Magic) on drop shot rig, Deep diving crankbait

Who Went: Devin, Addison, Dayton, Dunc

We had a family trip planned to St. George to see a play at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre, so I decided to drag the boat along and sneak in some fishing with the kids. 

The first morning we launched at Sand Hollow Reservoir.  We got a later start than preferred and the sun was already beating down on us with no wind.  We started fishing near the dam and Devin was throwing a spinnerbait while Dayton casted a crankbait.  

I rigged up a drop shot rig with a roboworm while they casted away.  On my first cast with the drop shot rig I was hooked up.  On the second cast I hooked up again.  The boys immediately wanted to switch.  They don’t have a lot of experience fishing the drop shot rig, but once I got them dialed in a bit, they started catching fish on most casts.  We didn’t catch any monsters, but they had fun putting them in the live well waiting for the double fisted photo opportunity…

We also found something pretty cool… we saw a fish on the surface that looked like it had just went belly up.  We motored over to inspect and found this largemouth with eyes bigger than his stomach.  We dislodged the bluegill and they both swam away healthy.  The boys loved it.

Unfortunately, we didn’t last long in the baking sun.  It was really the lack of any wind that made it unbearable.  The boys learned a lesson that fisherman are never happy. Wind or no wind, we will find something to complain about.  My favorite comment from Devin was the fishing was to easy and maybe we should try another lake tomorrow.  I smiled; chip off the ole block.

The next day we took Devin’s advice and tried Gunlock Reservoir.  Addi wanted to come on this trip, but on the way there she started to not feel well.  She tried her best to tough it out and jumped on the boat.  

There was a bass tournament on Gunlock and the small reservoir didn’t leave much shoreline to fish.  We did our best and Dayton was the first to get on the board with this bluegill that couldn’t resist the crankbait.  I continued using the drop shot and landed one small bass, but after about an hour on the water poor little Addi was spent. 

The fishing was slow anyway and when I felt Addi’s forehead it was on fire, so we packed up and got her back to the condo as fast as we could.  She had a 103 fever when we arrived.  Poor girl was very sick.  Then Devin asked me, “why didn’t we go back to Sand Hollow where the fish were biting”. 

Wind City Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 7 PM to 9 PM

Weather: Hot, Extremely windy (20-30 mph), T-90s

Location: Provo Boat Harbor at Utah Lake

Moon Phase: 95% Moon

Best Bait:  Worm underneath a bobber

Who Went: Bobber John, Anthony Schuler, Devin Duncan, Dayton Duncan, Dunc

It has been the windiest spring and summer I can ever remember.  My yard proves it with multiple large limbs cracking and falling this year.  It’s cost a fortune to keep up on it.  Anyway, we got sick of waiting out the wind and ran down to Utah Lake after rumors of northern pike being caught at the mouth of the Provo River.  We weren’t the only ones that heard the rumors, and the shorelines were shoulder to shoulder.  We switched to plan B and moved over to the harbor to play with the kitty cats.  It didn’t take long until we found the bullheads.  The kids had fun and practiced their bait casting skills while waiting in between bites.

Right at the end of the night Bobber John’s bobber torpedoed under the water and the fight was on.  The rod was handed to his boy Anthony, and he battled the big kitty for a good 5 minutes.  It was the only Channel Catfish of the night and the fish of the day.  Despite the awful wind it was a fun trip and good to get the kids out.

North Woods Wisconsin

Fishing Time: June 2-7, 2022

Weather: Mostly Sunny, calm, T-70s

Moon Phase: 23% Moon

Location: Big McKenzie Lake, North Woods of Wisconsin

Best Baits: Bass- weightless senko, roboworm on a drop shot rig, Bluegill- marabou under a slip bobber, Northern Pike- trolling crankbaits and jerkbaits, Walleye- Casting crankbaits, Crappie- worm pinned to a 1/8 oz jig head, Muskie- Nothing worked

Water temp: 63-68 degrees

Who Went: Uncle Joe Schuler, Isaac Schuler, Bobber John, Dunc

John’s uncle Joe is now retired and living the dream.  He bought a lake house about an hour north of Rice Lake, Wisconsin where he lives.  The lake is called Big McKenzie and it’s full of a diversity of species from Bluegill, Perch, Crappie, Dogfish, Largemouth Bass, Rock Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, and Muskellunge.  After hosting him last year on our trip to Lake Powell we made a promise to return the favor and come crash his new lake house in Wisconsin. 

We flew into Minneapolis, Minnesota where we quickly made our first fail.  The car rental company offered us any car on the lot, and we couldn’t resist driving away in a brand-new Chevy Camaro.  We didn’t think about all the gear and rods that we would be driving with for the next 3 hours as we winded through the two-lane highways of Minnesota into the north woods of Wisconsin.

We drove to Rice Lake first to check out Joe’s crib before heading north with Joe leading the way in his Ford F-150.  We hit a total of two stop signs on the way there and not one stop light, but must have past 50 different lakes.  When we arrived at Big McKenzie Lake I was in love.  It’s a decent sized lake surrounded by trees and lake houses.  It looked like a fisherman’s dream.  The north woods of Wisconsin are remote and beautiful.  We settled into Joe’s lake house and prepared for four full days of fishing on Big McKenzie.

The first day of fishing we realized the bass and bluegill were in full swing of their annual spawn.  We had a 4-pound bass guarding a bed right next to Joe’s dock.  It didn’t take too much harassment for John to trick him into biting.

We hit every corner of the lake over the span of four days and slowly figured out where the best bite was for bass, crappie, bluegill, and northern pike.  The only fish we couldn’t pattern was the walleye and those stingy muskies.  The bottom of the lake was very mossy, so our best baits for bass were weightless senkos or a roboworm on a drop shot rig.  We also caught a few on crankbaits, jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits, but the slow drop of the weightless plastics was the ticket.  On the last night the water temps reached 68 degrees and we were able to get on a topwater bite for about an hour and put a half dozen in the boat.  Bluegill were primarily caught on a marabou underneath a slip bobber, and the lone walleye and pike were all caught on crankbaits and jerkbaits both trolling and casting.  There were a ton of rock bass that were also spawning, and they were aggressive enough to continually inhale our bass baits.  We caught enough of those to last a lifetime.  The crappie were all caught jigging on an underwater island that Joe had marked on his fish finder.

One of the highlights of the trip was spending each night roaming the lake in the boat spotlighting and looking for fish, turtles, and other wildlife.  It helped us find a nice dogfish that I was able to coax into the boat from his bed.  I think they are cool looking but found out it’s the carp of Wisconsin.  Either way I checked it off the species to catch list.  They are a crazy green color and get pretty big.

The turtles are all over and they are cool too.  I searched high and low for a snapping turtle, but apparently, I was a bit early in the year for them to be roaming around.  We only found painted turtles.  They would sit on the bottom at night, but in the day, they would crawl onto logs and bask in the sun. We pulled a couple small ones off the bottom using a net while spotlighting at night.

One evening just before dark I lucked into the only walleye of the trip.  We tried to replicate the area and presentation the following evenings, but never could find them again.  We did see a lot of them swimming when we were spotlighting at night.  We also saw some decent sized muskies.  I think Bobber John may have had one small muskie on trolling, but he thought it was a northern pike and shook him off right next to the boat.  I just stared at him in disgust.  It was the only species we couldn’t put into the boat on the trip. 

Another evening on one of our epic bass runs, I tossed my weightless senko onto the corner of a dock and was immediately slammed.  The bass shot out from under the dock to the surface and the oohs and ahs began.  She was a beauty at 5.5 pounds and the big fish of the trip.  It was the cherry on the cake for me after catching multiple nice largemouth every day in the 2–4-pound range. 

The scenery was amazing, the lake house was awesome, and the fishing was epic!  To cap off an already amazing trip we detoured on our way back to the airport and visited the home of St Croix rods in Park Falls, Wisconsin.  We were able to watch them in the factory make the St Croix rods that we are dedicated too and fish with.  We also stopped at a cheese factory and the cheese in Wisconsin truly is amazing! This trip got an A+ from the moment we landed until we got back on the plane to leave.