Wandering the Rocky Mountains in Colorado

Fishing Time: Afternoon of September 4 and 5

Weather: Scattered rain, Cloudy, T-60s

Moon Phase: 25% Moon

Location: Frying Pan River and South Platte River, Colorado

Best Bait: Beadhead nymph, black wooly bugger

Who Went: Dunc

I’ve lived most my life in Utah and have always been biased about the beauty of our mountains, but I must admit…  The Rocky Mountains of Colorado are impressive.  I will never admit they are better than the Wasatch Range in Utah, but I will call it an extremely close second place.  However, Colorado does win over Utah on rivers and fly fishing.  There are so many awesome rivers holding trophy trout with incredible scenery that I was stunned.  I was lucky enough to visit a couple of these rivers the last couple of days and now I want more.  I could wander these rivers for weeks and never get bored.

It all started with the gorgeous Frying Pan River near Aspen, Colorado.  The Frying Pan River is the tailwater of the Ruedi Reservoir Dam.  The river was flowing a bit stronger than I like, but had enough large boulders breaking its path to make for some good fish holding pockets.

I found one such pocket that held quite a few fish and I could see them darting around feeding in the clear fast-moving current. Unfortunately, I think they saw me too because I must have tried 10 different flies trying to get one to bite with no luck.  I moved up river a bit and was lucky enough to land this beautiful little brown trout.  More exploring led to faster moving water and no more bites, but I can honestly say it was one of my favorite fly fishing outings to date.  I don’t think I’ve ever fished a prettier river in my life.

I did some research after fishing the Frying Pan River and discovered that the supposed best trophy trout river in Colorado was only an hours drive away from my hotel.  They call it the “Dream Section” on the South Platte River.  It starts at the tailwater of Spinney Reservoir and stretches 5 miles down to Eleven Mile Canyon Reservoir.  The river is not as beautiful as the Frying Pan River as it’s set on a high mountain plateau that is flat and covered in grasses and sage brush, but surrounding the plateau are mountains in every direction.  The sage covered flats make for excellent fly fishing with no trees or brush to impede your back cast.  For a novice fly fisherman this river is perfect.  

The river was crystal clear with numerous sharp bends creating many deep slow-moving eddies.  I only saw one small fish jump the entire afternoon and started wondering if anything lived there, but I saw many fly anglers wandering the river, so it must hold fish. 

I tried many different nymph patterns with no bites and then tied on a black wooly bugger and fished it through some deep-water bends.  Finally, I had a taker and landed one small rainbow.  It was the only fish I caught, but I watched and talked to many fisherman and I may have caught as many or more than most of the guys out there.  Tough fishing, but I knew that going in.  It’s known for trophy trout, not for catching numbers.

So, two days of wandering streams and only two fish caught, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  My job has ended here in Colorado Springs, but hopefully I can return one day and wander a few more of Colorado’s scenic rivers and visit with my new Colorado friends...

Pineview - Where's the photos

Fishing Time: 6:30 AM to 10:00 AM
Weather: sunny, calm, T-70's
Moon Phase: 93% Moon
Location:  Pineview Reservoir
Water Temp:  64 degrees
Best Bait:  crappie colored spinnerbait
Who Went: Bobber John, Ty, Dunc

I was staying with Cari's family in a house they rented near Pineview Reservoir over Memorial Day weekend.  I told Bobber John if he wanted to bring the boat up early one morning I would drive down to the ramp and meet him.  So he did, and brought his buddy Ty with him.

We were fishing by 6:30 and began casting all sorts of tiger musky type baits and lures in hopes of landing one of the toothy critters.  We tried fishing multiple areas of sunken brush and didn't see one or get a follow. 

We moved to the narrows and my spinnerbait found a lot of action for smallmouth bass along the rocky shorelines.  Ty joined me on the spinnerbait bait and put a bunch in the boat himself.  No tiger muskies were landed, but I must have caught close to 15 smallmouth bass before jumping off the boat at 10:00 AM.  It made for a great morning, and the boat side service at the lake was awesome haha.  Jump in and jump off.

I have been in a horrible rut of not taking photos.  It's gotta stop and its my new goal for the rest of the year.  No one likes a story with no photos!  Especially with such a gorgeous morning on Pineview and we caught some awesome smallmouth.  Ugh.  Gotta do better!

Lessons Learned at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 1:00 to 3:00

Weather:  Calm at launch, terrifying 50 mph winds when we left, T-70s

Moon Phase: 36% Moon

Location: Utah Lake (AF Boat Harbor)

Water Temp: 70 degrees

Best Bait: worm underneath a slip bobber

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

Bobber John and I went on a wild adventure to Utah Lake with all four of our kids.  We had to take Cari’s 7 seater Tahoe to fit the whole gang.  On arrival everything seemed right.  No wind, warm weather, and excited kids.  We made the drive over to our secret spot and started rigging multiple rods with slip bobbers and worms.  It didn’t take long until the kids had fish tugging on their lines. 

Addison started it off with an ugly carp that she didn’t dare hold for a photo.  Big brother Devin didn’t mind and helped her out.  Devin also caught a white bass of his own.  It was constant chaos and I lost a bunch of slip bobbers and hooks within minutes.  At all times we had snags, fish on, fish off, or lines snapped from a catfish that pulled to hard.

This all happened within 30 minutes and that’s when I looked to the south and saw it.  A dark storm that covered the entire southern sky with lightning coming down towards the lake.  A cool breeze hit my face and a voice ringed in my head that this was bad. I knew we needed to get started on our 20-minute boat ride back to the ramp and get these kids off the lake. 

The kids didn’t want to leave because we were sitting under blue skies and perfect weather, but they were about to get a lesson on why being cautious at Utah Lake is so important.  As we made our boat ride back to the ramp the wind began to increase, and the waves grew bigger.  I had a horrible angle on the waves and we were all getting wet and banged around on the boat.  Four small kids in rough water is scary.  I didn’t want them to go flying and hit their head, or worse bounce right out of the boat.  I knew I couldn’t stop and needed to get to the ramp as soon as possible.  By the time we made it to the American Fork Boat Harbor the winds were approaching 30 mph and the ramp was filled with people trying to get there boat off the lake.

We were very lucky that Bobber John and myself have so much experience loading my boat.  Within minutes he had the trailer in the water and I loaded the boat with no issues.  It was a good thing.  Right as the boat hit the trailer the wind revved up to 50 mph and all hell broke loose.  Boats going everywhere, kayaks flying, and people scrambling.  It created a dust storm and visibility was only about 50 ft.  I screamed at Bobber to go and he pulled the boat up the ramp and into the parking lot.  I tossed kids out of the boat and Bobber threw them in the Tahoe.  We strapped the boat down quickly and jumped in.  It was insane. 

We pulled the car around for a minute and watched the chaos ensue at the ramp.  By now the main lake looked terrifying with 4 to 5 ft white caps.  30 minutes before we were in perfect weather reeling in fish.  Now it was dark with 50 mph winds and no visibility.  There is no chance my boat would have made it across the lake in these conditions.  As we drove out of the boat harbor there were giant 3 ft diameter trees that had fallen across the road.  Luckily there was a gap to fit the Tahoe and boat around and we made it out alive.  I don’t think the kids will question me again if we see a storm approaching us on Utah Lake.  It was a good lesson learned and I’m glad we are all still here to talk about it!

A Break Between Storms at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 6:00 to 8:00 PM

Weather:  Crazy, storms, wind, clear, calm, we had it all, T-70s

Moon Phase: 8% Moon

Location: Utah Lake

Water Temp: 70 degrees

Best Bait: worm underneath a slip bobber

Who Went: Devin, Dayton, Dunc

I noticed a break in between storms this week and for once in our lives we didn’t have baseball, scouts, dance, tutors, or anything else going on, so I loaded up the boys and we headed to the lake for some evening fishing. 

We arrived at American Fork Boat Harbor around 5:30 PM and there was a slight breeze and some unsuspected dark clouds to the south.  Just as my luck goes, I launched the boat literally right as a wind wall hit and made life miserable.  I tied the boat off and watched as the nasty storm from the south blew over us bringing winds up to 30 mph.  We waited about 45 minutes for the storm to pass and then the skies opened, and the lake calmed down. 

We jumped in the boat and scooted across the water to our secret catfish hole.  This little area is protected from wind, so I knew if we could get there then life would be good again.  We rigged up some slip bobbers pinned with an earthworm and within minutes it was game on.  It was weird how we would catch white bass for 10 minutes and then they would shut down and the channel catfish would start to bite.  This pattern continued all night.  Strange. The boys caught fish left and right and I was re-baiting, unsnagging, or retying hooks for 2 straight hours.  Oh, and getting hooks out of fingers!  It was exhausting, but well worth it.

The big fish of the night escaped us.  It was a big ole ugly catfish that gave Devin the ride of his life.  When he finally got it to the surface I reached out with the net to scoop it up just as Dev’s line snapped.  Half the catfish was in the net, but it was the wrong half and we watched in slow motion as his head slipped over the bar of the net and back into the water.  Dang it! 

As evening started to turn to dusk the dreaded mosquitos found us and wouldn’t leave us alone.  There was also another dark cloud moving in from the south, so with quite a few fish under our belts we packed up and headed back to the marina.  Dayton drove and at one point we almost died when he thought we wanted to do a donut in the middle of the lake.  My bad for not having a hand on the wheel.  

We made it in safely and luckily this round I had the boat on the trailer before another wind wall and storm hit yet again.  I guess that’s Spring fishing.   

Spring Lake Powell Trip 2018

Fishing Time: April 27-30 (Friday to Monday)

Weather: April 27-28 were calm, sunny, T-80s.  April 29-30 were windy, cloudy, T-70s.

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Water Temps: 60 degrees in morning or when windy. 70 degrees in afternoon with no wind.

Water Level: 3,609 ft amsl

Mudline: South of Red Canyon and just north of Ticaboo Canyon.

Best Bait: Curly tailed grubs (1/8 oz jighead), and topwater plugs when water was calm.

Who went: Dunc, Rick Everson, Dylan Goar

This year’s Lake Powell trip kicked off a bit later this year.  We almost didn’t go due to my recent return from San Diego, but the last-minute thought of missing it was unbearable, so we quickly put something together and hit the road.  The dates were a bit later this year, but with a late winter and cold spring it looked like we may have timed it just right. I also got to tow the boat with my new (to me) 2008 Toyota Tundra that I purchased a month ago. I love it!

Bobber John opted out on the trip this year, so our replacement was Ricks brother in-law Dylan Goar.  We hit the road at 11 PM on April 26^th and tiredly arrived at Lake Powell by 6:30 AM on April 27^th.  I’m getting to old for these all-nighters and I think it took a toll on me during our trip.  

By 2 PM on Friday we had camp set-up in a wind protected cove inside Ticaboo Canyon and were ready to fish.  I’m not sure if it was the lack of sleep, or what, but the photography on this trip was seriously lacking, so I apologize in advance.

FRIDAY (April 27)

We started out fishing right from camp and worked our way around the shorelines of Ticaboo Canyon.  Smallmouth bass were out in numbers and a few largemouth bass and bluegill.  Rick seemed to be the only one that could persuade the largemouth bass to bite on this trip and Dylan and I were left to play with the smallmouth bass and a couple bluegill.  All fish were caught on a curly tailed grub, ned rig, or jig/trailer.

Following Ticaboo Canyon we ran over to Red Canyon and tried fishing some shorelines there.  The water was a bit more stained than we usually like, but we did find some willing smallmouth bass, and again, Rick caught a couple largemouth bass on a jig/trailer.

We finished the day trolling Ticaboo Canyon using deep diving crankbaits.  In the past this has been an awesome tactic for picking up walleye and striped bass.  We did catch a few walleyes, but the stripers were nowhere to be found.  Throughout the day of fishing we filled the livewell with an assortment of different species.  That night we filleted 20+ fish and put them on ice.  It was a smorgasbord of walleye, smallmouth bass, bluegill, and even one channel catfish I caught from the shore at camp.  It was a fish fry feast for the next three nights.

SATURDAY (April 28)

We slept in later than usual after being up for 40+ hours.  Once we were awake we left camp and headed south to a small canyon south of Red Canyon.  I don’t know the name of this canyon.  On arrival we noticed there were fish on the finder showing up in deeper water from 20-30 ft.  We drifted through them and I picked up a striped bass.  A couple more drifts produced one more striper from Rick.  It wasn’t enough action to hold our interest, so we left and made the drive up north to Scorup Canyon. The water this far north looked like chocolate milk, but we have a special cove in the back of Scorup that always seems to produce crappie, so we gave it a chance anyway.  The crappies were right where we left them last year and we were able to put a few beautiful “black mambas” in the boat.  Such a cool species of fish! 

We ended the night back in Ticaboo canyon where we found the most amazing topwater bite that I have ever experienced at Lake Powell.  We probably caught 2 bass to every 3 casts using topwater poppers.  Most the bass were small, but Rick did land one beautiful 2-3 pound largemouth that exploded on his popper.  It was awesome!  We continued to fish the hot topwater bite well into darkness and must have landed upwards of 50+ fish.  The weather was beautiful, and no wind made it perfect for topwater.  Definitely a night I will never forget.

SUNDAY (April 29)

We woke up to a stiff breeze from the south.  We headed into the back of Red Canyon to hide from the wind as much as possible, but it made fishing very difficult.  We found one little nook that seemed to be well protected from the wind and found a few largemouth bass on beds.  We had a couple pick up our baits and move them off their bed but were unable to pin a hook to any of them.  The wind was howling now, so we made our way into the main channel and used the wind to our advantage and drifted jigs at one of our well-known striper and walleye spots.  It’s a ridge that is elevated above the deep main channel bottom at the mouth of Red Canyon.  Rick landed one striper, but that was it.  The stripers were tough to find on this trip.

The wind had us worn out, so we headed back to our wind protected camp and waited for evening.  Shore fishing from camp produced a couple small channel cats and one bluegill.

That evening the wind died down a bit, but never did go away completely.  It was one of those annoying winds that circled around and would be calm for one minute and then miserable the next.  We fished Ticaboo Canyon and tried a few different methods.  Rick was drifting a jighead pinned with a worm off the side of the boat in approximately 15-20 ft of water.  I was pounding the shoreline with a jig/trailer and a marabou jig under a bobber.  Dylan was going back and forth using both methods.  Each method produced fish.  We caught walleye, smallmouth, largemouth, and bluegill.  The fishing was decent, but the unforgiving wind took a toll on us by the end of the night.

MONDAY (April 30th)

None of us had anything urgent to get home for, so our plan was to fish hard and go home late.  Mother nature decided to change our plans.  The wind was terrible and not letting up.  We decided to break camp and make the journey back to Bullfrog.  From there we hoped the wind would let up and we could fish around Bullfrog bay in the afternoon. 

Our 26-mile boat ride from camp back to Bullfrog was an adventure to say the least.  

By the time we made it to the boat ramp we were exhausted.  We trailered the boat then sat in the parking lot and ate lunch.  When we were done we examined the weather all around us.  We all got the feeling that this wind was not going anywhere anytime soon.  We hit the road and ended up driving through a blizzard in Spanish Fork Canyon.  It was just one of those days.

 CONCLUSION:

We cut this trip short by one day and adding in the lost day on Monday due to wind wasn’t enough time on the water.  Dylan was a fun addition to the team.  Some of the fishing techniques and species of fish were new to him, and it was fun to see him catch new species using new techniques like topwater baits and jigs.

The bass bite on this trip was flat out weird.  The first two days the water temps and air temps seemed like it should be the best fishing of our lives, but the fish didn’t seem to hold any consistent patterns. They seemed to come shallow in the evening and that’s when we did our best, but during the day we had a hard time finding them shallow or deep.

Typically, by the end of our Lake Powell trips we have most species dialed in.  If we want to catch walleye we know where to go, if we want to catch stripers we have a spot.  Bass, fish that cove. Crappie, over there. This trip was different, and our only consistent producer was Ticaboo Canyon for bass, and Scorup Canyon for crappie.  Stripers were hard to find in numbers, and we caught a lot of walleye, but they were random.  The smallmouth bass were everywhere, but outside of Ticaboo Canyon we never did find them in good numbers.  Largemouth bass were non-existent to everyone except Rick.  He probably caught 10-12, mostly in Ticaboo Canyon.  Shore fishing from camp was slow, and the wind was unacceptable!  All said its Lake Powell and we had a blast, caught and ate a ton of fish, and had an epic topwater bite that will go down in history. 

The big mama largemouth escaped us again this Spring.  Rick had her on for a second.  She was hidden in deep water next to a big rock in Ticaboo Canyon.  Rick made a good cast near the rock and she took his bait and headed straight to the surface, jumped out of the water a couple feet so we could get a good look at her, and then spit the hook back in our face.  It was probably a 5 pound bass.

We did get a good scorpion hunt in one night as well, and Rick brought one home as a pet.  It’s seriously creepy how many scorpions are out at night down there and even more creepy how well they glow when shining a black light on them.  Luckily this year they seemed to stay back behind our camp a little bit, unlike last year where they tried to sleep in our tent with us every night!

Goodbye San Diego

Fishing Time: March 19 and 20, 3:00 to 7:00 PM
Weather: Warm, breezy, T-70s
Moon Phase: 6% Moon
Location: El Capitan Reservoir
Best Bait: Live crawdad pinned to a 2/0 Owner mosquito hook.
Who Went:  Dunc

It’s my last week working in San Diego, and I have fished hard the last 4 1/2 months and had an absolute blast. To finish off my trip, I decided that I was going to take it easy, buy some live crawdads, and go find a nice rock to sit on at El Capitan Reservoir.  I wanted time to enjoy the beautiful scenery that I have learned to love here in Southern California.  Little did I know, I was about to have two of the best nights of fishing that I’ve ever experienced!

I found a great rock along the shoreline of El Cap to sit on.  It provided a comfy seat and a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and sunset.  I tossed my first crawdad out to wander around the lake bottom.  My hope was that a large bass might come and pick it up, but that never happened.  Instead it was the Blue Catfish that wanted to play.  Currently they are spawning and in shallow water.  I was using 6 lb test line and found out that it doesn’t hold up well to the big kitty cats and the first few bites ended with my line being cut right at the hook.  It was getting frustrating, but on the fourth bite of the night I finally got a hook to hold and was able to see what I was working with.  It was an albino blue catfish over 10 pounds!  I didn’t have a scale, but it was big, and after looking at the sharp little teeth that lined its mouth, I understood why my 6 lb test wasn’t holding up.

So, I added some 40 lb braid as leader and that was the ticket! No more break offs.  I continued to catch monster blue cat one after another.  It was so much fun.  They would run forever on my 6 lb set up, but it held strong and the braided leader kept the razor-sharp teeth from breaking me off.  I also had something happen that I’ve yet to experience.  I hooked into something big and I will never know what it was.  I only had about a half a spool of 6 lb test on my reel and this fish had no intentions of stopping.  I tried to tighten my drag, but nothing seemed to work.  I played it as long as I could but finally ran out of line and heard the dreaded pop!  No more line on my reel and the fish was gone.  I will never know how big it was, but I now have a fish story to tell for years to come.  With catfish in this lake up to 60 pounds it’s anyone’s guess.

I bumped up my game and went to my baitcaster reel rigged with 40 lb braid and no leader.  I didn’t get many bites on the bigger braid, but finally a good one ran away with my crawdad.  I set the hook and another epic battle was on.  This time my heavier rod and line stood up to the task and the biggest cat I have ever caught was landed.  I had no way of weighing the fish, but my guess is around 20 pounds.  

I will forever remember my epic blue cat battles, and what a great way to end my fishing adventure in San Diego!