Wind, Waders, and Wrong Turns on the Boulder Mountain

Location: Boulder Mountain

Fishing Time: August 27-30, 2026

Weather: Stormy, high winds, off and on rain

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Best Baits: Hares Ear, Copper John, Chironomids (red)

Who Went: Casey Davies, Dunc

A few weeks ago, my buddy Casey and I loaded up for a few days of camping and fishing on Boulder Mountain. The weather forecast looked questionable from the start, and it didn't disappoint. Storm clouds seemed to circle us for most of the trip, but somehow we managed to avoid the worst of the heavy rain. What we couldn't escape, however, was the wind. It seemed to blow nonstop, changing directions whenever it felt like it and making fishing a challenge every day.

We set up camp near the Fish Creek turnoff. Casey brought his camper along with his side-by-side, which ended up being one of the best parts of the trip. Instead of packing gear around on foot, we could load everything up and comfortably explore different lakes across the mountain.

Our first day was spent fishing Fish Creek and Beaver Dam. Casey is still new to fly fishing, but he was determined to learn and stick with it. 

We spent the day nymph fishing with chironomids and Hare's Ears and experimented with a few streamers whenever the conditions allowed. Unfortunately, the constantly swirling wind made casting streamers and dry flies downright miserable. We eventually settled on indicator fishing and the fish started to cooperate.

At Fish Creek, I landed several nice trout throughout the day. Beaver Dam wasn't nearly as productive, but it did give up what was probably my best brook trout of the entire trip. Casey, on the other hand, had a tougher time. Still, he kept at it with a good attitude.

The next morning, we decided to explore the other side of the mountain and headed for Donkey Reservoir and Left-Hand Reservoir. After arriving at Donkey and unloading our gear, I discovered my waders were still back at camp. Not ideal after an hour ride to get there in the side by side.

While Casey launched his float tube and headed out onto the reservoir, I was stuck fishing from shore. The shallow water and thick weeds surrounding the lake made it nearly impossible to fish effectively. After a couple of hours, neither of us had managed a single bite. We packed up and drove over to Left-Hand Reservoir, hoping for better luck. Unfortunately, the reservoir was so low it barely looked fishable, so we drove back to camp.

That evening we returned to the familiar waters of Fish Creek near camp. Massive storm clouds surrounded the mountain, and rain could be seen falling all around us, but once again we escaped with only a few scattered showers. The wind, however, seemed stronger than ever.

As I worked through different fly patterns, I started noticing a trend. Red seemed to be the color. I tied on a Copper John and immediately started finding success. Several feisty tiger trout came to hand, along with a couple of quality brook trout and one splake. 

Casey continued to battle through the learning process. Despite the slow fishing, he never got discouraged and kept casting.

On our final morning, we broke camp with plans to fish the East Fork of the Sevier River. Overnight storms had other ideas. Heavy rain had turned the river into a muddy mess, and as we drove through the area, it became clear just how much water had fallen. The towns of Circleville, Junction, and Marysvale had experienced significant flooding. Debris lined the roadsides, flooded buildings could be seen from the highway, and the aftermath of the storms was everywhere.

With our final fishing plans washed away, we pointed the truck toward home. Although the wind never stopped blowing, the weather never fully chased us off the mountain either. We caught fish, explored new water, spent time around camp, and enjoyed a few days away in the high country. In the end, that's all the excuse we needed for a successful trip.

The Fish We Never Expected

Location: Jordanelle Reservoir

Fishing Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Weather: Sunny, warm, breezy

Moon Phase: 75% Waning Moon

Best Bait: Deep diving crankbait

Who Went: Devin Duncan, Addison Duncan, Dayton Duncan, Dylan Covili, Jackson Sanders, Brooklyn Olsen, Dunc

We spent a family beach day at Jordanelle Reservoir, renting a pavilion high above the shoreline. Thanks to low water levels, the beach sat nearly a quarter mile down a steep hill. It took several trips to haul kayaks, paddleboards, coolers, and chairs to the water, but the effort was worth it.

As the sun dipped toward the horizon, I took the kids out in the boat for one last hour of fishing near the dam. We were casting for trout and smallmouth bass, and after a slow evening, Dayton's shout broke the silence.

"Fish on! It's a musky!"

He was fighting the fish on 8-pound test with a small crankbait tied on. Expecting the line to snap at any moment, I watched as he stayed calm and worked the fish closer. Minutes later, we slipped the net under a hard-fighting 30-inch musky.

It was the first musky my boys had ever seen, and they were excited. The musky was the only catch of the night, but it turned an ordinary evening into a life long memory.

Pineview Musky and Bass

Location: Pineview Reservoir

Fishing Time: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Weather: calm and partly cloudy most the day. Breezy in the afternoon.  Temps were cool but nice, ranging from 60-75 degrees.

Moon Phase: 98% Waning Moon

Water Temp: 65 degrees

Best Baits: Spinnerbait in white or crappie patterns

Who Went: Casey Davies, Dunc

Casey invited me on a trip to Newton Reservoir on his pontoon boat that he just outfitted with a new Minn Kota trolling motor.  His dog Charlie joined us and sits like a human!

On the way to Newton Reservoir, I mentioned that Pineview is also good at this time of year, and half the driving distance.  We made a quick decision and got off the next exit headed to Pineview Reservoir.

We arrived to cool temps and calm waters.  The Port Ramp where I usually launch was closed so we launched at Anderson Cove.  After launching we motored across from Anderson and started working our way up towards cemetery point.  We tried a few different lures before I landed a few quickly on a white spinnerbait.

After making our way around the point we moved into party cove where Casey landed one small bass but that was all the cove was willing to give up. Next stop was the private marina where I landed a few more smallmouth before we made our move to the narrows.  

On my first cast in the narrows, I had a small musky swipe at my spinnerbait right next to the boat.  Made me so mad I missed him!

We weren’t having much luck in the narrows until I put on a green pumpkin senko and then it was game on!  Caught quite a few on it before it finally turned off.  The wind picked up by this time, so we decided to try out luck trolling, but that produced nothing.

Not ready to give up yet we went back to the run across from Anderson Cove and started casting the white spinnerbait again.  On one of my retrieves, I was not far from the boat and out of nowhere a good-sized musky came up and inhaled my spinnerbait.  I yelled to Casey, Musky!  He had the net ready but not before the musky decided to make a big run.  I was worried as I didn’t have a leader on and didn’t want to lose it.  Luckily, I was able to get it to the boat for a couple photos before releasing him back.  He swam off strong and I was thrilled!  Been a while since I caught a musky. 

We continued working up the bank and into the cove near the ramp at Cemetery Point and just like the first musky I had another small one shoot up to my bait like a rocket and I was hooked up again!  This was a small one, but still a musky!  What a fun trip with multiple smallmouth and two muskies!

Big Smallmouth at Lake St Clair, Michigan

Location: Lake St Clair and the St Clair River

Fishing Time: May 18-22

Weather: Rain and Wind the entire trip.  Temperature ranged from high 50s to 70s. Wind gusts were over 25 mph every day and night.

Moon Phase: 5% Waxing Moon

Water Temps: 48-52 degrees in the St Clair River, and 62-67 degrees in Lake St Clair

Best Baits: St Clair River – vampire colored fluke with a stinger on a 1 oz jig head. Lake St Clair – white or green pumpkin minnow on a drop shot rig

Who Went: Bobber John, Sean Mitchell, Dunc

We rented an Airbnb on the famous Lake St Clair just outside of Detroit, Michigan during the smallmouth spawn.  Lake St Clair is known to produce smallmouth bass over 6 pounds, with 4-pound bass being common. We hit the spawn just right, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate.  The first two days were monsoon like rain most of the day and the rest of the trip was a consistent 15-20 mph wind with gusts over 30 mph!  Not ideal conditions, especially with the lake being shallow water.  When the wind picks up the lake is terrifying.

We rented an Airbnb right on the lake which added to the ambiance of the trip.  Instead of a day by day report I’m just going to summarize our results from the lake and the river. 

LAKE ST CLAIR – With some research we found a good area where the smallmouth were spawning.  The water was never calm enough to sight fish, but the number of boats congregated in one area gave it away.  

We joined the masses and did well catching multiple 3-4 pound smallmouth for stretches with other times during high winds and waves where it slowed down significantly.  Our biggest bass of the trip was a 4.1-pound smallmouth caught by Bobber John.  

I had a few good runs where I caught a lot of 3-pound fish in a short period of time.  I think with good weather our entire trip would have been consistent catching.  The best producing bait was a green pumpkin power minnow rigged on a drop shot rig.  The fish were spawning in water from 5-8 feet deep.

We fished the canals and marinas off Lake St Clair a little bit with most of our success coming from the metro park area where I landed a few decent largemouth bass on a weightless senko.  Other areas produced nothing and I think the post storm cold had them cranky. I really wanted to try musky fishing, but the wind and waves made it to difficult to even try.

ST CLAIR RIVER – The river was beautiful flowing with glacier water coming down from Lake Huron.  It reminded me of the same turquoise blue I’m used to seeing in Bear Lake, Utah. The fishing was slow, but we did land enough walleye to keep us interested. The river moves quick and the key is to keep your bait vertical as possible while drifting.

We also fished the marinas and bays off the river where we found quite a few northern pike willing to bite, and a few smallmouth bass as well.  The river and its bays were much colder water which the pike seemed to like.  At times we were getting follows or bites on every cast.  I ended up catching one decent pike that may have went 30-inches with a bit more shoulders than the rest of our catches.

We also tried sturgeon fishing on the river for a couple hours on our last day but didn’t get a bite before the boat batteries died and ended our trip a couple hours earlier than expected.

ADVENTURES – Other adventures on the trip were a couple nights of spotlighting where we found some very cool creatures of the night.  We were able to catch two giant snapping turtles.  This was on my bucket list so it made my entire trip!  

We also found a cool mud puppy which is apparently a rare find! It was so cool and I didn’t know they existed. We also netted a long nose gar to get a closer look and they are weird looking.  I didn’t realize how bony and tough their skin was. 

The last adventure was me renting a car on the last day of the trip and driving across the country to get home!  I skipped my flight in Cincinnati, Ohio and drove across Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming before making it back to my home state of Utah after 24 hours of driving.  I stayed one night in Lincoln, Nebraska to break it up. It was fun but exhausting. I’ve always wanted to do it, but I think it was a one and done.  It was a lot of driving!

Detroit, Michigan

Lake Michigan, Illinois

Iowa City, Iowa

Lincoln, Nebraska

Cheyenne, Wyoming