Weather: Perfect, clear and sunny
Moon Phase: 81% Moon
Location: Deep Creek, Fremont River, and Forsyth Reservoir
Bait: Jigs, Spinners, and Worms
Who Went: Mike, Kelly, Casey and Cy Hansen, My Dad, Me
Hunting season is here and my dad drew out for an antelope tag down on the Parker Mountain, near Loa, Utah. He invited me to go and I told him yes, but only because I knew the antelope hunt really meant a fishing trip on the Boulder Mountain. We got down to Torrey, Thursday night and after sitting around the fire talking about what great athletes we all were, we went to bed preparing to go fishing the next day. It was bright and early on Friday at about 1:00 p.m. when we finally left camp to go fish! My dad and his buddies are not the fastest moving bunch, and we debated on where to go forever, but with the recent struggles with my dad's health we knew we couldn’t go anywhere that involved hiking, and if you’ve ever fished on the Boulder Mountain you know that there are only a select few amount of lakes that you can drive to. The decision was finally made and we made the trek over to Deep Creek Lake on Thousand Lake Mountain. The fall colors were absolutely gorgeous and I snapped photos all the way up the mountain.
Once we got to Deep Creek I loaded up my float tube with all my gear and made the short 100 yard walk to the lake. The lake is just as I remembered it and looked so cool with the quakies in full fall colors!
I launched the tube and began casting and jigging an olive marabou jig working the shorelines and the middle of the lake. Soon after launching my tube, my dad made his way up the mountain and hiked to the far end of the lake where he slowly rigged up his famous worm and power nugget combo and casted only ten feet from the opposite shoreline.
I continued to fish almost every inch of the lake without a bite and then looked over to see my dad reeling in a nice 15-16 inch Brook Trout with beautiful pre-spawn colors. We took a picture, sent him on his way, and went back to fishing.
My old man still has the Brook Trout touch, but unfortunately it ended up being the only fish caught all day. Deep Creek holds some nice Brook Trout, but has never been known for giving away many fish. Saturday we woke up early and went looking for some antelope on the Parker Mountain. We were shocked and disappointed in how many hunters we saw and how few antelope were on the mountain. The DNR has removed a lot of antelope from the Parker to repopulate other areas of the state and it looks as if they may have taken a few too many. With a tough winter last year and the relocation program that’s taken place by the Division of Wildlife Resources, the antelope heards look like they have been obliterated. It didn’t help that they also combined what is usually an early hunt and a late hunt into one big hunt giving out over 300 tags, which made the mountain look like Disneyland with people everywhere! We were so discouraged that we didn’t even go back to hunt that evening, but went fishing instead. We ran over to the Fremont River to a spot where my dad loves to fish. I put my waders on and headed down river with thoughts of my last trip walking this same stretch of river and catching brown trout one after another. Unfortunately this trip was not a repeat and I only managed one bite and no fish! I couldn’t believe it, I've never been skunked on the Fremont River. The next day my dad and I stopped at Forsyth Reservoir for a quick cast or two before heading home. We both had bites and I had two tiger trout hooked that decided to spit my spinner back in my face. The fish were following my lure all the way to the shoreline, but I never could quite land one. Most people would think it’s a bummer of a fishing trip to not catch anything, and I would usually agree with them, but I don’t get out much with my old man anymore and especially to a place that is so beautiful it leaves you stunned at times. A good fishing trip that I won’t soon forget! Oh and Dad... I'm back as a Yankee fan!
Once we got to Deep Creek I loaded up my float tube with all my gear and made the short 100 yard walk to the lake. The lake is just as I remembered it and looked so cool with the quakies in full fall colors!I launched the tube and began casting and jigging an olive marabou jig working the shorelines and the middle of the lake. Soon after launching my tube, my dad made his way up the mountain and hiked to the far end of the lake where he slowly rigged up his famous worm and power nugget combo and casted only ten feet from the opposite shoreline. I continued to fish almost every inch of the lake without a bite and then looked over to see my dad reeling in a nice 15-16 inch Brook Trout with beautiful pre-spawn colors. We took a picture, sent him on his way, and went back to fishing. My old man still has the Brook Trout touch, but unfortunately it ended up being the only fish caught all day. Deep Creek holds some nice Brook Trout, but has never been known for giving away many fish. Saturday we woke up early and went looking for some antelope on the Parker Mountain. We were shocked and disappointed in how many hunters we saw and how few antelope were on the mountain. The DNR has removed a lot of antelope from the Parker to repopulate other areas of the state and it looks as if they may have taken a few too many. With a tough winter last year and the relocation program that’s taken place by the Division of Wildlife Resources, the antelope heards look like they have been obliterated. It didn’t help that they also combined what is usually an early hunt and a late hunt into one big hunt giving out over 300 tags, which made the mountain look like Disneyland with people everywhere! We were so discouraged that we didn’t even go back to hunt that evening, but went fishing instead. We ran over to the Fremont River to a spot where my dad loves to fish. I put my waders on and headed down river with thoughts of my last trip walking this same stretch of river and catching brown trout one after another. Unfortunately this trip was not a repeat and I only managed one bite and no fish! I couldn’t believe it, I've never been skunked on the Fremont River. The next day my dad and I stopped at Forsyth Reservoir for a quick cast or two before heading home. We both had bites and I had two tiger trout hooked that decided to spit my spinner back in my face. The fish were following my lure all the way to the shoreline, but I never could quite land one. Most people would think it’s a bummer of a fishing trip to not catch anything, and I would usually agree with them, but I don’t get out much with my old man anymore and especially to a place that is so beautiful it leaves you stunned at times. A good fishing trip that I won’t soon forget! Oh and Dad... I'm back as a Yankee fan! 
Just as we were about to lose hope my cousin spotted a four point elk wandering through the trees about 100 yards from us. We contemplated whether it was big enough to shoot, but decided it wasn’t. We hiked up and out of the canyon and met Dick and Dax by the road and headed back to the trailer. We asked Dax what he wanted to do for the afternoon and he adamantly said, “I want to go fishing!” He’s a kid after my own heart. We loaded up the fishing and hunting gear and headed down to the lake. We launched the boat and began fishing, but our spirits unfortunately weren’t as high about fishing as they normally are. Not only was it the worst time of day to fish, but we had been up at 5:00 a.m. hunting and hiking mountains, so we were wore out physically. Not Dax though, he was ready to fish and he was catching them all by himself with no help.
I kept dozing off at the front of the boat and by 4:00 p.m. the hot sun had taken its toll and we decided to hit the mountain and find a shade tree to sit under while we waited for the elk to start to move. We pulled the boat up on shore and anchored it to a pine tree making sure it wouldn’t wander anywhere while we were gone, and then hiked up the mountain to our spot. We waited for three and a half hours watching this canyon without seeing or hearing a dang thing and decided to call it a night early so that we didn’t have to drive the boat back in the dark.
Just as we were walking down the mountain to leave I took my binoculars and glassed a hill that was hidden from where I had just sat for hours. I saw two nice Bulls and a group of cows about a half mile up the canyon. We debated whether we would have enough time to get to them before dark, and decided to go for it. Phil and I ran up the mountain and got into a position where we felt we were pretty close to them. We got on the radio and called down to my Uncle Dick and asked him if the elk were still there. He told us they had wandered over the hill and no sooner after he said that we heard one of the bulls bugle and knew they were not close, so we called it a night. We went back to the trailer and ate more steak and potatoes than you should have in five sittings and then crashed! Next morning we all woke up early again, except Dax, he was not in the mood for another early wakeup call and Phil had to dress him in his sleep, but soon enough he was awake and ready to hunt again. I have to say that Dax is one of the coolest 6 year old kids I’ve been around. He’s not annoying like most kids his age who ask a million questions about nothing and never leave you alone. He kept up with us the whole trip and never complained while hiking or hunting, even when we sat there for four hours straight not making a sound and I felt like I was going to pull my own hair out. He just hung out like the big boys and even declined his coat when I thought I was going to freeze to death! What a little stud!
I also learned quite a few baseball stats over the weekend because Dax’s favorite thing to do is look up baseball scores and stats via internet on his dad’s phone about his favorite team the Brave’s. I tried to recruit him over to the good side and route for the Yankees, but his dad’s pretty much got him brainwashed to be a lifelong Atlanta fan! This morning’s hunt started with Dick driving us around to all the spots where he has seen elk in the past. Dick rides horses up there religiously and knows every nook and cranny of those mountains, so he put us right where the elk were every morning and night. He pulled his truck off to the side of the road and parked it, and we hiked up and over a ridge to a lookout spot and instantly I spotted another bull sitting behind a bush. It was a good find and I felt pretty proud about it! We watched him for probably around a half hour debating whether he was a shooter or not, but came to the decision that it wasn’t quite big enough, and by then the sun was coming up and the day was getting hot, so we called the morning hunt complete and headed back to the trailer. I loaded my gear and got out of there. What a fun trip and good times hunting with the Bringhurst family. I love hiking and being in the mountains looking for big game. Fall is my favorite time of the year by far! 
He was ecstatic with the catch and is now addicted to lake trout fishing the same way I am. It took him 15-20 minutes to reel in and this is probably about 10 minutes longer than the normal fight for a 24 pound lake trout, so I thought it was going to be a 30+ pound fish, but it wasn’t to be. Either way it was a great fish and especially for your first lake trout ever!
About an hour later John hooked up again and landed another lake trout, but this one was smaller at around 8 pounds!
The presentation we used on this trip is what I call the inch-jig method and was taught to me by Captain Jim Williams. Jim is the best fishing guide Flaming Gorge has to offer and has taught me more about the big lake trout up there than I could have learned in a lifetime of fishing there. They are truly a difficult species to catch consistently, and I am not there yet, but I seem to get a little better each time I go. We finished the rest of the day without getting another hit and unfortunately Rick still hasn’t been lucky enough to enjoy the feeling of a big laker on the end of his line, but it will happen! The barrage of fishing boats on Flaming Gorge over the 24th is what I think killed the fishing, and I now realize why Captain Jim always tells me to run as far away from Flaming Gorge as you possibly can on a holiday weekend. Unfortunately for me, I have to go when I get the chance and can’t be picky choosy like he has the luxury of being! There was a considerable difference in the mood of the fish below us in the early morning hours on Saturday, compared to later in the day when there were 50 other boats dropping jigs on them.
The fish showed no interest in our jigs once the clan of other fisherman showed up. Live and learn I suppose! We woke up early on Sunday and fished for 2 hours before we had to be home for other commitments, but the fish were still in a cranky mood and again I think it had to do with all the fishing pressure from the day before. We loaded up and were off the lake by 8 a.m. and home by 11:30. Now I’m being tortured everyday with the thought of when I will get back up there. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later! 
Flaming Gorge is probably one of my favorite lakes to fish, camp and boat. Lake Powell has always been number one in my heart, but Flaming Gorge is making a good push for the lead. One year ago in August my buddy JJ's dad Ed called me and asked if I knew any good guides for Lake Trout at Flaming Gorge. It was an easy question to answer as there is only one guide at Flamining Gorge I would recommend to anybody and that is Captain Jim Williams. No one knows lake trout at Flaming Gorge like he does. I asked Ed why he was inquiring of a guide service and he told me that he was going to book him as a Christmas present to surprise JJ with. I told him that was a great idea and left it at that. Christmas morning I woke up and went through the usual hoopla of gift exchanging and spending time with family when I got a phone call from JJ. I answered the phone and said "Merry Christmas, I bet it was a good one for you,"and he replied back and said, "it's about to be for you too!" I asked him what he meant and he told me that his dad paid for an extra spot on the boat with the guide so that JJ could invite a buddy to go with him. I was that buddy! It was a long wait but we finally made it to that magical date of Monday July 12, 2010. Of course we had to go up early and spend the weekend fishing before going out with the guide on Monday. We got there Friday night and within 5 minutes of being at camp we were already on the water.
Friday was more of a find fish evening and no lake trout were landed, but we did get a good idea on where they were hanging out. Saturday was just one of those days that stick in your craw for awhile because we didn't get a hit all day long. We saw tons of fish and had them interested but they just wouldn't take the bait! By Saturday night I was pretty bummed out and I gave my dad a call to give him the report. He did his best to keep me in good spirits by telling me it was just one of those days and that tomorrow would be better. He helped my confidence by telling me he knew I could catch them because I have helped him and his buddy Mike catch them last year. It revived me a bit and I got a good nights rest and we were on the water again by 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning started just like Saturday with no bites and by 9:00 a.m. my hopes began to fade. Then I saw a racing mackinaw on my fish finder coming straight for my jig, I prepared for him to do as the rest of them had done and come up fast to take a look and then head on back down to the bottom, but this time he hammered my jig and I set the hook. JJ was taking a nap and I yelled fish on! It was a good but short fight until I landed this 9 pound mack.
Soon after letting the 9 pounder go I got hit again and pulled in a small 3-4 pound lake trout. This was it for the day, but at least we didn't get lake trout skunked. We did get to spend some time bass fishing, but I mostly caught rainbows. I put on a small crankbait and couldn't keep the rainbows off. They were nice healthy 17 inchers and fought well.
We caught a few bass as well, but with all the storms rolling in and out all day I think it effected the bass fishing drastically.
JJ began to wonder if we would even catch lake trout with our guide and I laughed at him and said, "you haven't met Captain Jim Williams!" This guy has spent 30 years perfecting techniques that will catch big lake trout at Flaming Gorge. JJ was biteless for lake trout for the entire weekend and he was pretty discouraged about it. Monday morning came around and I promised him that this was his day to land a big laker! He said all he wanted was a bite! We got on the water with the guide and we instantly started seeing fish everywhere! This guide knows exactly where to go and where the fish are at all times of the year. Ed was the first to get hit, and in fact he got 3 hits in a row, but couldn't quite put anything in the boat. I was the next to get hit and landed this 18 pound lake trout.
It was 10:00 a.m. by this time and we had two nice fish in the boat. Captain Jim is unbelievable at how he has you sitting on top of fish all morning long. I think that is the biggest difference between him and myself. I can master the methods needed to land them, but he knows the lake so well and always has you sitting on top of fish, while I have to do a little more searching in order to find them. I guess thats the advantage he has being out there everyday, and doing this for 30 years! It was a good trip as usual at the gorge and all I can think about is when I get to go back. I will leave you with pictures of all the storms we endured over the weekend. We never did get to much rain or wind so the storms were nice as they kept it cool and bearable.
It’s late June and I just barely made my first trip to 
The state record is 43 inches long and 24 pounds. Either way it was a fish of a lifetime and I was very excited to say the least. We took a bunch of photos with me and the pike and then let him swim away for others to enjoy.
Many people have asked me how I let a fish of that magnitude swim away and not bring it home, and the answer to that question is easy. A fish that old and big is not going to be worth eating because the meat is tough and it will taste very poor, but the number one reason I 
We landed quite a few channel catfish and Rick had the hot hand of the evening.
He landed his largest catfish ever which was a very nice 10 lb female whose belly looked like it was going to explode!
The waves got so bad that 
