Before I go on with my blog, I would do a huge injustice to "the man" Denny Rickards, if I did not mention his name. He is a fly fishing genius when it comes to fishing still waters and just about all of the fish caught in lakes were on his flies.
GUILD RANCH
If we could do our trip over again we would have fished Guild Ranch last. I would not say that our trip was ruined by fishing Guild first, but theses were the fatest fish I have ever seen in my life. The rest of the trip went like this, "how big is that fish?", "oh he's decent, only 20 inches or so, but not Guild big".
The fish above is probably the fattest fish that I have caught in my life. He was 23 inches long and a true pig. The fish below is easily the nicest fish I have ever seen in my life. This one was a tiger trout and has a beautiful dorsal hump and hooked jaw.
This fish below that Jarron caught is a true football!
Another nice fish with a hooked jaw!
This fish had the spot pattern on his eyes with lots of spots all over his body.
I caught and landed this duck, heck of a fight. I casted way above where this duck was; however he swam over my flies as I was stripping them in. I saw him look down at my flies and I guess he thought they were real bugs because he dove under to eat them and wham... duck on!
This river was really good for us in the morning and we caught quite a few fish mainly using small nymphs under a grasshopper. I am not going to even try to tell you how big these fish were because it has been a long week with lots of big fish, so I don't remember. Some of the bigger fish were 20 to 21 inches long.
This fish below was foul hooked right into his eye.
Who wants to see my face anyways!
This Tiger was 23 inches long, but fairly skinny. I don't know if catching this fish was divine intervention or not, you look at the picture and tell me.
Nice little tiger with cool spot pattern.
This fish below that Jarron caught is a true football!
Another nice fish with a hooked jaw!
This fish had the spot pattern on his eyes with lots of spots all over his body.
I caught and landed this duck, heck of a fight. I casted way above where this duck was; however he swam over my flies as I was stripping them in. I saw him look down at my flies and I guess he thought they were real bugs because he dove under to eat them and wham... duck on!
Hams Fork
On our way to the Hams just outside of Kemmerer we ran into a herd of sheep. Jarron was is the white car in front and was honking his horn at these sheep but they would not move out of his way.
This river was really good for us in the morning and we caught quite a few fish mainly using small nymphs under a grasshopper. I am not going to even try to tell you how big these fish were because it has been a long week with lots of big fish, so I don't remember. Some of the bigger fish were 20 to 21 inches long.
Calder
We drove straight to Calder from the Hams and got there about 9:30 tuesday night, set up our tent and finally got to eat dinner. When you fish hard all day you usually forget about eating. Calder almost always produces nice fish that fight hard. Jarron hooked into a monster fish that took him into some weeds and ended up busting his sage fly rod into two.
This fish below was foul hooked right into his eye.
Who wants to see my face anyways!
Tiger Lake
Thursday morning we got up and drove over to Tiger Lake. The fishing was tough here because apparently according to some guy with a fish finder the fish were sitting on the bottom about 20 ft down. I switched over to a full sinking line with a big heavy fly and picked up two fish back to back.
This Tiger was 23 inches long, but fairly skinny. I don't know if catching this fish was divine intervention or not, you look at the picture and tell me.
Nice little tiger with cool spot pattern.Strawberry
Fishing at Tiger Lake was super slow so we cruised over to Strawberry where we caught a bunch of fish. Usually we catch a few nicer fish at strawberry that are around 22 inches or bigger however the fish seemed smaller and thin. Below are pics of my two biggest fish and Jarron caught some nicer ones just over 20 inches.
My dad went to Strawberry today and got skunked. Strawberry can be spotty in the fall, but when it's hot it's hot. I wish I was there.
ReplyDeleteGarrett- Was your dad on the shore or in the lake? On Thursday it was busy at strawberry and all the bait casters were catching fish and we were not at first. We had sinking lines on and would count to 45 before stripping in line slowly so the fish were down a ways.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was on the shore. I'm not sure how long he was there.
ReplyDeleteI just realized in one of your pictures, it looks like you were using a mouse pattern. Did you catch anything on the mouse?
ReplyDeleteNo, It sort of looks like a mouse but it is a rabbit furr streamer with a heavily weighted head. I used it to get down to the bottom at lake canyon. Most of our fish caught were on an AP emerger and a still water nymph that denny rickards ties. Hes got some good pics on his web site. His flies work well!
ReplyDeleteGarret- On the news last monday some old timer caught a 34 inch cutt out of strawberry! They said it was the biggest fish out of the lake since they poisoned the lake back in the 90's. Look it up on ksl.com, nice fish.
ReplyDeleteWow, I am jealous. I would really like to join you on a trip like this. Looks like you all accomplished your mission of catching some fat fish.
ReplyDeleteTodd M
Todd- Next fall we are headed to Henrys Lake in Idaho for even bigger fish. Just put it on the calander and plan on being there!
ReplyDelete