Thursday, July 11, 2013

Trial Lake


To start off my fish count, I decided to fish at Trial Lake in the High Uintas. I grew up fishing here as a kid and it is where I learned the basics about fishing. If you are looking for a place to take your kids, or a guaranteed fish catching experience, Trial Lake and the rest of the High Uinta lakes are where you need to go. Typically the fish will bite on almost anything you put on the end of your line. A simple hook with a worm, a sinker about a foot from the hook, then a bobber another foot or two and you are set. Lures, power bait, and flies all work here as well! I started out using a "Joe's fly super striker" on my spinning rod. You can find them at various stores. I discovered them at Smith's grocery store. The one I used was a black fly with a red tail. The spinner helps attract the fish as you real it in. The package lists several different kinds of fish it can catch, and I have found that to be quite accurate in the past. I caught a nice tiger trout on my second cast. I caught one more with the same fly-spinner and then switched. I tried several lures but nothing else was working. I finally caught a small brook trout followed by a small rainbow trout with a worm and bobber. I noticed the fish kept taking flies on the surface so I pulled out my fly rod and tried about 7 different flies until I found one that worked! I caught 8 more tiger trout and had several more on the line but couldn't land them! The fish seemed to like it best when I moved the fly slowly on the surface. This is one of the tiger trout I caught!


JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Fishing takes patience. 
Sometimes you have to try an assortment of baits to see what is working. What bait is working changes day to day. It can also depend on what time of the day you fish. If you aren't catching fish, try something different. You could be one "fly" away from several fish!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Welcome to Joe's Fishing Files!

Welcome to Joe's Fishing Files! To start things off, I figured I would start with the fish that started my fishing obsession! A few years back, I went fishing at Strawberry Reservoir for some fall, evening fishing. I got on the lake in my float tube in the middle of the afternoon. My bait that day was a 3" salt and pepper tube jig. Prior to this fishing trip I had learned a little about how to use a tube jig. I learned the jigs sink about a foot/second. So, you cast the jig out, count however many seconds as you want it deep, then reel it in. I tried this method out and within the first five minutes of being in the water, I hooked my record catch!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Fish often hit lures or baits at odd moments. 
With this fish, I stopped reeling in to adjust my seating position,
 then the fish hit the jig. It was game on at that point!