September is Fishing Month

For those of you who don't know, fall can be one of the best times of year to fish for trout in Utah. I call September the best month to fish. In the fall, something special happens to the lakes. As the water surface cools, the lake begins to turn over. I'm not a scientist, but in a nutshell, the cold surface water drops down and the water that was deep comes up to the surface. 

When this happens, you start to see a ton of algae and seaweed near the surface. The algae becomes a food source for bugs. In return, the fish rise near the surface to take advantage of an all you can eat buffet! Although visibility can be low, somehow there still seems to be plenty of fish that will find your lure! 

Last week, I went fishing at Strawberry with my friend Mike, his family (Laura, Luxie, and Quinlin), his mother Sheri,  Matt and his daughter Cierra.  It was the perfect day for fishing up at Strawberry Reservoir. 

It didn't take long before we started catching fish. I caught a couple fairly quickly on a pink tube jig.

I have never used pink colored tube jigs before and wanted to give it a try. I tipped the jig with a worm. 

I got Laura and Matt rigged up with a pink tube jig. The next thing you know, Matt caught a nice cutthroat!

Matt and his daughter Cierra pose for a quick photo.

Mike got in on the action by catching a nice cutthroat on a pink colored lure. 

Fishing slowed down a little bit but we continued to have fun on the boat.

Luxie got in on the fishing action and reeled in some fish!

We didn't catch a record amount, but we seemed to catch enough fish to have an awesome day on the lake!

One of the cutthroat trout I caught was on a Lucky Craft Pointer. I have caught plenty on the 3 inch version, but this was a first catching one on a 5 inch pointer!

Laura finally got her number called, and she caught two nice fish back to back with a gold Jake lure!

Now the fishing day was complete!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

In the fall, the fish start feeding like crazy to get ready for the long Utah winters. As a result, fishing success often greatly increases! I've found most of my fall trout fishing success when I use 3 inch tube jigs. I've had success with salt and pepper, blue, bright yellow, green, white, and now pink tube jigs! If you've never given one a try, now's the time!

Silver Flat Reservoir

If you are looking for a place to get away from the crowds and enjoy some good fishing with your family, look no further than Silver Flat Reservoir! This lake is tucked in the mountains above Tibble Fork in American Fork Canyon. The water was low, but there were plenty of fish still in the lake. 

Fish were jumping out of the water all over the lake so I decided to use my fly rod. It didn't take long before I caught a couple brook trout.

 

The first fly I caught fish on was a parachute adams, or at least I think it was! I don't know all the names!

 

Here is a close up of the fly so you can see what it looks like.

I tried some other flies to see what works and caught some more on this fly. The colors are somewhat similar to that of the parachute adams, but the fly looks different. I'm not sure what this fly is called.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

If you can, bring a variety of fishing gear so you can adapt to the specific place you are fishing. Sometimes you will get to a lake and discover a spinning rod with a lure is going to be your best bet to catch fish. Other times, you will see fish jumping like crazy so a fly rod or a fly rig on a spinning rod would be best! The more variety of baits and gear you have can greatly increase your chances to catch fish!