Yuba Reservoir, UT

It was one of those weekends where my wife and I went to  visit our kin back in Utah.  My family wanted to take the boat out and play on the tubes and such.  I convinced my dad and brothers to head down before the ladies and get some fishing in.

We left the house around 6 and arrived at Yuba at 7.  It was a beautiful morning, and we quickly got to casting. My brother got snagged pretty hard and while they were undoing that mess I kept casting.

I landed a cast about 3 feet from shore and gave a quick couple of cranks.  Suddenly my lure was yanked to a halt...fish on!  

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What a fight!

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That fight was what dreams are made of...

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Now I love trout, but I can definitely see why people get addicted to chasing pike.  The fish took many line-peeling runs before deciding to get its picture taken.

 We let the adrenaline subside and kept fishing.  Soon I had another yank at my line, but it felt much smaller.  I was surprised to bring in this guy on  such a large lure.

Greedy little thing, but a welcome sight.  We kept on fishing, hoping to get lucky.  Some time went by and we were all in a quiet lull.  That silence was broken when my brother's pole bent over.  Another heart pumping fight was underway!

Way to go Riley!

We went to Yuba with low expectations and not a lot of knowledge on chasing pike.  The good Lord smiled on us that day.  All fish were caught on spoon like lures and released.  Both fish were around 36" and fat! 

Life is short, live it well!

This is the Grand Mesa

Exploring this mountain has been one of my favorite parts of living in western Colorado.  It’s simply a beautiful place with fishy water in abundance.  A couple recent visits have been very productive for me.

My first trip was in search of the allusive grayling.  Throughout most of the year I am very lucky to find these guys.  However, if you learn when and where to look, you can increase your chances.  There aren’t a lot of grayling on the mountain so I appreciate tight lips.

My second trip was spent exploring some new brook trout lakes.  Brookies always seem to put a smile on my face.  I’m searching the mountain for the jumbo brooks that I hear rumors about.  I haven’t found them yet, but I have a couple more hunches.  The standard marabou jigs seemed to do a wonder on these guys.

For my last trip I brought the tube along and was set on floating a hike in lake I had never been to.  I geared up and made the hike.  It was just over a mile.  I arrived and sat on the shore waiting for any sign of life…none came. I walked around the small lake, casting as I went, but nothing happened.  The only life I could see was a small frog.  Bummer…it looked so promising too. 

Not wanting to call it a day yet, I set my sites on a cutthroat lake.  Many of the cuts were still doing the dance in the inlet, but I decided to get in the tube anyways.  There were several other fisherman, which really bummed me out, but there was not a lot of catching going on.  A little brook came first.

Finally I dialed in on the presentation and color they wanted.  They were small, but fun.

I finally found one with a little heft and fight.  An awfully cute cuttie too.

That was a great fish to top off the trip.  I'm positive there'll be many more stops on the Grand Mesa this summer.

Life tends to be short, live it well.

Lookie what I found

Took a long walk through mud and snow to a couple lakes that I've been suspicious about.  I've lived in Colorado for about two years and still have a lot to explore.  Found mostly stocker rainbows and a few small brookies.  

However, I did stumble across these guys....

Tiger trout in Colorado.  That should put a smile on your face.

Life is short so live it well.