Another Adventure by the BilletHead's UTAH!

[Ham]

4 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

             Well with Ness trying to change the subject about his messed up sense of taste and Ham being confused that there are some fundamentalist offshoots of the latter day saints still practicing polygamy here in the united states I suppose we should move on. .  

  BilletHead

I'm confused why you would be considering rolling the dice on additional spouses when you've already hit the lottery with your wife. It's all downhill from where you are now. 

[BilletHead]

      Part four the Bonneville Cutthroat,

   Well after some really good wild turkey carnitas topped with a good dose of cilantro , a shower and another good nights sleep were up and at it again.   Broke down camp and headed to Wally World for essentials.  Gassed up the rig and then to the local Utah Division of wildlife resources office looking for more helpful maps. Greeted as we entered by two nice ladies sitting behind the desk. What can we help you with they asked? I told them about our quest for the Cuttslam. Not sure if they were impressed or not but they acted that way. No maps were found we did not already have I asked if there might be a fisheries biologist on duty. They checked and out came a very young man. What do you need. I explained what was going on and he responded oh I am the warm water guy. I do lakes but I may be able to help you. I knew places marked on the map where we could get our last Cutt but asked for his input. Told him we wanted to catch a genetically pure one. He suggested the North Fork of the Ogden. Asked where we caught our others especially the Yellowstone. Thought it was great we got it where we did and said he had helped on the restoration of those fish. We asked him more about his job and had a neat visit. One thing he liked about his state was the variety and types of fisheries they have. Being a warm water guy he asked if we considered trying for them. I responded we do that all the time. What do you fish for? Well we mostly run the rivers chasing hybrids, he asked you mean wipers? Yep on the fly and whipped out the phone and showed him a nice one from three weeks before. His jaw about hit the floor . Wow we don't have any near that big here yet, what did you catch it on? I have no photo of that but explained the types of flies used. Told him I would fix him up when we get home. Man, was his response I cannot wait to tell so and so who thinks wipers are the only thing going about the picture and I will get a fly. He is going to be so jealous! 

    Well off we went back up another valley to the Ogden, found it and up farther we went. Parked, hydrated and stumbled down into the river. He had mentioned some beaver ponds but I think we dropped in above them. We found another overgrown stream that would be another challenge. We were up for it and proceeded to work the water best we could.  Put on the same flies we had caught our Bear River and Yellowstone fish on .Fish were found and started small,

   Some of my casts had to be like this. Couldn't get the Mrs. to try it,

   More tight places to navigate,

   Fish began to get better the farther we went,

  Then smaller and then better .

        Cuttslam complete we were hot and thirsty. I had forgot the water filtration bottle we worked our way in reverse back to the truck. Then found a shade pavilion and a water hydrant. Sitting in the shade removing our wet wading boots and then here comes an official truck. Uh oh busted I thought. Fellow asks what we were doing? I explained and wanted to know if he wants to leave? Heck no use all the shade and water you want! We visited more and he left. Out came a wash rag and that in conjunction with the ice cold water out of the hydrant made a refreshing break! We looked at each other, grabbed a map and planned our next move. Yes more fishing and exploring! The High Uintas would be next. Going to get interesting with something we have never caught before .

    BilletHead

[BilletHead]

53 minutes ago, Ham said:

I'm confused why you would be considering rolling the dice on additional spouses when you've already hit the lottery with your wife. It's all downhill from where you are now. 

          Unconfuse  yourself real quick friend,

          I would never condone  the lifestyle of polygamy or  trade of my gravy train of what I am blessed with here in BilletHeadVille . Besides I can hardly keep up with what I got. 

BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, BilletHead said:

          Unconfuse  yourself real quick friend,

          I would never condone  the lifestyle of polygamy or  trade of my gravy train of what I am blessed with here in BilletHeadVille . Besides I can hardly keep up with what I got. 

BilletHead

BH - You definitely have the better deal than the Mrs. ! Of course you keep her in flies, yard carp, and carnitas with lots of cilantro ! Maybe that's a fair trade if you throw in the dog.

[Johnsfolly]

Congratulations for both of you two completing the Utah Slam, but all these cutthroats are starting to look the same. Can't wait to see something different, maybe a chub, a cisco, or a whitefish!

[BilletHead]

7 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Congratulations for both of you two completing the Utah Slam, but all these cutthroats are starting to look the same. Can't wait to see something different, maybe a chub, a cisco, or a whitefish!

         I knew you would be looking for something different but that isn't going to happen although I was hoping for a non targeted species for a bonus. The word bonus I suppose does not fit because everything else we will be catching is a bonus . 

  BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

Check the Leaderboard buddy. Even though you two just keep catching trout, you're making good progress with your Utah adventures☺! 

[BilletHead]

  Part 5 High Uintas  1

     Leaving the North Fork of the Ogden we had to drop down to another canyon for another ascent to the Uintas. Followed the upper Provo higher and higher into the Wasatch Forest ending up into the high Uinta wilderness. A split in the road gave us two options. One going to Trial lake and the other Crystal Lake. Above both of these lakes that have campgrounds are higher scattered lakes that must be hiked to. So which way to go? We decided to go right to Trial lake. First thing we seen pulling into the campground was helicopters working in the distance. First thought was maybe a fire but no smoke? We circled the camping area a couple times like a dog circling his bed before laying down. Found a perfect place that had no reservation tag. Tag did not mean anything if it was not dated for the night we would be there. We chose two nights here Planning on a hike first thing in the morning. Campground host came by and we did the paperwork and monetary exchange. Asked about the helicopters. His answer was they had been looking the last two days for a missing hiker. Said the guy went in for a day hike to a lake and his family said he did not come home. His vehicle still at the trailhead . Pretty sad deal we thought but in the back of our minds we thought with all this high tech looking they will find him. So a campfire was started and dinner was prepared. How about venison shoulder that had been braised in red wine? Sides of mac and cheese and homegrown tomatoes? Pretty tasty my friends,

      The Mrs. loves to play in the fire,

      Sorry but we are going to have to break this up in two posts. Won't let me do all the pictures in one so we will first do the hike in to our lake to be fished. Star lake will be our destination. Starting at the truck we had to walk halfway around the lake where we were camped, go up the little stream feeding that lake and follow it up to Star. We loaded small packs with a snack, water filtration bottle, files and fly gear and our rods and reels. Light was the deal as the BilletHead can go far slowly but not with a load,

      So we had not gone very far when out of the corner of my eye I see movement, Pine Martens! Two of them posing for a quick photo,

    View from along the lake we traveled along,

     Part of the trail we had to follow with lots of deadfall to maneuver over or around,

 

  The trail up the drainage between the lakes,

 A ways up this part of the trail Pat says hey I see something in the roots at the base of this pine looking at me. Huh? By the time I caught up nothing was there. I asked what was it. I don't know it was small and had little beady eyes . We laughed and looked back to see it and it's little beady eyes looking back. I said it's an ermine pretty loud and excided and it disappeared before I could get the camera. In it's brown phase but soon it would of turned white with a black tipped tail. How cool we thought. As we hit the rise we were greeted with this view,

  We will start fishing next installment,

 BilletHead

[BilletHead]

24 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Check the Leaderboard buddy. Even though you two just keep catching trout, you're making good progress with your Utah adventures☺! 

        Just trout,  ha ! it is more likely where we are catching them .

BilletHead

[ness]

There's some crazy stuff in this here thread. Sorry for my part in creating it. 

Now, Utah cutt slam -- that's pretty cool. And you did it in the first few days, right?

Man, I've got to find some space in this cluttered up life  of mine to get out more while I can still walk. I've got Greenback, Colorado River and Rio Grande on the life list. I'm ashamed to say how long it's been since my last one. I'll just have to live vicariously through you two for now. 

When's the next episode? I'm on the edge of my seat 😄