Ut/Wy/Mt

[WestCentralFisher]

My internet glitched and double posted the previous comment, apparently.

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Only drawback was they were little fish, a 10" fish was a monster.  

Jeff the best part about multispeices fishing is that if it was a new species you are still excited regardless of the size😉.

[Devan S.]

As we came back east from the Raft River Mountains we made a quick pit stop along the Logan River. Hwy 89 runs along the river for miles and while technically we wanted to go way up we just did not have time. It was light in the flat land but the sun was low on the horizon and getting dark fast in the mountains. We made a quick stop just above Dam 3 and fished briefly for our Bear River Cutt. @Prifish was successful really quickly and I zeroed. We made our way back to town for supplies and to make a plan on for sleep. Our original plan had us driving up along the Mirror Lakes area but we had the option to sleep at the Logan River but there was no camping available in the lower parts. We never ventured very far along Hwy 89.

Unfortunately poor planning on our part. Pioneer day was last week in Utah so every campsite we had marked down as a potential sleep site was full. We even tried to find hotels but again zero availability. We basically ended up sleeping in the car on the shoulder of the road along the mirror lakes area. Finally arriving around 2am the next morning. 

[Devan S.]

Mirror Lakes/Upper Provo-

The goal here was Bonneville Cutts in the river and Tiger Trout in the lakes. We decided on a early hike to lake and then fish the river after lunch. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have just skipped all this chaos and proceeded but we tried to fight through. People everywhere, traffic, and poor signage for such high use areas. We got turned around and started at Washington lake. Took off hiking looking for Star lake. Could have bushwacked but didn't feel like it after a couple hours of sleep. Ended up on easy trail to Wall Lake. no service so we did not know what had been stocked or what to expect. Ended up with 1 brookie, I think. No picture. 

We fished the Upper Provo in a half a dozen spots. Caught several brookies and 1 tiger. No Bonnies.

By this point, we were beginning to get frustrated with the numbers of people and lack of fish besides Brook trout. It was mid-afternoon and we started to wonder about where we might find a spot for some sleep. We made a call the head to the upper Bear River closer to the WY line. Found good water, jumped in waded to the first bend and ran into 3 guys. Disgusted we packed back up and headed East looking for more remote areas. Have I mentioned all the SxS, 4 wheelers, and dirt bikes in the area? Everywhere ripping down the dirt roads. 

[Devan S.]

Utah Colorado Cutthroat-

East we headed. We met several groups of campers packing up heading back west and the farther we went, the less off road vehicle traffic we met. We still met a bunch of vehicles but nothing compared to the pavement of the Mirror Lakes area. We finally settled out at the East Fork of the Blacks Fork Campground. 

3 cars in the lot and some horses. Did not appear to be fisherman around. Water looked good and fishy and easy access. We split up and got to work. Brook trout, whitefish, and our target Colorado Cutthroat. 

Splitting up makes fish+human pictures harder. See exhibit A

But I did manage net pictures. Probably better for the fish anyways. 

We did not have to wade far and this was probably our favorite stream in Utah. 

[BilletHead]

40 minutes ago, Devan S. said:

Mirror Lakes/Upper Provo-

The goal here was Bonneville Cutts in the river and Tiger Trout in the lakes. We decided on a early hike to lake and then fish the river after lunch. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have just skipped all this chaos and proceeded but we tried to fight through. People everywhere, traffic, and poor signage for such high use areas. We got turned around and started at Washington lake. Took off hiking looking for Star lake. Could have bushwacked but didn't feel like it after a couple hours of sleep. Ended up on easy trail to Wall Lake. no service so we did not know what had been stocked or what to expect. Ended up with 1 brookie, I think. No picture. 

We fished the Upper Provo in a half a dozen spots. Caught several brookies and 1 tiger. No Bonnies.

By this point, we were beginning to get frustrated with the numbers of people and lack of fish besides Brook trout. It was mid-afternoon and we started to wonder about where we might find a spot for some sleep. We made a call the head to the upper Bear River closer to the WY line. Found good water, jumped in waded to the first bend and ran into 3 guys. Disgusted we packed back up and headed East looking for more remote areas. Have I mentioned all the SxS, 4 wheelers, and dirt bikes in the area? Everywhere ripping down the dirt roads. 

Bummer about Wall lake. We never caught a brook trout there. Several cutthroat and several tigers. Interesting. 

  The best and easy way to get to star lake was to go to the what I would call the north west corner of. The creek that runs out of the overflow star and into Washington. We camped on the most northern side of Washington. At North end of Washington following the bank to the creek inlet. Man I wish you could of found it. Sorry man 😟. Lots of healthy brookies in the creek to keep you busy on the way to the lake.

[Devan S.]

@BilletHead no worries I got the tiger. I hear they are getting really big at the White...maybe that should be my new goal. 

I cannot express how busy it was....even Washington lake overflow parking was full and people parking along the road in/out. Just chaos. We got to Wall lake at maybe 7am and there was people camping there...already swimming burrrr.

A pretty place no doubt but busy busy. 

[BilletHead]

2 hours ago, Devan S. said:

@BilletHead no worries I got the tiger. I hear they are getting really big at the White...maybe that should be my new goal. 

I cannot express how busy it was....even Washington lake overflow parking was full and people parking along the road in/out. Just chaos. We got to Wall lake at maybe 7am and there was people camping there...already swimming burrrr.

A pretty place no doubt but busy busy. 

               I'm wondering about the busyness now. Multiple people have told me about the masses now in the outdoors since during covid it was discovered by the ones that vacation other ways. Also, that valley corroder up and down from Salt Lake City is now one big, long town. So many people and they need to go somewhere during the hot months. What better place than the high Uintas. We have not traveled out west since well before the covid. We will be back at it next summer. Sounds like we will have to go farther down the road. 

[Devan S.]

Utah Bear River Cutthroat-

@Prifish already had his Bear River fish from the Logan River but I still needed one. On the way back towards the Upper Bear River we saw a turn off for the East Fork Bear River. I pulled 2 fish from the first spot we fished back to back. We fished around a bit more but only found Brook Trout. Upstream from this point was multiple off road vehicle crossings of this river. 

The road in/out was filled with open range sheep. 

At this point, we both were 3/4 and missing the Bonneville Cutthroat trout. We had zero confidence in the upper Provo so instead of heading onto WY we head back toward Salt Lake City to formulate a new plan. We were looking for something East of SLC but a bit more north knowing that we would head to WY next. Utah says the upper reaches of the Ogden river are managed for Bonneville's. @BilletHead said the North Fork worked for him and there was camping nearby so off we headed. No need for a roadside sleep in the car. 

[Devan S.]

Utah Bonneville Cutthroat-

Up early and had to wait for the gate to the park to be opened. I had a really nice fish swipe on Cutler Creek in a plunge pool below a culvert that I just couldn't get to commit. Up over the ridge and we were off to check the last fish off.

I have to get my digs in here. @Prifish generally caught fish before me on every stop and in every case but 2 he caught much better fish(bigger) than me. I am a bull in a china shop...he is much more deliberate in picking spots and approaching the river. This is his fish.

Utah Slam Complete + Tigers and Whitefish. Off to Wyoming.