Another camping trip. Kolob Reservoir this time.

[wolfs4evr]

I do love to catch those LMB and SMB out on Mead but you all can enjoy that... I am enjoying the 40-50 degree nights and 60-70 degree days up in Utah this time of the year!!!

Anyways... Wasn't too impressed with all the weather reports this past week and more or less decided to cancel Thursday AM. Then by Thursday afternoon I started being skeptical again and by the evening everything was loaded and ready to hit the road Fri AM. I can do Kolob in one day but really hate to burn all that gas for a one day trip plus the sleepy drive home alone since Madi is out as soon as the door shuts!!! I figured hit or miss with the storms. I planned on getting wet and packed accordingly.

We hit the road at 3:30am and got to Kolob Reservoir about 3 1/2 hours later or so. Driving 65 to get the best gas milage towing the boat. Plus a time change put us there around 8am Utah time.

WOW... Lots of people. TOTALLY not expecting that especially with the weather and it being Friday AM. Not people fishing but more big group stuff. Coorp retreats, boy scotts, etc, etc. Plus a lot of spots being reserved/hogged with a trailer or tent but no one around. Anyways figured fish now and figure out camping later. Trolled a good portion of the lake watching the Humminbirds to get a idea of the lake since we haven't been there in nearly two years. Beached the boat a couple times to check out camping spots which were far and few then seen the best spot on the lake with the habitants packing. Figured now or never. Hauled back to the dock and grabbed the tent out of the truck and back across the lake to that spot as they were finishing packing. Beached the boat and set up the tent. Camping spot done back to fishing.

Fishing was TOUGH. The last time there Madi and I could of caught a 100 in a day trip. Not really that many but it was fish after fish. We were lucky if we caught a dozen by dinner time and we were sweating dinner. This was a economy trip. No frills. I grabbed some dogs and buns as a reserve for dinner and it about came down to that. I turned loose several in the AM then by mid afternoon I was sweating dinner and mad about releasing the earlier catches. The few we caught later on were bigger than 15 inches and had to be released. Finally as Madi is under a umbrella and I am in my rain gear she catches a 14 incher on a lure then 10 minutes later I catch a 14.5" on her new flyrod. Dinner! Rain is now coming down good and I hear thunder. We haul tail back to the ramp and off to camp to wait out the rain to finish setting up camp. About a hour or so it lets up and starts to clear. Truck is covered in mud from the drive to camp along with the trailer and we look like a couple wet cats. But we are having fun []

The evening turned into a picture perfect setting with stars everywhere and not a breeze. We sat around the fire till nearly 11 Utah time taking it in (realllly sitting right next to the fire.... I can see my breath and I am in shorts.)

Slept in too late... But still got in 5 hours or so before I decided to bail around 1 Vegas time. Fishing was MUCH better. Still not nearly as good as in the past but better than Friday. Calm water and lots of sun. That made fly fishing goooood! We caught way more than we did all day Friday and Madi finally caught a couple on her new Orvis Clearwater flyrod I just got for her the week before including the only Rainbow of the trip. Everything else was Cutthroats. Rainbows are 10 times funner to catch. They are the smallmouth of trouts IMO. Cutthroats are wimps compared. So one on a flyrod is all that much more fun. Everything caught Saturday was on the flyrods.

Didn't take too many pictures this trip. I did get Madi's Rainbow on video.

About 20 miles from our destination... Straight ahead of us. Not looking good!



A couple miles from the lake.



At least there isn't much for wind...



Camp (The point across the lake from the boat picture above then slightly left.)



Madi's new Kolob friends [cool]



Clearing out...



Camp again once I got the truck there.



They really liked Madi and stuck around all evening. We had them as close as several feet from us all evening.



Madi's first fish on her new flyrod Saturday AM.



And the video of her catching her second fish on her new flyrod and the only Rainbow we caught.

[url "http://youtu.be/cnuH5kfe8qo"]http://youtu.be/cnuH5kfe8qo[/url]

That be it... Long post but how I am.
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[syncityangler]

Looks so nice and COOL[cool]. I really need to get out of this heat for a few days.

our 4th of July camp trip to Lake mead was a bust. so hot and miserable and the smell was bad from all the dead decaying plants left behind from the rapidly dropping water levels.

a few fish is better than no fish, glad u had a nice time out there, I miss cool weather summer fishing.

I'm thinking we are heading back to the Pacific Northwest this spring, somewhere in Oregon's Willamette Valley, we are looking at the Albany/Corvalllis area. We will see...[crazy]

[fishon]
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[utegrad]

Nice pictures. I love it up there when it's overcast or rainy. Such a nice break from the desert heat here.

My dad has a cabin near there. I don't get up there as often as I'd like, but it's a treat when I do. Years ago on busy weekends the whole shore would be lined with campers. It really took a toll on the aesthetics of the shoreline. The traffic settled down a lot when they put the fly and lure only restrictions on the water, but it's picked back up some now that the restriction is lifted during the summer months. After labor day the traffic really thins out again.

Some years the fishing is really good there, and others its really slow. High water levels seem to lead to better fishing. When the big rocks on the shore at the point directly across from the dam are mostly in the water, the fishing is pretty decent. When those rocks are dry, I've never done well.
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[wolfs4evr]

I refuse to camp in anything more than 80 or so at nite. Just miserable IMO. Way up in the mountains is so nice and enjoyable this time of the year. I really do like this lake where I can camp right on the water, etc. There was excellent fishing right there. If Madi was old enough to legally drive the boat herself I would of drove the truck to camp and just beached the boat/had her drive the boat across the lake. Would of been nice to be able to buzz out for a few evening hours of fishing right there but how it goes for now.
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[wolfs4evr]

IRT to being able to bait fish... I might start planning my trips to Kolob around that schedule. Before or after bait fishing is legal. My last trip there was Oct 2011/when we first got the boat. We caught so many fish it wasn't funny. Only downside was there was snow on some of the banks and we had issues in the AM with the guides on our rods freezing up. Camping would of blowed though. Too dam cold for that. Good for a day trip though.
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[wolfs4evr]

If one wanted to go and check the place out shore fishing was excellent with powerbait. The guys that camped next to us had a couple rods out each with powerbait or something along that line and caught a lot of fish off the bottom. They did way better than us but that wasn't why we were there. We were there for the fly fishing and not quantities fishing off the bottom with powerbait. I tossed a lure for a bit at camp and nada. The fish were deeper than I could get with a lure. +/- you needed to get to the bottom and right there off camp that was 20 feet.

You can fish with bait up till Sept 14th this year. Bait fishing is mid/late May to mid Sept or so. The exact dates change each year and the specifics can be found on Utah's fishing website. The drive isn't bad. It is 170 miles from my house in the NW end of town to Kolob. A good portion of that is I-15 so one can really kick up the speed for that portion and make some time.
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