With a new supply of salt water streamers I hit the road with Brent Stout to try a reservoir in southern Utah that was rumored to have abundant Northern Pike and some pretty nice Largemouth. We packed our boats into the Chevy Impala and gassed it to our destination.
This was my first time fly-fishing for Pike and I was not quite sure what to expect. We were not on the water more than 10 minutes when I had my first take. I was slowly stripping a big yellow and white streamer which was tied onto a 20 mono tippet. The fish was gone as fast as it struck. My mono looked as if it had gone through an extra fine cheese grater. Luckily Brent had his Tiger Musky supplies and hooked me up with some toothy critter leader.
Shortly after Brent had a fish; it turned out to be a small Northern Pike. Just after Brent got his fish I took one just outside the weeds. With such a bright fly I was able to watch the take. The Pike strikes are vicious and they would pound the sides of the streamers with ferocious speed. We kept catching Pike and even mixed in a few Largemouth. Just before lunch as we were making out way over to the dam a small group German tourists stripped down and decided to take a dip. It turned out that this is a hot spot for swimmers and as we sat eating our subways on our boats we were entertained by three large girls cliff jumping off of the rocks. “Come on Hailey, just jump”
As evening was approaching Brent threw on the Black Popper and started to slay some nice Large Mouth. I could only get the dinks to rise to my popper but I did manage a few nice Bass on the streamers.
I think that it is safe to say that this is going to be a yearly trip for me.
