# Trial Lake



## troutscout (Feb 12, 2009)

I headed up to Trial Lake yesterday to check on the snow condition and to test out some new fins for the toob. About 1/3 of the lake is open. We didn't drive any further up but I'd imagine the higher lakes are still frozen. It looks like a few more weeks before trails start to become accessible. The fishing was pretty pretty, we caught mostly rainbows on woolly buggers. The fish were down deep and a slow retreive with intermittent pauses work the best. The color didn't seem to matter but the fish were sluggish and didn't hit very hard. A smaller size bugger with a shorter tail was the ticket. The water is beyond cold! I had neoprene waders, multiple layers and I still had to get out ever other hours and recirculate my blood back to my feet. It was a beautiful day and when the sun was out around 65.

^^ike


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## Windage (Mar 11, 2010)

I went to evanston over the weekend, Mirror is still frozen, Pass had a tiny bit of open water and Lily had a good portion of open water. I didn't have time to fish on this trip.


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## ericv (Jan 26, 2008)

We were up there on Tuesday as well. Moosehorn was frozen over pretty good. By the evening, Lily and Teapot lakes looked to be totally open while Lost had a lot of ice chunks floating around in open water. There was a significant amount of melt with the 60 degree temps.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Thanks for the intel!


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## Dagwood (May 12, 2010)

Thank you for the reports!

Once again I am saved a long drive. Looks like I need to look elsewhere for fishing this weekend.

I love these forums  :mrgreen:


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## tsmdav (Jun 19, 2010)

I was there Tuesday as well, fishing from the shore, in fact I may have talked to you; there were only a few of us there.

The fishing was fantastic, 40 + fish days on both Tuesday and Thursday; today things had slowed a bit and the crowd had grown dramatically, (probably because of the post being featured on fish bytes). (All fish were quickly released using a barbless hook). 

The third week of June is a Timeshare week for me in Park City, and I had the exact same experience at Trial lake last year, the same numbers of fish, even the same snow drift blocking the road!

Presentation was key, the water is cold and the fish aren't willing to chase much. Almost all of the fish were caught while the Wooly Bugger was sinking, so it was cast, let it sink until the floating line tip starts sinking as well, then strip, strip, and a long pause while watching the line! I tried using faster strips without success, in fact 98% of the fish caught were caught while the bugger was sinking. 

Most of the fish were cookie cutter rainbows, but and occasional 16" fish would spice things up. It was also fun to sight fish to the Albino trout, and watch them do the dance as they try to decide to eat or not to eat. This week it was always eat! I usually fished with two flies in tandem, and had one double, (a fish on each fly). Several other times as I was reeling a fish in, another fish would be seen slashing at the second fly.

I going out one more time tomorrow, I suspect we will have a summer sized crowd there; but there is plenty of room and fish for all, while it lasts.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

tsmdav said:


> I was there Tuesday as well, fishing from the shore, in fact I may have talked to you; there were only a few of us there.
> 
> The fishing was fantastic, 40 + fish days ...........................................................other times as I was reeling a fish in, another fish would be seen slashing at the second fly.
> 
> I going out one more time tomorrow, I suspect we will have a summer sized crowd there; but there is plenty of room and fish for all, while it lasts.


Welcome to the Forum!!

There's a big bicycle race this weekend on the Mirror Lake Highway, so be careful.


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## troutscout (Feb 12, 2009)

We were the crazy ones in the 'toobs. You talked to my dad. Thanks for the tip. Things really picked up after that! That double was pretty sweet. I tried a tandem rig but couldn't duplicate it. I'm always pleasantly surprised at Trial, I've caught some nice hold over fish there. When the dry fly fishing takes off it's really fun because one never knows what fish is next. I've caught rainbows, brookies, tigers, grayling and those pesky albinos. All in the same 50' radius.

One of the times I got out to bring my feet back to life I went and fished where you were and had more success than I did in the 'toob. The fishing felt more like nymphing than streamers with those subtle hits. I'll head back up when the water warms up a bit.



wyogoob said:


> There's a big bicycle race this weekend on the Mirror Lake Highway, so be careful.


Last year driving down the canyon during a bike race was horrible. There's no shoulder in most places so the bikers have to ride in the road. There are just as few places to pass so the traffic slowed way down and stacked up. Bikers passing cars, cars trying to pass bikers, close calls in the opposing lane, pretty scary. It was really dangerous for everyone involved. That was one long drive down the canyon. But this was a race in July, on a Saturday. Tons of traffic both ways. Maybe this earlier one will be better.

^^ike


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

Those damned bicycles need to keep off the highways. Either that or they need to purchase a $1000.00 tax stamp to use them on the roads my gas taxes pay for!


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## tsmdav (Jun 19, 2010)

My son-in-law and I went up today, and got there about 20 minutes after the bike race had started. For the first 45 minutes we were following a large pack of bikes at bike speed, till we came to a police car that had blocked the opposite lane and let us pass. After that we made it pretty fast up to Trial Lake, and it was packed! I bet their were over 40 people fishing. 

I couldn't help but think what a difference a few days can make when it comes to fishing! Tuesday it was just me and the tubers and the ice, Thursday it was below freezing and I was chipping ice from my guides every five casts with only three or four other crazy fishermen, but on Saturday it was shirt sleeve fishing with a large crowd. The fishing success was inversely proportional to the crowd; a fish or strike on every cast on Tuesday and Thursday, only 15 on Friday, and only five Saturday. It would have been interesting to have taken my kick-boat out today and see if the fish had moved away from the face of the dam because of all of the commotion, or if they were simply gone. 

We still had fun though. After all, not catching fish is what makes those days when you do catch a bunch so much fun. It would get pretty boring if you ALWAYS caught fish on every cast.


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## troutscout (Feb 12, 2009)

tsmdav said:


> It would get pretty boring if you ALWAYS caught fish on every cast.


Funny, that was my experience on Thursday at Mantua. In the right place it was hard not to catch a bluegill on every cast. The fun lasted for about an hour but then I went looking for bigger/harder fish.


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## BerryNut (Dec 29, 2008)

40 people at Trial doesnt seem like a lot to me, unless everyone is limited to the dam. Can you access the shore around the lake or is there too much snow?


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## troutscout (Feb 12, 2009)

There wasn't too much snow much a good portion of the lake was unaccessible due to ice. It was over a week ago I was there are things are changing every day.


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## skating miner (Jun 27, 2008)

I was up there tuesday and the lake is now completely ice free and there are just a few patches of snow here and there around the lake.


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