# Fishing for the elusive trophy tiger trout.



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Box ticked

I've been hitting a few different lakes across Utah searching for a good sized tiger trout. Tonight it all came together. Using 4 lb test and micro jigs I caught this beauty right at dark. It was one of the hardest fighting fish ive caught on light tackle. It made multiple runs. I swear it took nearly 20 minutes to land. 
Unfortunately I may have unfinished buisness with this lake so if anyone asks it was caught at Tibble Fork Res. 
My kids were with me and we all enjoyed a day you often hear about when someone says "you should have been here yesterday." Well we were.
















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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

Congratulations on a beautiful trophy. We should all be so blessed.


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

Awesome fish. Nicely done!

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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

That is badass!! Congrats!!


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

Nice fish....I suggest venturing further south! This bad boy was caught a week or so ago at Panguitch!


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## TPrawitt91 (Sep 1, 2015)

So is the construction on Tibble Fork completed?


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

wyoming2utah said:


> Nice fish....I suggest venturing further south! This bad boy was caught a week or so ago at Panguitch!
> View attachment 108473


What an awesome fish! Is it yours?

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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

wyoming2utah said:


> This bad boy was caught a week or so ago at Panguitch!
> View attachment 108473


WOW!
-()/-


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Do you know the weight of that fish. Has to be close to state reccord 

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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

swbuckmaster said:


> What an awesome fish! Is it yours?


No. The guy who caught it has caught several really nice big tigers at Panguitch (among other places). A year ago last fall he caught one right next to me at Panguitch that was probably in the 5-7 pound range too.

The cool thing, in my opinion, is that Panguitch is pumping out these big tigers without chubs and only stocked trout as forage.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Good news. I'd love to see them stocked in more lakes

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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Holy cow, nice fish SW and WY2!!!! I've got some gooduns, but not quite that big.

I have the Utah state record for the highest elevation caught Tiger Trout while standing in the same place you shot a ptarmigan: 11,474 ft in elevation.


Tigers are very durable and do well at high elevations. They're all over the High Uintas now. I guess that's OK, but they have replaced the brookies and cutthroats in some of the higher lakes where those trout species, and arctic grayling, are susceptible to winter-kill.

I've got some nice ones at Birch Creek but the last couple times I've been there the water was real low and I did terrible.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

That's a cool photo goob

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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

Dayumn, what a dandy! Persistence pays off.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Wow...Tibble treated you well swbuckmaster.......hotspotter ;-)


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## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

There's no way that's Tibble Fork. Looks more like Highland Glen to me.


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## BG1 (Feb 15, 2013)

Not a big fan of tiger trout, but dang nice catch! Congrats.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Bg1 how come your not a fan? Just curious 

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## BG1 (Feb 15, 2013)

I can't really explain it rationally. About 10-12 years ago I was very passionate about them. I fished a lot of lakes looking for big ones, and I was quite successful. However the novelty just wore off after they started stocking them EVERYWHERE! The real dagger was when they started putting them on Boulder Mountain. They simply do not belong there. Boulder is about big brook trout and that is that. Nothing was more disheartening than fighting a big fish for ten minutes on a Boulder Lake only to see a big stupid tiger trout on the end of your line. Thankfully they have come out with sterile brook trout now so they can use them instead of tigers in the Boulder Management Plan. I would like them to completely stop tiger stocking on Boulder, but I'll be happy with what they are doing now.
I guess my whole reasoning is somewhat selfish stemming from my adoration of brook trout.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

A big brook trout is one thing I'd like to catch. It's been years since I caught one. I'm trying to catch all the game fish in the proclamation and get a photo them. 

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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

BG1 said:


> I can't really explain it rationally. About 10-12 years ago I was very passionate about them. I fished a lot of lakes looking for big ones, and I was quite successful. However the novelty just wore off after they started stocking them EVERYWHERE! The real dagger was when they started putting them on Boulder Mountain. They simply do not belong there. Boulder is about big brook trout and that is that. Nothing was more disheartening than fighting a big fish for ten minutes on a Boulder Lake only to see a big stupid tiger trout on the end of your line. Thankfully they have come out with sterile brook trout now so they can use them instead of tigers in the Boulder Management Plan. I would like them to completely stop tiger stocking on Boulder, but I'll be happy with what they are doing now.
> I guess my whole reasoning is somewhat selfish stemming from my adoration of brook trout.


I can totally agree with BG1, too much of a new thing just isn't exciting anymore. I would also like to catch the occasional rainbow, cutthroat, brown or brook once in awhile but way too many waters seem to be almost contaminated with the tiger. Tigers are an easy catch compared to the others.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I guess I've been fishing the wrong ponds then if tigers are an easy catch. I've only caught 2 and probably caught 10 times the ammount of bows and cutts. 
As far as looks the tigers aren't a very pretty fish but they are way better table fare and put up a heck of a fight. 

I would like to see small numbers of tigers put in bigger lakes like strawberry and have slot limits imposed where you can't keep one unless it's 26 inches or better. 
Cutthroat are the fish I'm not overly impressed with. It seems like they are in every lake and the fight they put up is weak compared to others. 

Now I can see if your fishing small ponds or lakes and your catching small tigers how it could be lame. I'd much rather see sterile brook trout because of their beauty and table fare. Salmonidae family fish are the best tasting fish out IMHO. I can barely choke down a walleye, catfish, bass or pan fish.

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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

swbuckmaster said:


> I would like to see small numbers of tigers put in bigger lakes like strawberry and have slot limits imposed where you can't keep one unless it's 26 inches or better.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


I believe Strawberry does have Tiger's, since '09. Scofield was also planted heavily about that time. Where do you think I got tired of catching them? Like BG1 says, they seem to be everywhere ! But you're right on one count, 'small number's', I believe would have been a better choice. 
I guess it just makes the search for an area without tigers more rewarding.

Go back to shooting turkeys...


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I didn't know tigers were in strawberry 

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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I think utah is an awesome state to fish. It has so many varieties of big fish if you look hard enough for them. Here is my favorite tiger variety. I caught this at Pineview reservoir before alot of people new they were in there. 51.5" 31 lbs









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## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

SW....beautiful tiger muskie. First one I caught was 30 years ago in Wisconsin before everyone started stocking them. It was quite rare then as natural tigers are not that common.

Personally I have a hard time getting excited about a tiger trout simply because it is a "designer" fish with no natural occurrence. I have always been in favor of reestablishing native fishes where they have been removed....within reason. When I attended BYU in the late 70's you couldn't find a cutthroat trout in the state of Utah....at least not many. The Bonneville cutthroat was thought to be extinct. But since rediscovery the state has tried to reestablish in much of their native range. Heck, rainbows aren't even native to Utah....


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

DocEsox said:


> SW....beautiful tiger muskie. First one I caught was 30 years ago in Wisconsin before everyone started stocking them. It was quite rare then as natural tigers are not that common.
> 
> Personally I have a hard time getting excited about a tiger trout simply because it is a "designer" fish with no natural occurrence. I have always been in favor of reestablishing native fishes where they have been removed....within reason.* When I attended BYU in the late 70's you couldn't find a cutthroat trout in the state of Utah....at least not many*. The Bonneville cutthroat was thought to be extinct. But since rediscovery the state has tried to reestablish in much of their native range. Heck, rainbows aren't even native to Utah....


You were looking in the wrong places Doc...


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## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

That is probably true .45....although the Bonneville cutt wasn't around except for the Bear Lake strain. But it is true I pretty much lived off of brown trout caught in the Provo River back then.....occasional walleye out of Utah Lake...


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

swbuckmaster said:


> I'd love to see them stocked in more lakes


Aren't they already in every lake in Utah?

While I certainly don't mind catching nice tiger trout, I'm not a big fan of them. It really bothers me when we start replacing other sport fish (splake) with tigers. That's not good.

Tiger trout on the Boulder where applicable don't bother me. I don't mind tigers in the Willow Bottoms with the CR cutts. That's just fine with me. And having them in a few other lakes is OK too -- especially in lakes that tend to have brook trout overpopulation issues. Tigers are a great tool when used appropriately. Let's just not over do it.

did you guys watch the KSL Outdoors episode from last week? That big tiger posted in this thread was on the show, along with a couple other nice fish:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1112&sid=43822175&title=huge-tiger-trout-at-panguitch-lake-ice-off


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