# A Nice Walk Down Memory Lane



## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Home schooling and home working had me scrolling through some old photos recently. It brought me cheer, so I figured I would share as well. 

A sampling of my best muskie to date, my first wiper, my first steelhead, my best lahontans, and a few other old pictures that I like. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to join in and let's make this a fun thread of just good memories while out on the water.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Nice! Those Lahontans are definitely on the bucket list. How big?

I will post a few up tonight when I get home from work.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Catherder said:


> Those Lahontans are definitely on the bucket list. How big?


Both were over 30 inches long. We didn't weigh them. I'm not exactly a small, narrow guy. The closing of Pyramid and messing up our upcoming trip is what got me looking at pics in the first place.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I'll play along.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

A few from me. Lots of good memories.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

PBH said:


>


Which one is you and which is W2U?

That right there is gold, for sure!


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## Hunttilidrop (Jun 12, 2018)

I'm in.


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## SX3 (Jun 3, 2014)

Great memories with grandkids


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Vanilla said:


> Which one is you and which is W2U?


I'm in the leopard print. W2U is next to me. Richard is in light blue.
I love looking at those pictures from that time in Page. I can't help but smile thinking about my father and Wayne's careers with the DWR.....and seeing where us kids are today. Particularly, with some irony, where Richard ended up. Oh, the places you'll go!

Catherder -- that young lady appears to be absolutely thrilled with her grayling! Someday she'll realize the treasure that catch is!


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

PBH said:


> Catherder -- that young lady appears to be absolutely thrilled with her grayling! Someday she'll realize the treasure that catch is!


I will tell her that today. While it seems like yesterday when we took that hike, she recently graduated from high school. :sad::V|:


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I posted a picture of my daughter holding a flyrod. She's now 16! It seems like just yesterday when we ran out to Enterprise to catch some smallies, and she picked up that flyrod...



I just texted her those pictures from that day....she used to be cute!!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

There has to be more than just a few of us that have old pictures they like looking at. C'mon guys/gals!


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

I had to do some digging. I didn't have a smart phone for a long time and didn't take many pictures because I'm mediocre at most things, so no reason to take pictures of my ugly mug. 

Kids firsts I take pictures.

***No matter how hard I try, I can't flip the images to get them correct.****


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

two more.


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## shaner (Nov 30, 2007)

Some from me.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

We did a little painting project this week that required cleaning out an area we never see or use. She found a small box with a ton of old pictures of me throughout the years. The next few posts will be those. 

This first set is my first trip to fish Slough Creek. Man, what an experience! Miles into the backcountry to the top of the second meadow, grizzly country, and just beautiful country and fish. 

Anyone fished Slough? It’s a pretty special place in my heart. That NE corner of the park is my favorite.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

There are certain fish that are memorable, because of the size or it was a first, or something along those lines. These two from the Green (circa 2003) are memorable not because of size, but the story. 

My grandpa got me into fly fishing as a young teenager, but did it from across the country. We were here in Weber County, he was in Dallas. He’d usually visit once per year and we’d go fish. He bought me all my first fly rod, reel, gear, etc. years later he rented rafts with rowing frames and some hotel rooms from Flaming Gorge Lodge, and we floated the Green for 3 days. He was 82 at the time, and it was also the last time we fished together. We did two float trips down the A and one down the B. It was prime cicada time, and that year was an epic cicada hatch year. I can’t even number the amount of fish caught and the time was awesome. These two fish were just fish, but the first one I had a serious “River Runs Through It” moment, getting line wrapped around two different boulders while trying to land it through some swift water, going under, and it was pretty crazy. The second is the last cutthroat I’ve ever caught out of the Green. 

There are so many memories from that trip! Not enough time to write them here, but they will live on forever.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

A few from a long time ago at Strawberry. The first two pics are of probably one of my favorite fish I’ve ever caught. This bow gave me a ride! It was 2003 or 2004 ice off I believe. I’ll never forget that fish. Caught on a claret colored seal bugger. Not sure why I remember that part, but I do. The lens cover on my camera didn’t open all the way because it was so cold and we didn’t realize it until afterward. (These were taken on film!) That is the black marks covering the corners. 

The second pic is probably one or two years after the first. Just a fun day fishing ice off by the work camp out of a float tube.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Last round for tonight. A little hodgepodge of stuff. 

First pic is fishing the ponds up at Deseret back in 1999. My grandpa had planned to take all the men folk up to Alaska fishing that summer, but he had some health issues that prevented that. So he instead came to Utah and we did some local fishing, including a couple days on the ranch. I was 18, and those were some fun days. Not Alaska, but still some incredible memories with my brothers, my dad, uncle, and grandpa. 

Second one was my first time fishing a reservoir in Nevada. That place is cool! Haven’t been in many years now as it’s a different deal now, but it has some toads. Back when I used to fish in my neoprene duck hunting waders. Man, those were hot days!

Lastly, this is fishing a beaver pond in the Unitas. I was probably 14 or 15 years old there. I had been fly fishing for a couple years here, and this is when I really started enjoying it. The bug really caught between 18-23, and now I’m just sick for it. I don’t get to do it as much as I used to, but I’ll fix that soon.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Since I'm still mildly annoyed with Wasatch county for messin with the LoPro flows, I'll post up a few from there. Many of these have appeared here before.


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## BGD (Mar 23, 2018)

One of the things I noticed from Vanilla’s posts is that yellow Michigan hat made it on a lot of fishing trips. Who’s got a lucky fishing hat that they always like to wear? I had one as a kid. It was this ugly red ball cap. My mom hated it. I had it for a number of years until one day it was just gone, never to be seen again. I’m not sure what happened to it but I’m guessing my mom had something to do with it’s disappearance.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Here’s a few of mine -


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

To be honest, up until 2017 I thought fly fishing was for lazy old geezers. My wife’s grandfather is an avid fly fisher and he finally convinced me to give it a try after seven years of being married to his granddaughter and countless invites at family parties. One day in mid-August we hit a little stretch of the Logan river and on the third cast of the day, a little cutthroat hit the yellow stimy about ten feet in front of me. It was so incredible to witness the little fish shoot like a rocket from its hiding place and hit the fly - I was hooked.

The man on the left is the one I blame my fly fishing addiction on, the one on the right is who I hope to pass the addiction onto.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

BGD said:


> One of the things I noticed from Vanilla's posts is that yellow Michigan hat made it on a lot of fishing trips.


Yes, yes it did! It was my lucky hat for a few years in the early 2000s. Funny thing, I'm not a Michigan fan at all. I just liked the hat. And it increased my catch rate by at least .000001%. I'm sure of it!

You'll see the transition over time if you look closely to which hats became my fishing hats. Good observation!


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

If my Mom new I posted this pic she'd paddle my butt. This is from early 70's Fish Creek in Wilson Wyo. Her & my Dad loved to catch yellow bellies (Cutts) that would come up from the Snake. 

She's 91 and still hasn't lost the desire to go fishing.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Here's a couple of my dad. For those who know him, you'll understand the first picture:


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

I hope that cormorant met it's fate by natural/legal causes.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

strangulation?


They had to get special permits to take those cormorants for the study they were doing. They are a migratory bird, and thus fall under federal regulations. 

The interesting thing is that birds are far more efficient at harvesting fish than anglers are. They are also full of nasty parasites.



that second picture of my dad is him holding a nice rainbow trout that he caught out of the drain ditch on 3600 West in what was then known as Granger. It's now West Valley.

The third picture is the Provo River in about 1957. This might be under water today.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

I listened to the biography on Thomas S. Monson a while ago and I paid particular attention to the fishing escapades he had on the Provo. I love seeing the old fishing pictures where fish were huge in some of our rivers. There are still some nice fish around, but you don't see many pictures of fish from drainage ditches ever.


Thanks for sharing.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

caddis8 said:


> There are still some nice fish around, but you don't see many pictures of fish from drainage ditches ever.
> 
> Thanks for sharing.


Dad grew up in a house on the corner of 3500 S and 3600 W in West Valley. There is a TMobile and Beans & Brews where his parents lived. In fact, it was the house my grandma grew up in, then raised my father in after she was married. There were lot's of irrigation ditches in that area back then. Dad fished most of them. In fact, "Montana" was pretty close by. I'll see if I can find the story of grandpa and uncle Pete K. fishing "Montana" after work.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

caddis8 said:


> I listened to the biography on Thomas S. Monson a while ago and I paid particular attention to the fishing escapades he had on the Provo. I love seeing the old fishing pictures where fish were huge in some of our rivers.


OK -- here's a picture from the early 1900's. Probably close to 1908. Supposedly a fish pitch-forked from the Provo River:










(chinook had been stocked in Utah Lake somewhere around 1903...)


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

PBH said:


> OK -- here's a picture from the early 1900's. Probably close to 1908. Supposedly a fish pitch-forked from the Provo River:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's awesome. I didn't think they allowes smoking in Provo till last year though....


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

PBH said:


> OK -- here's a picture from the early 1900's. Probably close to 1908. Supposedly a fish pitch-forked from the Provo River:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Cool pic. I don't think it is a chinook. The mouth isn't black.

I've always wondered how those UL cutts compared to the Pyramid Lake Lahontan cutts? Anecdotally, some of the old pictures and reports suggest some impressive sizes.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Here are a couple more. The first is me with my only Chinook salmon, Washington State mid 70's. The next is of my father (left), my grandfather, and uncle from 1945. the picture is from the upper Provo at a place called camp Kilcare above Woodland. 

While the fish in the picture don't move the needle a lot, the family history continues to reverberate in a small way to the present day. Every year as a youth, my Dads family would rent a cabin at camp Kilcare. It was a camp that had a small greasy spoon restaurant and several cabins for rent. They always tried to get #8, since it was by the river. They would fish and relax for a whole week. Later, dad would fish the general area a lot and that was where I learned to fish. Camp Kilcare survived into the 70's when the land was then sold and the land developed. The upper Provo in this area still had decent open fishing access thru the late 1980's, when I graduated from the "U" and left the state for 15 years. 

Once I moved back to Utah, almost all of where I used to fish and where all the family stories originated had been locked up by no trespassing signs. The desire to show my kids the area and pass down the history was a major stimulus for me becoming active in the stream access fight when the Conatser decision came out.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Catherder said:


> Cool pic. I don't think it is a chinook. The mouth isn't black.


I agree. I told the fisheries biologist that sent me the pic the same. Hmph!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Here are a few more. 

For PBH, the first one is a fish from my first ever trip to Minersville. Next is a fish from the best day I’ve ever had at Strawberry 13 years ago. Epic day! Then a shot of gettin my nephew into his first fish on a fly rod on the LoPro many years ago. And the last is one of the coolest bows I’ve ever seen come out of the Green. A nice fish, but incredible color. My brother caught that one. That was a good day.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

And one more. 

First one a place in Nevada I used to go a couple times a year. The other two are from different spots in Wyoming. 

Good times! I love stumbling across memories. I can remember catching (Or watching catch) every single one of these.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

I've been Jonesin' for some warmwater action this week. How about a few bass? Here is a small sampling to whet my appetite.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Vanilla said:


> And the last is one of the coolest bows I've ever seen come out of the Green. A nice fish, but incredible color. My brother caught that one. That was a good day.


Who took the photo on that one? The fish is definitely cool, but the photography is top tier.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Catherder said:


> Who took the photo on that one? The fish is definitely cool, but the photography is top tier.


That was me.

I pulled that picture off Facebook, which takes the quality down. I need to find the original. I have an old computer that bit the dust that has a ton of pictures on it I'm still hoping to be able to pull off and put in a more reliable place for "safe keeping."


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

This is probably my favorite fish picture I've ever taken. It was just an iPhone photo, no edits or anything. Again, taken from Facebook so the quality is reduced some. This is a great lahontan a buddy of mine caught, but I took the picture and I get to claim it!


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

It's a goodun. 8)

I've always wanted to improve my photography skills. I had a dedicated digital camera that worked ok before I broke it on a hunt and my old Sony phone worked really well for a phone, but my current Iphone kinda sucks doing wildlife photography. 

One of the few things I miss from the old UOTF was the photography. Some of those guys had some serious skillz behind a camera.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

No doubt! Some were (and still are) serious professional photographers. It’s how they make a living. Some really cool stuff got posted on there.

Remember the phase when the “grip and grin” hero shots became uncool? That’s all I started taking and posting!


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Vanilla said:


> Remember the phase when the "grip and grin" hero shots became uncool? That's all I started taking and posting!


Yeah they tended to get pretty uptight about any pics that violated their unspoken "rules". I recall one thread where a woman member caught an enormous cuttbow hybrid in Henrys lake from a float tube and had to hold the gill plate to control the fish enough to get a picture. After the picture went up, there were 10 pages of rants about how the fish was a "dead fish" for sure and how badly the angler had handled it in getting the picture.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I like pictures, even if people don’t know how to hold fish. 

I’ve got to think that many people are holding out on us here. Let’s see some pictures of fish! 

A couple more, one from each of the last two trips. One of my daughters caught a koke from the shore. That was fun!


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Here are a couple I like:


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## TOgden (Sep 10, 2007)

Here are a couple of my favorites with some of the grand kids.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Here is another of those "non UOTF approved" pics with the kids. I have this one above my desk at work.


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