# Easter Tigers



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Despite forecasts of foul weather all over the state, my buddy and I decided to go and try our luck for some big tiger trout. The last time we visited this lake, we both left quite disappointed, vowing to return with a vengeance. Sunday was the day of reckoning and we arrived with one thing on our minds: big tigers.

We started by throwing spinners and nothing came to hand after at least an hour. Holdsworth stuck to his guns and I started throwing all the tackle I had. We'd also switched locations, and that seemed to help, as Holdsworth pulled in 2 smaller tigers within minutes of each other.

Even though they weren't large, they broke the silence of skunkiness that loomed over our heads from the previous week and that was more than welcome. Soon, it would be my turn.

After trying all the conventional methods, I ended up trying something weird. With a spinning rod, I threw out a heavy black sculpin pattern with a killer caddis dropper. It didn't fly very far, but I only needed to get out a few feet.

Surprisingly enough, a few slow retrievals later, I had my first fish and it was pretty nice.










It measured 22.5 inches and weighed 3lbs, 11oz. It took the dropper and nearly fought the hook straight, peeling off a good chunk of lip in the meantime. Finally! It felt good to have a nice tiger in my hands again.

Shortly after my catch, Holdsworth connected with something worth taking a picture of:










Nice pattern on that one.










The Blue Fox strikes again!

Using the same spin/fly setup, my second beast was on the line about 20 minutes later. Basically a twin of the first, this one took the sculpin and let me get some video footage of its fight, after round 1 was over, of course.






Another 3lb, 11oz tiger, just a hair shorter than the first.










A short while later, I had gone back to throwing hardware and hooked up with a smaller tiger on a chrome/orange kastmaster.










So with that, we'd had our fun at the lake and thought we'd check out one of the creeks on the way home.

The lower stretches of the creek were flowing over the banks and very muddy, flooding much of the surrounding area. No use trying to fish that, we figured, and continued up the canyon. Though the flows remained high, we eventually found some good clarity, several miles upstream.










Holdsworth had the lucky hand here and caught a few while I decorated some bushes with my favorite lures. Here he is with a brown.










Not bad for this creek. Nice way for him to end his fishing trip and I was still buzzing from the angry tigers.

Notice the hint of blue sky in that last shot? The weather was supposed to be awful, pretty much anywhere in the state of Utah, but we somehow managed to stay just outside of the storms. We only got sprinkled a couple of times with rain and some snow, but enjoyed comfortable temperatures and quite a bit of sunshine throughout the day.

Once again, we went home satisfied.










Happy Fishing, Humans.


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

great report.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

> I ended up trying something weird. With a spinning rod, I threw out a heavy black sculpin pattern with a killer caddis dropper.


Pretty cool....I'd like to see how you rigged that up.

Nice fish LOAH....you earned 'em !! :-|O|-:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Just tie the fly on and add another to the hook shank.

It was heavy enough to cast about 12 feet, once wet.


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## Mallardpin (Sep 8, 2007)

Yep done the sculpin on a spinning rod but I was river fishing and used a split shot so I could cast. It's funny how most people won't try new ways to catch fish. Nice job on the tigers. I think I am about ready to hit them up.


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It looks like you had a great time thanks for the report and awesome photos. 8)


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## benjicunney (Jul 30, 2008)

Nice creation there. Those are some nice fish.


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## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

Nice report. Thanks LOAH. Props on the nice Tigers


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Some big 'ole goodun's right there. Nice job LOAH!

Sometimes the weirdest thing in the tackle box is the best.


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## troutgass (May 5, 2009)

Very nice LOAH... I have always wondered about throwing something like that on a spinning rod. You have just confirmed that it is possible. Gotta love those tigers... They pull like a freight train!


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## UTEXPLORER (Jul 7, 2009)

Great looking fish, wish I knew of a place like that.  Hope to get out more this year than last, but with gas prices rising almost daily, I will probably have to take my car, instead of the boat and truck.


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## brfisherman17 (Jan 21, 2011)

Nice fish! Now I'm looking forward to getting out and catching a few!


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