# The novel report full of pics!



## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

This is going to be kind of a long one so stick with me on it, I am going to take you on my trip that we had this weekend. We had an atv club ride scheduled at Joe's Valley for Saturday so we took off Wednesday night for an extra couple of days in my favorite canyon. We started the trip out with a morning over at E-lake and boy it was cold, we pulled up and it was 34 degrees in July. Normally I am not shy about getting wet while launching or putting the boat on the trailer but at those temps I decided to stay dry.










We had the lake almost to ourselves with only one other boat on the lake and one bank fisherman in sight. I just love it up there one of my favorites not for the monster fish but we always seem to catch our share and this morning was no exception. We had a double hookup and ended up with a little better than a dozen fish. My wife caught the big one of the day that taped out at 17 ½ inches.























































Wouldn't we all rather be here right now instead of at work?










It was funny I have seen this tower by the dam before but never saw how they got to work on it, I always assumed they boated up. Come to find out they use this little contraption to go across some cable from the dam pretty scary to watch if you ask me. Thought I would share some snapshots with you:














































We landed the boat and the temps had warmed to what felt like July finally. My daughter tried her hand at trying to get some minnows in her butterfly net while I put the boat away.










We had a hitchhiker:










We parked the rig and I fished one of the small creeks in the valley. Dumb me left the camera at the truck so no pics of this. This particular creek was loaded with 3" fish that tried to come up and take the dry fly. The only problem is that they could not get it into thier mouth. I finally put on a big enough dry and started bouncing it off the bank right by the undercut banks and hit pay dirt! I caught 4 larger fish ranging from 9" to 14" and considering you could jump across this creek at any place a 14" fish felt like a trophy especially on a 1" wt fly rod. I just love big bug season! We headed back to camp had some burgers and headed out to Hunnington for a couple of hours. I wish I had some fish pics to show you but with only one strike in two hours of trolling we called it a night. The other two boats out on the lake reported the old skunkage as well. This was my daughter just waiting for the Barbie pole to get one chillin with the pups:










We woke up early on Friday and thought we would try out scofield before heading over for the club ride at Joe's valley. I had heard really mixed reports on scofield and heard that trollers were really struggling there but time to put the old state parks pass to use! As you can see from the pictures scofield treated us well. The big fish of the day landed went 18 ½ inches caught by Mrs Orvis1, we also caught some smaller tigers on the blue fox as well. The highlight of the trip was that my wife hooked into a whopper that jumped out of the water with the pop gear and crossed over four lines. It got tangled in the other lines and got off leaving me with a ½ hour untangling mess and nothing to show for it. We estimated it at 23-25 inches and by the fight on it I wouldn't be surprised if it were a tiger trout. Gives us and excused to get back out there again huh. We talked to the rangers and he had told me several trollers were coming back skunked so we were lucky! He also was telling me about some 20-25" inch tigers coming out of there and he wouldn't be surprised if the one my wife lost was a tiger.
































































We had a pretty good 3 hours on the lake so I really wanted to throw some long bomb casts with big bugs so we headed down to the river for some dry dropper fishing. I did pretty well here landed about 5 fish in 2 hours and had a great time wet wading while my daughter threw rocks in the river and got really scared at the sight of a crayfish in the water with her. She thought it was cool she could stand on the bridge and see all the fishes in the water. She also pointed out every rising fish to me as the tormented me!














































So at this point if you are still with me you are thinking this is an orvis1 report and I have not seen any food yet, stick with me. We packed up our camp and headed over to Joe's valley to meet our atv club. We had a couple of hours until dark and decided to make up some good Dutch oven chicken, it was scrumptious!



















Then we had our first morning to sleep in since the ride was not leaving until 10am so I cooked us up a big hearty breakfast!




























Honestly the area around Joes valley is not much to look at desert sagebrush and lots of mosquitoes. I was not to thrilled about the start of the ride, I thought I would rather go fishing. The guys who guided us sure new what they were doing we climbed up the switchbacks of a dirt road something anyone with a car could climb. The higher and higher we went the more beautiful the country became, honestly I had no idea this even existed tons of small lakes, views, and wildlife. It reminded me of the unitas with much less traffic. We had a group of about 20 riders and other than one other group we saw almost no one else on the mountain on a Saturday!


















































































There were several challenging spots where we were up on 2 or 3 wheels, tons of hills, stream crossings, big mud holes and plenty of chances to get stuck. I thought I would share with you one of the mud holes and I had to use my winch to get someone out.





































It turned out to be a 7 hour ride that covered 90 miles, and as much fun as that was I found 4 new lakes I wanted to fish, plus I was going to get some time on the river that comes out of Joe's valley. The access is way to difficult for a guy of my size but after some butt sliding I made it down the canyon to the river, although at this point I wasn't sure how I was getting back up. I had about 2 hours to fish the river and I ended up with 4 browns ranging from 9"-15" but it left me wanting more time to explore and fish the river. I was glad to get the time I did and this is one of my new favorite streams:





































After such a full day on the trial and a little taste of the river I had to get something to eat I was famished! I made a feast of BBQ chicken, Steak and pasta salad for dinner.










My family was still tired from the ride on Saturday so I took the opportunity to get up early and go out on a solo trip to one of the lakes I spotted along the trail. I had heard rumors of tiger trout in this pond but today it wasn't to be. They were planter style bows and an albino from 7"-12" still a fun morning landing 8 fish in 3 hours. I had the little pond all to myself until I left at 10am. I took the time to scout another lake on the ride back to camp and logged another 30 miles on the atv. Boy I found a gem of a spot and I can't wait to get back there. When I rode up to the lake there were risers and I spooked some fish off the bank. Tons of free camping in the pine trees, much better than the $45 for the spot by Joe's valley, what a ram job no hookups, no trailer dump, and no garbage service. Let's just say that we will not be camping there again, not when much prettier location and lake are only 15 miles away.




























We had a great time sadly this is my last long weekend trip for about a month. Although we figured out what do to with my week of vacation the first week of September we are going to split it between Fairview canyon and the Piute trail system while fishing otter creek and puite sounds like a great way to spend a week!


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## Hellsangler69 (Sep 26, 2007)

Great Report Orvis , As always you make me hungry after viewing . Nice pics


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Nice, thc for sharing!


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## 12 Volt Man (Sep 7, 2007)

Excellent report. Thanks for the great photos. 8)


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## cane2477 (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks for the report, I enjoy reading the story style reports, it sure adds flavor to this place. Thanks again!


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Great post and cute kid you got there.


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## turkeyfish (Dec 19, 2007)

Great report! Your wife is a great fisherman! My wife seems to catch a lot more fish and bigger fish then I do as well. I'm from sanpete county and the electric lake area is as scenic as it gets. Their are some big cuttthroats in electric lake you just have to work for them! Cleveland resorvoir has always been one of my favorites as well with nice sized rainbows and a four to five pounder ocassionally. Is the town in the picture you took Ephraim? I couldn't tell for sure. Good luck with your future big fishing trip coming up in a month! It's awesome you can share fishing and nature with your wife and kids. They have always been my best memories!


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Sweet report big guy, looks like you guys got plenty of fish and fun! Love that country down there. Thanks for sharing!


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Awesome report man, thanks for all the pics. We were down that way, I thought I saw your truck & trailer as we were driving by, but I wasnt sure if it was yours. Didnt look like there was anybody around camp, so Im not sure. Looks like a awesome trip. Nice to see you caught your fair share of fish!!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Glad you finally made it down there and it looks like you had plenty of action to keep you rushing.

Joe's Valley _NOT_ scenic? Get your head checked! :lol:

Looks like you made it all the way up to Skyline and around. Looks like a lot of fun.


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## BRL1 (Sep 12, 2007)

Thanks for another great report.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

STEVO said:


> Awesome report man, thanks for all the pics. We were down that way, I thought I saw your truck & trailer as we were driving by, but I wasnt sure if it was yours. Didnt look like there was anybody around camp, so Im not sure. Looks like a awesome trip. Nice to see you caught your fair share of fish!!


Did you see us by clevland or by Joes valley. If the truck/boat was there and we weren't we were off riding wheelers.



LOAH said:


> Glad you finally made it down there and it looks like you had plenty of action to keep you rushing.
> 
> Joe's Valley _NOT_ scenic? Get your head checked! :lol:
> 
> Looks like you made it all the way up to Skyline and around. Looks like a lot of fun.


Joes Valley the lake and the river comming out of it are pretty but I am not a huge fan of the sagebrush desert enviroment. This time of year should be around the aspens and pines of the high country. As we went up the trail the land became more and more what I like to see in the high country this type of year. I didn't want to discourage anyone from going to Joes valley just go up the mountians a little and you will be amazed at the difference.


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## RJ-Max4 (Sep 11, 2007)

Great report orv. Made me feel like I was part of your trip.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

orvis1 said:


> STEVO said:
> 
> 
> > Awesome report man, thanks for all the pics. We were down that way, I thought I saw your truck & trailer as we were driving by, but I wasnt sure if it was yours. Didnt look like there was anybody around camp, so Im not sure. Looks like a awesome trip. Nice to see you caught your fair share of fish!!


Did you see us by clevland or by Joes valley. If the truck/boat was there and we weren't we were off riding wheelers.quote]

It may not have been you. the boat wasnt there, Just a truck that looked like yours & a trailer that looked alot like yours too. There was another black Atv trailer parked out by it. I think it was up above Mill meadow res. We came back up around Joes Valley from orangeville, took that dirt road from there over to Huntington canyon, past the potters pont turn off. We fished the river for about 4 or 5 hours that comes out right below Mamoth res dam towards Mill meadow.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Sounds like someone else with good tastes in trucks and trailers then.  We camped between cleveland and hunnington on wed and thurs then moved to the joes valley campground for friday and saturday. Mamouth aka hunnington that little river has some nice cuts but they are very spookey if we are thinking of the same river.


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## HopperLover (Jul 7, 2008)

Fun times. 

I would like to fish the river below Joe's Valley. Anybody know how long of a drive from SLC it would be?


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Depends on which way you go and what you drive between 2-2 1/2 hours or so.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Something about the way you make everything seem so fun !! Good report Mr. Orvy !! It's nice to see the family having a good time !!


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Awesome report, Orvis. Looks like it was a trip filled with great fishing and delicious food. In fact, your post made me so hungry I think I might go eat dinner right now.


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## clam midia (Jul 7, 2008)

Orvis,
Wow, I can't believe that you spent that much time sharing your weekend with us.
But thank you! I feel like I was riding on back with you on the trip. I am a little hungry for that delicious meal you had though. 
Any openings in the ATV club? My wife and I get tired of just riding by ourselves, we are looking to join up with a posse! 
Anyways, you got a great little family, and sure appreciate your time posting your trip.
Better get back to work now, "working hard or hardly working?" eh?
Your friend 
Clammy


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Clammy, 

Go to utahatv.com they have a club ride every month anyone is welcome to come along. I am glad you enjoy reading the reports as much as I enjoy doing them.


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## Guns and Flies (Nov 7, 2007)

Looks like you had a great time down there. Wish I could have fished some of those streams with you. Are you headed up my way anytime soon? I think we have a date with some streams if I remember correctly. Beautiful area down there.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Be up in your part of the world on 8/8/08 my birthday! My big trips are winding down for the year, I accepted a new job title and my work so the week off is off. I have one family reunion and 1 more 4 day camping trip and the trailer will go into hibernation for the winter. It is just to expensive to haul that anywere of just a regular 2 day weekend. I though we had plans to fish the south fork of the snake... Something about a cabin?


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## fishcarver (Sep 10, 2007)

Orvis,

Thanks for the trip. Even if it just gets my mind out of the office for a few minutes it is well worth it. you all ways have great reports and pictures. Keep it up


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