# Grayling



## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

8 hours of driving and 3 hours of hiking (round trip) for approximately 4 hours of fishing. Seems like a lot of down time for just a bit of fishing, but it was well worth our efforts.

My little sis has been wanting to get out and do some fishing with me for the last couple of months, but just hasn't been able to fit it in her schedule. School starts back up Monday, so this was her last chance to really get out before the mayhem started back up.

We didn't want to just go to our normal fishing area's so we decided to go somewhere new and chase a species that both of us have never caught or seen before. Grayling has been on my radar as of late so I started to do a bit of research to see where a good place to go would be.

I knew of several places that I could go that had Grayling, but either it was too far of a hike, or I wasn't entirely sure how the fishing was going to be this time of year due to it being over fished. So I pulled up the DWR stocking reports to see where they have been stocking these bad boys. It actually didn't take me long to dial into a small lake on the South Slope of the Uintas.

This particular lake hadn't been stocked since 2006, and they didn't put a lot of fish in the lake when they did stock it. That usually means it has a sustainable population and doesn't get fished much at all. So that's where we decided to go, not knowing if we were actually going to catch anything at all due to winter kill or being fished out. But previous experiences told me it was a sure thing.

So we hit the road at 6am and headed east. About 4 hours later we arrived to the trail head. Well it wasn't really a trail head, it was an old fire road. I was really hoping that we could drive on it, but at first glance there was no way I was going to take my little Outlander up that road. So we parked it and started walking. Turns out the first 100 yards was the worst part of the road, but I wasn't going to risk getting stuck on an unfamiliar road, besides it was just a 3.5 mile walk up the trail to our destination.

We chit chated the entire time and made the hike go by very fast. We reached the end of the road in what seemed like 30 minutes. We still had a mile to go. The road ended at a small stream and this was our guide now. There was sort of a trail, but nothing reliable, no matter I had a good idea of where to go.

We followed the stream and came across our first lake. We saw a few medium sized brook trout swimming around. It was tempting to rig up our rods, but we didn't come all this way to fish for brook. We continued on up along the bank of the lake. There was a group camping at this lake, we said hi as we walked by and headed into the woods. After crossing a bolder field full of wild rasberries (yum) and climbing another 400 feet, we came to our destination.

It wasn't a big lake, and the water was pretty chalky from silt. It was gorgeous. We took a small break and just took in the views. It didn't take long for a rising Grayling to break the silence. I rigged up my fly rod and started fishing. I missed my first few strikes. I was just too fast on the draw. It's been awhile since I have fished dries on a lake so my timing was a bit off.

We made our way around to the far side of the lake where it was a bit deeper and started to hook into fish. As we were fishing, a couple storms came in and out, but just missed us. Other than the wind, it was a perfect day. But even the wind would die down at times and the small lake would become glass.

The fishing was fantastic and the Grayling were fat. The biggest one I caught was only 13 inches, but all of them had pot bellies and looked to be very healthy. At one point I landed about 10 fish from the exact same spot on the lake in a row. Needless to say they were not being picky. I had no idea Grayling would be so willing to take a dry fly. It was a blast. Enjoy the pics!

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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

Man nice job with a great story nice pics...but I have to be honest, for us that's way to much work...guess we're spoiled and enjoy having a boat and only walking from the parking lot to the dock and get'n in the boat... 8) 

Outstanding for you and your sis making the trek to catch these Grayling...great memories I'm sure.  To be adventurous and young again I can only imagine what fish'n possibilities we could've had. :wink: :wink:


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## FLYFSHR (Apr 16, 2008)

Sounds like my kinda trip.
Those Grayling will pretty much take anything. I found that they have very soft lips and it doesn't take much for a hook set.
Very beautiful fish especially while in the water.
Thanks for sharing.


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Great looking fish RnF! I caught a few graylings a week ago, but need to get some more under my belt! Good to see you got out with your sis and hooked em as well.


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## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

Well looks like that long ride was worth it.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

Sweet report RNF. I love the photos saved till the end. I could barely wait to scroll down. Those are some beauts. With all the great fishing on the south slope, I sometimes with I lived in Duchesne county so the drive wasnt as far. Good job man!!


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

WOW! 13" grayling that's a trophy in anybody's book-good job. That's cool that you were able to get out with the sis like that. :mrgreen:


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Awesome! Sounds like some great action on the dries, that has to be a blast. Thanks for posting.


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## lvnstmc (May 11, 2008)

Awesome post. loved the pics. Thank you.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Very nice, makes me jealous.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Nice job. Gorgeous fish.

Glad the research paid off.


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

LOAH said:


> Nice job. Gorgeous fish.
> 
> Glad the research paid off.


That DWR stocking report is a gold mine of information if you know what to look for, but it's always a risk going to a new lake regardless. Good thing about the Uintas, if one lake is dead, there is usually another one near by that will fish well.


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## FROGGER (Oct 1, 2007)

Great post, thanks for the pics.. I would love to catch any of those fish..


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Good to see you got out with your sis, thanks for the high country grayling pics!


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## netresult (Aug 22, 2008)

WOW!! What a great post and pics. Beautiful fish. Would love to do that trip sometime while still physically able to. Thanks for sharing


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## bushrat311 (Sep 11, 2007)

RnF,

Love the photos, thanks for sharing. Grayling are such a cool fish! I need to get out and catch some here in Utah (only caught them in Alaska). Looks like your Antron Wing Caddis is working out well, I really need to get some of that "deer" colored antron and tie some up for myself.


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

bushrat311 said:


> RnF,
> 
> Love the photos, thanks for sharing. Grayling are such a cool fish! I need to get out and catch some here in Utah (only caught them in Alaska). Looks like your Antron Wing Caddis is working out well, I really need to get some of that "deer" colored antron and tie some up for myself.


They loved a brown version with brown bug body and brown hen hackle. That fly floated really well using frogs fanny, better than I expected on a lake and it's easy to see. I wanted to try other flies, but there was no need to change it out.

Love how I bring 500 flies and use only one type...


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## cheech (Sep 25, 2007)

****!!! I should have tagged along!!! Great report and great pics man.


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

cheech said:


> ****!!! I should have tagged along!!! Great report and great pics man.


Haha, yeah you missed out big time. How was the bassn'?


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## takemefishin (Sep 13, 2007)

thats one purty fish right there. :mrgreen:


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## cheech (Sep 25, 2007)

RnF said:


> cheech said:
> 
> 
> > ****!!! I should have tagged along!!! Great report and great pics man.
> ...


I should have gone hiking, we'll just leave it at that had to work my butt off for them.


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## kibah (Sep 11, 2008)

that looks like cirque lake


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## BROWN BAGGER (Sep 13, 2007)

when you mean outlander, do you mean your atv? is that road atv accessible? 
setting here to jealous.....I elk hunt that area, would love to hit that lake next year.


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## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

Hey guy, good on ya. We need more of these kind of "different" reports, not typical trout/bass, and great story telling and pics. Man, wish I was younger.  The only thing missing was the location, but that's ok too. I fully understand and support. My biggest heart break/guilt is not doing more different things with my best companion (my doggie).  I have caught grayling before though. Always wanted to get back at em. Did you eat any? In my day they didn't have digital cameras or even the cheap carry box cameras.


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