# Tiger Day



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

This week, scientificangler and I decided that we were overdue for a good trip in search of big fish. Tiger trout would be the main attraction and at this time of year, the colors on the males would surely be rich.

We arrived at dawn after driving through near white-out conditions in the mountains. That was a little bit nerve-racking, but we made it.

As we pulled up, the surface was alive with ripples over the shallow flats and we got busy with our fly rods, pulling in small cutthroat.










Many came to hand, but all were quite small. My bug of choice was a tan killer caddis and Keoni was using chironomids, which I later switched to.

Abandoning the flats to hunt down some tiger trout, we split up and spent a couple of hours working on the frustrating beasts. They were mostly hugging the shoreline and playing hard to get.

These tigers see quite a bit of pressure, so they can be difficult to trick into biting. Many presentations were followed, but ultimately rejected and I finally scored on a black marabou jig that Tube Dude sent me.










Though I found a whole mess of really nice tigers where I normally do, that was the only one willing to bite. Quite a few more cutts were pulled in on the fly rod though, some on the jigs too.

Keoni was into his own mess of tigers, but quite far from me. He actually got a few on a pheasant tail nymph, one of which was pretty impressive.

After we met back up, we walked around to the other side of the lake and searched for some other brutes. There were several really nice ones that we could see, but they were not interested in biting anything.

Back to the flats we went and took advantage of the willing cutts again, catching plenty more with ease.










A lucky cast in the right spot at the right time brought me another good male tiger on patrol. He had quite the hunch back.










Keoni was getting pretty frustrated with some of the larger cutthroat that he could see, but would only sniff his bug and swim away. Hordes of small cutts were all over him, but he kept trying and finally got a better one.










Still wanting some more tiger action, I went back to my sweet spot to see if the lock jaw had passed. It was a good move and I pulled in three chunky honeys in about 10 minutes. Wow!




























It was just what I needed and it capped off the day nicely.

We departed at dusk and had an even scarier drive home than our way up. A big storm had moved in and left us creeping through many miles at only 25mph.

With both of us worn out from the day, it was rough getting through the snowy nightmare. The drive was complete with gas tankers stuck in the middle of the road and what seemed like a drunk driver leading the caravan, several cars ahead of us.

We were glad to get back to dry asphalt and eventually back to our families.










Happy Fishing, Humans.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Pretty fish


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

In all my fishing Ive never caught a tiger :!: Looks to me like I better get my thoughts toward some tiger fishing. Nice job Loah.


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## Mallardhead12 (Oct 17, 2011)

Dunkem, pack up and head to Whitney Reservoir.


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## scientificangler (Aug 13, 2008)

My best Tiger on the day.


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## cbassonafly (Oct 5, 2012)

very nice fish! sounds like an amazing day.


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## BULLOCK9 (Jan 27, 2010)

Great Tigers!!! Thanks for the post LOAH. I think the energy loop is calling my name.


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It looks like a great trip thanks for the report and Awesome photos. 8)


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

That's just cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Neat hunchback.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Thanks!


On a side note, my lunch break browns are going nuts on the gravel bed. It's been really neat watching them. There were three today that were definitely over 20" and watching them spook off (oops) in only a few inches of water was pretty cool.

This spawned-out lady wasn't the largest by any means, but she was really tough to get to. Somehow, I managed to tick her off enough times with my Gulp! that she actually bit it.

She was hiding in an undercut mound of dirt and grass.


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## Ifish (Aug 22, 2008)

Great looking fish for the both of you! Congrats on the great trip, safe travels to and from and thanks for sharing.


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