My favorite fish to fly fish for is the Brown Trout. Lately I’ve been seeing something about a tiger trout posted all over social media. They are really cool looking as they have worm like squigley markings on their back. They are a cross between a brown and brook trout.
When I was planning our Utah journey I found that Utah has a few good places to target these bad boys. Pangutich Lake and it’s tailwater (creek out of the dam) was on our way North and has good reports of tigers, so I booked a week at a campground on the lake.
I’m not much of a lake fisherman but I figured it’s a good spot to park the RV, keep the wife happy, and test out my new boat (to be discussed in a later post).
After quite a climb in the RV, where we had to disconnect the truck and drive separately, and passing Cedar Banks which has some beautiful views, we arrived to our high desert lake resort. The temperatures were much better than Zion, Vegas, or Palm Springs, but still a little warm. Like most lakes the wind was blowing most of the time and there were often whitecaps on the lake.
The first night we got the RV all set up, and with some daylight remaining, I went exploring to the dam, where the big dogs usually hang out eating “protein” that comes out the tubes from the lake.
The stream was much smaller than I had hoped and expected. I tossed my dry/dropper combo up to the top of the hole and got denied a few times, so I started working the seams of the current.
After a few casts I was feeling a little dejected that I didn’t even get a small fry to take a nibble, and just then, a big ole head rose through the surface film to inhale my Adams dry fly that was riding high on the top of the water. The take was so slow and beautiful that I wish I would have had a video recorder on it and shared it with all of you. My surprise and many, many, many times of setting the hook too quick allowed me to let the big boy go back down under the water with the fly in his mouth before I decided to set the hook. This was in somewhat calmer water so as I set the hook I could see him feel the prick of the hook and give a little head shake. I saw him flare his gills and try to shake the sting. The hope of a tiger trout quickly vanished as I realized it was a 22 inch-ish cutthroat trout. At this point I start to feel a little bit spoiled that I’m disappointed in this nice, nice fish. Upon that realization I take the time to enjoy reeling him in, trying to keep him wet, removing the hook reviving him in the stream and watching him swim away. What a beautiful specimen, thank you for playing with me.
I try a few more casts throughout that area and all the other fish saw what happened and thought they wanted no part of what grandpa had been through. I then walked downstream until I got to a big 40 foot waterfall. I decided to not cross the stream above the waterfall, something I would have done in my younger days. Thus, I turned around and headed back to the truck. On my way to the truck I went to the top of the dam to look at the lake. I saw a big fish hanging near the dam about 3-4′ deep in the lake. I decided to toss my dry dropper set up out in front of him. He ignored them. I then put on a streamer “like a fly fishing lure” and pulled it past this guy many times. A few times I almost hit him so he darted away. Stupid Moby! Time to go home.
The next few times I got on the water was with my new Flycraft raft, in the lake. Mostly I was getting familiar with the boat, but also figuring out how this lake fishing thing works.
I went trolling on the lake with some streamers I hooked up with a few big cutties as well as a few small rainbows. No tigers and nothing HUGE.
One morning I decided to try my luck on the creek, down further this time.
After an early start, I found a decent spot off the highway on a dirt road. I geared up and walked downstream about 1/2 mile so I could fish my way upstream, back to the truck. Pro tip: Trout face upstream most of the time. It’s best to fish/walk upstream so they can’t see you.
I finally arrived at what looked like a good starting spot just below a nice log home.
I was euro nymphing (tight line underwater bug imitations) to start, and found instant success. I caught mostly 8-12″ brownies with a few 18″ers sprinkled in. After about 5 hours and 20-30 fish, it was getting warm, windy and I was ready for a break. What a great day.
My next trip back had me thinking how much I like browns and how much I like tossing mouse patters in low light. So I took off towards a canyon area I had been driving by a few times. I tied on my trusty mouse pattern just before dusk. I worked upstream and pounded the banks with that mouse hard, but nothing. About the time that I was getting ready to call it a night, I threw on a black woolly bugger streamer to see if there were no fish, or if the mouse just wasn’t on the menu. BAM! Right away it was fish-on.
Shortly after that it was time to head back to the truck before it got too dark.
The trip ended without a tiger trout. Wha wha.. But no frowns here. The journey is often better than the destination, and these few days were no exception.
Tight lines.
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