It’s my father’s 75th birthday today so I took the day off to take him up fishing.
We picked a great day to have our best day ever up there.
We tallied 60 fish but the tale (or is that tail?) of the day was the 10 minute battle with a 27" feisty trout.
I didn’t think a trout of this size was even a possibility at DC.
I did bring 4 fish home for the smoker, but the Big One was safely released and is still swimming around up there.
Holy Moley – Nice job, and what a great B.D. present…
Excellent!!
LT
There have been browns that have come out of there that were well over 10lbs over the decades.
Nice fish.
Beautiful brown!
Wow, that is one healthy looking fish!
Thanks for the report and photo.
You better take your dad with more often.[;)]
That is a beauty. Great brown MasterDaad. Thanks for sharing [fishon]
Great fish! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the report and nice catch! That’s a beautiful fish
Wow !! Nice fish !! Nothing like catching a big Brown !!! That is a once in life-time fish ! I am glad that you released it, but that also would have looked good on the wall . Happy Birthday !!!
You are a great son !! Glad that you had a great day fishing and cooperative weather!! Just for grins and giggles, what lure were you trolling ?? This is a good time of year to target big browns up there, trolling big Rapala’s and similar type lures!! How was the launch and do they have a decon unit up and running at the main ramp???
Congrats on catching a great fish and I like your cap.
With all the planters up there, I thought a big bow Rapala on the downrigger would be a nice shot at something large playing near the bottom. Frankly I thought a big Walleye would be the most likely catch.
But fighting a trout is so much more fun.
It came up pretty early with the line wrapped around the tail (sliding backward). I knew it was a nice fish, but seeing just how big it was, we stopped the boat. The fish dove and came untangled so it was able to run and dive.
The fight was on for 10mins as it ran and I worked it back.
My dad hurried and reeled everything else up and kept everything out of my way as the fish almost completely circled the boat running out 7+ times.
Finally it came up and my dad netted it.
I couldn’t believe it… it’s almost the identical size as the Cutt in my Avatar. And the biggest fish I’ve caught in Utah since then.
A few pictures, a quick measurement, and we released it.
Great fish, and great story! I wouldn’t have thought there were fish like that in Deer Creek either.
The rainbow rapala is one of my favorite baits to troll.
With all the planters up there, I thought a big bow Rapala on the downrigger would be a nice shot at something large playing near the bottom. Frankly I thought a big Walleye would be the most likely catch.
But fighting a trout is so much more fun.
It came up pretty early with the line wrapped around the tail (sliding backward). I knew it was a nice fish, but seeing just how big it was, we stopped the boat. The fish dove and came untangled so it was able to run and dive.
The fight was on for 10mins as it ran and I worked it back.
My dad hurried and reeled everything else up and kept everything out of my way as the fish almost completely circled the boat running out 7+ times.
Finally it came up and my dad netted it.
I couldn’t believe it… it’s almost the identical size as the Cutt in my Avatar. And the biggest fish I’ve caught in Utah since then.
A few pictures, a quick measurement, and we released it.
I love a good fish fight story that ends with it going back into the water, a few detailed pictures and measurements are all you need for a good replica. When they get that big they simply do not taste good anyway, plus you can’t help but have a certain level of respect or even reverence for such an old fish, so he will keep breeding more big ones!
So you caught it deep !! Interesting, most guys fishing for those big browns will flat line troll the shorelines, early in the morning and evening for them. A few of the die hards troll all night !! That is a nice fish though, no matter how you caught it !!
Congrats on catching a great fish and I like your cap.
That is the one issue I had with that pic! 
Great fish, congrats! Now lose that hat [sly]
Nice report. How deep were you fishing for that brown? Congrats on the brown.
**Nice, nice, nice.
Bet it fought harder than a FF (finless Freddie).
“Back in the day” there used to be a lot more over two feet…and up to three feet. That was when there were still a ton of perch and the DWR had a predator feeding program…dumping in small trout instead of the footlongs they now plant. In those days all the browns grew fast and grew big on an abundant diet of bitty bites. Today, not so much.
I think it was about 1981 or so when DWR first opened up Deer Creek to ice fishing. But you could only keep perch…no trout. Saw some newbie ice tanglers crying real tears as they released browns that size back down the hole.
**