High Uintas - Upper Provo Basin

[Joe_Dizzy]

Took a half day hiking/fishing trip from the Crystal Lake trailhead last week. Skeeters and no-see-ums were tough from dawn to 10:30ish, then gave way to the deer fliers (much more manageable). I found a few snack-sized Brook Trout at Clyde Lake willing to cooperate. Fire Tail Wooly Worm was my best producer fished deep w/ twitch-pause retrieve. Callibaetis Mayflies showed up around 11:30 and got the fish looking up for an hour or so. Still a healthy amount of standing and flowing water up there and even a fair amount of snow above treeline yet.

A few pics attached.

[gofish435]

There are not many places prettier than the High Uintas.

Thanks for sharing your trip.

[joshomaru]

Awesome pics! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Cowboypirate]

You take some might fine photos

[Joe_Dizzy]

Thanks for the kind words All, great thing about the Uintas… the quality of the fishing is usually “meh” (on a good day), but the quality of the setting is simply awe inspiring!

[TheFishSlayer]

Nice report! I’m going to attempt getting up there this weekend.

[richyd4u]

Crystal Lake trailhead is where my Dad always took my brother and I on camping fly fishing trips. You’re right, the fish were never big and we’d get excited about a 13 incher, but the scenery was hard to beat! We enjoyed targeting the feisty grayling up there at Marjorie…good memories!

[EyLayo]

@richyd4u

Crystal Lake trailhead is where my Dad always took my brother and I on camping fly fishing trips. You’re right, the fish were never big and we’d get excited about a 13 incher, but the scenery was hard to beat! We enjoyed targeting the feisty grayling up there at Marjorie…good memories!

I’ll give you feisty, but sure wish they had some size to them. Glad you were able to find bigger ones. My boy and I were up there this week and only found small (borderline bitty sized) ones. Nothing even close to your 13’s. Still a beautiful area to fish

[richyd4u]

@EyLayo

@richyd4u

Crystal Lake trailhead is where my Dad always took my brother and I on camping fly fishing trips. You’re right, the fish were never big and we’d get excited about a 13 incher, but the scenery was hard to beat! We enjoyed targeting the feisty grayling up there at Marjorie…good memories!

I’ll give you feisty, but sure wish they had some size to them. Glad you were able to find bigger ones. My boy and I were up there this week and only found small (borderline bitty sized) ones. Nothing even close to your 13’s. Still a beautiful area to fish

Yeah…that was in the 80’s & early 90’s, but we did find an occasional 12-13 incher usually up at Long Lake & Pond. It’s sad that that size is considered big for that area, I agree…wish they could get some bigger ones in there. We used to hike up to Red Castle and would find much better quality up there.

[Joe_Dizzy]

@richyd4u

@EyLayo

@richyd4u

Crystal Lake trailhead is where my Dad always took my brother and I on camping fly fishing trips. You’re right, the fish were never big and we’d get excited about a 13 incher, but the scenery was hard to beat! We enjoyed targeting the feisty grayling up there at Marjorie…good memories!

I’ll give you feisty, but sure wish they had some size to them. Glad you were able to find bigger ones. My boy and I were up there this week and only found small (borderline bitty sized) ones. Nothing even close to your 13’s. Still a beautiful area to fish

Yeah…that was in the 80’s & early 90’s, but we did find an occasional 12-13 incher usually up at Long Lake & Pond. It’s sad that that size is considered big for that area, I agree…wish they could get some bigger ones in there. We used to hike up to Red Castle and would find much better quality up there.

I wonder if there could be enough public interest in getting the DNR to put aside at least ONE lake (maybe two) within easy access of the Mirror Lake Highway to manage for a quality fishery? Similar to what is done at Boulder Mtn.

It seems to me like all are managed the same way…
– STUFF AS MANY “adult” Rainbow and/or Tiger Trout as you can find into every lake within stone’s throw of the road.
– Plant enough fingerling Brook Trout and Grayling as well to make it look… like a diverse fishery?
– Plant every remaining “adult” Rainbow and/or Tiger Trout at summer’s end to empty out the hatchery.

It would be interesting to see how good of a fishery could be produced if we had fewer trout and a slot limit on one of these lakes. Would there be that much public outcry if one lake was not being stuffed with stunted slime rockets every week?

[richyd4u]

Exactly…would be more fun to have more quality fisheries up there then the current quantity fisheries they’ve had for so long. The Boulders is definitely the blue print to follow, amazing fisheries up there!

[MWScott72]

I could be wrong, but part of the reason the Boulders fish get so much larger is that there is far less pressure. The Uintas being so close to SLC is both a blessing and a curse. As soon as word got out, the lake would get pounded. Maybe artificials only and a strict catch and release policy would work, but I think any “daily limit” would overwhelm fish numbers due to sheer volume of anglers.

Nice pics too!!

[Joe_Dizzy]

@MWScott72

I could be wrong, but part of the reason the Boulders fish get so much larger is that there is far less pressure. The Uintas being so close to SLC is both a blessing and a curse. As soon as word got out, the lake would get pounded. Maybe artificials only and a strict catch and release policy would work, but I think any “daily limit” would overwhelm fish numbers due to sheer volume of anglers.

Nice pics too!!

Thank you.

Boulder Mountain definitely sees less pressure and very few (if any) “drive up” fishing opportunities. Could be something to do with the ecology of Boulder lakes vs Uintas as well. Might simply be more fertility there for some reason. Reason I say that is because even the more remote lakes in the Uintas that receive infrequent stockings don’t seem to produce trophy-proportion fish like Boulder does.

As far as pressure goes on a “quality” or “trophy” project lake in the Uintas, it may not be as much as you think. In my experience, the meat hunting crowd follow the great white fleet from DNR. The stocking trucks show up and a hundred lines garnished with PowerBait are cast right behind it.

I pulled some of the stocking data last night on seven (7) of the larger lakes along the Mirror Lake Highway and the amount of fish they put into these lakes is staggering. Most “fertile” trout lakes can support around 300 fish/acre. These are lower elevation, full menu, long growing seasons, etc. Many of these lakes along the MLH are stocked at a rate of 400-450 fish/acre and they have nowhere near the fish carrying capacity of lower elevation lakes. Basically they are “prettier” versions of community fishing ponds.

I’m drafting an email to send to the DNR just out of curiosity. See if they respond (they usually do) and I’ll post any replies here.

[richyd4u]

Yup…even the higher hard to reach lakes in the Uintas don’t have trophy fish in them like the Boulders do. There is definitely something about the Boulder lakes beside less fishing pressure that grows them bigger! Glad I live right by them and get to partake!

[gofish435]

@Joe_Dizzy

@MWScott72

I could be wrong, but part of the reason the Boulders fish get so much larger is that there is far less pressure. The Uintas being so close to SLC is both a blessing and a curse. As soon as word got out, the lake would get pounded. Maybe artificials only and a strict catch and release policy would work, but I think any “daily limit” would overwhelm fish numbers due to sheer volume of anglers.

Nice pics too!!

Thank you.

Boulder Mountain definitely sees less pressure and very few (if any) “drive up” fishing opportunities. Could be something to do with the ecology of Boulder lakes vs Uintas as well. Might simply be more fertility there for some reason. Reason I say that is because even the more remote lakes in the Uintas that receive infrequent stockings don’t seem to produce trophy-proportion fish like Boulder does.

As far as pressure goes on a “quality” or “trophy” project lake in the Uintas, it may not be as much as you think. In my experience, the meat hunting crowd follow the great white fleet from DNR. The stocking trucks show up and a hundred lines garnished with PowerBait are cast right behind it.

I pulled some of the stocking data last night on seven (7) of the larger lakes along the Mirror Lake Highway and the amount of fish they put into these lakes is staggering. Most “fertile” trout lakes can support around 300 fish/acre. These are lower elevation, full menu, long growing seasons, etc. Many of these lakes along the MLH are stocked at a rate of 400-450 fish/acre and they have nowhere near the fish carrying capacity of lower elevation lakes. Basically they are “prettier” versions of community fishing ponds.

I’m drafting an email to send to the DNR just out of curiosity. See if they respond (they usually do) and I’ll post any replies here.

Back in the day when my wife and I use to backpack we found a few lakes that held some good fish but for the most part I think that because of the elevation and long winters that most of the lakes are not capable of growing big fish. Some have a difficult time just over wintering fish.

I think your idea is a good one but that there are not a lot of the lakes that would qualify.