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The night before the opener, the highways would be jammed, bumper to bumper with headlights heading for their own secret spot. For those of us mid-state, it was nearly always southern Utah. As I got old enough to start going with my dad and brothers, I began to notice something. While we were heading south, there were nearly the same number of headlights heading north. Why? Because the folks down south had their secret spots up north. The hunting was always thought to be better on the other side of the state. In my lifetime I've seen a few parts of the world, from north of the Arctic Circle to south of the Tropic of Cancer. Usually with rod in hand. After all the traveling and fishing in all sorts of locations, I've enjoyed a ton of beautiful country. But my best memories and my most enjoyable trips have been right here in the Rocky Mountain West. In fact, the biggest Trout of my life have all come from my own backyard, so to speak. What I'm getting at is this. Just because a fishing hole is far away, doesn't mean it's better than the one down the road. And the one down the road is close enough that you just may have time to learn it's secrets And the keys to unlocking them. There are many great spots, not very well known, just waiting for your discovery.
So how then does one go about finding the good fishing holes? The answer is information, and knowing how to access it. Using your brain, and some time investment to prospect out those little gems of information that indicate a great fishing spot. Let's look at how to go about doing this. -- Join Trout Unlimited (TU), The Federation of Fly Fishermen (FFF), or some other local fishing group. In addition to doing a world of good for the fisheries resource, these groups are loaded with anglers who are usually more than happy to let you hook up with them on their next adventure. They have their favorite spots and techniques, you have yours. Get out together and you'll both learn a bunch more than you previously knew. Perhaps best of all, you'll be making new friends with a common interest. -- Talk to the local fly shops. Fly guys always have their finger on the pulse of the local fishing scene. Heaven knows they spend the better part of every day talking fishing with somebody. It's their business to know. Just remember they generally won't divulge to just anyone their own favorite spots. But once you get to know them, you'll be amazed at what they aren't telling the general public but just might be willing to tell you. -- Check the Internet for guides and fly fishing outfitters. They are only too willing to brag about how good the fishing is in their neck of the woods. It's their way of generating business. They usually have a few photos too. And sometimes, they will mention the names of favorite lakes and reservoirs. Just remember that more than one outfitter has exaggerated his success a bit in a never-ending effort to fill open dates.
-- Many local newspapers run weekly fishing reports. Most of these reports are generated through phone calls to the various tackle shops near the waters of interest. Like most fishing report information, these can only tell you how the fishing has been, not what it will be. But that's OK. What we're looking for is the names and locations of good waters. -- Check the regulations for the state or area of the state that your interested in researching. States will use special regulations to produce superior fishing on a particular water body. Wildlife departments will frequently call these waters by certain names such as "Gold Medal", "Blue Ribbon", "Trophy Water" or other similar labels. These mean that the state game and fish department considers this area to have extra special characteristics, not just another run of the lot fishing lake. Or, if lacking a certain label, most lakes that are managed as "catch and release," "flies and lures only" or have other highly restrictive harvest limits, usually have better than average fishing either in size of fish, numbers of fish or both Now, some care must be taken here in not assuming that just because a water has a restrictive limit, the fish will be big or numerous. Often, such rules are only temporarily in place to allow a lake to recover from a previously bad situation But it's a common and correctly held belief that restrictive regulations can and frequently do produce a higher quality angling experience. -- Be sure to use the publications of the appropriate state game and fish department. The quickest and easiest way to do this for most states is via the Internet. All the Rocky Mountain state game and fish agencies have Web sites with main fishing pages on them. From there, you can access numerous links to dozens and dozens of other pages with all sorts of great fishing information. Some states have better Web sites than others, but they are all good. As you cruise the sites, look for information on creel or catch surveys, angler success reports or links to pages about particular waters of interest. For example, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has an entire home page just for Strawberry Reservoir. A quick read of some of the links will tell an angler that one of the management goals at Strawberry is to grow a good population of Bonneville Cutthroat in excess of 20 inches. In this case, big enough to efficiently utilize the reservoirs primary prey base of Utah Chubs For most fly fishermen, me included, Cutthroat of 20-inches-plus are fish well worth pursuing.
-- I saved the best for last. It's important to note that every fishery is in an ever-changing cycle of ups and downs. It's always been that way. Long before white man arrived on the scene in North America, floods, droughts, fires, heat waves, ice ages, silt, strong spawning runs, weak spawning runs, big year classes, small year classes and so on, have had a major role to play in fish population dynamics. Fisheries are ever changing and never stay the same. Yesterdays hot spot is today's dead spot. And probably one day, it will again be a hot spot. To track such changes and give managers a handle as to what's going on at "Lake X" and how to deal with it, game and fish departments gather biological data. And I don't mean just a little bit. But rather, they gather copious amounts of it. Biologists do most of this gathering during what they call "field season" or what we call summertime. When field season is over, they spend all winter compiling this data into useable information they then use it to make management decisions. This compiled data product goes by various names -- work projects, field surveys, project reports and completion reports are but a few of the titles I've heard biologists refer to when talking about this stuff. All of it is public information. But not all of it is publicly available. The smart agencyies, however, publish much of this biological data on the internet. It only makes sense. Who would want a biologist sitting on the phone all day long, answering questions about a lake that could be answered by a simple published report put over the Net. I've seen these reports in various formats and they really tell a story about a particular lake or river. Most will mention sampling of fish, which is usually done with nets or electrofishing gear, but also what species were caught, average length and weight, numbers caught per hour, biggest fish caught And how all this compares to previous years sampling. This comparison then creates a trend, and tells a fish manager whether a water body is heading up, going down, or staying about the same. It also tells you the same thing. I was recently reading a compilation of such a report, available over the internet, that talked about a public lake I wasn't familiar with. The thing that caught my eye was that the fish numbers were not only good, but that average Trout size was something around 19 inches. That's an average! Top size wasn't mentioned. But trust me, whatever it is will put a very decent bend in your fly rod. This little-known lake is obviously in an up trend or at its peak. By the time most anglers hear about it, the peak will probably be over and they'll think all the stories they heard about "Lake X" we're just rumors. If your state doesn't publish these reports in some form, or put them over the internet, you should still take heart. No agency has the time or manpower to supply you with printed field surveys for all lakes and rivers in your state. After all, their primary purpose is for inter departmental use. But most biologists, if asked, will bring you up to date on a few waters of interest. So, do your research first. Go through the first eight steps listed above. Then, when you've decided which lakes or reservoirs are of greatest interest to your and your fly rod, you can go ahead and ask about "Lake X". And maybe lakes "Y" and "Z" too. And then perhaps you'll have prospected out your own little gem, one for you to enjoy and savor, before the rest of the gold rushers hear about it. Good luck will follow if you just do your homework. |
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