Timp Snowfield attempt

Zach somehow motivated me to try and slog up to the snowfield. Wind totally jacked the headwall. Wind slab on top of scary weak facets made travel in steep areas sketchy at best. We weren't moving too fast and i wanted to get back for the BYU/Utah game so we bailed midway up the headwall. Still nice to get out and observe pre-season conditions in that area. Definately not I place I will come back to for a while considering how weak the snow is.

Strawberry and LC

On the way to LC I had to take advantage of some thick morning fog on the berry. Too bad I didn't get up earlier cause I only caught the tail end of it as it burned off around 11. I think the thickest morning fog occurs just before the lake freezes. Just pulled out one fish near the dam casting from shore using a big gay al. Even though fish are so close to the bank when there is fog I am accepting that it's still more effective to be in a boat casting to shore.

Then to LC. Was quite suprised at how many people were there. 2 drift boats and a fleet of toons and tubes. About 10 people there in all. Didn't see anyone catch a thing and many were starting to leave when I arrived around noon. Water temp was 36.

Caught this nice Tiger Trout on a brown articulated leech and 7 sink. Was casting to shore on the east side and using medium speed retrieve. Maybe should have slowed it down more and used the clear camo cause not much happened after that. On the way in, after only fishing for an hour, I saw quite a larger tiger trout rolling around near the shore. Judging by the water temp and others/my own success I didn't feel inclined to keep trying.
So off to chicken creek east at the Berry. Alot of people there around 330 but again nobody catching anything including myself. A dry front passed through but it wasn't windy for some reason. Just calm and relatively warm. I jetted off to Renegade for the last hour of daylight to prove my theory that Renegade Point is one of the best spots on the lake. Sure enough I pulled a fish out on big gay al and clear camo before it got dark. Seems like there is just a huge concentration of fish off that point.

Thanksgiving quickie

Hit Little Dell for about an hour. Water temp was 46. Saw some pigs near the inlet but it was too clear and shallow to not spook them. Caught a decent cutt out deeper on a Big Gay Al fly and 7 sink.

Days Fork

The coverage is not nearly as good as it looks. Base averages about 2 feet on prime terrain. Exits are still crap.

Zach, Zach G, Cindi, and Tyler joined me up Days Fork. Well sort of. I had to ditch them shortly after starting so I could get to work before noon. Takes about 2 hours to go up from BCC. I climbed pretty quickly until I ran out of energy drink and bonked near the top.
Hit the line in the shade.

Zach's pic of me.

The Bird again

A fat crew for this morning. Frank, Rich, Tony, Jeff, Zach, and myself out to destroy the Bird. Gad Valley was open but we snuck up to the cirque to slay it before it closed. Rich measured the snow depth to be about 70 cm. There was about a foot of new on top of a scratchy facet base. Quite a suprise considering only 4 inches was forecast. Thank you lake effect.

Booting up the north chute of the cirque. Ski patrol later came through and told us they were closing the mountain that day so we just barely made it in time.

bony







Zach Clanton photos below:







Rich
Jeff

Jeff again
Rich
not sure who

ruins

ski patrol scurrying to get the mountain open

The exit was a bit bony but not too bad

Mineral Fork

Near the top of Mineral Fork, aka "The Room of Doom". Zach felt the slope collapse right here.

So we dug down and were shocked to find the pack was almost 6 feet deep! Some major loading must have occured due to the toilet bowl geometery of the cirque. The northwest facing corner of the cirque was very wind scoured while the northeast facing corner that we were in was incredibly loaded from the wind swirling around. Obviously all that weight was putting the October facet/crust layers on the brink of failure. Our weight almost pushed it over the edge.

Looking at the northeast corner of the Room of Doom where we felt the slope collapse. Our pit was dug right above our tracks, about halfway up the bowl.
Met this curious little white mink on the way down.
We watched it prance around us for 5 minutes. It didn't seem to be very afraid.

Snowbird Cirque

We arrived in the cirque to find that the sunday crew tracked it out wall to wall

There was about 10 inches of fluff on crust. Not too bad. Zach shredding here.
A couple of twenty somethings got lost on the gate buttress, spent the night up there, and had to be air lifted out the next morning. Suckers!

Zach Clanton photo of me.

Strawberry Days

More rounds at Strawberry. Took Gary Gygi and Anton Stauffer to Renegade point on 11/4. High pressure in place but full moon still affecting fish. It was a clear night so the fish were up within a few feet of the surface aggresively feeding until about 830 am (the tailing end of a full moon feeding frenzy?). I accidentally had my 7 sink instead of 3 on so I missed much of the action up top. Clear camo would have been better. Anton was fishing a 3 and was into fish sooner. However I still had a number of hookups with my pinky and the brain rig. Cast to one rise and caught a double. Many fish rising. Then Gary showed up with the big pontoon rig he rented for a few hundred bucks and we headed off to the narrows. By this time the fish were shutting down because of the full moon. We had many follows but the fish were obviously shy. Seems to me that when fish are not aggresively feeding they will be shy of brighter colors like white and pink and larger flies in general. So next time fishing a full moon or low pressure it would be best to try more natural sizes and colors and retrieve slower. We putted over to Strawberry Bay for one last effort but alas the fish were just off. Anton did get some half hearted strikes from some fish near the bank (in broad daylight no less, suprised the fish stayed that close to the bank that late in the day) Other anglers reported the fishing to be sucky. Water temp in low 40s

Strawberry River with Todd and 11/7. Would have fished the lake but low pressure moving in. Started at the section in town around 8 am. Definately fewer and smaller fish in there than ever before. Flow about 140 and fairly murky. Prince nymph and pheasant tail did the damage. Then to the upper portion. A few cars there. Water much more clear. Still very weedy. Spotted a few very large spawning browns. Water temp about 42. Larger flies were still more effective than the #20 glass bead midge I usually use there. Other anglers reported poor success. I think all of the pressure from guides and others have pushed many of the fish into the indian section.

Back to Strawberry on 11/10. Meant to leave at 4 to chase big fish at dawn but slept in. Started at Haws Point at 8. Dead. High pressure and no moon problems but there was no wind so I think the sun put them down. Nobody else catching fish. Hopped over to Renegade where I knew alot of fish were and at least I hooked some there using 5 sink and pink brain flies. Nobody else doing anything there either. Makes me wonder how good it would have been in the early morning. Probably quite good. Water temp about 41.

Tried the Strawberry River just above Starvation on 11/13 for a few hours in the evening. Cattle have ravaged the portion nearest to the lake. No fish caught. The water closer to the bridge looks better and Devin says he knows people who catch nice brows from there.

Dawn Patrol at Haw's Point with Braden on 11/20. About 4 degrees that morning. Suprisingly, not many fish near the bank, but many seen rising about 30 feet out. Moon and pressure were ideal but the fish just weren't shallow there.....