Sand Lake and Fish lake report

[Fishhound]

Tincanfsh and I left SLC around 4:30-ish and drove up to the trail head of Sand Lake and Fish Lake. Made pretty good time getting to the lakes and immediately started fish for grays. Tincanfsh got one right off and a few minutes later I got one. I had more gear to set up and he was already rigged up on the way up. We both started with spinners - me a Rooster tail and him a Panther Martin. I also added my fly rod(7 ft 3 weight, 5 foot hand tied leader with 6X tippet) to my bagage so I casted it when there was no breeze , the rest of the time I was using spinners(size 1 Panther Martins and 1/24 oz Rooster Tails) on Ultra-light gear(Trilene XL 2 pound). We hike around the lake and pretty much had non-stop fishing with lots of catching. Together we racked up about 100 fish - including 3 or 4 brookies added by Tincanfsh in the mix. Most of my fish came on either Panther Martins or Rooster tails but 15 or so came on a couple of "Hound Hair" flies(size 16 and 18) I tied during the hound's last shedding season.

I'll let Tincanfsh tell his details - I was too busy catching fish to notice what he was doing. At one spot for example, I casted 10 times and got 10 fish - Just about 20 feet down the bank from that spot I got another 12 fish in like 5 minutes. And yet at another spot, I pulled in 6 on flies in just a matter of a couple of minutes. All of my fish were grays. I think it was about a 70 fish day for me, I quit counting quite early on after the first 2 dozen or so. I didn't loose any lures or flies on this trip(kind of a rare thing) but, one of my flies almost disassemmbled(probably poorly tied) after the 10th fish or there-abouts and one of the beefy grays(about 14 inches) bent one of my Rooster tails - they both look like they can be retired now.

A Great hike, Great weather, Great company, great fishing, Great catching kind of day !
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[FlyFishingMoose]

Great report! I was supposed to go with you guys but life got in the way. With My daughter's horse riding (she rode on the all horse parade yesterday that why I couldn't go with you guys), my father-in-laws failing health, & my sister-in-law moving to Utah from California I haven't had but about 3 times I could hit the waters of Utah this year.

ITs good to see that "someone" is having fun in the outdoors!
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[Kent]

Great report Chuck. Sounds like you had a great outing -- wish my conflict in Idaho would have allowed me to join you. Did you happen to find an easier trail?
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[Kent]

Chuck, are you sure that you brought Billy home with you? You must have totally worn him out -- can't even muster enough energy to log on and type on his keyboard!
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[LABSRULE]

WE ALSO HIT SAND LAKE THIS WEEKEND. WHAT A HIKE! THE FIRST COUPLE MILES ARE RELATIVELY MILD BUT THE LAST TWO ARE AN ASS KICKER. IF YOU ARE IN TO CATHING 8 IN FISH ON DRY FLIES THAT IS THE PLACE TO BE. WE LANDED OVER 100 FISH WITH THE BIGGEST BEING AROUND 8 INCHES. THE BEST FLY WE FOUND WAS AN ANT, SMALL BEETLE AND A GNAT. QUITE A HIKE FOR SUCH SMALL FISH BUT AT LEAST I KNOCKED ANOTHER FISH TO BE CAUGHT OFF OF THE LIST.
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[Fishhound]

Kent, You know I'm starting to get a complex here. But, I am sure I came back with him - he drove both ways. He did look as though he was about on his last "amp" when he dropped me off, but, certainly nothing a good nights sleep wouldn't fix - at least I wouldn't think so.

I could be wrong but, I think the trail was one he had taken before with other folks and not an easier or different way. I also thought the trail and hike were only moderate in difficulty or duration(I think we only covered around 12 miles and maybe 1500 verticle feet all day). My hounds and I would generally cover far more distances and on much rougher terraine than that and probably much faster as well - Tincanfsh and I basically had a leasurely stroll and made fairly good time. I wasn't really very tired afterwards and didn't feel any stiffness until the next day, and that was only minor(it's been a month since it's been cool enough for the hounds and I to be on the trail - and now there are rattlesnakes).
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