Fly fishing for tiger and brook trout on Boulder Moutain in southern Utah 

There are quite few good lakes in that area. You'll love it down there 👍🎣

@@TroutHowler Literally counting down the days. Did you have any interactions with bears while you were there? I know they're out there, but I don't really know how prevalent they are. We're camping while there.

@Boogra I've seen more bears on that mountain than anywhere else. Every bear I've seen has taken off as soon as they were aware of my presence, though. An encounter is unlikely, but you'll probably want to take either a firearm or bear spray----I typically carry both

I would certainly recommend going back. Boulder is awesome.

Thank you sir, I appreciate it.

Thankyou, There's a lot of good sight fishing lakes on Boulder. My favorite lake on that mountain is definitely on the smaller side as far as lake size goes

Yeah tigers are awesome. When they get really big they tend to lose brilliant coloration but even then are still a beautiful fish

There's tigers all over the state--some big ones too 👍It won't be hard to knock that off the list

@@TroutHowler I’m just trying to find ones that are in tiny stocked ponds that everyone and there mother fishes with worms lol prob gonna try Unitas or boulder

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

In the past I spent most of my time targeting Golden trout. However, for several years now I have been going after Brookies more than any other. I love brook trout---not only are they beautiful, they're very tasty as well.

Thanks man, sometimes bushwhacking pays off 8)

There's ponds like that all over the state that surprisingly hold fish

Thank you sir

Thank you, I appreciate it

They do in Utah for sure. I'm a fan of tigers so I don't mind much. They're sterile and they get big. Most people appreciate finding more than one species in a lake.

Boulder is very diverse as far as lakes go. There's ponds and lakes of various sizes scattered all over the mountain.

Oh yeah, Boulder is awesome! If you heading down there that late i'm assuming you're targeting large brook trout. I get stuck guiding this time of the year so I don't get to hit it when the big brookies come together.

@@TroutHowler yes sir, 3 upper lakes on the north slop first. See what it will produce. And go from there. What size skuds were you using? Thanks in advance

@@markrobert4915 its a size 12 weighted olive gray scud. It's a pattern designed by Rich Osthoff author of fly fishing the rocky mountain back country. ( highly recommend this book) he calls it a fast sinking scud. You can look at them at Richosthoff.com. if you don't tie flies, he actually sells them online. I tie them in pink and orange as well, but olive is the best producer---this fly is a game changer at high elevation lakes.

@@markrobert4915 He also has a size 8 orange scud pattern that is essentially the same fly tied with a shiny back. He calls it a mega orange scud. It's magical when fished deep with a sinking tip line---especially for large brook trout. I just posted a video about goldens and big brookies in Wyoming. At the very end of the video there a handful of pictures of big brook trout I had caught in that lake. Every one of them were caught deep on the mega orange scud

Yeah that ended up being my conclusion as well.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun

Ahhh decisions. Someone showed me a pic of a monster splake that came off of the east slope this past week. That instantly limited where it came from. They said it was 14 lbs and certainly looked like it

Yeah, Boulder and the Uintas are awesome. Boulder produces larger fish on average but you're more likely to have a lake all to your self in the Uintas. There are big fish in the Uintas but you have to put in a lot more work to get to them. The Utah DNR put out a Boulder guide that will help you out if you ever go back. It will save you a lot of leg work looking for specific species or larger fish wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/boulder_mountain_fishing.pdf

@@TroutHowler thanks for replying back. Well hopefully when the lakes open up after winter I can make a trip up there again. Sometimes I'll just go to Panguitch Lake. But the Boulders are nice, I just need to take some time and plan what lakes I want to fish.

@@kyklain86 If you're going to hit Panguitch, you should head a little farther south and fish Navajo. It has huge splake. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TtdA5uhIB94.html

@@TroutHowler I fished Navajo Lake last year during the free fishing day, my kids and I just pulled out a bunch of Rainbows. I would like to try Boulder Mtn again, maybe take the family up there for a few days.

Thanks, there are several good Tiger lakes in Utah

In this particular video I was using a 9 ft 5 wt with floating line. I switch it up frequently depending on what type of water I'm fishing. It's usually either a 5 wt or a 4 wt. If I'm fishing deep water targeting larger fish I use an 8 wt with a 25 ft fast sinking tip. I'm a little unorthodox as far as leader/ tippet goes. I usually fish with either a 3x or 2x leader and use Berkley FireLine in smoke color as tippet. I use mono and fluorocarbon as well but fireline far more frequently. There are some benefits using fireline. It's less than half the diameter of mono and is far more durable. I use 8lb test fireline 90% of the time. You don't loose nearly as many flies using fireline. Using 4lb test fireline is awesome when using tiny chironomids or other midge patterns. You can fit 4lb fireline through a size 28 hook just fine. That allows you to actually fight the fish vs using mono.

It's a great place. I was actually just there again with a friend last week.

@@TroutHowlercool is the ice off?

@@rhino4321rhino Yep

Tiger trout have become quite common. They are stocked in many lakes so you shouldn't have to much trouble finding some.

They aren't stocked around my area they are down south more

@@edboutdoors3632 I'm guessing you live up north somewhere. Contact your local DNR office. There are several places up north that have tigers

What is NDR

@@edboutdoors3632 Fish and Game or Wildlife resources

You are correct. There good destinations all over the place.

There are many good lakes on Boulder. There's a boulder mountain guide on the Utah dnr website that's a big help. wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/boulder_mountain_fishing.pdf

Some of the lakes in that area require some bushwhacking but most are on trail. The most remote lake on Boulder is only a three mile hike.

@@TroutHowler oh wow that's good to know thank you. Is summer the best time to go? I'm assuming it's all iced up right now

@@fishingtrippy The best times as far as fishing goes is late spring/early summer and the fall. The fishing is still typically good throughout the summer though. Many of the lakes are closed to fishing from Nov 1st through the third Saturday of April

I just park at the trailhead

Thanks man

Yeah, I've had success with scuds at those lakes. However, leeches have been my go to when fishing in that area

There are lakes in that area where they get significantly bigger. I witnessed a guy catch a 14 lb tiger a couple years ago. My personal best tiger (10 and 1/2 lbs) also came from there

@@TroutHowler WOW

The guide on the Utah fish and game website is pretty accurate. It will help you target specific species and quality vs quantity. Good luck! There's several good locations 👍 wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/boulder_mountain_fishing.pdf

I quite a few takes while it's sinking but most takes are on the retrieve. I do 4 to 5 inch strips fairly quickly. For deep water I use a 250 grain 25ft sink tip line. Many larger fish I catch are caught deep

Leeches and scuds

Yeah, they are cool looking fish for sure

Go to the Utah DNR website and search boulder mountain. There's a boulder mountain fishing guide. It tells which lakes are managed for big fish. Look at the area where you going backpacking and then target which ever lakes in that area that produce bigger fish

Thankyou. Yeah Panguitch is awesome. There's a few other great fisheries in that general area. Panguitch has kicked a few Tigers over 15 lbs recently. I rarely use barbless hooks unless it's required and here's why. Ninety five percent + of the fish you catch fly fishing are in the mouth. The mortality rate using barbed vs barbless is a minimal difference. So much so that the professor I did research for in college called people that exclusively use non barbed hooks "barbless snobs". I spent a lot of time looking at the contents of local trout stomachs under a microscope and recording it for the Doc. The other common fish etiquette practice that he would mock is the "you have to wet your hands" myth. That one would really get him going. He said all these uneducated people regurgitating this myth about handling fish with out wetting your hands in absolute nonsense . You're not removing the entire protective mucoprotein layer of a fish by simply holding them with dry hands. Far more important than that as far as fish survivability goes is landing and releasing the fish as quickly as possible. I have had just as many fish bleed out using barbless hooks when they engulf the hook and it gets got in their gills as barbed hooks. Anyway, to each their own. Some of the guys I fish with use barbless most of the time and we still get along just fine haha.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I haven't made any fly tying videos yet but I have had a handful of people requesting some. I'll probably end up making a few. Rich's scuds have been nothing short of a game changer for me since I started tying them. I picked up his book in the year 2000 and have been tying them ever since. I tie them slightly different than he does since I was basically just mimicking the pictures from his book. I weight mine a little heavier than he does. As you can tell from my videos I use the scud pattern more than anything else when it comes to high elevation lakes. Rich is a super nice guy. If you end up ordering flies from him , he 'd probably give you some suggestions on places to try. Some backpacking friends of mine that I met years ago on a trip to Riches mega golden trout lake have both bought some flies from him and hired him as guide. He gave them some info on some pretty awesome lakes.

@@TroutHowler who is rich and does he have a website?

@@Rigs__Rigs Rich Osthoff--author of "Fly fishing the rocky mountain backcountry" he also sells flies. Richosthoff.com

It's a 5/6 weight Redington Behemoth. I have a couple of them. They are great reels that I would highly recommend.

Yeah tigers are awesome. There are far larger ones on the mountain than that one. I was at a lake last year where a guy that was bait fishing caught a 32 inch 14 lb tiger. It was the biggest fish I have seen caught above 9000 feet

Yeah Tigers are awesome. I know of one lake in Cali that has Tigers including big ones (or so I have been told) . It's called Topaz lake right on the Cali/Nevada border. Half the lake is in Nevada and they occasionally stock Tigers in it.

@@TroutHowler Wow! I did not know that. I've heard of topaz lake but had no idea it had tiger trout. I got some investigating to do! Thank you brotha!

@@TroutHowler dude that's awesome. Thank you. I took a screenshot so feel free to delete. Gotta preserve our secret honey holes 👊! Looks like a kayak/ inflatable paradise.

I did not. That's a bummer for who ever did.

@@TroutHowler I found one just like the net you are using here, and I love it. I would've had to reunite you with it!

@@chadpearson8597 That would have been very kind. Consider it a lucky find for you--not so lucky for someone else haha

Utah's fish and game webpage has a Boulder mountain guide that names the species for each lake and whether it's a quantity or quality lake wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/boulder_mountain_fishing.pdf It also has an interactive informative map that's very useful. That should help depending on what part of the mountain you decide to visit. dwrapps.utah.gov/fishing/fStart Keep in mind that most of the roads down there require a serious 4wd vehicle or an ATV of some sorts

You speak the truth

What do you mean I just said I think those are ponds

@@troutbasstv8277 They are ponds

Scud for that particular fish. Small leeches, scuds, damsel nymphs and chironomids all work well there

@@TroutHowler Thanks lots! headed there next week!

@@BrookTroutman good luck 👍

@@TroutHowler Thanks!

@@TroutHowler I did alright, fish were skiddish caught about 5. Prob the hardest fishing of my life these fish were so picky! Saw a huge monster he smelled my worm then ran.

It depends on the location. If there's road access they will drive them in. Depending on the quantity, some are packed in and other more remote locations are stocked with aircraft

First rule of fight club is to never talk about fight club.

Ptuffgong 😉

😂