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The
Uintas are a famous fishing destination because success is almost always good.
The mountains are dotted with small lakes that teem with hungry fish.
If fishing is slow at one lake you can probably hike a short distance to another, where action will be great. Or, perhaps all you need to do is wait a few minutes. Sometimes it seems like someone is ringing a dinner bell.
Ding! Success slows down. A short time later: Ding! Action becomes red hot.
When the fishing is good it is really good. There are times when it doesn't seem to matter what fly, lure or bait you use - the fish will hit anything, on almost every cast. And, occasionally, fishing will be dead slow - nobody will be able to catch a thing.
Time of day doesn't seem to make much difference in the Uintas. During summer months we normally expect fishing to be best during the early morning or late evening. But in the Uintas it can be extremely good through the hottest and brightest part of the day.
Lake inlets and outlets are often productive spots.
Streams in the Uintas often provide excellent fishing, and they tend to be more consistent than the lakes. Find a stream with slower, deeper water and you will almost always find cooperative fish. The stream doesn't need to be big.
Flies are very effective on streams. If the stream has pools, lures can also be effective.
Flies are usually the easiest and most effective offering in the Uintas. Purist fly fishers use a fly rod, but it's easier to work the small lakes using a spinning rod and a fly behind a casting bubble. With that set-up you can effectively present a dry or wet fly, and you can cast farther than with a fly rod - working more water. It's a real advantage to be able to get out into the middle of a small lake.
Shorelines are often encumbered by vegetation, making the backcast difficult when fishing with a fly rod. Some anglers pack in waders, and wade out where it is easier to cast, and where it's easier to reach deeper water. But you really need a float tube or kick boat to fish a lake with a fly rod, and those are difficult to carry when backpacking.
Spinning rods and casting bubbles work just fine. A popular kind of casting bubble can be filled with water. You determine its weight - and therefore the distance it will cast - and the bubble's buoyancy, by varying the amount of water in the bubble. A trick that works well is to partially fill the bubble with split shot sinkers. You can do that at home, before you head to the lake. Water often leaks from a bubble and so you have to continually refill it. The shot stays and so it involves less hassle.
Good fly patterns include:
Leeches
Damselfly nymphs
Renegades, fished dry or wet
Mosquitoes
Red or black ants
Beetles
Pheasant tail nymphs
Small lures are popular and effective. Dark colors are often best but reds, yellows and chartreuse can also be effective.
Little Jake's
Panther Martins
Mepps
Rooster Tails
Krocodiles
Salmon eggs
Worms
Powerbait
Brook trout: The most common fish in the Uintas
Cutthroats: The only sport fish native to the area, now thriving in many of the lakes.
Rainbows: Common in many of the lower lakes.
Arctic Grayling: Find a lake where grayling reproduce well and fish will probably be extremely fast.
Golden Trout: A few lakes contain small populations of golden trout. Some people consider these the most beautiful of all trout. Populations in the Uintas are fragile, surviving only in cear, cold waters at very high elevations. Our lakes that contain goldens also support other species, and there aren't enough goldens to make them a viable target. You could fish a lake for three weeks straight and never catch one. Scout out these lakes, if you desire, but fish them like you would any other lake. If you happen to catch a golden, you've got an added bonus. And please consider releasing it. And if you don't catch one, well, you've still had a great trip.
Brown trout inhabit some streams and lakes at lower elevations.
Mountain whitefish also live in some of the streams.
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