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We
had packed into Round Lake, a wonderful little lake in the Weber drainage. The
3.5 miles of steep trail left us gasping for breath, but that didn't keep us
from quickly dropping our packs and grabbing our fishing rods. We could set
up camp later - right now the fish were calling.
My 13-year-old daughter made her way out onto a log that protruded into the lake, sat down and started casting a small Roostertail spinner. A couple of minutes later I heard her call out, "Dad! Dad! What kind of strange fish is this?"
She had caught her first Arctic grayling, and held it up with pride. She sat on that log and caught fish after fish. I did the same as I worked the shorelines with a fly rod. Any small, dark fly produced hits on almost every cast. A simple renegade fly on or just under the surface worked as well as anything.
Grayling have a soft mouth and it can be a little tricky hooking them. On many casts I had two or three hits before I successfully hooked a fish. Now that's fast fishing!
Lakes that support a large population of grayling are excellent destinations for family groups or Scout troops. Action is almost always fast and the kids get a real kick out of catching this unique little fish.
Grayling,
genus Thymallus, resemble their cousins, the trout, but have a pronounced, sometimes
brilliantly colored dorsal fin. They thrive in several Uinta Mountain lakes,
almost entirely the result of natural reproduction. They can do well in waters
where trout winter-kill and so they are used to increase the total number of
lakes which offer sport fishing.
Uinta Mountain grayling are usually small fish. Those we caught at Round Lake averaged 7-8 inches.
We also found fast fishing for small grayling at Sand Lake. At nearby Fish Lake the action was slower but the grayling were bigger. I caught one that was 11 inches long.
Marjorie Lake, in the upper Provo drainage, an easy 2.5 miles from the Crystal Lake Trailhead, provides good fishing for 4-7 inch grayling. Several other lakes also provide fast action for this interesting species.
The Utah record grayling is a 17.25-inch fish that weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces. It was taken by Terry Fieldsted in Big Dog Lake, South Slope, in 1998.
Grayling taste much like trout, so they make excellent fare for a camp meal. Don't hesitate to keep a few to eat if you are fishing a lake where there is an abundance of small fish.
The Round/Sand/Fish lakes area has become one of my favorites because of the fast fishing and because the trailhead, in upper Weber Canyon (above Oakley), is only a little over an hour from my Wasatch Front home. Drive an hour, hike three hours, and you're there.
I've day-hiked into the lakes. That's certainly a feasible option. If you start early in the morning you can fish for several hours before starting back. But the trail is steep and the hiking is slow. It's better to do the lakes as an overnighter.
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