Lake Hattie Reservoir

Took a trip north of the border, somewhat expecting the Kokanee spawn to have started. Nope, the water needs to cool another 10 degrees! But the fall trout bite has begun. In typical Wyoming fashion, the wind exceeded the forecast, and I soon found myself paddling in whitecaps. Once I dialed in the depth of the fish, it was on! Got around a dozen rainbows to the net, with some fatties in the mix. Saw several shore anglers but didn’t see much catching, as it’s tough shore conditions with the water level being very low. Didn’t take pics or video during the windiest times, and even skipped photographing some catches because I had to keep a hand on the paddle. Could have kept catching, but after three hours of battling the wind, I was pretty tired. So I packed up and headed to the slightly less windy Twin Buttes, which I’ll cover in my next post. And oh yeah, bought the hat! Happy with it, good quality!

Went up north for a quick camping trip with my buddy. Brought a few back home for the smoker.

Great day north of the border. Ran into the legendary Martin Valenciano and his friend Wayne on shore right where I was planning to launch. I knew it was a good sign. Paddled over 9 miles, mostly trolling. Landed 7 or 8 rainbows, 3 kokanee, and 1 big sucker that attacked a crankbait! I consider 1 fish per mile to be a good day, so this was above average. The kokanees were all males with a kype forming, but not yet showing any colors. So I think they are in a prespawn stage, and are already acting aggressively toward invaders. If I’d been targeting them with smaller lures and hooks I could have probably caught more, as I was getting a lot of aggression strikes. As usual, the Wyoming clouds were magnificent as storms rolled through.

Fun quick trip

My first big catch ever!!!!