With the Ripley dusted off I used it as an opportunity to take it out for a spin tonight. I landed at the Ballard trail, I hate this trail, I always get lost on it. This time was no exception. It is poorly marked with little blue dots on the ground that you have to follow. I hate it! Yet I’ll continue to try and follow them until I master it. Damn blue dots!

On the way home from the ride I decided to take some time and hit Montes for some fishing. Or I guess what turned out to me just practicing how to cast. I caught nothing, not even a bite. It has been like this for the last two weeks. All in all I still had a good time.

Here are a few random shots from the night.

I realized when taking these pictures tonight that I never posted about having my Northshore rack stripped down and powder coated last year. I love the orange I picked!

I quickly set out in the direction of Brough Reservoir and then while going east on US 40 I decided I was looking for something a bit more mountainous. I flipped around and headed west on US 40 with my destination set for Moon Lake. This is one we have fished at before, but never on the kayak. It takes a little over an hour to get there from Roosevelt which still gave me a fair amount of time to be out on the water before I needed to be home. I did tell the wife I wouldn’t be gone all day like I was the day before.

This is another gem in the area we live in. I love just being at this lake, everything about it is perfect. Well mostly perfect. There are times when there are too many people, today wasn’t one of those days. It was really quiet and low traffic. Not sure if it was the wild fires near this area or what, but it was perfect for me today.

Then it happened, that damn wind kicked up while I was out on the water and made getting to my water destination one heck of a task. I made it, but at times it really felt like I was going backwards in the water.

I had a little bit of trolling in the kayak and Tenkara action on the shore today. All in all it was a very relaxing day on the water and I even ended up catching a few fish. Not big fish, but fish are fish. #GetOutAndFish

We moved on to Hidden lake which wasn’t much further up the road from the river. This one you have to hike in from the road a ways. Maybe half a mile or a bit more? Last time we fished here I had no luck with fish. This time I at least caught a nice Cutthroat Trout. My first I believe.

Hidden Lake has to be one of my favorite lakes to fish. I’ve only caught one fish here, but the hike and lake itself is just beautiful. We unfortunately had a problem here today. Maxwell ended up breaking one of the segments in PD’s Tenkara rod. This boy gets a bit too crazy at times and the rod paid the price today.

We stuck around Hidden Lake until noon and then headed for the car when the weather started to change. It rained the last time we fished this area and again today. Lunch was served in the car today while we waited out the storm.

After the storm passed we made our way up to Moccasin Lake and then beyond that to Papoose Lake. It is posted at 1.5 miles from Chepeta, which isn’t as fun as it sounds when you have a twenty six pound child on your back!

PD and I both caught a nice Brown trout about the same time while we were at Papoose. Ended up having them in the same net there in the end and he had to get a picture with his.

We made it home just a bit before 7pm. It is already a struggle, but a joy to get Maxwell out on these adventures. #GetOutAndFish

I hope around a lot on some days. The day started with a little boy that woke up at 4:00am and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Mom forced him to go out fishing with dad at 6:30am so she could go back to sleep. I had some work meetings scheduled for late morning and early afternoon so I couldn’t be gone too long. Maxwell and I went to Little Monte’s that morning. It is the closest place to our house.

We caught so many little bass there it kind of got a boring. Wasn’t much of a challenge.

After a little over an hour we were both done. He was falling asleep in the backpack and I had lost interest.

I dropped him off at home so he could finish his nap while I went out to try Midview. I think after that experience I’ve voted to never return to that place without my kayak. I have the worst luck there from the shore. Too much vegetation in the water near the shore. You get snagged on it almost every cast. Just not worth the battle from the shore. Please remind me I said this next time I go without the kayak!

The plan worked and I was up by 6am on Saturday heading out early. Paradise lake is a ninety minute drive from our house in Roosevelt. This one has been on my list of place to try all summer, I decided it was time to check it off the list this weekend. Kayak was loaded and I set out for a day on the lake. Ninety minutes later and I’m there and ready for some paddle action.

I parked my car and walked up to the top of the dam to scout out where I’m launching my kayak. I was so disappointed at that moment, the fun was over! Only a few small ponds were left at the bottom of Paradise.

The stream coming out of the lake was still flowing some and I found a gentleman there fly fishing. Speaking with him I found out this lake is used for irrigation so the water doesn’t stay around late in the season. He told me it was pretty much gone the end of July. I’m now kicking myself for not putting this ahead of other destinations this year.

While I was speaking to this gentleman I realized he was catching a number of good sized fish out of this stream so I decided to stick around and fish the ponds. Was there still fish in the little water that was left in those ponds at the bottom of the lake bed? Oh yes! I ended my morning and early afternoon on those ponds with well over twenty fish in my net. It went so well I decided to keep a few to take home that day. Not something I do very often, I usually release everything. Brook and Rainbow trout left and right. Most of them really good sized as well.

When I returned home I had to show the boys the score for the day and tell them what they missed out on. That conversation turned to talks of going back that night. PD and I ended up deciding on doing an impromptu overnight camping trip at Paradise. We grabbed the essentials and headed back as quick as we could. With camp set up we had a few hours to fish the ponds that night.

Sunday morning we were up early and ready to get as much fishing in a we could before we had to return home that day. We started off with the ponds and pulled a few good sized ones out of there. I kept one Brook and a Rainbow out of that run. After that we headed for the stream to try out some Tenkara action. It didn’t take long there before PD was pulling them out like crazy. I couldn’t keep up with him. I blamed my limited fly selection I had with me. It is time to go fly shopping after this trip.

What started out as a really bad day in Paradise turned out to be a fantastic fishing and camping weekend with PD. My kayak will be on this water earlier in 2021.

The boys decided it was time to move on after a while so we headed to Chepeta Lake which was just a little ways further down the fire road we were on. Wasn’t very long after we showed up here that a storm rolled past us. It forced Maxwell and I to find cover in the car. Playing with the fogged up windows passed the time away.

We rocked Big Springs today with the total fish count. I landed well over twenty rainbow trout today myself and the boys did well themselves. PD even managed to hook a 70+ pound something or other, Corbin didn’t appreciate the hook to the back at the time. We will see how he feels about it once the soreness wears off. PD had a bit of tenkara action going on part of the day, but caught most of them off the standard rod and reel. I stuck with the eagle rod myself because I was having such good luck with it I could switch.

There was one fault today. I was lazy and just wanted to fish so I skipped the sun screen. That was a bad move. I’m a bit toasted right now and regretting that decision.

Really looking forward to next year. I think this would be a great place for him to fish when he moves beyond just throwing rocks from the shore.

Despite all the troubles I had I ended up catching two fish tonight. I guess it wasn’t all bad. Maybe if I wouldn’t have worked part of the today and just gotten out more my frustration would have been lower.

We ended up parking at the Uinta trailhead and walking the half mile or so up to Smokey Springs to fish. I believe we spent more time throwing rocks into the creek than fishing. That worked out because the fish weren’t biting anyways. Maybe they just didn’t like the fly I had on the tenkara rod, I was too lazy to change it out to find out.

I always enjoy the time I get to spend with Maxwell outdoors. My promise to him is to keep getting him out. Too many things to see and do in this world.

He took a little power nap on the way out. Guess that works out when dad is the one packing you around. He had the energy to get into everything when we made it to the camp site!