2018 was a great year filled with so many memorable adventures, many of them including one of our favorite things to do: fishing. Here we recap our top 5 fishing adventures of the entire year with links to full posts with more photos!
5) Creek fishing below the Mogollon Rim
Arizona isn’t know for its trout waters, but it has some hidden gems. One of them is a small creek that springs up below the Mogollon Rim that holds some small but eager brown trout. It was the perfect spring day – warm in the sun and cool in the shade. The fish hammered my Elk Hair Caddis on nearly every drift, but the fish I’ll remember most is the 12″ lanky brown I caught beneath a little waterfall.
4) Boulder Mountain Brookies (and Tigers)
Over Memorial Day weekend we explored the mountains and deserts of southern Utah. Boulder Mountain had been on my bucket list for quite some time because of its reputation to kick out some of the biggest brookies in the west. We fished two sections of the mountain where I caught my first splake and biggest brookie ever. My brother had the best two fish of the trip with his largest brookie to date and a stunner tiger trout. It cracked my top 5 because I was stunned by the diversity of southern Utah and the quality of fish on Boulder Mountain – we’ll be back!
3) San Joaquin River in Devils Postpile National Monument
Every year we make the trip to Mammoth Lakes and spend a week day hiking the Eastern Sierra. One of the regular fishing spots is the San Joaquin River – a place I’ve been fishing since I could walk. It holds a special place in my heart because it’s where I learned to fish and where I proposed to Alyssa. This year we explored a few new stretches of the river and had some of the best fishing days of the entire year. It was small creek and dry/dropper heaven. There are a few things I will remember about fishing the San Joaquin in 2018: Rainbow “Trout” Falls and a double hook up with a brown and rainbow.
2) Cutthroat Trout in Glacier National Park
We spent 4th of July week exploring Glacier National Park and I managed to sneak in a couple days of fishing too. I caught 2 species of cutthroat out of 3 different lakes. Otokomi Lake had the biggest fish, Hidden Lake was the prettiest, and Avalanche Lake had the purest strain West Slope Cutthroat. I’ll remember Glacier National Park for the insane mountains, cutthroat trout, and huckleberry pie.
1) Golden trout in the Sierra backcountry
The best fishing adventure this year was my week long trip into the back country of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park fishing for the elusive golden trout with my dad and brother. If you’ve been following this blog at all, did you really think it would be anything else?! We hiked 40 miles over 6 days and fished 3 lakes that had nice-sized goldens. It was summer alpine fly fishing at its finest. In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say this was the best of the 10 backpacking trips I’ve been on over the last 7 years. The combination of fishing, mountain views, off trail hiking, and wildflowers was unmatched in all of my previous Sierra trips.
And just because….
Best Skunk of 2018 – Chevelon Canyon Lake
I’ve fished the creek and lake on three separate occasions over the past 5 years and have yet to catch a fish. The stench is foul. Perhaps 2019 will be the year I end my drought?!
Proof that fish do exist – Alyssa’s nice rainbows from this fall (she clearly hasn’t been skunked):
