Fall fishing in Uinta Mountains

UINTA MOUNTAINS — It was, even for the average angler, a perfect day ... cool enough to tickle the nose and discourage bugs, yet clear, comfortable and calm. And, sure enough, as expected, there were signs of rising fish ... circular ripples popping out over a perfectly calm surface.

A few short casts later proved it.

And as expected, there was not a single person standing around the shores of Washington Lake in the Uintas to share it with. A month earlier that wouldn't have been the case.

The Uintas are popular with anglers in the summer, but, for some reason, not so much in the fall.

Yet there are definite advantages to fall fishing, among them being lots of elbow room, good fishing and the outbreak of fall colors.

The surrounding mountains are wearing their best attire in the fall. The trees become an artist's palette of color ... leaves of reds, oranges, browns and yellows, accented by the deep green of patches of pine.

As mentioned, crowding is not a problem in the fall. There are times when a single fisherman can have a whole lake to himself or herself. The only competition seems to come from a tree limb or patch of brush eager to grab fishing line.

It's also a fact that at this time of the year, the fish seem to be hungrier. The suggestion is the fish are anxious to put on weight before the big freeze and are therefore eager to taste almost anything that looks like a good meal.

In this case, a black Woolly Bugger did its job, and it didn't take long. It hardly dropped below the surface before it caught the attention of a fish.

It didn't happen that way on every cast — but often enough to hold interest.

Fall is a good time to fish the Uintas, confirms Gordon Edwards Jr., aquatic fish biologist in the Northern Region.

"The water levels are stable, pressure is down and, in the case of brook trout, they're starting to think about spawning and are starting to take on some very pretty colors," he noted.

"It's also a good time to fish streams. The water level is down, so the fish are concentrated in some of the big pools."

This is also a time when fish begin to move closer to shore to look for a meal, so long casts aren't necessary and in some cases less productive.

For the fish, their biological clocks are striking dinnertime. Their need to eat while food is available has been triggered, so they prefer to cruise the shallows looking for bugs and worms that have fallen into the water.

So the question then becomes: What to use?

Byron Gunderson of Fish Tech Outfitters suggested fly fishermen try patterns the fish are looking for, like ant and beetle patterns in black, brown and rust colors. Also larger flies, such as Woolly Buggers in black, brown and dark olive.

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