Annual camping/fishing trip - Panguitch/Minersville

[wolfs4evr]

Madi and I hit the road last Sunday for our 3rd annual camping/fishing trip to Panguitch Lake, Utah. A great time of year to get away from the triple digit heat around here!!!

Packing... Ya... A 5 1/2" foot bed doesn't hold much! Got it all in there but some tight packing.



I also picked up a boat cover for road trips a couple weeks back. Sure fits nice! On the spendy side though.



55 degrees and snow on the ground at 10,500 feet crossing the summit at Brian Head. I know that might scare some but sure made the day for both of us. Especially considering it was almost twice that back at home!



Camp all set up in our favorite spot at the Panguitch north campground. There was someone still in it from the weekend when we first got there so we got our name on the spot and headed straight for the lake to catch dinner. Which we did in no time.



The high temp on Monday was... Chilly. Still better than triple digits! Of course right after I dumped the boat in the water and parked the truck I thought it is nice out and left my sweatshirt in the truck. I was not too pleased with my decision several hours later when the wind and clouds rolled in... Still in shorts the entire weekend though and loving it!



We caught +/- a hundred or so I guess between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night. Nothing big but still fun regardless. Plus Madi started fly fishing for the first time and caught a bunch on a flyrod!

As usual she ended up catching the biggest Cutthroat and Rainbow on Panguitch. I think both were on a flyrod but can't remember for sure. If so I don't have still pics of them. I do have some videos I will link on the end of this post.

I don't remember catching any CutBows but now looking at some pics I think this is one. I know we caught several last year.









This year I decided to catch a second lake we haven't been too yet to learn it and decide if we would ever want to hit it again or not. So off to Minersville Reservoir Wednesday AM.

We got there and set up by 11am or so. I didn't really care for the rule of no boats in the campground but had to go with it. If I hadn't bought the cover for the boat before this trip I doubt I would of stayed but felt pretty comfy with the compartment locks and the cover plus the electronics were out of the boat and in the truck. Also the boat was a hundred feet from camp and in view from the windows in the tent.

Camp to the boat.



A view of our camping spot from the boat.



Just a short run from where I had the boat to the ramp. Bonus on Minersville is a dock so launching with Madi was a snap and just as easy as launching on Lake Mead. Plus at the end of the day you don't even have to strap the boat down. Just hook up the bow winch and roll up the ramp to the parking spot and good for the day.



Minersville is fairly restrictive. Lures and flies only. No bait or scented plastics. You can only keep one and it has to be over 22 inches. We didn't catch anything that big but for the most part all the fish we did catch were bigger than anything we caught on Panguitch.

My first fish Wednesday afternoon. A nice 19 incher.



A sporty Rainbow on the flyrod. (These fish here can put up a fight!!!)



And then as usual she kills me with the biggest one caught on Minersville....



Since the ramp was so simple and camp was right there we skipped packing lunch and came in at noon Thursday and I decided to call it a day early. It was in the 90s (too darn hot to be sleeping in a tent!!!) and we were both sunburnt from Tuesday on Panguitch. We packed up and headed home getting there before dinner time. Not really a day early since we weren't going to leave Vegas till Monday and we left on Sunday so the same amount of days.

The truck is still packed and something to get to tomorrow. Too darn hot in the garage...

One big surprise for the trip was gas mileage. I have only towed the boat on the open road once since we got it in November and with the cruise set at 70mph down to Katherines landing and back I only got 10.3mpg. This trip I set the cruise at 65 for this 520 mile round trip and ended up getting 13.4mpg. TOTALLY happy about that. Must be the combo of a pinch slower speeds and having a cover on the boat. Going 5mph slower can't be the only thing making that big of a difference. Plus I had hundreds of pounds of stuff in the truck I didn't have going down to Mohave several months ago.

I have 5 videos uploaded to YouTube of Madi catching fish on a flyrod. Several she lost but there is some 360 views of the lakes in them so something can be gained watching them if anyone ever heads to one of these lakes. Wind noise is pretty bad though and kills some commentary...

Here is her first ever fish on a flyrod. I had set my flyrod down to go to the back to fix one of her rods and go figure a fish hits. She grabbed my rod to make sure it doesn't go over and I told her to go ahead and land it. She was nervous but... Go figure one of the biggest Cutthroats of the trip goes to her...

[url "http://youtu.be/nrZ4RAXgn4Y"]http://youtu.be/nrZ4RAXgn4Y[/url]

This one is her first fish on a flyrod all by herself! She doesn't have casting down at all especially with the winds but easy enough to feed line out drifting in the winds and then retrieve it.

[url "http://youtu.be/ZoZ-n3BsOWk"]http://youtu.be/ZoZ-n3BsOWk[/url]

This one she lost but there is a 360 view of Panguitch lake, etc.

[url "http://youtu.be/uTER_nWpugo"]http://youtu.be/uTER_nWpugo[/url]

Her fist one landed on Minersville Reservoir... Bummer part is that the two prior ones were WAY bigger fish. She got them close enough for me to see the leader and them then lost the fish.

[url "http://youtu.be/mbIiuieOYnY"]http://youtu.be/mbIiuieOYnY[/url]

She lost this one but a 360 shot of the lake is on this take.

[url "http://youtu.be/uik6_HAhmVQ"]http://youtu.be/uik6_HAhmVQ[/url]
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[vegasback2id]

Nice report...Heading up to Panquitch for the 4th. I think I will stay away from Minersville until the fall. There are some nice fish in that res.
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[wolfs4evr]

I sometimes wonder why I bother posting here. The Nevada end of the forums is fairly dead, either no one bothers posting or no one really cares about fishing in this state.... Maybe I will move myself to the Utah forums. Pretty active and informative forum area.

All of the drifts we made on the lake was from the south ramp or around the corner from the ramp towards the rental boat area some to the other side. Tons of fish as usual. Using a Mustad #8 2XH/4XL sized Wooly of sorts. Home made version with shorter hair and more sparkle/pearl to the chenille material. Both green and black were equally productive and also with or without a gold bead was equally productive. The one rod Madi was using I have a suppppper fast sinking line on it (I think this stuff sinks faster than lead line for trolling rods... lol) and it was by far the most productive. I only have a floating line for my newer 5wt TFO rod. No indicators or anything. Too high tech for me. lol Actually talking about low tech... The rod she was using my dad bought for me sometime in the late 1970s. Same with the line and reel. What I grew up with. Works great for the windy conditions on Panguitch. 8wt rod with 9wt line on a 8 1/2 foot rod. Once the line was out doing 2-3 6 inch quick rips or so then pause.

Same flies and technique on Minersville was working drifting across the main lake body across from the ramp or slighty to the north of it.
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[vegasback2id]

Sounds good I will give it try. This weekend. I am not much of a Lake Mead guy so I spend more time on the Utah side and look at the NV site to see what is happening. But I don't do alot of fishing in NV so I post more on the sites I do fish
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[syncityangler]

[quote wolfs4evr]I sometimes wonder why I bother posting here. The Nevada end of the forums is fairly dead, either no one bothers posting or no one really cares about fishing in this state.... [/quote]

yeah I hear u.. I'm thinking no one really gets out much in the summer months either...it's like a ghost town in here sometimes, then sometimes there are 30 new posts or replies.

I am here everyday, even if it's just to see if anyone has posted anything new. and I enjoy reading everyone's posts when they do post.

I personally have posted almost all my trips out fishing, I didn't post the last time I went out about 2 weeks ago, mostly cause I was only on the water maybe an hour with only a couple of light bits. nothing too exciting to post about.

hopefully this heatwave lets up a bit and people get out and fish. I will be out the 3rd 4th and 5th. so expect a report this weekend from crawdad cove

and if anyone is in the area stop by just look for the campsite with the white pickup, I'll toss ya a beer!!! [cool][fishon]
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[Dan79]

For the record I dont even live in Nevada anymore but I still like reading your reports and seeing the pictures! Reminds me of home!

I would post how the fishing is in texas, but you all would just get jealous, we spend alot of time throwing back 5lb bass and getting frustrated that we cant find the big ones!

Also have caught a lot of big crappies, blue cats, flatheads, drum, buffalo, whites bass (sandies they call them), hybrids (wipers) and gar, all fun bcs we dont really have those in Nevada.

But keep the post coming, I dig them
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