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THE GREAT OUTDOORS — The upcoming warm-weather fishing season will quickly book solid with the best guides available. If you are planning to book a fishing trip, complete with a guide, for this season, you need to seek out those who lead such excursions now before they are unavailable.
For some guides, it may already be too late to book them for this year. In fact, you may find yourself booking for next year with the most popular and successful fishing guides. But depending on the water you want to fish, open spots with top guides are still available to those who act quickly. Whether fly fishing the Green River in a drift boat or cruising Flaming Gorge for kokanee or lake trout or fishing anywhere else in or out of the state, you should book your guide now.
Many Alaskan fishing trips book up two years in advance, so you have to consider where you want to fish and what you want to put in your net, then plan accordingly. The best guides and outfitters can lead you to successful fishing spots and create an exciting, memory-filled trip. Just about anywhere in Utah where waters teem with fish, you can find someone to lead you on the trip of a lifetime.
One of the benefits of having a guide is getting information on exactly what you should be doing to have success as you fish a particular body of water. If fishing a trout stream and you want to use your fly rod, ask if you’ll be using dry flies or nymphs under the surface. That may make a difference to you, so find out in advance so you are prepared. Find out what fish are available and will be likely to catch in the area you are going.
For one, kokanee salmon trips generally involve trolling. Put on your watchful eyes and learn from the best. Seek out the water depth for the fish you’re catching and what lures work best for catching those tasty kokanee salmon. What about trolling speeds? A few important factors make for the difference between a successful and a frustrating outing. The best kokanee are found from Flaming Gorge to Strawberry, and those who will take you out on trips will know exactly what to do to put you onto fish.
Lake trout are located in deep water for most of the season. Trolling is certainly a good way to get them, but vertical jigging also works well. Find out in advance what you’ll be doing and what your guide’s feelings are concerning catch and release or on allowing you to keep some smaller lake trout for the dinner table. Flaming Gorge, in particular, is loaded with small lake trout and their vast numbers are affecting the size and numbers of trophy fish, according to the Division of Wildlife Resources.
You may book in-state trips that will take you from the Weber River for trout or whitefish to Lake Powell in search of smallmouth bass and stripers. But if you’re looking to learn and become a better angler, a guide is the way to go. That once-in-a-lifetime trophy is always just the next trip away.
