I was back "home" in Utah for a few weeks and my brother-in-law David and I had stillwater on our minds. The first trip out was up to Strawberry Reservoir. Due to the transitional nature of the reservoir at the time we thought the fish would be a bit shallower (and we would have less wind) if we waited until early evening. So we decided to fish the tail water until evening started to approach. It is a beautiful little stream with crystal clear water but the fishing was very difficult.
We finally saw some nice browns holding in a slower stretch but our attempts were fruitless and we spooked them after a few casts. Then a big thunderstorm hit and we took shelter from the rain under a tree. I know when there is lightning you should not hide under a tree but we were deep down in a canyon and the bolts were not striking very close to us. There were thousands of other pines too so it was a calculated risk. We just didn't want to get soaked then freeze in the evening out on the reservoir since we didn't have rain gear with us. It started even hailing for a little bit and then things let up. A hatch started where we saw the browns holding earlier and they started rising but it was so sort lived that by the time I got a dry fly on they had stopped. It was just a mini hatch maybe brought on by the change in temperature or pressure of the thunderstorm, who knows? We decided to head down to a different stretch of the tail water further downstream where its nature changes a bit to try our luck there. I guess the big thunderstorm that just clipped us picked up some steam because we ran into a small flash flood while attempting to access the lower section of the river. Some fairly hefty (and jagged) rocks were washed across the road that would have probably been problematic for our sedan's tires so we were forced to turn around.
We got back up to the reservoir in the early evening and launched our float tubes and kicked over to a promising shoreline. We had on a John Barr fly on called the "Meat Whistle" which imitates a crayfish and thought it would be good since Strawberry is full of them. We tried casting along the shoreline and trolling but it was proving to be a tough day. After an hour or so David was in the process of trolling when a fish smacked his fly, the kind of hit that startles you when you are not expecting it. He got the fish in close but it got unbuttoned just as he was trying to get a better look at it. Things went dead again after that but I re-tied the meat whistle on since it had produced a violent strike. After pounding the shoreline my arm was getting tired so I decided to troll for a bit. As I was lazily trolling I experienced a similar startling strike as something attacked my fly with fury. Strawberry cutthroat are not known for being the hardest fighting fish but when you have a fish that starts stripping a little line you know its a good one. The fish immediately started stripping line like crazy and started going very deep. I was in freak out mode and kept telling David "this is a big fish, this is a BIG fish!" I was worried the beast was going to find some underwater vegetation, get wrapped up in it and break me off. When I said big I thought somewhere at least in the high 20's in inches, a true trophy trout. I did have the thought that maybe it was a large rainbow instead of a massive cutthroat.
As I continued to fight the fish something did not feel quite right, I could not turn the fish or lift him toward the surface. I also could not feel head shakes. I started to think that the fish was foul hooked. I still kept my hope alive and once he surfaced aways out David confirmed it was a nice fish, exactly how large he didn't know. I finally was able to bring him up next to me and lo and behold it was a nice cutt that was foul hooked around the top of his neck (if a trout has a neck). No thirty inch behemoth but it was over 20 inches. I was slightly disappointed at first because just minutes before I thought I may have had a fish of a lifetime on my line, but any disappointment soon left me and I was satisfied with the gorgeous fat cutthroat.
Most places a trout that exceeds 20 inches is a trophy and I thought of how awesome it is to fish a place where catching trout in the 20 inch range is a common occurrence. It also amazed me how much power the fish had when hooked where it was. It was like walking a bulldog on a leash. During the fight David was trying to get a pic and had his rod laying across his tube with the fly on the hook keeper. He leaned on his rod a little and the large hook on the meat whistle was right over the float tube bladder and you can guess the rest of the story. As I was fighting the fish David was losing air in his tube. Luckily after the fish was released he got to shore in time. He tried fishing from the bank but it proved to be difficult. We soon called it a day and David started hiking to the car while I opted to troll across the bay back to the car. After a few minutes my legs were so tired I just kicked to the closest shoreline and took his route back to the car as well. It was not an easy day for catching fish but it was great to be out and see such beautiful country and it left us invigorated and ready for another return trip.
We got back up to the reservoir in the early evening and launched our float tubes and kicked over to a promising shoreline. We had on a John Barr fly on called the "Meat Whistle" which imitates a crayfish and thought it would be good since Strawberry is full of them. We tried casting along the shoreline and trolling but it was proving to be a tough day. After an hour or so David was in the process of trolling when a fish smacked his fly, the kind of hit that startles you when you are not expecting it. He got the fish in close but it got unbuttoned just as he was trying to get a better look at it. Things went dead again after that but I re-tied the meat whistle on since it had produced a violent strike. After pounding the shoreline my arm was getting tired so I decided to troll for a bit. As I was lazily trolling I experienced a similar startling strike as something attacked my fly with fury. Strawberry cutthroat are not known for being the hardest fighting fish but when you have a fish that starts stripping a little line you know its a good one. The fish immediately started stripping line like crazy and started going very deep. I was in freak out mode and kept telling David "this is a big fish, this is a BIG fish!" I was worried the beast was going to find some underwater vegetation, get wrapped up in it and break me off. When I said big I thought somewhere at least in the high 20's in inches, a true trophy trout. I did have the thought that maybe it was a large rainbow instead of a massive cutthroat.
As I continued to fight the fish something did not feel quite right, I could not turn the fish or lift him toward the surface. I also could not feel head shakes. I started to think that the fish was foul hooked. I still kept my hope alive and once he surfaced aways out David confirmed it was a nice fish, exactly how large he didn't know. I finally was able to bring him up next to me and lo and behold it was a nice cutt that was foul hooked around the top of his neck (if a trout has a neck). No thirty inch behemoth but it was over 20 inches. I was slightly disappointed at first because just minutes before I thought I may have had a fish of a lifetime on my line, but any disappointment soon left me and I was satisfied with the gorgeous fat cutthroat. 
Most places a trout that exceeds 20 inches is a trophy and I thought of how awesome it is to fish a place where catching trout in the 20 inch range is a common occurrence. It also amazed me how much power the fish had when hooked where it was. It was like walking a bulldog on a leash. During the fight David was trying to get a pic and had his rod laying across his tube with the fly on the hook keeper. He leaned on his rod a little and the large hook on the meat whistle was right over the float tube bladder and you can guess the rest of the story. As I was fighting the fish David was losing air in his tube. Luckily after the fish was released he got to shore in time. He tried fishing from the bank but it proved to be difficult. We soon called it a day and David started hiking to the car while I opted to troll across the bay back to the car. After a few minutes my legs were so tired I just kicked to the closest shoreline and took his route back to the car as well. It was not an easy day for catching fish but it was great to be out and see such beautiful country and it left us invigorated and ready for another return trip. 
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