Good by Challenge 2003....hello 2004?

[stout_trout]

Well, I suppose it is time to admit that there are only about 3 weeks left in the year and that most of us have given up on the 2003 UTOF Fish Challenge for this year.

For those who gave it an attempt...or at least had it in mind while you went about the year. Have you got anything to share? I know it was billed as a personal challenge, but I really wanted to give a sort of report of the year and maybe see how others did.

So to come clean...here is how my final tally turned out.

I managed 18 out of the 23 species on the challenge. (8 of which I had never caught on a fly and 2 of which I had never caught by any means.)

My points were 67 out of 100. That seems a bit sad...but that is how the point system was set up...the supposed hardest fish were worth the most points and I think that I found that to be the case when it took in to consideration getting to the fish and then catching them.

The species that I didn't catch (and therefore they haunt me!) were:
Lake Trout (7) points
Grayling (6) points
Tiger Muskie (10) points
Striped Bass (8) points
And a stink'n Crappie! (2) points

...Anyway. I learned a lot about techniques, tactics, patterns, various species behaviors and waters (locations), and I learned that I got a little obsessed about the whole process! Almost every outing this year was essentially all about the challenge and I don't know if I can stop...Kinda weird. I fished less for trout this year that I have in about 20 years!...and I liked it.

Memorables were:
A six inch walleye and UT lake
Monster wipers at 1 AM on Willard
A Kokanee (and Splake) at Moon lake
A big carp…or two…or three…or several
A catfish at Bountiful
More smallies than I’ve ever caught in my life
Getting skunked several time for crappie and muskie


Well…sorry for the long post and I don’t blame you for not reading it… I probably wouldn’t either.

If anyone is interested and would like to swap notes…I would love to via email. I kept details like locations, flies, dates, and locations…and some photos if anyone would be interested. Help on the species that escaped would be appreciated too.

Brent

[nightfish]

I think I totaled up 18 or 19 points, and added a couple new species on the fly, but best of all, I fished more new waters in one year than ever before.

[Vanilla]

I thought I was doing pretty good until I figured my total and saw it was only 23 points. I guess I have a lot of work to do next year. Hopefully I can do more over the summer as far as getting some goldens and grayling. Until next time....

[Fred]

Brent,

My money was on you to win.

I think WY2 might give you a run for the money, though. Jason maybe too.

But my 9 year old caught a crappie, LOL. Just kidding. He caught about 5.

Ever try ice fishing?

Anyway, nice work. That's a lot of points -- about 60 more than me.

[joshuahodges]

6 points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hell yeah you guys got nothing on me. i think my white fish was the hardest to pick up. Challenge semmed fun but its just to hard when you dont have a good reliable car to get around.

[stout_trout]

Fred...as always....you crack me up!

As I was writing this post...is seemed like a humble accounting of how the challenge went for me...and now that I've read it online... it comes across like..."Hey everybody! Check out how cool I am."

I hate me. :)

I really wrote the post to hopefully get some people talking about how the challenge affected their fishing this year, and how they felt they did, in comparison with how they might have done if they had not tried the challenge.

Fred, I think you are right about W2U and others who have probably been fishing the "Challenge" before it was the challenge. I also know of a few guys who have caught some of the "tough" like Stripers, Muskie and others, just because they could, not to participate in the challenge.

I personally had a blast this year and I'm curious if others had a similar experience.

I'm really curious how many of you guys caught some of the "unusual" fish, especially the tough ones like the Muskie, striper, lake trout... others. (I noticed a good discussion about catching Grayling going on right now....cool)

Ok. I'm done for now.

p.s. thanks for the confidence Fred!

[stef]

I really loved the challenge because it made me step out of the trout comfort zone. Caught my first large mouth bass, small mouth bass, bluegill, and sunfish. Also added another trout to my list of firsts...Tiger Trout!

[joshuahodges]

no worries stout,i didnt see it as how cool you are. Honestly i dont think your cool no matter how many times i read it. j/k I had a blast fishing this year. It was my first year really flyfishing. I only went for trout, I honestly can say i can count on my hands and feet the number of times I did not fish this summer. I had a blast as i am sure all of you guys did.

[Wyoming2utah]

my totals for the year:
rainbow trout--1 point (Clear Creek)
brook trout--2 points (Purple Lake)
brown trout--1 point (Sevier River)
cutthroat trout--1 point (Blind Lake)
tiger trout--6 points (UM Creek)
splake trout--6 points (Fish Lake)
lake trout--7 points (Fish Lake)
northern pike--10 points (not technically correct, I know) (Redmond Reservoir)
channel catfish--6 points (Utah Lake)
yellow perch--3 points (Fish Lake)
white bass--4 points (Utah Lake)
bluegill--2 points (Utah Lake)
smallmouth bass--2 points (Jordanelle Reservoir)
arctic grayling--6 points (Crater Lake)
Kokanee--6 points (Smith Fork River)
Total--63 points

My personal favorites were the pike (first ever on a fly), the kokanee (first ever), and the arctic grayling (first in a long, long time).

[THeBLender]

it convinced me to try some different waters and gave me a goal to work toward.

My biggest regret (besides loosing my pole while trying for stiper at Powell and ending my season @ 40 points) was that I didn't catch a grayling. My 9yr old is crazy for the "Redwall" books and the first one he read referred to some of the characters catching grayling for dinner...