Watch Out For The Cow

I headed out at a little past 0700 and after a coffee stop headed up the hill. I wanted to get a container of crawlers to try something new at Caples, but Cook's didn't have any, so the next option was the Bear River Resort store. I made the 6 mile detour and scored a box of mini-crawlers. Back on the highway I caught up with a couple guys in a Toyota pickup pulling a boat. They had been having breakfast at Cook's when I got coffee.

I wasn't in a hurry so I just followed along behind them and about a half mile from Silver Lake (which turned out to be their destination) we came around a curve to find a cow crossing the highway. Fortunately both of us were paying attention because had he hit the cow, I would probably have been right on top of him since we were doing a good 55 mph.

I've been driving up and down this highway for years and this is the first time I've ever seen a "free range" cow near, let alone cross, the highway. And this was no little dairy cow, this baby would probably have gone a good 1500 pounds. But I guess, since it had a bell around it's neck, it could go where it wanted to. Sure would have made a mess out of that Toyota.
    
 OK, on to Caples Lake. We had a little snow high up a week or so ago, but I was surprised to still see some on the ground when I crossed Carson Spur (elevation 7990). 

Snow on Carson Spur

I got to Caples and opted to fish by the dead tree. In the picture below the dead tree is on the right and you can see how far down the water was. I would say maybe a good 15 feet lower than normal. 

The dead tree

To the right, it gives you a better feeling of how low the water level is. The tree line is usually where the water is. Not a big deal, the winter will fill the lake again. 

Low water

Across the lake, snow on the ground.

Snow on Caples

The one thing I noticed is that, with the low water level, this area that we usually fish was shallow. At maximum cast, the water was around four feet deep. I spent an hour sitting there and managed one rainbow about 9  inches, small enough to put back for another day. I put out one rod with rainbow Power Bait (this one I caught the fish on) and the other with a couple of Power Eggs and a mini-crawler. I did get a couple bites on the crawler, but they just bit the crawler in half and went about their merry way. 

I moved over to the dam area in search of deeper water and did find some, but none with fish. I spent another hour fishing this area then decided to drive back down the hill to Silver Lake and see if there was any fish left by the day use area.   

The dam area.

When I got to the spot where I wanted to fish, there was an elderly couple already fishing there so I moved to another place. It wasn't all that far away, but enough that I didn't intrude on them, but could still get into the deeper water.

It wasn't long before the first 10 inch Rainbow came to hand and went on the stringer. The second one was this tubbo in the picture below. Yes, that is 16 inches.
 

Football Rainbow

The third one was another 10 incher and that was it. around Noon the bite just stopped.

So the day wasn't a complete waste. I brought 3 home for Bob and left one in Caples. Maybe it'll be a holdover next spring and a few inches bigger. 

I guess that's it. Missed the cow, caught a couple fish, and believe it or not, got a little sun burn.

Till next time.

Mark