Wow !!! Panguitch lake, utah

[SierraPeaks]

Just got home from 3 days at Panguitch Lake in Utah. Man oh man...what a trip ! Fished 5 1/2 hours Sunday and caught 13 (11 Cutthroat 2 Rainbow) 9 hours Monday and caught 31 (28 Cutthroat 3 Rainbow), and 2 1/2 hours Tuesday and caught 9 (8 Cutthroat 1 Rainbow) And...I had a hog Tiger Trout to the boat. Fought him for about 20 minutes and thought I had him tuckered out so I tightened my drag a bit and brought him in. As soon as he saw the boat he took another dive and snapped off my 6 pound leader. He looked to be about 26 to 28 inches and possibly around the 9 pound mark....DAM !!!!!

Too tired to even unpack tonight...but I'll have lots of pics to post tomorrow.

[WARRIORMIKE]

Ive heard lots of good things about that lake. Suxs to hear you broke off a 9lber

[SierraPeaks]

Yeah Mike...not only is it a beautiful lake...but the fishing is phenomenal.

Arrived at Panguitch at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, checked into our cabin and went to the restaurant for breakfast (really good food) unloaded the truck then it was time to get out on the lake. I rented a boat for three days and got on the water around 1:30. My fish finder was going off the charts with fish everywhere from 8 to 40 feet. I decided to go 5 colors out with leadcore and a top water line for good measure. I went with a copper Needlefish with red head and a chunk of nightcrawler on my leadcore and a rainbow Krocodile up top. After 45 minutes of no action, I switched from a Needlefish to a Flatfish on my leadcore and immediately got slammed by a 3 pound Bear Lake Cutthroat. There was still no action on top, but I "let her ride" and sent the Flatfish out on another tour of duty....WHAM ! Another Cutthroat ! After about an hour and 5 more fish on leadcore only, I decided to junk the top water line and just concentrate on what was working. Using different colored and patterned Flatfish the rest of the day, I caught 13 and called it a day at 7:00 (boat's due in at 7:00 anyway)
On Monday, I was on the water at 7:00 a.m. and went with the same set-up on my leadcore and tried a top water nightcrawler even though there were only a handfull of fish breaking the surface in the morning. Two hours later and 4 fish in the boat on my deep line only, it was time to trash the top water fiasco and just go deep. I averaged just over 3 fish an hour the rest of the day and ended up with 31 when I called it a done deal at 6:30 with a 2 1/2 hour break from 11:30 to 2:00 (the fishing was the best from around 3:00 till 7:00)
My girlfriend isn't into fishing and stayed at the cabin during the day while I was out on the water and I told her Monday night that the trip was already a success and Tuesday we'd go somewhere. I decided since Bryce Canyon is only about an hour away and neither of us had ever been there, we'd spend the day there. And am I ever glad we did. What an awesome, mind boggling place.
We got back to the lake around 3:00 and I thought "Why not ? I have 4 hours left" and got on the water around 3:30.
Well....same old song and dance. Slamma jamma for 2 1/2 hours till the boat broke down and I had to be towed in after baggin' 9.
A great trip that I will never forget. For anyone looking for a new place to fish outside of California...I recommend Panguitch Lake whole heartedly.


And the resort we stayed at is the Bear Paw Resort...and they are simply the nicest people you will ever meet in this or a thousand lifetimes.


More photos to come.

[Sierra_Smitty]

Nice! I used to go there a lot when I was a kid.....great to see that the fishing is still awesome.

[Natural Lefty]

My family fished there once before heading to Yellowstone when I was about 12 years old, but all we caught were 6-7 inch Rainbows casting bobber/fly combinations from shore around sunset. Obviously, we missed out on the big ones. Next time I go to Utah, I think we will check out the fishing at Panguitch lake again. By the way, do you know if anyone was having success fishing from shore there?

[SierraPeaks]

Lefty...there were only a few people fishing from shore...and only 5 or 6 boats on the whole lake. I know people were catching a fair share from boats still fishing...but I'm sorry I didn't get a shore report. I would definitely recommend renting a boat there...only 70 bucks for a full day. Amazingly, most people in Utah (or up from Las Vegas) have never even heard of leadcore and really don't know how to troll down deep. I was the only person getting down to where the bigger fish were and it's like those fish are seeing lures for the first time in their lives. I had the same experience last year at Navajo Lake in Utah where I caught well over 60 trout in 2 days. Bottom line...fish leadcore from a boat and you'll slay 'em. I'm making Panguitch a once a year if not more destination.

More pics from my trip :

[smokehound]

Dang man, with scenery like that, I wouldnt care if i caught fish or not


Utah is a VERY beautiful state.

[SierraPeaks]

Dang man, with scenery like that, I wouldnt care if i caught fish or not


Utah is a VERY beautiful state.

No doubt Smokey.
Every time I go I see something totally new and unique...but the best part is...the fishing IS fantastic !!!

[SierraPeaks]

A few of the bigger Cutts. 18 inch ice chest...touching nose to tail.

[Señor.Chilax]

Wow. That's some nice fishing. I guess the locals were right about the best fishing in 15 years with that fish count. Nice killing, you just dropped the fish population in Panguitch Lake.