Pineview Tiger Muskie

Nick

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I wasn't going to post a trip report from this, but something cool happened and I thought I'd share. I went up to Pineview Reservoir in Ogden Canyon today. It was my wife and I along with my sister and her husband and their kids. The plan was just to goof off, swim, do a little fishing and drag around the tube. It was the first time with kids on the boat and the first time towing anything. It was tons of fun and the kids absolutely loved it. There were a ton of people there, but it really wasn't bad at all. I definitely want a bigger tube though. That thing was way too small for adults!

We cruised around for a while and anchored up for lunch. We were getting sick of the wake boats coming and circling us like 50 feet away sending massive waves crashing into us. They must find joy in watching 4 foot waves crash into us lowly pontooners because they just kept doing it over and over, even though we were so far out of the way. That's what I get for going on Saturday, I guess.

So we cruised over to a big cove that is a no wake zone. Being a beautiful Saturday in June, it was packed, but we cruised back and tossed out an anchor. Me, my brother-in-law and my nieces and nephew all jumped in and started enjoying the water. Then all of the sudden I hear Audra calling for me, telling me to get out of the water because she needs help landing a fish. I thought "okay, okay. It's probably like a decent rainbow or something. Maybe 15-18". But then I looked up at the boat and saw her rod nearly bent in half. I quickly climbed up the ladder and grabbed the net. It turned out Audra had hooked into a monster Tiger Muskie! This species is also known as 'the fish of 10,000 casts' because they are so hard to catch! The measuring device on the boat only went to 24", but my post-measuring via photoshop clocks this thing in somewhere between 38-42". Not the biggest out there, but still a really killer fish. The biggest I've ever participated in landing, that's for sure! It was a tricky catch. We got it on board, but it's mouth was almost big enough to eat my hand and it had TONS of huge teeth! Not just in the usual places either. It had teeth on the roof of it's mouth and in it's gills. I found that out the hard way.

Anyway, I wanted to get it back in the water quickly so it could fight another day. I had to help Audra hold it at first, but then we still got a shot of it with just her. It was an awesome experience and the fish swam off looking healthy as ever. Audra was very pleased.

A shot as Audra was bringing him in. Look at those teeth!
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And just for the record, it is nearly as fun to see the look of pure joy on kid's faces behind the boat as it is to be the one getting pulled. Good times with the family. :)

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Wow beautiful fish! Congratulations to Audra.
 
That is the first fish I've seen you holding that makes your hands look small! What an awesome catch! Can't imagine your shock seeing that rod bend.
 
That is the first fish I've seen you holding that makes your hands look small! What an awesome catch! Can't imagine your shock seeing that rod bend.

Haha! Yeah, I need a someone with small hands to hold all of my fish for me!

Nice. All those boats in the background though, seems like a popular spot.

It was crazy busy. I had to park my trailer out in a field way beyond the parking lot. But surprisingly, it wasn't really that bad, especially out and about on the lake. That spot we were at was a no-wake cove so there was probably 50 boats back there anchored, just having fun. I usually go well out of my way to avoid crowds but it really wasn't bad at all. I think I'll try to stick to weekdays from now on though.
 
Pineview didn't used to be so bad, but it's become a bathtub for Ogdenites. I spent a lot of time waterskiing there as a kid and always tried not to think about the monstrous creatures in those green depths. Nice catch!
 
Nice catch............ don't let the kids dress like a Rapalla..... :frantic:
 
Nice catch............ don't let the kids dress like a Rapalla..... :frantic:

LOL! :roflmao: I was actually shocked that not one of those kids had second thoughts jumping right back in the water after that experience! It was their first time fishing and first time on a boat. Couldn't have been happier.
 
Pineview didn't used to be so bad, but it's become a bathtub for Ogdenites. I spent a lot of time waterskiing there as a kid and always tried not to think about the monstrous creatures in those green depths. Nice catch!

Despite the crowds, it is one of my favorite Utah reservoirs so far. The many channels and bends on the shoreline make it interesting and breaks things up. And the scenery is fantastic. At least right now at high water. Probably not so attractive with a big bathtub ring.
 
It's a gorgeous reservoir. I had never been there before until this past weekend. On our way home from Lava Hot Springs my wife and I decided to go home via Bear Lake and Logan Canyon. We missed the Logan turnoff however and ended up in the middle of nowhere. We ended up going through Hyrum Utah, and then over across Monte Cristo, through Pineview and Snowbasin and then over to Ogden. I had never been to the area before and was really taken with how nice it was.
 
I had never been to the area before and was really taken with how nice it was.

Get in while the getting's good. There's still a lot of open space but I'd expect the Ogden Valley to develop significantly in the next 15-20 years. I remember growing up you could go out on a Saturday and not see half the traffic that's on the reservoir today. That was before they built the Trapper's Loop road.
 
Everywhere will be crowded in 15 - 20 years. The Ogden Valley boom that was predicted after the Olympics never happened..
 
Everywhere will be crowded in 15 - 20 years. The Ogden Valley boom that was predicted after the Olympics never happened..

You and I must be looking at a different Ogden Valley. It's already much more developed than it was 20 years ago.
 
I don't know much about the Ogden valley proper (other than I was a bit scared doing some hikes up there this year!), but I was thinking that it was prime for growth too. Specifically about the land around Pineview. I noticed a few monster houses and then lots and lots of farm land right up to the shore. I bet that farm land would fetch a nice price. Most of the reservoirs in Utah have steep shorelines, unsuitable for lake front homes. You look back east and lakes like that are all lined with houses. Hell, now that I have a boat, I'd want to buy one!
 
When we first dove into the valley on the East side I didn't know there was a reservoir there, I didn't really know where I was actually, but I said to Ashley, this is a nice valley, I wouldn't mind living here. Then I saw the reservoir and knew that it would probably be out of my price range. It's amazing how a lake boosts property values.
 
Sure, its grown a lot, but they were forecasting a huge boom after the Olympics, never happened. Land prices went way up, but the flood of buyers were not seen.
 
Great catch!

By the way your hair is looking lighter than in previous photos. Lots of time in the sun already this summer?
 
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