Bear River (East Fork)

September 26

There is no better month in Utah than September, and there is for sure no better month to fish than September. The temps are perfect, the smell of fall is so earthy, the fish are hungry, and of course the autumn leaves. Mr. Wilson and I happen to think that September 19^th is the best day inside the best month. We have both been wanting to go to the north slope of the Uintah’s for over a year now to check out Christmas Meadows, China Meadows, the Black Fork, Haden’s Fork just to name a few. The Uintah’s on Mirror Lake Hwy 150—winner winner chicken dinner!

I have camped so many times with family and friends in the Mirror Lake Highway area, I couldn’t count them if I tried. In all those camping trips, I have never driven over to Evanston, and then taken Hwy 150 back over to Kamas. I hate to admit it, but this really is the first time I have ever done it.

Driving up from Evanston is beautiful, and it didn’t take too long up the canyon before we reached the confluence of the Bear River with the East Fork of the Bear. We just could not help ourselves from parking quickly. This is the first time for me to fish these rivers. My overall rating-- straight up "B." Explanation: 

Winning features:

• Extremely beautiful (especially in the fall)
• High Mountain away from people and major roads. Yes a lot of people visit the Uintah’s in this area, but go there on off times and avoid holiday weekends
• Fabulous size river (sort of the baby bear syndrome not too big, not too small)
• Healthy, clean water great flow and cfs
• Fun to explore and nice holes
• A lot of trout species

Not so winning features:

• Not a ton of fish
• Fish in the Uintah's are not monster--we started calling some of the little cuts “Deans”—short for sardines. It’s hard to catch anything up there over 14 inches, and it’s easy to catch fish under 5 inches.

Looking at the two lists, it’s easy to see that the Winner category is large. It’s hard not to like the Bear, and it’s East Fork. When we were done fishing we headed back to the car to burn some “Brats.” Kicking back smelling the grill, sipping on a Sam Adams, watching the big puffy white clouds move over that landscape was honestly as good as it gets. Both of us are compelled to explore this area more. My buddy Zogg is always talking about Christmas Meadows and all the wonderful rivers in this area, and I have heard if you find the right spots you can also find bigger fish.

I hate to say it out loud or worse yet to write it, but here goes; on some level size does matter. The fish on the south slope compared to the fish on the North Slope are bigger. There are so many rivers on the south end of this mountain range that hold some big husky fish. Of course you are talking about a whole different kind of fishing; high mountain free stone rivers cannot be expected to yield fish like the ones in controlled tail water. Also I really have not fished the north end enough to say honestly that it doesn’t have the fish that the south slope does. So perhaps I should end on that note, and head back up hwy 150 to see what I can find…