Bottle Hollow, Where Michael Caught the Big Trout

On our way home from Vernal, we stopped for a moment at  Bottle Hollow Reservoir, which has some special meaning.

The story is, in 1988, in the early summer in year when Michael died, I was serving in some kind of capacity with the Utah Division of Family Services that required me to visit some of the outlying District offices occasionally.  I was friendly with the man who was the director of our programs in the 3-county Uintah Basin area and had earlier talked with him about my son Michael’s love of fishing and about fishing prospects in his area.  He had told me about how good the fishing was at the Bottle Hollow reservoir.  This was a little private lake owned by the Ute Indian tribe that was especially stocked with big trout, and that he had his own boat and often fished there.  I had a visit coming up to his office which was in Roosevelt, and he agreed to take Michael and me fishing on Bottle Hollow after we finished our work.  The reservoir was just a few miles east of where the office was located and right by the headquarters of the Ute tribe.  I brought Michael with me on this visit, and in the late afternoon we stopped at tribe headquarters, bought a one day tribal fishing license, and got out on the lake.

Fishing was good and we caught several nice-sized fish, including one or two that Michael caught that were well over 12 inches.  He was happy with our success. We drive back home with the fish and I remember having fish for dinner and didn’t think anything more about our trip.  A couple of months later Michael’s heart condition worsened and he passed away on August 28th.

A couple of years went by.  One day JoAnn decided that it was time to clean the freezer.  She took various items out and found way at the back of the freezer a wrapped package.  When she opened it, there was the largest fish that Michael had caught at Bottle Hollow, a rainbow trout over 15 inches long.  We guessed that he was so proud of that fish that he had decided on his own to preserve it.  JoAnn took the fish to a taxidermist and gave it to me as a surprise birthday present.   I still have it hanging on the little wall space in our basement, along with some other memorabilia for Michael.