Fish On!

Urban Creek

2011-08-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

I fished an urban creek recently. In most areas it was easy to forget that I was surrounded by neighborhoods, businesses, and all things urban. In many places the stream had very high banks. Add to this the fact that it was heavily wooded and it felt like I was fishing far from the urban sprawl. I heard a rumor this stream held smallmouth bass and that was my target species for the trip. I began fishing a few good looking holes under an overpass. No big fish but I ran into a pack of hungry green sunfish and creek chubs. All the green sunfish I caught were pint size runts but eager to hit my fly. The chubs were easily as aggressive and had a little more size to them. Oddly enough they reminded me of small trout, just with squashed heads.

I worked my way downstream but most good areas I wanted to fish were hard to get to. The banks often had 6 to 8 foot vertical drops, no way to get down or up so I moved on. I came to another bridge and was able to access the river again. I came upon two good size carp on a flat. They were burying their faces and lazily working the flat sucking stuff off the bottom. I placed a few casts in front of them but did not get them to eat my fly before I spooked them. In the pic below there is a carp with its back out of the water.

It is the thing that looks like a rock just breaking the surface of the water. Below the bridge there was some good looking water with a little current to it but I did not get a hit from anything, strange. Daylight was slowly fading so I headed back toward my car. I want to return again sometime and see what I can find.

Topwater Cats

2011-08-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Dave and I attempted to try our bread trick on some grass carp in a few smaller community ponds recently. At the first stop we did not get any fish feeding on bread, or I should say any grass carp. We caught some bluegills, and I managed to catch a nice little largemouth while we waited for the grass carp to start sucking down the bread.

They never did eat our bread. On to pond number 2. We breaded the surface and waited. The some big fish started popping the surface in our slick of bread! It really got the pulse racing. We assumed some big grass carp were responsible for the big boils on the surface. Something smacked Dave's fly and bend his rod over. It got into the moss but he waded out and got his line free. The fish was still on and it turned out to be a large channel catfish! Not a grass carp but a really nice catch on the fly rod.

We did not know if any grass carp were in the mix creating the big boils on the bread or not. A bit later Dave hooked up with another nice cat! I think my fly may have been sinking a little too fast. I think the fish were really focused on the top. Somehow some bluegills managed to get caught on the big size 4 hook I was using on my bread fly. No grass carp were caught but it was a fun evening out on the pond.

Cyprinus Carpio

2011-07-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

For several months my friend Dave and I have been discussing targeting common carp at a local reservoir. These carp are accustomed to being fed bread from people on the docks. We thought we could have success by showing up in the off hours of human traffic and throw our own bread in the water to get the carp feeding. Then we would attempt to hook up to these carp by casting bread flies to the feeding carp and hopefully fool them into taking the fake. Definitely not traditional fly fishing but similar to the accepted practice of the "bait-n-switch" used to catch sharks or sailfish on the fly. We each tied up various versions of bread flies using a variety of materials. The common element was something white that would look like a piece of bread in the water. My favorite looking fly was made with the core material of a nylon rope. We met in the morning and launched our watercraft into the lake and headed toward the docks of interest. We chummed up the water with bread and nothing happened for quite some time. Then after waiting for a bit a few carp showed up and started vigorously smacking the bread on the surface. We both cast into the area and bam! Fish on for me first. While Dave was shooting video of my battle a fish slammed his bread fly as well. Double hook up with our target species! It was my first carp on the fly rod and I learned very quickly how hard these fish fight and how much endurance they have. We you manage to get them "close to the boat" the battle is only half over. And once you finally can see your leader these fish will continue to bulldog you making mini runs and trying to stay down as much as they can. Then once they see the net they get an additional surge of energy and try everything possible to evade it. An extremely worthy opponent! With the help of Dave and his huge landing net I finally had my first fly rod carp in hand.

I got a few pics of my fish then proceeded to help Dave net his fish and also take a few pics.

My rod was getting in the way so I decided to stick it between my back and the float tube. After the commotion died and we were focused on getting back to fishing I went to grab my rod but it was nowhere to be seen. I quickly looked at Dave thinking I may have given it to him to hold. Nope, my rod somehow slipped off my tube and was now sitting in 30 feet of water! Bummer! I was a little upset but just had to laugh it off. Luckily Dave had a backup 7 weight he let me borrow and it worked great! We periodically would get carp coming through to feed on the bread. It was never a big pod of frenzied carp but usually a few boiling over our bread. Five more fish were landed between the two of us. A few break offs occurred as well. In one instance Dave hooked up and the fish was so strong he could not turn or slow down the fish. It ran way under the dock and managed to get wrapped around something then broke off. All the carp we caught ranged between 7 and 12 pounds. I managed to catch the 12 pounder pictured below. Overall it was an awesome time fishing for these beasts.

Even though I was thoroughly satisfied with my first carp experience I still wanted more and we decided to return the next day. The fishing was a lot tougher because the carp that did come through would grab a few bites of the bread then move on. They did not stick around long at all. I don't know if they caught onto us the previous day or not. I managed to break off a fish or two. Dave had a leviathan on at one point that ran super hard under his kayak and broke him off, it was a determined and strong fish. Toward the very end of our time out a fish decided to show up and munch on the bread. On his way out I managed to cast my fly and put it right on his nose. He took my fly then all heck broke loose. My reel was screaming as this fish ran back and forth. At one point he ran straight to the bottom then came straight back up to the surface. This was definitely the most spastic carp I had battled over the two days of fishing for them. Finally I landed a beautiful carp over the 9 pound mark.

We did some bluegill fishing while waiting for the carp. Dave managed to catch several really nice gills and a beautiful hybrid bluegill/green sunfish.

I managed a few bluegills as well. It was a great two days fishing that left me wanting to target carp a whole lot more often!

Mixed Bag

2011-05-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

I headed to a small community pond with a few friends, Blake and Colin. We caught a mixed bag of crappies, green sunfish, and bluegills. I'll break the afternoon into three parts. Part I: There was an intermittent breeze that would kick up and we saw a few fish rising which were most likely eating bugs that were being blown off the trees above. Blake started "swimming" his fly right near the surface of the water which started producing a lot of fish. We decided to switch to some foam beetles which drew plenty of hits and fish on top. Blake even got several crappie on his beetle pattern. We caught quite a few crappie overall but the green sunfish ruled the first part of the day. Colin used my vintage Fenwick FF806 glass rod and was doing just fine tallying up the fish.

Part II: We walked down a different bank and noticed some spawning areas where the green sunfish were milling around in the shallows guarding nesting areas. The fish were ultra aggressive and we started pulling them out one after another. They were so aggressive I switched it up and put on a red foam popper which I caught some very nice and chunky green sunfish on. We all added many more fish to our tally in this area, mostly green sunfish or "black perch" as Blake called them. At one point Blake added a dropper off the beetle and three separate times landed fish on both flies at the same time!

Part III: Colin and I continued fishing the nesting area while Blake wandered down to one of the four corners of the pond. He called us over after a bit as he seemed to be on to something special. He was on to something! He was catching nice bluegills practically every cast. There was probably a ten foot square area about 25 feet off shore where he was landing his fly. We started targeting the area and we too started catching some nice chunky bluegills. Blake must have found either a big stationary school or a big time nesting area because the small spot was machine like in producing bluegill after bluegill. It was nonstop hits and/or landed fish for quite awhile. We kept catching fish out of the area right until I had to leave. Overall it was a killer day and we probably all landed around 50 fish each, maybe even more since we lost count early on. Flies fished included foam beetles, panfish poppers, small clouser minnows, scuds, myakka minnows, and a variety of other weighted panfish style flies.

Crappies on Glass

2011-04-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

A few months back I won an old Fenwick FF806 fiberglass fly rod off of ebay. Among glass enthusiasts it is known to be a very versatile rod and a great caster. I tried lawn casting just after it arrived in the mail but it did not feel all that great and I was a little unsure of my purchase. I was pretty constricted though and was hitting a tree
during my back cast half the time. Well luckily over Spring Break I had several opportunities to meet up with Dave (FishnDave) at his local crappie pond. I was able to open the rod up a little more out on the pond and it really shined. I paired it up with an vintage Pflueger Sal Trout click pawl reel and some sort of double taper fly line that came on the reel. I could roll cast this rod just as far as my modern Sage graphite rod! Needless to say I was highly impressed and thoroughly satisfied in taking my first step into vintage glass rods. The rod definitely made me slow down my casting stroke but it is fun that even small fish put a nice bend in glass. I'll be fishing this vintage combo a lot more often this year! The fishing was pretty good overall during the break despite some questionable fishing weather and many crappie and green sunfish were landed. Flies fished by Dave and me included Myakka minnows, microjigs, boa yarn leeches, craft fur clousers, orange legged mohair bodied nymph (something I threw together that caught a few fish with) and some others with and without thingamabobber indicators.

Dave braving the elements

Micro green sunfish caught on a microjig

Back to Trouting

2011-02-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

I headed back to the Rockies over the holidays and of course was excited to sample a few of the tail waters I had grown accustomed to over the years. In the Midwest I have made the transition to warm water fly fishing, mostly in stillwater. I love the mixed bag you find in warm water fly fishing but I was excited to see if I could dredge up a few trout out in the frozen tundra. David and I headed up to a tailwater that sits in between two reservoirs and found a beautiful looking stretch of river. We had zero hits in the first good looking hole.

We moved down to a fairly deep and uniform stretch just upstream from a small bridge and after several drifts David hooked up with a decent brown which put a nice little bend in his rod.

It was all good water but the fish didn't feel like playing all that much so we headed down to a different section of river.

I must mention I tried borrowing Jim's fly rod, but when I went to open the tube and piece the rod together there was nothing inside except a rod sock. It was not a big deal since David and I usually trade off drifts anyway at the best holes. We did just that and David made a really nice drift on his turn and something munched on his nymph and tore off downstream. We were hoping it was a big brown which are fairly common to the river but it turned out to be a Rocky Mountain bonefish (a.k.a mountain whitefish). David let me show it off to the camera.

Not fast fishing but the inversion resulted in a beautiful day once you got out of the valley.

I made sure I grabbed the right rod tube the next time we headed out. We went to one of my favorite holes that holds large numbers of fish but most are 14 inch cookie cutters. I have seen some large browns porpoise in the hole but most are middle weight and pretty scrappy. If you hit a good hatch at the hole in can be nuts with dozens of fish rising. Despite a few midges the bug activity was fairly minimal. We worked hard and nymphed up a few stubborn browns of the cookie cutter variety.

We tried heading up ice fishing the day after a big storm and we could not make it up to the reservoir because deep snow was covering the road and the plows had not cleared the way in. We should have brought our fly rods but left them at home. We still wanted to get some fishing in so we decided to hit a river with our spinning gear. We had our big white tube jigs on and started getting some good follows right off the bat. I casted into a fairly small side channel and as my jig bounced up into a shallow riffle I saw a fish in hot pursuit. He nailed it and I landed the fish. The fish probably went 13 inches and I was surprised it hit such a large jig. I have heard fish will hit large prey in comparison to their body size but this was the best real life example I had seen. I wish I had taken a picture. While on the river we used some ski style masks we got for Christmas and I had to get a picture of David looking like a river ninja.

A few days later we tried heading up ice fishing and we made it. It turned out to be a perfect afternoon. The best bite is early morning and it proved to be slow. We thought it might turn on as the sun faded in the late afternoon and we were right. There was a burst of activity as the sun started to disappear behind the mountains. In fact, I probably caught the largest trout of my life but it was too cold and my camera would not turn on. It was a beautiful Bear Lake cutthroat that was probably around 23 inches and it had some girth to it for sure. We did get a picture of one of the other fish we caught.

Before the early evening bite turned on David tried hiking up a hill in the deep snow and sledding down it. The snow was too deep so his attempt ended up being more like a belly flop. It was pretty funny. Overall it was great to get out fishing with David again back "home".

Allen Fly Fishing

2010-12-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

I ran into Allen Fly Fishing on a Facebook advertisement. Or maybe it was a banner on one of the fly fishing forums. Anyway, I did some research and ran into quite a buzz about the products. There was little if any negative reviews about the reels, lines, and a host of other fly fishing gear. I started following the latest developments with the reels. Once I saw the new Allen "Trout 5/7" I was sold. These were some of the best looking reels out there and at great prices. Then Justin (the owner) came out with a new version of the "Alpha" fly reel which looked equally awesome. I had to decide whether I wanted a new reel for my all purpose 5 weight rod (the Trout 5/7) or the new Alpha 7/8 for my carp rod. So intriguing were these reels that I sold my go-to reel I use on my 5 weight to fund the purchase of the Allen. To even further solidify my confidence in purchasing an Allen reel I found out that my friend Dave (FishnDave) had bought a few of the reels and some other gear and gave me positive feedback about the reels, lines, etc. The light weight (5.37 oz) of the Alpha 7/8 pushed me toward that reel since I only had a heavy clunker for my 8 weight. I had other reels that were adequate to cover my 5 weight needs. I got the Allen in the mail and I am thoroughly pleased and excited about the reel. It feels so light in my hand and Justin did a good job taking out any unnecessary metal.

Not only that but he did it in a way that is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

This is a beautiful reel. The gunmetal finish looks great and glistens when any sunlight hits it. I still need to throw backing and a fly line on the reel but before doing so I wanted to take a few glam shots. If anyone is looking for a nice machined reel at a great price I suggest visiting allenflyfishing.com. Justin has been praised for his excellent customer service as well. If any reel breaks he will fix or replace it for you. Unfortunately I have to wait several months for things to thaw out around here before I can put this beauty to the test against some large cyprinus carpio.

Tribute to Summer

2010-11-27T19:19:00.000-08:00

These days I'm longing for the early evening serenade of cicadas in the trees. Here is to warmer times...

I found this guy (or girl) outside my house. They usually are pretty elusive. My 2 year old son does a great cicada imitation.

Crappie Day

2010-11-24T21:44:00.000-08:00

The weather was cold and drizzly but after finishing a test in the morning I thought I would head back to a local crappie pond and see what I could find. I basically just circled the pond slowly and the crappies were willing. I was using a white micro jig (fly) with a red collar. I suspended it under an indicator and slowly worked the fly in short strips. They loved the fly and I didn't change it once. I brought my iPod Touch 4g along and decided to shoot video with it. It was awkward but I would bring the fish in so I could shoot with one hand then lift the rod to bring the fish in the rest of the way. Most of the fight was over at that point but it was still fun to capture the fish in the water for a few seconds. Anyway, no pics in this post just this video shot and edited entirely with my iPod. Hopefully I can figure out how to export the video in HD quality in the future.

New Fishing Buddy

2010-11-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I decided to take my boy fishing to a community pond. It was his first real fishing trip with Dad. Luckily it was a red hot fishing day and I hooked fish after fish. I caught a mixed bag of black crappies, white crappies, and green sunfish. I was using a orange bodied fly with a tail, bead chain eyes and rubber legs. I also tried a micro epoxy bodied minnow that worked well too. After each fish he would say "Catch one more Daddy!" He was more interested in watching me catch fish while he played near the waters edge and poked around in the moss and splashed water. But each time I caught a fish he came in close for inspection. His favorite part was using his stick to nudge the fish back into deeper water. I even offered to take him to the park after catching a couple fish but he was having way too much fun fishing. I even got him to hold up a crappie for a photo...

Just recently I headed back to the pond with my wife and boy. He had a blast again even though the fishing was a quite a bit slower for me. I did catch a nice green sunfish that hammered my fly.

I was using a fly fairly similar to a clouser minnow except it has a sparkly orange dubbed body among other things. I also caught a small crappie. I must have not done a good enough job hauling them in because after a half hour he wanted to head over to the park. It was a great day to get out. The weather was beautiful for November and I really hope we get several more of these warm fall days.

The Bass Constant

2010-09-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

During study of the sciences you soon find out that there are lots of constants, numbers in equations that don't change. Ive been three times to a small community pond fairly close to my house. For every time I have been there is one thing has not changed: I have caught one largemouth bass each time. Although I would not mind catching more than one, they are so fun that I have appreciated the bass constant in my fishing equation.

I didn't say other species were not caught...

Pull Cats

2010-09-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ted and I tried our hand at gar again but we spotted very few fish. I had a few follows and had one on for a second but that was about it. I switched from the rope fly to a standard fly with a hook and started casting for bluegill and cats. I bagged a few small bluegill which were fun.

I was casting close to some structure just off the bank and my line went completely tight and I set the hook. It was a feisty fish that stayed down and was pulling hard. It turned out to be a nice little channel cat.

I think the channel cats always surprise me because I spent many hours when I was younger trying to get channels cats to bite on cut bait, stink bait, and a variety of other smelly concoctions. I never did catch a channel catfish while using bait. The closest I came was about ten years ago when I was fishing for channel cats at Utah Lake using shrimp. I had something take my bait and I set the hook. The fight was on and after a lengthy battle I had the fish near the shore. I saw his big forked tail a few times but he made a last second run and my knot failed and I lost it. Fast forward ten years and now I am here in Iowa catching channel cats on flies, go figure. I'll say it again, they pull hard! I can't imagine catching some of the big cats my friend Scott catches on the fly out in Omaha. While kicking my way in I made a few last casts near shore and nailed another cat that went about 13 inches. Despite no gar I still had a lot of fun with the pull cats.

Fishing Tradition

2010-08-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

When I was a boy I took many fishing trips with my dad to various places including the Eastern Sierra mountains in California, the mountainous regions of Arizona, Utah, and many other places. My son's first fishing trip was on the Provo River in Utah when he was probably around 10 months old or so. I went up to the river to just look but a hatch of blue wing olives turned it into a fishing trip. I got him out of the car seat and strapped him to my chest and carefully made my way down to the river's edge. I was able to land a nice brown trout within a few minutes which was good because he did not like being stationary and wanted out pretty quickly. The other night he "caught" his first fish. My wife and I were walking around a small pond and I carried my fly rod along to take a few casts. I was not expecting too much but after a half dozen casts I had a nice little largemouth on and I let Blake turn the reel while I held the rod. Without even telling him how to do it he started turning the reel and got the fish to shore. My wife took this picture with her cell phone hence the graininess.

Learning the Ropes

2010-08-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

(Gar pics taken by FishnDave)

After returning from cold water paradise out west I planned a gar trip with fellow blogger FishnDave (I'll just call him Dave from now on). He had not tried for gar on the fly yet so we met up one morning to target the toothy critters. I walked down the trail straight toward the cove to launch my tube in order to save my legs. Dave had to wheel his kayak down to the dock. We started walking from our cars at the same time but due to his amazing peddle drive system on his kayak he still beat me over there before I even got in the water. With the unprecedented water year in Iowa the lake looked full like it had flooded again. The previous time Ted and I noticed a slight decline in the aggressiveness of the fish and simply didn't see nearly as many. It had flooded before that trip too and my theory was that the cooler water from the river had decreased the surface water temperatures. Regardless of what happened exactly this trip was going to be even trickier.

We paddled across a good chunk of the cove without seeing a gar which was really strange. My spirits were a little down so after awhile I decided to cut off my rope fly and throw some small panfish flies near the trees which produced a few bluegill fairly quickly. Dave stayed focused to the task at hand and scanned the water hunting for gar. He finally saw a fish and casted to it. The fish was persistent and Dave got it to really eat the fly after a few previous hits. Dave decided to wait for awhile before laying into the fish and let the rope fly really tangle up in its teeth. Ted and I had waited quite awhile for the set on the first few strikes of our first outing without much success. Possibly because we didn't have the end of the nylon rope singed. We seemed to have more luck just waiting a second or two then lifting the rod. After what seemed like an eternity for me Dave lifted the rod tip and was wrangling in a nice gar. After a good fight Dave netted the fish and I was so excited I let out a few hoots and hollers. He had to work for that fish and it payed off.

After watching Dave's method of waiting a good ten seconds before putting on the pressure I think I am sold on the delayed "rope-set" theory. He had the end of his fly singed too which probably helped. Ted and I had experienced so many hits/missed fish but Dave solidly "hooked" the first fish that took his fly. It has been a learning experience and there may be several ways to use the rope fly but next time I get a gar to take one I'm going to let him chew on it for awhile. Ted joined us after a few hours but also was having trouble seeing many gar. At one point I went up on the bridge and tried spotting fish but they simply were not there in the numbers I have seen before. From up top I did see Ted get a splashy and explosive take from a gar but he didn't hook up.
We all went on hunting and Dave was able to land another gar awhile later. After trying the rope again I eventually switched back to a fly with a hook and started casting near the bank. I was able to land quite a few bluegill and landed a small channel cat that absolutely smashed my fly. I think channel cats have to be one of the hardest fighting fish for their size around here. They pull hard and don't give up without a lengthy fight.

It was time for me to head home and Dave opted to leave at that point as well. As we worked out way back toward the car I saw something small but quite long cruising around on the surface near me. It was a small gar! I didn't have a rope fly on but it might have been a good thing since this gar was so small. I presented my fly to it and got him to take it. I somehow got the hook stuck into its bony mouth and landed the little devil. It was a nice little morale booster since I thought I'd be skunked for gar on the day. It was nice to meet Dave and we hope to fish again together sometime soon.

Tribute to a Tributary

2010-08-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

The day I left Sun Valley Jim and David headed back up to the tributary of the Big Wood where we slayed them several nights earlier. The fishing was off the hook again as David landed around 20 fish in under two hours. These are a few pics they took.

Stanley

2010-07-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

One day during the Sun Valley trip we headed through the mountains over to Stanley where many tributaries comprise the headwaters of the Salmon River which runs through Stanley before winding its way over 400 miles to the Snake River. The Snake River then drains into the Columbia River which drains into the ocean. We did not do any fishing while in the Salmon River drainage, however we did visit the fish hatchery there which was the highlight of the trip. There were a few holding areas with stocker rainbows waiting to be planted in the region. Then there were several holding areas where tiny chinook (king) salmon were being raised up to a certain size before they are put in the river to make their journey back to the ocean during spring runoff. Many of these tiny salmon were near the end of the holding pen where a small current comes in and they were trying to jump up and over a plastic barrier. There are some wild salmon that do return to the upper Salmon but they are few in numbers. In fact I think the number of wild returning sockeye was in the single digits last run. I believe there are still wild chinook that return but their numbers are most likely fairly low too, probably not as low as the sockeye though. It is an amazing phenomenon for fish to travel around a thousand miles upstream to spawn whether they be wild or not. After seeing the juvenile fish we drove over to the far side of the hatchery near the river to see the adult chinook in the holding pens. It was awesome to see the big salmon cruising back and forth and imagining them on the end of your line. I then went over to see a small latter system that had water spilling over at different levels. The fish were jumping up and trying to proceed further into the concrete system of the hatchery. I think they manually let the fish in each day or maybe just net them and throw them into the holding area. Regardless of how it is exactly done it was sure fun to see the fish leaping and smacking themselves against a rubber mat that was placed there to avoid injury. Some of them would pull an easy six foot vertical jump, very impressive. Then I went over to the river where there was a small spillover dam barely downstream of the ladders. If you kept your eyes glued there for about thirty seconds you would usually see a salmon rocket out of the water trying to make it up the spillover. One probably caught six feet of air and traveled a good 15 feet horizontally, it was amazing. I wish I had my camera on me to capture the fish in the air but I had dropped it off at the car after seeing the fish in the holding areas, oh well. Stanley was really a beautiful area and I hope to visit it again someday!

The Big Wood

2010-07-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

My wife's family rented a house up in Sun Valley (Ketchum) Idaho for a week in mid July. The Big Wood River runs right through town and picks up water from many tributaries that are scattered across the valley. The first day of fishing was happening on a Monday and the glimpses of the river I had caught the previous two days got me pumped. The Big Wood is a true freestone stream with wild rainbows and the water was running gin clear.

Jim, David and I headed down to an access point a few miles south of Ketchum. We got down to the river and I was surprised how much water was still flowing. I guess Idaho had a cool spring and we were seeing the tail end of the run off. Regardless, the river was definitely fishable and we went for it. David struck first with a nice fat whitefish by nymphing a little pocket along the bank. We worked the water but the first section we were on did not have a lot of structure or bends to break up the flow so we decided to look for some more promising holes so we hopped in the car and headed further down river. The second spot had some good holes and I also got a nice fat whitefish. For a few minutes David had a nice little tail-out dailed in and had three or four takes in a row but they all popped off within a second or two. After this things shut down and the action came to a halt. We didn't see any sign of bugs coming off the water which surprised me. I headed up to a big back eddy and was able to pull one small fish out. I could see quite a few fish but could not figure out what they wanted. David had a few follows in the back eddy throwing a bugger but that was it. Jim worked his way upstream of us and after a bit we headed up too. There was no action after that and we found Jim upstream aways and he ended up getting skunked for the day. We all went back to the car talking about the tough fishing. It was a beautiful stream and a great day out but the catching left us wanting a bit more. The next evening we wanted to try a small tributary of the Big Wood called Warm Springs where the fish might be a little more willing. As soon as we left the car the mosquitoes were on us and we forgot the bug spray. We walked down stream and found some nice looking holes with no takers. Jim was working his dry at a nice little hole below us and got a nice (for the stream size) rainbow. I had a small nymph rig and switched over right away to a dry. From that point on it was lights out action. The beautiful little rainbows were sipping, slurping, and smacking our dries with reckless abandon. Every place that looked like it held fish did with a few special areas that held dozens of fish. It was the kind of night that you don't forget. We all caught somewhere around 20 fish. We did not document the trip but it is seared in our minds and we created a great memory. The next day David and I decided to hit the Big Wood again. After lunch we headed out and the river had a different feel to it. It seemed alive and bugs were coming off. We started off at a deep hole and ran a nymph rig through it several times with no luck. I tried a Green Drake and started getting hit after hit. I missed a nice fish more than once but landed a smaller rainbow out of the first hole. We then worked our way upstream and had success on Green Drake and PMD dries. These fish were some of the prettiest rainbows I have seen with some having a wide dark red band across their sides.

We missed a lot of fish at each hole or run we fished so the action was pretty hot. At a little side channel I got a nice rainbow to come up and swipe at my Green Drake dry on at least 4 drifts but I never could hook up. I eventually put the fish down but it was fun while it lasted. We then worked our way back downstream and came to some nice pockets and back eddies at a particular turn in the river. David saw a group of three rainbows suspended just above a tree in the water and drifted his fly over them. They looked but none took the fly. Then he skittered his fly upstream and as it was skittering over the fish the second largest trout of the group breached the surface and grabbed it right out of the air! It was a beautiful rainbow. I then switched to a nymph rig and ran a stonefly/green drake nymph (that I had previously snagged and brought up from the river bottom on the first day fishing) in one of the back eddies and my indicator shot under after a few drifts. I had my drag a little too loose and got caught a little off guard and the fish started stripping out line and ran me toward a nightmare of a snag. I thought the fish was gone but I put some pressure on him and by some miracle I got him into the back eddy and he came right back towards me exhausted from the runs he made.

This trip definitely gave us redemption from such a tough day of fishing a few days prior. The river seemed much more alive and willing to give up a few of its gems this day. We saw Green Drakes, stoneflies, and PMDs hatching during the afternoon but a big Green Drake dry was definitely the hot fly of the day.

Tube Jiggin'

2010-07-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

I don't pick up a spinning rod all too often anymore aside from ice fishing. Due to the slow nature of our first trip up to Strawberry I thought a spinning rod might be key in picking up a few more fish. I thought that throwing some big weighted tube jigs tipped with red side shiners in 30 feet of water might be a little more productive than fishing shallower with our fly rods. Since neither David or I had a type V sinking line to dredge the depths it seemed like a logical option. We got back up to Strawberry a few days after our first trip up and the wind was whipping a little bit. We kicked out against the wind and chop and started vertical jigging just off the bottom. It was slow at first then David picked up a nice cutthroat.

Then from there on we started to get quite a bit of action with several missed fish. The chop died off and it turned into a beautiful evening. Between the two us we probably landed a half dozen fish with several long line releases and hits.

High Country Happenings

2010-07-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was back "home" in Utah for a few weeks and my brother-in-law David and I had stillwater on our minds. The first trip out was up to Strawberry Reservoir. Due to the transitional nature of the reservoir at the time we thought the fish would be a bit shallower (and we would have less wind) if we waited until early evening. So we decided to fish the tail water until evening started to approach. It is a beautiful little stream with crystal clear water but the fishing was very difficult.

We finally saw some nice browns holding in a slower stretch but our attempts were fruitless and we spooked them after a few casts. Then a big thunderstorm hit and we took shelter from the rain under a tree. I know when there is lightning you should not hide under a tree but we were deep down in a canyon and the bolts were not striking very close to us. There were thousands of other pines too so it was a calculated risk. We just didn't want to get soaked then freeze in the evening out on the reservoir since we didn't have rain gear with us. It started even hailing for a little bit and then things let up. A hatch started where we saw the browns holding earlier and they started rising but it was so sort lived that by the time I got a dry fly on they had stopped. It was just a mini hatch maybe brought on by the change in temperature or pressure of the thunderstorm, who knows? We decided to head down to a different stretch of the tail water further downstream where its nature changes a bit to try our luck there. I guess the big thunderstorm that just clipped us picked up some steam because we ran into a small flash flood while attempting to access the lower section of the river. Some fairly hefty (and jagged) rocks were washed across the road that would have probably been problematic for our sedan's tires so we were forced to turn around.

We got back up to the reservoir in the early evening and launched our float tubes and kicked over to a promising shoreline. We had on a John Barr fly on called the "Meat Whistle" which imitates a crayfish and thought it would be good since Strawberry is full of them. We tried casting along the shoreline and trolling but it was proving to be a tough day. After an hour or so David was in the process of trolling when a fish smacked his fly, the kind of hit that startles you when you are not expecting it. He got the fish in close but it got unbuttoned just as he was trying to get a better look at it. Things went dead again after that but I re-tied the meat whistle on since it had produced a violent strike. After pounding the shoreline my arm was getting tired so I decided to troll for a bit. As I was lazily trolling I experienced a similar startling strike as something attacked my fly with fury. Strawberry cutthroat are not known for being the hardest fighting fish but when you have a fish that starts stripping a little line you know its a good one. The fish immediately started stripping line like crazy and started going very deep. I was in freak out mode and kept telling David "this is a big fish, this is a BIG fish!" I was worried the beast was going to find some underwater vegetation, get wrapped up in it and break me off. When I said big I thought somewhere at least in the high 20's in inches, a true trophy trout. I did have the thought that maybe it was a large rainbow instead of a massive cutthroat.

As I continued to fight the fish something did not feel quite right, I could not turn the fish or lift him toward the surface. I also could not feel head shakes. I started to think that the fish was foul hooked. I still kept my hope alive and once he surfaced aways out David confirmed it was a nice fish, exactly how large he didn't know. I finally was able to bring him up next to me and lo and behold it was a nice cutt that was foul hooked around the top of his neck (if a trout has a neck). No thirty inch behemoth but it was over 20 inches. I was slightly disappointed at first because just minutes before I thought I may have had a fish of a lifetime on my line, but any disappointment soon left me and I was satisfied with the gorgeous fat cutthroat.

Most places a trout that exceeds 20 inches is a trophy and I thought of how awesome it is to fish a place where catching trout in the 20 inch range is a common occurrence. It also amazed me how much power the fish had when hooked where it was. It was like walking a bulldog on a leash. During the fight David was trying to get a pic and had his rod laying across his tube with the fly on the hook keeper. He leaned on his rod a little and the large hook on the meat whistle was right over the float tube bladder and you can guess the rest of the story. As I was fighting the fish David was losing air in his tube. Luckily after the fish was released he got to shore in time. He tried fishing from the bank but it proved to be difficult. We soon called it a day and David started hiking to the car while I opted to troll across the bay back to the car. After a few minutes my legs were so tired I just kicked to the closest shoreline and took his route back to the car as well. It was not an easy day for catching fish but it was great to be out and see such beautiful country and it left us invigorated and ready for another return trip.

Mulberries n' Hammers

2010-06-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ted and I headed out again for gar. The action was so intense during the first gar trip that we returned with high expectations. We each got a fish right off the bat but the action proved to be a lot slower than our previous trip. We still got plenty of follows but the fish seemed more hesitant this time round. Gar are most active in warm water and I believe the flooding of the river into the lake cooled the water off considerably. The level of the lake was a good two feet higher and the water was more stained than the previous trip. I felt a bunch of cold spots while kicking my tube around. We also did not see nearly as many fish so they may have scattered in search of warmer water or some of them went deep. Regardless of what happened exactly I believe the action will pick right back up once the lake drops below flood stage and things get more stabilized.

While kicking along the shore I noticed a rise after something fell off a tree above. At first I thought it was maybe an insect that fell in but on closer inspection I noticed it was a mulberry tree.

I had read about how carp will often hang below mulberry trees and eat the berries as they fall into the water. I did not have any mulberry fly patterns but I decided to tie on a fly called the Hammer my friend Scott had tied up for me. It supposedly was a good fly for carp so I gave it a shot. I casted right under the tree and let my fly sink. My line went tight and I set the hook. The fish shot out from the bank fairly quickly and I was not really sure if I had a carp on or not. Whatever it was I knew it was not too big however it was fighting very hard for its size. I really had no idea what it was. Once it got near me it shot straight for the bottom. This fish had was very strong willed. Finally I lifted him and to my surprise it was a nice little channel cat! It went about 14 inches and I regret not taking a pic of the nice little kitty. I decided to cast in the exact same spot and bam! The same thing again although not quite as nice of a cat.

Then the same thing happened again and again. I got four in a row and had a fifth on. I would have continued but we had to get going at that point. Maybe it was channel cats eating the mulberries, who knows? One thing for sure, I'm going to return to the same spot with some mulberry patterns and more Hammers.

Gar!

2010-06-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

My buddy Ted and I fished in a sheltered bay that I had done some recon on so I knew it was loaded with gar. Armed with nylon rope flies we started casting at the prehistoric fish and got interest right off the bat. After many hits and misses we figured that we were waiting too long for the rope fly to do its magic (tangling up in their teeth) and we started giving the fish only one or two head shakes before laying into them. Even then we still had countless misses. A typical approach was to land the fly a foot or two in front of their nose then start stripping really fast. Usually they would turn on it and follow for only a second or two before unleashing a violent strike on the fly. I hear some people use ultra sharp hooks and actually hook them in a traditional manner which I may try sometime but the rope flies were a lot of fun to fish and got plenty of interest. The cool thing was that we were exclusively sight fishing to them. In fact, I do not think you would do very well just blind fishing for gar because we had to get the fly within a few feet of them to spark their interest, but once that was acheived you almost always had at the very least a good follow. Gar tend to come up and hang just under the surface of the water. If they are not moving you could mistake them for a log floating in the water. We even found the cruising ones just under the surface no more than a foot deep or so. They also occasionally come up and gulp air at the surface, hence they can live in poorly oxygenated water. I saw them do this many times. We also found out that they tend to pull a lot last ditch trickery at the boat which makes landing them fairly unpredictable. One time the fish freaked out and the hook on my fly got caught in my stripping apron so I had this fish suspended halfway in the water with his mouth pointed skyward right between my legs. It was pretty much like having a kitchen knife being waved around between my legs. I was most concerned about the fish putting puncture wounds in my waders. Luckily I got the hook out just in time before any more freak outs could occur. Since the hook was not actually being put to use we decided future flies would be tied on rings or some sort of tube fly setup. Around here gar are considered by the vast majority trash fish much like carp. I find them to be an very worthy opponent though and will continue to fish for them often. What an awesome fish!

Raccoon River Bust

2010-06-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have been out in the Midwest almost a year but until two weeks ago I had still not hooked up with my good fishing buddy Scott who lives a few hours away. Once school ended for us it was time to make up for lost time. We decided the target was smallies on the Raccoon River. I beat Scott to the river and happened to run into a guide that said the river was high and that it was more of a late summer and fall fishery. We decided to give it a go anyway but there was not very much fishable water and the river was off color. Scott somehow managed to bag a small crappie and lo and behold a little smallmouth. After those fish there was nothing else to be had. We decided to cut our losses and head to a small stillwater in the area. We launched our tubes in a wind protected finger of the lake. The fishing there was far from red hot too but still better than the river was. We both got several scrappy bluegill and I was able to get my first largemouth on a fly rod. I was working the edge of a weed line and right after my crystal bugger hit the water my line went tight and I set the hook. The bass gave me three or four really nice jumps before I subdued him. At one point I must have found some bluegill holding over their nests because my fly was getting slammed almost every cast as soon as it hit the water in one certain area. It was nice catching up while spending a relaxing afternoon on the pond.

Gar Recon

2010-06-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

I came across a backwater of one of the the area's major rivers and I soon observed a fish shaped similar to a pike but on closer inspection its true identity was revealed, gar! I did not know too much about the fish, only that it was toothy and could be caught on the fly. My friend out in Omaha who is now a warm water guru had shown me a pic of a gar he had caught on the fly. I had more exposure to the alligator gar which grow to mammoth proportions and are usually caught on bait in the south. The gar around here are related but don't grow to hundreds of pounds like their cousins. I did a little more research and recon and luckily found a gar mecca in the local area where I have fished twice for them already. I'll just say I will be targeting them often!

Back from the dead

2010-06-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

Between August 2009 through the third week in May 2010 I had been out fishing only twice! Thankfully that has changed since school has ended and hopefully I do not go through such a fishing hiatus again. My first year of graduate school was pretty brutal (time consuming) but the next 3 will not be quite so bad. After classes ended I really did not care where I fished I just wanted to get out so I hit a local lake to see what was there. I had a lot of fun. There were bluegill and crappie in close along the rocks. I started off fishing a warm water pattern called the breaminator that my friend Scott tied up for me. It was magic. For the first hour it was a hit or fish on about every other cast. They would hit it on the drop so to increase my odds I put on a micro indicator about four feet above my fly. I would strip a few times then let the fly flutter down and most often they would smack it on the drop. It was a mixed bag of bluegill, crappie, and a few green sunfish. At one point I was working the shoreline and something really smacked my fly and was pulling a lot harder than a bluegill or crappie. I thought it must be a bass but when I finally got the fish in I was surprised, a little channel cat. The same thing happened again a bit later and it was another little channel cat. They were a lot of fun to catch. Overall it was a great way to break myself back into the fishing lifestyle.

Fishing Amongst the Corn

2009-10-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been out in Iowa for over three months now and despite my school being extremely busy I managed to escape to a local pond over the weekend. I did get out once before school started and fished a small pond with a friend which was fairly productive. While not having much experience with warm water species on the fly we still managed to catch about a half dozen green sunfish on the fly, a woolly bugger to be exact. Anyway, the weather has turned cool and over the weekend I went to some ponds that lay just outside downtown. I saw a fish or two rise which got me excited. I tied on a trusty bugger and began working the water. After several minutes of casting I was just about to pull up my fly for the back cast when a flash of white came from the depths and hammered my fly. A quick and exciting fight yielding a beautiful little crappie. That was all I caught during my time on the water but it was a lot of fun. There is so much water to explore around this area. Once I get more time on my hands I will not have to go far to target a variety of warm water fish. I don't know the possibilities of catching warm water species during the freezing months that are approaching fast but I'll be sure to have a few good flies tied up for when spring rolls around. Thanks for bearing with the cell phone pics.

The Uintas

2009-10-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

With memories of small slashing brookies filling my mind as the days grew hotter and longer I figured it was time for a day trip up to the Uintas to catch some hungry fish. We started the morning off at Trial Lake which is a heavy pressured roadside fishery. They keep it well stocked and there were fish rising all over the place as we pumped our tubes up. I decided I was going to take three rods out into the water: One set up with a dry fly, one with a sinking line, and one with a slip indicator/chironomid setup. David was testing his luck with a spinning rod to start out. Once I kicked out a little ways I started working the dry fly rod with instant results. David spotted some larger fish cruising underneath his feet so I then switched to the chironomid setup and suspended a nice orange chironomid (that I got in a fly swap) just off the bottom. After a minute or two I had a nice fish on. It turned out to be a very chunky rainbow that put up a great fight.

David was not having too much luck early on with his jake's lure and opted to troll a night crawler. David starting catching quite a few fish on his worm including a nice rainbow.

I let him use my dry fly rod off and on and he hooked up with several on the top as well. I spend quite a bit of time trolling or stripping in a bugger on my sinking line with no luck. I did have a few hits but that was it. It was surprising since I covered a lot of water and my fly must have passed by a considerable number of fish. I kind of wish I had my depth finder on board so I could see how much water was beneath me at any given moment. We both trolled up the shoreline and eventually we needed a restroom break in the trees so we beached our tubes. Afterward I spend a bit of time casting my dry fly in near the shore and many small fish were brought to hand including a first for me, a grayling! I also caught a red sided shiner (baitfish) which was funny. David caught multiple species as well including some brook trout and a beautiful little tiger trout.

Eventually we were satisfied with the stillwater portion of the day and decided it was time for some small stream brooky action. The little stream was beautiful with gin clear water, just the way I remembered it.

We worked our way up the stream and any good looking hole or run gave up a fish or three. David's first catch on the stream was a beautiful wild little rainbow that I wish we got a picture of, oh well. All the rest were beautiful little brooks decorated in a colorful regalia. It was a great day spent up in the highcountry and the hungry fish didn't disappoint.

In Search of Cutthroats Part 2

2009-07-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Since Scott was in town taking a course that ran every day for a week, we were limited to some late afternoon/evening outings after his classes ended. With the sun setting around 9 o' clock we had plenty of time for a nice fishing trip. The second day of our cutthroat search led us to a hike-in stillwater. Scott, David, and I all drove separately for time's sake and met at the trail head. We decided to strap float tubes to our backs which made the hike very tiring. Once we reached our destination we quickly rigged up and kicked our way towards the inlet stream. No action happened on the way over nor once we got over to the inlet. I decided to mix things up and switch to a nymph rig and make some dead drifts in the current. Fairly soon I had the fish of the day (size wise) on the end of my line. I was able to land a beautiful cutthroat after a brief battle.

The action went to a halt after this first fish. After a bit Scott landed a nice little fish on a nymph rig as well. The first few fish both came on chironomid imitations. We all had some more hits on the chironomids but we all struck out and set the hook too late. There were fish that were rising sporadically from the time we arrived and when the frequency of the rises started to increase I decided it was time for some dry fly action. I threw on a small adams which was a good imitation of the small midges that were hatching. Soon enough I had a nice little cutthroat to hand that came off the dry fly. Evening was approaching fairly fast and the topwater action continued to increase. After another fish on a dry fly Scott and David decided it was time to switch over. We kicked our way around the glassy water following the pods of rising fish. Soon enough David landed a beauty and Scott followed suit with some nice fish of his own.

The fly pattern didn't seem to matter too much once they really starting focusing on the surface. There were a small handful of fish landed with many more missed. The activity continued on the oily smooth surface of the water all the way until we had to get out of the water in order to get down the mountain before it got too dark for safe hiking down the rocky trail. We slid our tubes up onto our weary shoulders and enjoyed the quicker descent down the narrow path as the light faded from the horizon which ended a memorable day of fishing for native cutthroats.

In Search of Cutthroats Part 1

2009-07-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

One of the top priorities for Scott during his visit was to catch some cutthroats. The best option was to hit some stillwater. We met up around 6pm in Salt Lake then headed up Parley's Canyon, past Park City, down through Heber, and up to Strawberry Reservoir. We pulled up to the parking lot at one of Strawberry's many bays and there were no cars and no one was even fishing in the entire area as far as we could tell. The light breeze was dying quickly and it looked like it was going to be a great evening. We got the tubes pumped and our rods rigged up and we got into the water as quickly as we could. We trolled and kicked over to a fairly steep bank. Before we got all the way over Scott hooked up and landed a very fat rainbow.

On the way over we also noticed some consistent rises in one area. When we got to the bank we wanted to work we noticed that there were fish sporadically sipping within a few feet of the shoreline. Scott made a nice cast with his bunny leech to one of the rises just off the bank and he immediately had a fish on. This pattern continued and over the course of the evening he landed several quality fish.

I seemed to always be out of position once a fish rose, or I made a cast that was too short or too sloppy. It was just not my night. On one rare occasion I made a very confident cast to a likely spot right along the bank and low and behold I got a hook-up. I was excited but once I got the fish close I noticed it was a fat chub! Such is fishing. To overcome my casting woes I should have just trolled along the shoreline but I wanted to mimic what Scott was doing since he was having success. It was getting later and Scott threw on a mouse pattern and started working the banks in the same fashion. Although I did not witness it Scott said that on one cast he saw a wake appear just behind his fly and a fin broke the surface like Jaws. The fish slashed once, twice, then took the mouse but Scott reacted a little too fast and missed the carnivorous cutt. It was very exciting to say the least and Scott said it was one of the coolest things he has seen. I tried throwing a mouse for a little bit too with no success, surprise surprise. It was getting pretty dark and we were tired from kicking around so we just trolled slowly toward the car. Scott immediately had a few hits and then was able to hook up with two fish on the way to the car. One of the fish started flying out of the water over and over so he called rainbow which was confirmed as the fat specimen was landed.

It was an awesome time out on the water. We could not have asked for a more beautiful evening. Kicking along the oily smooth surface and looking down at the weedbeds through the crystal clear water was very rejuvenating and therapeutic.

Semi-Stillwater Browns

2009-06-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

My friend Scott came into town last minute so I tried to line up a few days when I could go out and fish. He specifically wanted to target cutthroats but day one did not leave enough time to get to cutthroat water so we headed up to the Provo for a few hours. Scott just barely missed a fish and after working the banks of the river for a bit we decided to go try the pond-like areas I had scouted out one a few weeks earlier. We saw a few inactive fish holding right on the banks that were hardly moving. Scott was working a bugger on a floating line and had a follow or two but no hook-ups. I had not changed rigs and had a zebra midge dropper off a san juan worm. I was in some shadows and happened to see a smaller brown just holding off the bank right in front of me. I lowered the midge pattern so it was practically on the fishes nose and I started jigging it up and down. As soon as I gave it a little motion the fish opened its mouth and sucked it in. It was hilarious and reminded me of catching bluegill by jigging a shiny bare salmon egg hook in front of their noses when I was a boy.

We then headed to a different section of the pond and Scott started stripping his bugger over some moss beds. He immediately started to get follows and hits. It was fun watching. He would cast out and start stripping and out of no where a fish would pop up out of a groove in the moss and start following the fly. He had a lot of fish come and strike at his fly. He would of landed a half dozen fish but they managed to spit the hook or short strike the fly. On one occasion though the fish was persistent and sucked the fly in which resulted in a nice brown.

Although we only landed a couple fish at our first few stops we had a lot of action which kept things interesting. We then headed to a favorite hole of mine and started nymphing. Scott missed what looked like to be a nice rainbow. One good flash and the fish was off. However, he did nail a fat little bow a little later on.

There were some golden stoneflys coming off and laying eggs but no fish were rising.

Scott tried a stonefly nymph but not much action resulted in the attempt. He eventually switched it up and put on a leech. After a cast or two he pulled back to make another cast and I saw a brown heading at mach 3 for the fly. The fly left the water a millisecond too fast and the brown porpoised on the surface like a tuna crashing bait. A few casts later the same brown (as far as I could tell) nailed the leech. Not a big fish but very aggressive to say the least.

Soon we had to head to the car as our time ran out. Quite a bit of action and a few fish made for a great couple hours on the water. On the way home we talked about cutts and where we planned to target them.

The Green

2009-05-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

My fishing trips in 2008 were great but while planning for 2009 I realized that the variety of water fished was not all that diverse. To add to the diversity David and I put the Green River on our list of spots to hit during the 2009 season. Having only been married a week David headed off with me for a day trip to Utah's most prolific tailwater, most prolific in terms of fish density at least. Some estimates put the fish count for the first 7 miles below Flaming Gorge Dam at 20,000 fish per mile! About a week or so before we left I found out that they were going to increase the flows from 800 cfs (winter flows) up to 4500 cfs. Sometimes the first day or two after they crank up the flows the fishing can turn off a bit. Luckily the two phase/two day increase was finished a few days prior to our trip so things would be stabilized by the time we got there. I met up with David about 6 am and before we knew it we were cruising through the high desert of Wyoming. We were quickly aproaching a small highway that shaves off a half hour from the more standard Rock Springs route that Google Maps comes up with. The drive went very quickly as we got caught up in good conversation. A large field of massive windmills broke the monotony of the rolling hills of sagebrush.

I normally have taken the southern route through Utah that passes south of the Uintas so it was fun to have a little change this time. We soon spotted the massive Flaming Gorge Reservoir and about 20 minutes or so later we were driving over the dam.

We quickly made it to Dutch John then headed down Little Hole Road that takes you to an access point seven miles below the dam. We were pumped when we first spotted the river.

We paid a small fee to the nice lady at the booth, parked, and then proceeded to go through the torturous process of rigging the rods up while the river waited below. It was a bit chilly in the morning with a cool breeze blowing down the canyon. I had repaired an old pair of neoprene waders recently and due to the chill I thought I would be ok wearing them for the day. Unfortunately I quickly found out that my repair job was fruitless and I quickly had wet feet. The first stop was at the Little Hole boat launch. There is a large back eddy that I usually can pull a few fish out of. After a little while David had one on but it let go instantly. We decided to head up the trail and we soon starting spotting fish along the bank. David stuck the first fish, a nice brown with a lot of yellow/gold coloring.

We continued to hike upstream often fishing within a rods length of the bank. At one point we were taking turns nymphing the same stretch. We would pitch out our rigs one at a time and walk down the trail maximizing our drift, then we would repeat the process. We nailed some very fine browns as we worked the banks.

David hooked one fish and every time he would get it near it would take off. This happened over and over. Then we found out why, it was the first rainbow of the day.

The browns seemed to bulldog and use the current while the rainbows had a no quit attitude. Despite the higher flows, the water was true to Green River form running gin clear while the bottom vegetation makes the river appear very green in many areas.

Although the fishing was not fast the action came consistently which included some heartbreaking misses. In one instance I was nymphing through some very large submerged boulders and I set the hook on a fish and it started running away from me. Just as I got very excited the line went slack, ahhh. Oh well, such misses get your mind racing on what could have been and keeps you motivated for more. The fly of the day was a wine colored san juan worm in a size 14. The other producer was a size 16 tungsten beaded zebra midge in black or orange. We tried throwing a chernobyl ant which got a look or two but that was it. By the time we were headed back toward the car the sun was scorching.

We were being burned alive in our neoprene waders. We stopped to refuel in Dutch John and grabbed a few drinks to cool ourselves down. To maximize fishing time we ate our lunch in the car on the way to the dam. We parked and headed down the trail capturing some beautiful vistas of the river below.

The trail down to the water at the dam is steep but short thankfully. We hit a likely spot just above the boat launch.

On about my second drift my indicator shot under and I had a fish running me downstream and out toward swifter water. I yelled something to David like "big fish, big fish!" The fish found a fairly large boulder under water and got himself wrapped around it or under it because for a few seconds it felt like I was snagged. I put a little more pressure and was able to move him away from the boulder. I saw that it was a nice sized rainbow. It was a little tricky to land the fish as he wanted to dive down under the rocks lining the bank but we manged to land him finally.

It turned out to not be too big but it was a niced sized fish and the most beautiful rainbow I have ever caught. He was speckled like crazy, a fine specimen indeed.

We were very impressed with how fat the fish were. The browns were very thick shouldered and the rainbows were plump and healthy. Years previous I had caught quite a few snakey fish but this trip it was nothing but thick healthy fish. After a bit we worked our way downstream a little ways and we targeted some dark shadows on the river bottom.

The sheer beauty of the canyon was invigorating to the soul and David managed to capture a little of what we experienced in the following picture.

It was time to start heading back upstream. After a few last desperation casts to some fish milling around near the boat launch we called it a day and headed back up the steep trail to our car. We were tired but our spirits were high and some more good conversation made the trip back home go by quickly. As David put it, the day was filled with "green, brown, and the rest of the spectrum."

Big Fish, Small Adams

2009-04-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

I had a few hours one Saturday to head up and try and find some BWO on the Provo. Since I did not have much time I decided to fish right next to the lot where I parked. Luckily I found some sippers hugging the bank. I tied on a size 18 (maybe it was a 20) Adams and started targeting the most consistent riser. I got the fish to finally notice the fly and he had to have it. It looked so enticing he turned downstream, made a quick follow and sucked the fly down. I love it when they do that. I thought it was just and average 14 incher until he ran downstream and put on an aerial display. Luckily the hookset held as well as my 5x tippet and I landed a beautiful fish pushing 17 or 18 inches. I managed to pull a submarine trick with my camera a few weeks earlier so I was unable to document the fish. Putting the camera in a bag of rice did not save it this time, oh well.

Small "Cricks"

2009-04-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

David used to fish a small creek that meanders through several backyards of his hometown. Since it is all private property with virtually no public access it is nice that he knows all the residents on a certain stretch. We hiked the stream one day and sampled what the creek had to offer. It was true small stream fishing. We had a micro indicator with a tungsten bead head rainbow warrior suspended a foot or two below it. With this set-up we took turns flipping and swinging it into the many small plunge pools and pint sized runs the stream offered. Many times we would be rewarded with small but beautiful wild rainbows, progeny from stockers of days past. No cameras were brought, but here is a picture of me fishing the same stream on a different day trying not to snag my flies in a host of nasties.

We will be sure to return soon and document of few of its gems. More recently we headed one morning to a small lake that has a nice little feeder stream above. There were sporadic fish rising and there were midges about. We tried to suspend some nymphs under and indicator to avail. We moved over to where the stream enters and while waiting for my indicator to go under something caught my eye that was wiggling in the surface film. It was far enough away that to me it looked like a large beetle. A few minutes later I saw another one of these "beetles" wiggling on the surface. I knew it was highly unlikely that two similar sized beetles somehow got out onto the water and I decided to investigate. I saw another one within a rods length from me. I got the bug to climb onto the tip and seized the little devil. Low and behold it was a fairly large stonefly. The stream was washing them into the lake. For some strange reason the fish were not keying in on them though. I was surprised since they should have seemed like floating Big Macs to the fish.

Floating Big Mac

We decided to head up and fish the stream which turned out to be a good call. There were some very tricky areas to lay the flies down due to the overhanging trees. We found a rockstar hole and on the first cast David nailed a beautiful wild bow. We tied into several fish and had a great time. Thinking about it with hindsight we should have tried a stonefly, duh! Who knows, the fish may have been too small to suck one down. We will give it a try next time though. I really love small creeks. Usually the fish are small, but there are few to zero anglers sharing the water with you. It is also very challenging with the overhanging trees and brush but the fish are usually willing.

Three's a Company

2009-04-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

Ben and David came down for a day of fishing on the Provo. Ben had not been fishing for quite some time and he quickly tied into a little brown early on to break the skunk. The fishing only picked up from there and everyone caught a handful of fish. It turned out to be fairly cold and breezy but the fish kept us put and it was a great day to be on the river. I am glad Ben got a good break-in day and sometime we plan to head up to his territory and fish the Logan River. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking this time.

A Tale of Two Streams

2009-03-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

The day started off at a fairly urban section of stream. We soon found a classic deep hole and started dredging the bottom with our nymph rigs. There was a large overhanging tree we had to cast up under and despite a few tangles we managed to save our rigs for the most part. We had no hits and we decided we could better hit the hole from the far bank. We waded across above the hole and started pounding it hard. We changed weight, leader length, and flies until we finally figured out what they wanted to eat...a wine colored san juan worm and a black zebra midge dropper. We started to get hits but we missed several potential hookups. Finally I stuck a football shaped brown that ran close to 16 inches. It felt very good to get this one since we were determined to figure the fish out in this hole.

Then David had at it and soon he stuck a piggy brown that must be sneaking caddis from the feeding lane at night...

It was incredible how well fed these two fish were. They had massive bodies in comparison to their heads which is a good sign that the stream's kitchen cabinet has been full as of late. We missed several hits and soon things started to slow down so we took off to a different smaller stream in the high country. It was a winter wonderland up higher with a good dose of snow covering the landscape. At the first decent run we came across I managed to hook into a small feisty brown on a rainbow warrior.

We came across a great looking hole and David waxed artistic with his camera and got some awesome landscape shots.

At the head of the hole I tied into something large but it pulled off. I don't know if it was a big whitefish or a large brown but it got my blood rushing for a few seconds. After this encounter we tried a few more holes then decided to call it. This second stream would have been good to fish if we had a little more time since we had to search out the good holes which were spaced apart quite a bit. The ambiance between the two streams was completely opposite however the fishing proved to be somewhat slow on both. It was a great trip with some good memories made.

Good News

2009-03-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

HB 187 is defeated! Although I have not been involved as much as I would have liked I was able to head up to the State Capitol for a rally and I have emailed elected officials voicing my opinion on the matter. It was a poorly written bill that the author (Rep. Ferry) was trying to rush through the system. Thanks to all who worked so hard and to those legislators who voted it down.

Foreshadowing

2009-03-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

I headed out solo to a favorite hole and although I could not dial things in I noticed a sipper along the bank. I had my new little fiberglass fly rod loaded and ready to go with an Orange Asher and after getting a decent drift in the breezy conditions I fooled the fish. He was only about 10 inches but put a nice little bend in the rod which was a lot of fun. The rod is going to be great for small streams. While stopping through the snow on the way to the hole I saw a bug crawling on the snow. A closer look revealed what I believe is a winter stonefly.

As indicated there were some rises on occasion and I suspected midges and possibly the occasional stonefly but something caught my eye on the water. There was no mistaking the sailboat-like silhouette on the water. I nabbed him (or her?) off the water and although I smashed the wings I got a good macro shot of a blue wing olive! Entomology can be tricky but all indications point to BWO which is the first major mayfly hatch of the year on most western streams. I was just surprised because it was only the second week in February which is pretty darn early for these bugs. It was a great foreshadow of what will occur come springtime!

New Tools

2009-01-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

I had been in the market for a new reel and there were some great deals on some of the "older" Lamson models that were on closeout. When I was selling a few fishing items to fund the reel purchase I happened to come across an Okuma Helios that was selling for $80. The cheapest I had found this reel previously was around $130 but I had seen it all the way up to around $160. It is a fully machined reel that has a fully sealed drag. It also has the "bling" factor in my opinion. For most trout fishing around here all you need is a $30 reel like I have fished with a bunch but I just wanted to upgrade for a slightly higher cosmetic appeal. It is a 4/5 weight reel instead of a 5/6 which is fine since it makes for a lighter setup. So far I really like the reel.

For Christmas I was looking for a inexpensive lightweight setup for small stream fishing and I came across an Eagle Claw Featherlight 6' 6" fiberglass fly rod. I had seen it before at Walmart and thought it was ridiculous since it was such a noodle compared to my graphite rod but I saw one at Sportsman's and starting messing with it. Having small fish in mind and feeling the slow action and bend in the rod I was sold. I lucked into an older model that still has a metal reel seat. The newer ones have a nylon which does not look half as good but probably just as functional. All I needed was a reel for the rod. I then noticed online that Cabela's was blowing out their Prestige reels for $15 which is half off. They are exactly the same as the Okuma Sierra reels which I already have and the spools are interchangable. So I got the reel using a Christmas gift certificate. I had a new white fly line (and backing) lying around that would suit the little rod so I didn't have to purchase either of those. With the reel costing $15 and the rod $17 I put together the ultimate small stream setup for a whopping $32, ha ha. I have fished with it (post coming soon) and a little 10 inch brown put a nice bend in the new little rod. Also, casting the rod at the park yielded some 50 foot casts which is far greater than I'll need in most small stream situations. I can't wait to get out and sample some small streams this spring/summer.

Lastly, for Christmas I recieved some Airflo Ridgeline. I was sold on the durability/5 year no crack guarantee. Supposedly it cast very well too. I heard it was not the best line for winter fishing but I was thinking ahead to spring and summer. I have been slightly dissapointed since the tip has been sinking on me a little bit. I know it is not sucking water since it has a sealed loop. Hopefully the performance improves with warmer weather. I don't really know why the tip is sinking on me. In the meantime I can simply grease up the tip and that should solve any problems. It has not affected my fishing too negatively though so that is good. I will be able to make a slightly better judgement in another outing or two. If I still experience the sinking tip I hear that Airflo has great customer service and I might just try trading it in for a new line.

Slayed Em'

2009-01-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

Quite a bit of fishing has gone on since a few posts ago but only one of the days was noteworthy and I only have cell phone pictures of the good day. I was armed with the camera today though and I am glad I had it. I planned on doing some urban exploring around the river through town and at least get a few glam shots of my new reel on my rod, it looks awesome. The weather was great for winter although at the first stop I was still getting quite a bit of ice in the guides. I had no success at stop numero uno and then I remembered a deeper slow hole that the fish would probably be stacked in during the lethargic days of winter. A few casts at the new spot and I had a fish on. I was stoked but thought maybe it was a fluke. I set my expectations fairly low, but low and behold another fish on after a few minutes. Then it went gangbusters from that point on. A red copper john with a black zebra midge dropper was the ticket. I only fished at the second spot a little more than an hour but it was non-stop action. I caught over 10 fish and that number would have doubled if it were not for the slow hook sets/long line releases. Most were only about 10 inches but one probably went close to 15. I would have had a few that topped the biggest of the day but I did not get good hooksets on them. I could tell they were bigger because of the split second of dead weight before I moved them off the bottom. The ice in the guides was minimal and the warm sun felt great. It was a very rewarding and refreshing day to be outside.

For the Love of it

2009-01-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

My good fishing buddy Scott came to town over the Christmas break which happened to coincide with some of the nastiest weather of the year. We hit the river and had fun despite the conditions. Bundling up and going ice fishing was on the agenda for the second outing but it turned out that the ice was not safe enough to get out into deep enough water. David needed to head home after the ice attempt so Scott and I toughed out the conditions (snowy, windy, and freezing) and hit the river. My boots were completely frozen and Scott had to hike down the bank and give them a good dip before I could even pull them on. During his stay the fishing was slow but it was still a lot of fun.

Surprise Ending

2008-10-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

I headed out solo again with the intention of throwing a large double bunny in the deepest holes I could find in order to catch a hog. I am a newbie when it comes to streamers and I wanted to stick with it the whole day. I think it was too sunny and warm since there were no takers in my feeble attempts to dredge up a leviathan. I may have seen one follow but that was about it. After the first swimming pool style hole I headed up to another part of the river to hit a few more of the truly deep parts of the river. I was disappointed to find the first one occupied. I headed upstream to the second one...occupied as well. I didn't have enough time to head up or downstream looking for likely spots but when walking from the first to the second hole I noticed a slight depression that ran along the bank. It was small but I thought some fish could be holding in it. I switched to a nymph rig and after a drift or two I was delighted to have a little spunky rainbow on the end of my line. After releasing him the same thing happened on my next set of drifts, then the next and so on. This little run seemed chock full of rainbows. Since most of them were missing a few fins I think they were immature males coming out of the reservoir and staging for the upcoming spawn. Too bad I did not nab any hens which most likely would have been a bit larger. Regardless, it was a nice surprise ending to another slow day with the streamer.

Midges N' Bridges

2008-10-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

I headed out solo on a blustery day with the intention to throw streamers for aggressive trout. I was not having much luck with the streamer but when I was beside a bridge I looked underneath into the shadows and noticed fish rising. I saw some midges and maybe a blue winged olive or two so I switched from throwing the meat to a small dry. It was very difficult to get a good downstream drift under the bridge and it was equally hard to cast up under it from the other side. Luckily the hatch turned on strong enough for a few minutes to bring a few fish up that were sitting on the downstream side of the bridge. I got a good take from an inconsistent riser and the fish did a nice acrobatic display before being landed. I think the fish was just as surprised as I was hence the aerial antics. It was a beautiful specimen and was a perfect end to a few hours of fishing.

Stillwater Cutts

2008-10-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

Jim invited me to head up to a local stillwater with him and David to meet up with Newman, a generous friend of theirs that took us out in his boat. I brought the fly rod along but my Dad's 11 foot spinning rod was so fun to cast I stuck with it the whole day. I worked the water for a bit with Jim's fly rod but did not manage any hookups. The day was not fast as far as fishing goes but it was a great day and everyone caught fish. The highlight was a 23 inch cutthroat that Newman caught. Jim also managed to land a fish on the fly rod which was fun for him. We spent the majority of the time trolling tube jigs and the infamous red or white rabbit. Once we got caught in a downpour accompanied by some gale force winds which was a lot of fun. It was great to be out on the water and fun to be out in a boat for a change.

Unexpected catch by David

Newman's hog

Freak storm

Jim's fish on the fly

Woolley Buggered trout

Cruising

A fish I caught on a castmaster. I could bomb the lure out a couple hundred feet it seemed with my dad's 11 footer.

Mysterious floating fish

A Few Browns

2008-09-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

David and I decided to head up to a popular tailwater that receives a lot of pressure but usually has some good fishing. The morning started out slow but after mixing things up by putting on a bugger and letting it swing I landed a decent brown.

After a few hours some egg laying caddis starting showing and quite a few fish were slashing at them near the surface. David soon had a taker on a caddis dry fly.

Nymphing was proving to be very slow for some reason this day however David eventually got another fish that ate a San Juan worm.

It was a fun time out on the river and it left us thinking about different tactics, time frames, and waters to fish in the near future.

High Country Cutts

2008-08-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

For a change of pace David and I headed up to the high country for some feisty cutthroats. When we got to the reservoir fish were rising and we could not resist. We muddied our shoes but got within casting distance and soon I was hooked up with a nice little cutthroat.

Soon after David nailed a nice one which turned out to be the fish of the trip (size wise).

We then headed down to the stream and soon David hooked up with a beautiful cutthroat decorated in a beautiful regalia.

We worked our way down stream and noticed a lot of spooky fish in the calmer water. We resisted the temptation for the most part and headed down to "easier" water to fish. We spent the next several hours hiking downstream and casting to the likely spots which was often rewarded with gorgeous cutthroat trout smacking our flies with reckless abandon. I'll let some pictures tell the rest of the story for the most part.

After several hours we were beat and ready to head back toward the car. We managed a few more fish on the way back and when we got to the lake some fish were still rising. Again, we could not resist the temptation and David quickly hooked up but the fish ran him down into the weeds and got off. The scenery could not be beat nor the fishing, and the best part of all was that we did not see another fisherman on the stream the whole day. I can't wait to head back up to the high country with a fly rod in hand, heading to some small stream where hungry trout are willing to fight over my fly.

Caddis Patrol

2008-08-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

Since I have been so busy I had not yet fished the great caddis hatches on the local rivers. That changed this week when David and I were able to head out and fish for a few hours one evening. The hatch came on fairly strong but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the river. We saw fish rising all over the place on the far bank for at least a half hour. We should have probably moved as soon as we saw the fish rising but we were thinking it would pick up on our side. Once it was prime time we realized it was too late to head downstream to a safe crossing point and work our way all the way back up. It seemed the high water had most of the fish hemmed in against the far bank while the side we were fishing was for the most part poor holding water. Regardless, there were a few fish working our side and David managed to hook into a nice one. Later on we headed to some calm water and tried sight casting to fish we could see under the light of our headlamps. I had a fish chase my mouse pattern for a few seconds which was fun. It was a great time out but left us wanting more. Next time we are heading to the far side of the hole so we can knock em' dead.

Can you spot the natural?

Small Stream Gems

2008-08-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

I decided to get up early and go do a little exploring. While larger rivers might have more and bigger fish, there is something magical about small streams. There is usually some degree of solitude and the small fish often seem willing to sample your offering. I headed up to a small stream that I had been wanting to fish and found a likely hole at my first stop. The casts on small streams can be tricky, if you call it casting. More often than not you are just flipping your flies no further than your rod length and often just lowering the fly into a likely spot. There were plenty of logs and branches around but I managed to avoid them for the most part.

After a few casts I had a little fish come up and smack my little yellow stimulator. To my surprise it was a wild rainbow trout!

I thought there would be brook trout in this little stream but subsequent casts proved that it was filled with little wild rainbows, at least this section.

After I caught a few of the little guys a "trophy" sized fish slurped my fly off the top. Look at the gorgeous coloration...

Ok, maybe the fish would not be considered a "trophy" on a regular sized stream or river, but for a pint sized stream this was a nice fish!

I can't wait to head back up here and do some more exploring. I'm starting to get addicted to small streams. All I need now is a shorter rod!

Fishing Humor

2008-07-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

The One That Got Away

2008-07-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Most often I am not too disappointed when I don't land a fish but every so often you have that fish on that you really would like to admire up close. I went up to that same hole that I landed the rainbow (on the bugger) from and on my first cast my indicator went zooming under. It was funny but for some reason I had a good feeling about the first cast. I just felt it was in the perfect spot and apparently it was. As soon as I hooked up with this fish I saw him up near the surface for a second and I could tell it was a rainbow! I get excited about rainbows on this river because it is mostly a brown trout haven. I quickly started thinking that this might be the same fish I hooked into last time up. The only difference was that this fish was going ballistic. Multiple times he ran me out into the current. When he would near the surface he would dive back down to the depths. He ran upstream and downstream too. It was a game of back and forth and up and down. The rainbow I landed on a previous trip was a great fighter but this fish had tremendous spirit that I had not seen for a very long time. If it was the same fish he may have put on a few ounces in the higher flows, or maybe it was that he was hooked in the lower jaw instead of the upper. Anyhow, after about five minutes or more I finally had him next to me. I thought he was worn out so I grabbed the leader above him. He suddenly pulled some last minute antics by giving violent head shakes and he threw the hook. I had a feeling that he would get off for some reason. I think it was fitting because this fish really had the will to survive and he used every last bit of instinct to elude me. Maybe that is why fishing is so appealing, having the chance to be connected through rod and line to something so untamed and beautiful. I just wish I could capture the beauty this time on my camera!

After that experience I did not have any more luck with my nymph rig. There was a decent PMD hatch which had some fish looking up so I put on a dry fly. My first or second cast I had a fish on that leaped and got off. Then a cast downstream produced the same result, on and off. Then a cast even further downstream resulted in a fish to my hand.

On the way back to the parking lot I wanted to get a look at a gravel bar and as I stepped into a slight depression near the bank I saw a lot of little fish spook out of the area. This little depression seemed to be a river by itself, only everything was shrunken down several sizes. There were little fish rising occasionally so I started making short casts up the depression and had a beautiful tiny brown on after a few casts. It was a great way to spend a few hours on a hot summer's afternoon.

Journal Notes:
Flow- 510 cfs
Hatches- PMDs
Successful flies- black zebra midge, parachute PMD

Wet Wading

2008-07-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

The time has come to leave the waders at home. David and I headed out and did just that and the water felt nice and cool on the legs. Ok, it was actually pretty freezing but our legs went numb pretty quick and it never bothered us. By any means it was better than having to pull on your waders and the air temperature balanced out the cool legs since it was probably near 90 degrees. The water was high but clear and since it was a Saturday the parking lot was a mad house. On any given summer's day there are about a million people floating down the river in their tubes or rafts. Most people seemed to be pulling out of the river upstream from us which was nice so we only had the occasional floater passing through our hole along with the occasional sandal.

There were either some golden stoneflies or yellow sallies making their presence known but the fish were not keyed in on them too much, at least where we were. Occasionally there would be a violent rise but we stuck with nymphing for most of the afternoon. There were also some Pale Morning Duns (PMDs) around but again not too much surface action. Due to the high churning water the fish were probably feasting on the above mentioned bugs in their nymphal stage along with a variety of other tasty morsels that the river offers up. It was by no means a lights out catching day but we had somewhat consistent action during our time on the water. David was having luck early on with a green zebra midge and all of mine were coming on a gold ribbed hares ear. After the action tapered off a bit I threw on a crystal bugger and started dead drifting it with a tight line. After a few casts something slammed it and I brought to hand a beautiful little rainbow.

This fat little football made me more inclined to experiment more with streamers while fishing rivers. I was raving about how fun the hit was so David tried sight fishing to some browns holding along the bank with a bugger and managed to get one to suck it down, however the fish was stubborn and did not get hooked. Overall it was a great summer's afternoon of fishing.

Journal Notes:
-Flow: 818 cfs
-Air Temp: approx. 90 F
-Water Temp: 52 F
-Successful Flies: Gold Ribbed Hares ear, green Zebra midge, rainbow black Crystal Bugger, Pheasant Tail
-Hatches: Golden Stones/Yellow Sallies, PMDs

The Ranch Trip

2008-06-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

There is a lot more to fishing than just catching fish. If you can't enjoy fishing without catching then usually you will quickly loose interest in the sport. After fishing trips I sometimes tell my wife that "the fishing was great, but the catching wasn't". It is definitely better when you can have a great day on the water and catch lots of fish, but the overall fishing experience is what counts. The experience of being on the road at dawn and anticipating the day of fishing is always invigorating. Not to mention that the best trout fishing areas in the world are oftentimes smack dab in the middle of the most beautiful country God has created. Add to all of this great company and a good old fishin' trip can't be beat.

My wife's family has a house on a small plot of land up in the Teton Valley in Idaho that they call "The Ranch". The first day was not great fishing weather (although any weather is technically good fishing weather) and we ended up not wetting a line the first day there. The next day was going to be the much anticipated trip to Henry's Lake with Jim, David, and Greg (my wife's father and two of her brothers). We woke up early the second day to a breathtaking view.

We were on the road before six o' clock and about a half hour into our trip I realized that I had forgotten my fins for my float tube back at the ranch. We started discussing the options of where to find some float tube fins in the area. As we went through Ashton we only saw one fly shop which was not open yet. We got into Island Park (I think it was Island Park) and they had two big fly shops but they seemed to cater to the moving water crowd since the Henry's Fork is a stone throw away and thus they had no float tube accessories. I was desperate to find some fins and was determined to not let the Henry's Lake trip go to waste. Let me quickly back up and tell you that during the ride out there one of the spinning rods was poking over my right shoulder and was annoying me every time I looked out the window to my right. It would just brush my face so I guess I was not bothered enough to move it out of the way. So right when we are checking one last fly shop in that area I happened to quickly look to my right and somehow the end of the rod shoots straight up my nose. It hurt pretty bad and all of a sudden blood starting dripping out of my nose at a steady rate. Luckily someone ran into a gas station and grabbed some napkins for me. The bleeding stopped and we started laughing at the freak accident, it really was hilarious. We checked one more spot but it was closed so we decided we would just head to the lake and hope that the boat rental place had some fins. As we arrived at the lake we saw glassy water all across the lake. The scenery was spectacular.

We headed into the boat rental shop and by some miracle they had a pair of fins, one pair to be exact. Jim rented a boat for himself and Greg while David and I were going to head out on our tubes. Jim and Greg launched the boat and David and I launched our tubes out of the dock area. We started trolling our flies up the shoreline and we each had a good hit within the first several minutes. Then it went really dead besides snagging logs on the bottom. We started switching flies trying to figure things out to no avail. After a couple hours David spotted some structure right beneath him that had fish stacked all over the place.

We thought we had it made but still could not get any hits. Some midges had been hatching previously and I tried trailing a midge off of our leeches/buggers with no luck. At this point though there were a lot of bugs coming off the water. We saw two fish rise but that was it. It was enough for me to try a dry for a few casts but I soon switched to a floating line with an indicator with a large midge beneath since we had seen some big ones coming off. David located where the fish were stacked and I put my cast right over them. After I got a good cast into the right area I had a fish on...finally! I was surprised how hard it fought as it ended up being only about 18 inches.

I say only 18 inches because Henry's Lake hybrids can run up to 15 pounds or so. That would be an incredible fight! Anyway, luck would run out on us very soon. Just after I landed my fish the wind kicked in immediately. We thought it would be ok but after taking a quick bathroom stop on the shoreline the water was churning pretty bad. Jim and Greg came over and we hopped in the boat. We trolled our flies and worms the rest of time with no luck at all. Greg had a big fish on before our rendezvous with the boat but it broke him off. After trolling up and back the shoreline in the boat we decided to call it a day at Henry's Lake and try to hit some moving water. We ended up trying the Henry's Lake outlet. David and I spotted a pod of big suckers but I thought I saw a trout in the mix. There had to be a few trout in the pod and we supposed a big sucker would be fun to fight on our fly rods if we managed to hook one. David confirmed the presence of some trout as he landed a nice little cutthroat.

Shortly after this I hooked into a nice sized sucker that put up a great fight. He was a good looking specimen in a disgusting kind of way.

We could not seem to hook up with anything after this so we headed back to the ranch. It was a great day fishing, but the catching was lacking somewhat which was a little disappointing since the potential for great fishing (good numbers of large fish) was running through our minds for the past several months. Sometimes when you get skunked or have a very low catch rate you tend to shy away from a particular body of water in search of better fishing elsewhere. This was definitely not the case for me when it comes to Henry's Lake. If the wind had remained calm I am confident that we would have caught a lot of fish since we located them and figured out the way to fish to them. An even stronger motivation for going back is the fact that David was able to see a lot of very large fish cruising right beneath us. He estimated some of the fish going easily over 25 inches. I have been doing a little more research and found out at least one thing we did wrong which was arrive too late. Come to find out the wind always picks up each day by noon so it is best to be on the water around 5:30 a.m. I also want to get a book by Henry's Lake master Bill Schiess called "How to Fish Henry's Lake". He tells exactly what to do for each time of the year, etc. Don't worry Henry, we will be coming back soon!

The next day we tried the Henry's Fork river below Ashton reservoir and managed to catch only a dinky brown. It was very windy which suppressed any sort of hatch from developing. If we had more time to figure it out we could have probably got into some fish. We fished for a few hours then called it a day there. Overall, the beauty of eastern Idaho was soothing to the soul and it was sad to leave such beautiful country. I can't wait to get back up and spend a few more days sampling the trout filled waters north of Utah.

Lionel Prichard and the Hanks brothers

Pines, Peaks, & Peixe

2008-05-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

In case you are wondering what "peixe" is, it is Portuguese for "fish". I couldn't think of any fishing lingo that started with "p" at the moment. Anyhow, David and I headed up to a small picturesque reservoir for an afternoon of fishing. Things started off slow but I found a spot where I kept getting consistent hits after I caught one small planter bow.

We were using crystal buggers in a size 6 which was probably a little big for many of the small mouths that were trying to eat them. I think I had some smaller buggers in my box but I was content because I was getting consistent hits. After a bit the hits died down and we kicked across the length of the reservoir looking for productive spots.

Until this point David had the skunk and I only had one fish with a few more on and a bunch of hits. We eventually made our way back to the spot where I caught my first fish. It was a good move because I started getting hits again. Then it dawned on me that we should trail a midge off of the buggers so our hook up rate would increase. This was the ticket although the next fish I hooked up with took the bugger. It was a nice looking little rainbow and I wanted a pic but he started flipping around on the apron of my float tube and threw the hook and flopped into the water. David was trying to help me and during the fiasco I managed to hook my trailing fly into the strap around my float tube and David got his leader wrapped up in his fins. A ton of effort that yielded no picture of the nice little specimen. Once we added the midge I started catching quite a few but for some reason David was not getting hits still. I had the hotter rod for some reason although he started getting hits and landed a nice little stillwater brown and a planter bow. Overall the day was great and the scenery could not be beat!

Ice Off

2008-05-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Supposedly a local high elevation reservoir had a ton of ice left just a few weeks ago. However, a small spurt of warmer temperatures combined with a wind storm ripped the remaining ice to shreds and open water supposedly prevailed. As I heard some rumblings about this ice off I knew I needed to try and get up there soon. Ice off on reservoirs can be some of the best fishing of the year although I had not had too much success with the phenomenon in the past. I wanted this to change this trip. Anyhow, my brother-in-law David and I met up at a popular gas station just after the crack of dawn and headed up to cutthroat heaven. The wind was very calm and the area we fished had some evidence of the deep freeze left over. A small ice shelf was clinging to a point that jutted out toward the center of the reservoir. Other than this we could see open water everywhere. Some argue the best "ice off" fishing occurs right as the edges of the ice start to pull away from the bank. Others say it is best after a few weeks once the water clears slightly and warms up a bit. We were too late and too early for either respective situation but we knew the fishing still had great potential. Things started off slow which would be a theme to the day as far as catching goes. However after a short time David hooked up with a nice cutthroat. We saw a few fish rising but not enough to warrant the dry fly. We fished wooley buggers the whole day in a few different colors. Things went quiet after this first fish. I thought it was going to warm up quick so I did not wear a jacket at first. The air did warm up but I did not account for the freezing water temperature that quickly had me shivering as the cold seeped right through my breathable waders. We both got out and bundled up and headed back out on our float tubes. While the fishing was not fast, the scenery and tranquility of being out on the glassy water could not be beat. It was so calm and quiet you could hear the occasional chatter hundreds of yards away from other anglers. It was a truly therapeutic morning and the quality of the fishing experience definitely made the slow catch rate insignificant. We eventually kicked ourselves down the shore aways and as David was kicking toward shore to fix the zipper on his float tube he hooked into another beautiful cutthroat.

We fished the area for awhile and I finally hooked up with a beautiful fish that went over 20 inches. That just added to an already great day of fishing. I can't wait to get back up there and have another great fishing experience.

Community Pond

2008-04-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Fly fishing is oftentimes associated with getting away from the sprawl and up to some mountain stream or creek to find solitude. However there are opportunities to catch some fish in the heart of the city. Definitely one of the more interesting places I have fly fished was a community pond over the weekend located in the center of the Salt Lake Valley. An interesting note was that a conservation officer checked our licenses which has only happened to me a couple times ever. I guess they want to make sure the people using the pond (the majority of which tend to take home everything they catch) have paid their dues by buying a license and being legit. Anyway, David and I did a simple nymph rig with a chironomid or two and indicator fished the pond. David quickly hooked up with a little rainbow that was missing its fins. The suspicions of frankenfish were confirmed when I pulled out a lake trout of all things that looked like he could have seen better days if he had not been selected for broodstock in the hatchery.

We did manage to catch some decent looking planter bows which were fun. Besides the lake trout another highlight was when David caught an albino trout. I regret not running over and snapping a pic or two but I managed to sneak into a pretty good area after someone left that I didn't want to give up quite yet. I was rewarded with a nice little chunky rainbow for staying put. Overall, it was a fun and interesting day at the community pond.

Spring Fishing

2008-04-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Spring is a time of Baetis (or Blue Wing Olives) and midge hatches coming off of western rivers. Usually I anticipate a lot of dry fly action in the spring, especially when the baetis are hatching. A friend and I headed out on a local river recently and besides a very few midges the river seemed very quiet. The catching matched the activity of the bugs for several hours which was a little frustrating since I nailed them the time before. The water was clear but a little higher which moved the fish out from a familiar run. We could not find the fish. Luckily we headed back to a spot we started out fishing early in the day and lo and behold the fish were all stacked up for the feast which had just gotten underway. It was windy and some blue wing olives were definitely hatching but the wind seemed to blow them across the surface as soon as they emerged. The fish did not key in on the adults but were taking nymphs in the mid to upper water column. There was some midges mixed into the bunch and we caught fish on mayfly nymph patterns (small pheasant tails) and midge pupa. It was not lights out catching but good nevertheless, and a great day to be on the water.

Hog Huntin'

2008-03-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

I met up with my brother in law at the mouth of the canyon Friday morning for yet another fishing adventure. We arrived at the river only to find the water level had risen. There was also a lot of "cabbage" or vegetation floating in the water. Not only does this usually make it more difficult to catch fish, but it also means you would have to clean your flies and line off after almost every cast. We starred at the water for a minute or so then decided it would be best to head up to another section of the river. I hope the rise in water level on the lower section was due to a higher volume of water being released from the dam and not from some sort of early spring run-off. The best fishing yet is coming soon and an early run-off could really foul the fishing up down there. Another half hour and we were up to a spot just below the dam. The water was nice and clear and that was good enough for me. We headed upstream passing a nice hole just under a bridge. We fished the edge of some riffles for a few minutes but decided it was not the best spot probably so we went back down to the hole near the bridge. We knew there had to be a big fish or two in the area. After fishing it for a bit I decided to look down off the bridge to get a better vantage point. Our suspicions of some big fish were confirmed as I made out several thick shouldered browns hugging the bottom along the edge of the current. We were not concerned with numbers so we decided to target these beasts. We took turns, one being the scout looking down off the bridge and the other being the fisherman. Our method though fun was not too effective at first. One time I was off the bridge down by my brother in law and he hooked what he thought was the bottom. We were pretty sure the bottom of the river was not moving when we saw the fly rod start to pulse up and down...fish on! David played the fish nicely and we managed to land it about 30 yards down stream. Not the biggest fish in the hole but a very respectable brown trout.

We had a few other hits and toward the end of our time at the bridge hole I managed to hook and land a short but chunky brown. I had what felt like a nice fish on afterwards but he ran downstream and came unbuttoned. I should have followed him downstream, but I spaced it for some reason and he came unhooked beneath the shadows of the bridge. It was fun experimenting and trying to catch some of these picky fish. We eventually were ready for a change of pace so we headed over to another section of the river that seemed pretty crowded so we opted to head to a different river. We saw a nice hole below an angler access spot so we went over the cattle fence ladder and headed on down. I immediately hooked a very fat little rainbow that put up a heck of a fight and had absolutely no quit in him.

Shortly after that I hooked and landed a whitefish which was fun. This second river we were fishing is known to have a good population of whitefish. We started catching quite a few whitefish, some very fat and quite large.

We had quite a few tangles with a tree at the head of the hole and while I was re-rigging one of the rods David hooked into something very large. After a second or two I saw it flash out in the current and I started yelling, "huge brown! huge brown!". David played the fish perfectly. This fish did not want to budge from the current. After what seemed like an eternity we beached the fish on a shallow gravel bar. This was an impressive fish. I need to remember to buy a small tape measure but I would estimate the fish around 20 inches plus. After a few quick pictures we sent him on his way. That was the best river caught fish I had seen in a long time. It made the trip that much more special. David has a knack for pulling out the big boys and I am glad because I have just as much fun watching as catching.

Neither of these pictures do justice to this fish, in the first his tail is bent away from the camera and in the one below the rod and reel were held in the air well in front of the fish and not down at his level, the reel circumfrence would have easily fit inside his tail.

We ventured downstream but for some reason no other hole produced a fish for us. We eventually came back to the magic hole of the day and landed a few more whitefish and David caught another smaller brown with extremely light coloring. This was a trip where David was able to add one more fish to his Wall of Fame. Until next time, tight lines!

Very light colored brown

Provo River Part Duex

2008-03-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

Just one week ago, my brother-in-law and I nailed fish after fish for many hours up on the Provo River. My brother-in-law brought home a good fish story that he told to his Dad which got his Dad wanting to try his luck as well. Well, lucky he was as we experienced a great day of almost non-stop action. We met at the mouth of the canyon around 8:20 and headed up once again to the river. We rigged up to nymph and I let Jim have at it and I think on the first cast or so he hooked up with a nice little brown. We knew it was going to be a good day. The fishing started off a little slower than the previous week. After Jim landed a few fish I started fishing the head of the hole and Jim fished more toward the tail section. Before long, Jim had dialed it in and was pulling fish out left and right. There was some evidence of midge activity and that is what we were catching our fish on. Jim soon hooked into something slightly bigger. I went to inspect and we saw a decent sized fish but extremely thick. This fish had shoulders! Turns out that it was a mountain whitefish which was fun.

Whitefish, cool!

Jim was doing better in his little seam than I was at the head of the hole. The fish had not started stacking up in my area to feed just yet. After a bit I could see fish start to move into the area I was fishing as the hatch started to pick up a bit. I suspended my nymphs a bit and started catching consistently. Jim came up and got in on the suspended nymph action for a little while then headed back to his spot and continued catching there. I noticed one particular fish that stood out from the pack and I was able to drift my nymphs right at him. My indicator went under and I bagged the fish of the day (and probably one of the biggest fish I have ever caught from this hole) after a nice fight.

The fish of the day, a good looking brown trout

One thing I noticed that was different from the previous week was that when the hatch swung into gear larger fish moved up the water column and made their presence known. Last week I was thinking that the average size of the fish in this hole was way down. This day though, I realized that the "average" sized fish that I experienced last year at this hole were still around, in part because I caught several of them. Maybe there are just more small fish mixed into the bunch and last week the larger fish eluded us somehow. We soon lost count of how many fish we had caught. The wind stayed light for the most part and overall it was great day to be out on the water. Two amazing days of fishing in two weeks was a real treat. At one point Jim headed down stream to explore a bit. Right when he left the fish started rising quite a bit so I threw on a parachute Blue-wing olive (mostly as an indicator) and trailed a midge emerger off the back of it. I quickly landed several fish. When Jim showed up again I let him use my rod to cast to the risers and he quickly added two or three more fish to his tally. Once the rises stopped we called it a day. Despite some cold hands, it was another perfect day of fishing. Until next time, tight lines!

My Father-in-law with a nice little brown

Check out the color on this adipose fin!

Ever wonder why trout are sometimes referred to as "toads"?

Very nice coloring on this trout

Cool spots

Corner pocket, sort of

Darker colored brown

Handsome brown

Removing flies was a common theme of the day

Small black zebra midges were the ticket, got this one right on the kisser

Me holding the catch of the day

Provo River Massacre

2008-03-05T16:38:00.000-08:00

My brother-in-law met me at the mouth of Provo Canyon around 8:30 am. The forecast called for temperatures in the low 50's with increasing wind as a storm front would be approaching around mid-day. I was a little worried about the wind the day before but so far the day looked promising. We drove up the canyon, parked, and luckily did not get stuck in the snow or the snow covered vegetation during the small hike to my favorite hole. The winds were calm and I noticed some evidence of some small midges hatching as I set my brother in law up with a standard nymph rig. His lead fly was a beadhead hares ear with a black zebra midge (size 18) trailing it. We started out fishing the flies on the bottom. I gave him a quick run-down of the dynamics of the hole and let him have at it. Before I could get rigged up he had landed his first fish of the day. And before I seriously started fishing, he had landed about six fish, many of them coming on the hares ear of all things. I got in on the action soon enough and started catching fish.

The best trout of the day, not too big but he put up a good fight for my brother-in-law and he was not camera shy either

I was fishing a little variation of a fly I learned from a professor of mine as my lead fly. It was a black thread midge with ribbing, a little light colored dubbing, and a pearl glass bead. It was a size 16 and it was picking up all my fish at first. Eventually I started picking up some fish on my trailing fly which was similiar to my lead fly minus the glass bead and one size smaller at an 18. Soon enough the hatch started kicking in a little better with some fish rising, not enough to warrant the dry fly yet. I noticed fish moving upstream and podding up in front of us. They started feeding more aggressively so we suspended our nymphs toward the middle of the water column. When we did this it was lights out. We landed fish after fish for several hours. We soon lost count of how many fish we landed which was good. One dissapointing thing is that I noticed that most of the fish were "cookie cutter" small sized fish. Just last year most of the fish I caught out of this hole were twice the size, at least in mass. My brother-in-law caught the fish of the day which was the average size I caught the previous year. I think the reproduction has been too good, especially in this hole. I plan to keep two fish from this hole every time I fish here and see if I can do my part to raise the average size of the fish

Here is an example of the cookie cutter type fish that we pulled out of the hole time and time again

My brother-in-law and I somehow happened to both be looking upstream at the same time and we witnessed a strange phenomenon that got our blood pumping. We saw a huge brown sky rocket clear out of the water, almost like pre-spawning or caddis hatch behavior, but this was during a midge hatch! Several fish later, another huge brown shot clear out of the water right in front of us! It may have been the same fish, who knows? I couldn't figure out why these fish were putting on an aerial display, but we raised our indicators up our leaders and added a split shot and dredged the bottom for these beasts. If I was feeling more ambitious I may have even swung a streamer across the current. We think we may have gotten one good hit, and we got a snag we had to break off, but no 20+ inch monster brown to speak of. Just knowing there still are some hogs in the Provo makes me feel good. I used to tangle with fish near this size fairly often on the Provo about 5 years ago, but now too much of the biomass consists of fish, which means their average size is down quite a bit.

Another angle of the fish of the day, I love the bronze/yellow belly

Small but fat brown trout

The midge hatch never really went bananas, but it got some of the smaller fish smacking a few bugs off the top. I then decided to mix things up a bit and went to a dry-dropper rig. A Griffith's Gnat was the dry and I added an experimental emerger off the back. I tied some small midges with a small piece of orange foam tied in right near the head. I copied the idea from a foam emerger pattern I saw on the net. Ideally the foam should have been right in the film with the fly body vertical but I didn't think to grease the foam with floatant and/or used the wrong type of foam because the fly just kinda sank or washed around with the upwelling and current. Regardless, I soon was landing fish on my emerger creation and let my brother-in-law land a few too on my rod. The wind started picking up and after hours of catching fish we decided to call it a day. It was a memorable trip for sure, and it was a great way to bring in the new spring fishing season that will be full of midge and Blue-wing Olive hatches up and down the Provo River corridor. Until next time, tight lines!