Kolob Fly-Fishing

Little Did I Know.

2011-02-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

Headed to Kona for my brothers wedding and after that my family spent a week in Kauai. I was excited about this because I wanted to go bonefishing. I didn't get out on my honeymoon when I was there last year, so I was going to make up for it by fishing all week.

I called Rob and had the Monday of that week booked to go fishing a couple weeks before we left. Then after paying what I already thought was too much money for a guide for 4 hours I would make up for it by fishing all week and getting into larger than average bones. Little did I know....

We got there on Sunday and it was raining hard, Monday rain too. We arranged to go later in the week when it was better weather. I was thinking Tuesday or Wednesday, but we didn't get out until Friday, not because the weather, but for whatever reason. I think it had to do with him knowing I was planning on fishing all week, so he wanted me to go the last day I was there.

He called me at 10 at told me to meet me at the beach at 11. I thought it seemed a little late, but he's the guide right? I traveled from 2,000 miles away and accidently forgot my glasses. I thought oh he does this everyday he should have an extra pair, nope. Not an extra pair of sunglasses and he's a bonefishing guide. My fault, but still not an extra pair for clients? WTH?

So we went out I had the first cast on a good bone and it hit, but didn't take all the way and didn't get it. I had about 8 or 10 other shots but I couldn't see what I was casting at/or cast wasn't where it needed to be. After 3 hours of fishing guide called it quits, ya thats right $350 for 4 hours and he quit at 3 hours. NO drinks, no snacks, no glasses, no real advice given. Don't waste your $ on Rob in Kauai, he's the only guide there and I am wondering why now.

If your serious about going to Kauai don't book Rob for the insane price, We can work out a trade or something $50 or so and I will tell you how to catch a bone, even though I didn't catch one. I will even tie you the flies that he uses for the bones there and send them. If I was there one more day I would have, but guide strategically planned for my last day there.

Also, the reason he fishes late in the day I found out randomly enough is he is an artist on the island making shell necklaces that sell for a lot of money, so he spends the prime fishing hours in the morning on finding shells. Then hoses tourist on his insane prices for fishing. I wouldn't have found this out, but my family met him in the morning on the beach finding shells the same day we went fishing.

I was unprepared by not having glasses. Flies I knew I was going to buy some from guide when I was there, but when paying that much $ the little things should be taken care of, especially when you are a destination fishing guide.

This post will lead into my upcoming post about picking the right guide.

Never Know If You Don't Look

2011-01-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

The Chucko was in true form last week. After Mike, Matt and I got skunked on the pond, we started looking around at the nearby stream that feeds the pond. In this concrete valve box we spotted a bass. After dropping three flies in to get it, it finally took it! Well kinda, but Matt hauled it in. I knew he wouldn't give me the pics off his camera because he is not proud of this, but I am. It was a good bass too, probably around 5lb's. So top 3 pictures are from phone. The bottom two are from another trip a few days before the epic canal fish.

The monster holder

Smile of a true Chucko

Chuckos doing there thing

Had a piece taken out of its back.

Mustache and all.

Silly Putty Spoon Flies

2011-01-04T20:04:00.001-08:00

Fly Tyer magazine had a how to on spoon flies, so I gave it a shot and here are my results. I was really surprised at how easy it was to do. Using the silly putty as a mold is a great help and made it very easy. I intend to do some really creative spoon flies, but just wanted to see how it would work out at first. Now I have fingernail polish in an array of colors to add to the cluttered fly tying table. I hope the bass enjoy these little guys, but I do think they are intended for saltwater. I used silly putty for mold, and clear cure goo as the body. Use a toddler spoon to make shape fill with goo, put slightly bent threaded hook in goo, cure and then design. Next spoon fly will be a New York Jets Spoon Fly.

Best Catch Yet!

2010-12-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

I've caught bigger fish, but this is my best catch yet at 7lb 3oz at , We named him, Augustus Kyle Ballard and will call him"Gus". He has changed my life and can't wait to take him fishing. I'm thinking in a month or so we will hit the water for our first time. Were already best friends, He loves to get kisses from his dad and watch our favorite teams the Jets and the Jazz. Looking forward to spending the rest of my life with this guy.

I have been hitting the water recently, but haven't got any pictures back yet, so those are soon to come

Guns, Ribs, Brookies.....

2010-10-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

Headed for the mountains for a quick overnight trip with the fellas for some fishing. We haven't gotten out much this year all of us in school, even though Matt's school is a piece of cake. We fished into the evening the first night and I caught that football of a brookie, only 19" long but it was darn near that wide as well. We all caught some really colored up Colorado River Cutthroats, but nothing to big.
After hiking down the trail in the dark pistols out and flashlights covering ever inch of tree line we made it back to camp for some awesome Lloyds Ribs, for your info you can get the knock off version at Costco, but they are not as good;) for you Mike.
When we woke up we had to build a fire to thaw out our boots and warm up from the frigid mountain air. Poor Matt had to cuddle up to Mike all night to stay warm. I think he was sucking his thumb when I saw them. It was so cute though I didnt want to wake them....

We hiked to a couple different small lakes that had some fish that weren't cooperating, but managed to get some tigers and cutts throughout the day.
On our way back we ran into a couple good ol boys on the trail that had a supposed awesome secret brookie lake that was supposed to be awesome. We were planning on heading home, but we figured we better do this since it might be pretty soon before snow flies and we can't get back up there. We got there and could see the bottom of the lake the entire way across and saw two fish. Dirty SOB.
Ended up being a good trip, but it is always better when you catch the biggest fish of the trip.

Magic Mushrooms

2010-08-30T20:35:00.001-07:00

Why We Went..........

The old fart above went on a scout trip with his son's scout troop and they ended up catching lots of fish this size. Worst part of all is this sob fishes about once a year and always catches hogs.

What we Caught

beginning the journey

calm before the storm

viking doing what he does best

fish on

ruined picture with my fingers as usual, doesn't look 19" but it was

cuttie

if we had only known there powers

super mario bros style, these guys were all over the mountain

first tiger

17"

skinny tiger

This trip was suppose to be a bunch of guys from work, but it ended up just me and Lyf. WE took off after work and got a little fishing in the first night. We only fished for around 6 hours the nex day, where the guys in the top pics were there 3 days. It was our first time fishing this part of the mountain and when we go back our next trip we will kill it or rape it, whichever you prefer. Lyf was new to the area in general and I think enjoyed it and the tiger trout was a first for him too. I hope after seeing the camp host he will at least consider watching, "Deliverance". I hummed the tune of that song most of the trip after meeting that fangled tooth redneck.

Shoulda Woulda Coulda..... with my favorite Chucko!

2010-08-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

There are some times in life when you know you made a really bad decision. Matt called me about a month ago with the best news I had had since I found out about my baby boy on the way. I was invited with him and his guide friend to fish in some of the most pristine fishy bull trout water this side of the western hemisphere. I unfortunately had some unfortunate unchangeable circumstances and wasn't able to go. Well I'll let you decide if it was the most epic trip ever. Guess there is always next summer.

Lees Ferry with the Harrisons

2010-08-08T21:04:00.001-07:00

Haven't been out much this year, what a bummer, so when I got the invite to hit nearby Lees Ferry with Matt, his Dad, and Brother in Law I jumped at the opportunity.

I took Emily with me this trip since it was a short one, and wanted her to see the Colorado River for her first time, also to be our personal photographer just in case we caught the only 20" fish in the river.

We had a great time Matts family is way cooler than he is. I was eating lunch and packing up when Matt's Dad, Mr Harrison finally got his first fish on the fly( wish i had a picture of that). Kudos to him for doing it on a semi technical, very large river. The other Matt, Matt's bro in law was a natural at casting, and it won't be long until he hooks up.

The Love Boat

2010-07-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

Matt and I headed out for a couple of hours to chase the old bucket mouths a couple weeks ago. We discovered that the fish weren't hanging on the edges like they had been before, but that they had moved out to the middle of the lake and were under the weeds and such. We decided to borrow one of the many boats docked at the boat dock, and the boat we scored was a cute little paddle boat. We couldn't get a cute picture of the both of us in there, but believe me it was, lol...........

I did score the biggest bass of my lifetime or the rest of Matts. It measured 20" I didn't get girth but it was chunky, so I'm guessing 7sh at least.

I won't leave him home........

2010-06-24T21:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've been super lazy on the pictures. Last couple weeks I've hit some local small streams, bass, and woolly mammoth with Googly Eyes, but nothing to get to excited over.

And for the real reason no sweet trips have been on the books is for the lack of dough. With this sweet economy I've had to save my pennies. After all I've got to pay for this baby. You heard it I've got a little junior fishermen on the way. I want to name him Gus, but his Mom isn't having it. I will call him Gus no matter what she wants to name him.

I'm super excited to start a family and have a permanent fishing buddy and hall pass. Gus will be here around November.

Desert Fishing

2010-06-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

Since I am forbidden to enter a surrounding state I've been fishing relatively closer to home. I haven't caught any hogs as of lately or really even got out fishing all that much in the past few weeks. Don't get me wrong I've been out to woolly mammoth a few times and been throwing some nasty bugs to some bass, but you can't really call bass fishing right;)

Been fishing with some chuckos. I've got to say this worm container is pretty awesome.

Redband Rainbow?

Just making sure you seen how cool it is.

Flower pictures for lack of fish, since its hard snapping pics with one hand.

What did you expect? Monsters?

Old Patterns Die Hard

2010-05-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

Although I have only fished this pattern for a year it is time for its early retirement. This pattern has won many battles and lost some pretty big wars:) I can't tell you what the secret weapon is, or the earth may fall out of orbit.

I need suggestions on what to tie, I have about 1000 of these Mustad 37160 hooks from size 2-14.

PLEASE leave your ideas under comments. Much appreciated.

Were You Drinkin?

2010-04-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Always has to wear adidas or nike in all his pics. He's such a jock.Moose

Matt's 20" don't let him tell you different. We pinched the tail too just in case he tries to use that as an excuse to tell you it was a 26 3/4"

A True Chucko

When I tell you this story you might think we were drinkin. On a side note what is with cops? I'm more of a fireman guy anyways(they're the real heroes), but this last trip the three of us all received tickets. Ya not to crazy except we had 2 vehicles. I got a seat belt ticket driving 40 feet in Clint's truck, Matt got one 10 minutes later driving in to town and Clint got a warning on the way home so not 3 technically but darn close.

Here we go.........

The river was slow, so the next day we looked at the nearby reservoir and it was melting on the edges, perfect for cruising hungry trout. So after getting worked the day before on the river we headed to the lake first thing to try our luck. Of course Matt got into fish right away and I missed a couple fish that were definitely bigger. After that we hit the river again and same results so before heading home we hit the lake again. Our spirits were brightened a little when we talked to some guys that were guided down the river and they didn't catch one fish, not even a whitefish. We didn't do much better, but they said the guide said they just shocked the river and the water being so cold and low may have turned them off.

So back to the lake. We walk down throw in and Clint hooks up first catch, so I literally slide down the ice on my tush to go take a pic with my fly still in the water when I stand up to go grab the camera I lift the rod and I have a nice heavy pull. I start to try to land the fat bow and it takes a run. With only 10 feet of water showing there isn't much room for error, so when the fish took off towards the ice and jumped trying to spit the fly it jumped right on top of the ice. Freakin nuts right! So there is a 22-23" fat bow sitting on the ice no fly in its mouth flopping around. Matt and I immediately looked at each other peeing our pants were laughing so hard and start to try to foul hook the fish to pull it off the ice. I hooked into it in a couple casts and pulled it off the ice. I fought it momentarily before it got off the hook, I was bummed I didn't land it, but what a story to tell. We had a pretty good time and darn near laughed everybody off the lake. All and all pretty good trip at Quail Lake.

Here it sits on the ice by its lonesomeJust to make sure you saw it the first time:)

Clint snapped some sick pictures even of this chucko.Whats a fishing trip if you don't run out of gas once in awhileGoose nest we walked up on and the mother goose both made us pee a little when it flew off. Those eggs were the size of a fist i'd say. I had to wait for the cruisers somehow, whats wrong with taking a seat?

Check out Clints Flickr Photostream

Mo Bass

2010-04-18T21:56:00.001-07:00

These pics are all taken by Fishies and Freshies.

Frog on Top

2010-04-12T20:26:00.001-07:00

Now this is funny

2010-04-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Especially if you know the entire story.

The Secret Fly

Some more Bass

2010-03-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

I got a text from Aaron on Monday asking if I fish on Mondays, I responded I fish everyday. We hooked up after work and went looking to rip some lips. I knew Aaron had has some difficulties hooking up on fish since he started fly fishing 8 months ago. I knew the place we were going he could get some bendo, and was even more impressed when he caught fish on his personally tied flies. The bass fishing has definitly got me excited for spring and even for the bucketmouths themselves.

Bassin was Bananas

2010-03-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

With daylight savings time giving us a little extra light at night after work me and the original crew took off for a reunion tour of some good ol bass fishing. We started on a local farm pond and had some fun with some miniature bluegill and bucket mouths. Before we ran out of light we found a pond that we new would have some hungry bass, but we never expected them to be this hungry. After the bumpy 4wd road, we found schools of monster bass ready to eat whatever we threw at them. We caught bass after bass no fish weighing less than 4lb's and the bigger ones had to be at least 7lb maybe pushing 8lb's. It was what you call an Epic day on the pond. It was good to get out with the original crew and have some of the best fishing you could have in a couple of hours. All pictures were taken on our camera phones we weren't expecting anything like this, so we left the real cameras at home. There were many more pictures, but I decided to leave a few out, we probably had about 20 pigs to hand in the 2 hours. As you'll see I grabbed the only hat I had in my truck had to keep it gangsta.

Unknowns.

2010-03-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

photo by Softhacke

Took a trip with a couple unknowns earlier this week. First unknown, drifted the Middle Green on the A section. Second unknown, met Softhacke on the Internet and went fishing with him and he wasn't a serial killer:) Thirdly, through some fat streamers and had some luck on them where before I hadn't had much. Fourthly, listening to Mikes advise I kept driving in the middle of a blizzard on our way home. The blizzard was so bad and the roads in such poor condition we got a room in Fillmore. Mike thinks because I'm from Southern Utah I'm pretty weak in my snow driving skills and I would usually agree, but the roads/storm were so ridiculous I think he even pee'd in his pants a little before we got to Fillmore. All and all a great trip, I was bummed about the North Platte trip I missed out on, but had a good time anyways. I didn't do much in the way of pictures, so I will leave them to Ken(Softhacke) and Mike(Fisheatflies). All I can say is Roosta's. BTW, I wrote this late......

Mahola My Brotha!

2010-03-12T22:57:00.001-08:00

Blues are sick in that picture. Whats ugly beast on the left?
What would that cost at Red Lobster?

Choke Lobsters
Work Site:)

One big lobster

My Broha has been doing his fair share of fishing on the islands. I finally pestered him enough to get some pics. I kick myself for only snorkeling on my honeymoon, and getting worked by waves body boarding. Great looking fish, well crustaceans, I'm glad to see the Ballards have there fishy sense about them even across the equator. I'm waiting on pics of the white tip reef shark he caught and some other feesh from da island...........

Proteins

2010-03-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

Without the necasarry evil of Protein I wouldn't fit perfect into this elite club and I also woulnd't have had zoned in on these little eggs full of Proteins.

Thanks to the guys at FGFF for the free swag.

Sunday Tying Session, Red Birds, Black Birds, Chongs, Rojos(Chironomids)?, Eggs

2010-02-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for an upcoming fishing trip for some spawning rainbows. First attempt at the glue eggs. I'm hoping to figure out the clusters, but we will see.

Riding with the King

2010-02-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

Pure Awesomeness

Me and Sir Noah rockin our patches for the party

Rocking my new favorite shirt(Steal Your Face, The Fly Fish Journal) with some family for our party.

If you have ever fished with me in the 801 you know my love of these chocolate dunford donuts. See above for results of what they do to my tummy.

I got out this week to keep up the tradition of fishing on the birthday. As I am writing this I was thinking of when this fishing on the birthday thing all started. The one that sticks out was when I was 15sh(ten years ago) and my Mom drove me out to Quail Lake while letting me sluff school. I fished out in the rain and hard wind in my older brothers circular float tube and neoprenes. I only lasted an hour or so and didn't catch anything, but it was memorable to say the least.

The Drake's Fly Fishing Film Festival was bananas. I went with a couple buddies and we really liked some of the shows that will be coming out soon. It also got me itching bad for some more saltwater action.

Matt and I also hit the Provo for the day. It was great to get out in February in the snow, of course Matt the Master caught all the all fish, just ask him;) We had some luck on the Middle Provo fishing deep and also had some luck throwing dries in fish inhaling midges on top. We ended the day fishing down on a section of the Lower Provo. Matt caught a 29" rainbow with the tail pinched it was 30", but we didn't have our cameras, dang...... I also found some sweet new polorarized Smith sunglasses on the river imagine that.

I write Czechs

2010-02-23T22:56:00.001-08:00

Hook: Tiemco 2487 Thread: 6/0 Danville white
Underbody: Wrapped lead tape
Body: Burnt Orang Scud Dubbing
Ribbing: 5x tippet and flat gold tinsel
Back: Latex Glove colored with markers

I've decide I want to try fishing more czech/scud type patterns so I whipped up my first batch. I found some lead tape at Uinta Golf and started tying. I really like the way lead tape makes the fly look and it adds a good amount of weight without the bulk of the lead wire.

8x Tippet (Fluoro) & 24-26 lil midges

2010-01-17T21:56:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been so long, I have a hard time about getting excited about Lees Ferry anymore. It's a tailwater fishery that the fish are about 16" all day and maybe you'll hit an 18" but anything larger is not very common, for me that is. Small flies and light tippet, flows are all over and well I just think it's extremely overrated.........I'll be there this weekend though, lol the irony.

This is where you can pick up all the 8x(fluoro) sometimes 9x if there not out. Don't forget your size 22's and 24 San Juan midges.

Well what to say about the best tailwater fishing someone could imagine. I've been a couple times this year and will be there a few more times before I can fish somewhere else on a more regular basis. I'm glad I can afford 8x fluorcarbon or I don't think we would catch any fish.......

I went out with Matt and Mike once this year, we went sometime around the start of the new decade. The water was running extremely high at this time and could only fish a couple hours before we were pushed out of the water. We then pursued the inevitable hunt for carp at the docks of Lake Powell marina:) Well when I say we, I mean Mike. He loves his carp.Matt looking at the camera when he should be fishing. Such an ego on that guy, good looking jacket though.The next trip out I went out with some of my married neighbor friends that fish together. We left pretty early not early enough though, maybe we'll leave at 2:3o am. next trip;). We got on the water and immediately Amy picked up the first trip of the day. We continued to get into fish for the next couple hours, but when the water raised to its peak and started falling the fishing fell off too. I ate my typical lunch minus my ritz and dip, forgot that, but I enjoyed watching Amy and James cook spaghetti stream side on there camp stove. Looked dang good. Before we left I took my typical dip in the river. My new excuse is the wading boots I got are too big for me, no longer the felt.

Surf Flies 1st Attempt

2009-12-26T21:41:00.000-08:00

These by no means are good ties, but was excited to take some pics with the new camera.

Merry Christmas to me.....

2009-12-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

Its been awhile since my last post. I've fished a couple times, but nothing to post about. Since then I have acquired some new gear for 2010.

My new digs
Williams Joseph Fanny Pack/Lumbar. I like fanny pack better.
Williams Joseph Rain Coat
Ross Reel Evolution 8 weight with sinking line
Temple Fork TICRX 8 weight
Simms Boots and yes they have felt bottoms.

I also took the pics with my sweet new Canon Rebel XTI + and extra lens for close ups. Not great pics yet, but hoping to have better quality pics coming up.

Cool Feature on Fanny Pack it has a pocket that converts to a striping basket.

Rainbows and Rodents

2009-11-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Day 1. This weekend I fished a couple different places and both were equally unique. I started off the trip heading up to the same old place with Dan. We were chasing spawning browns and fishing near reds. We caught some fat rainbows that were munching on the browns eggs behind some reds early on in the day. We caught some browns too but nothing to crazy a 19" for me and a skinny 22" for Dan. The salmon were done spawning and therefore dying, it was different watching the dead salmon floating down in front of me while fishing. Also, there was this doofus that kept cutting my flies off my line when it would float by him, man what a jerk;) As it does here the wind blew hard all day and we were ready to call it a day pretty early. We ended up hitting the usual last hole of the trip. Dan ended up catching the fattest brown I have ever seen. It was so awesome I caught my self rolling on the ground laughing until I had tears in my eyes. We caught more fish this trip than I had hear which was great. Lots of rainbows and a memorable brown.

Decent 21" rainbow

Gill plate color

look at its gut, not mine.........

awesome colors

19" brown. Jerk I was fishing with wouldn't walk over to get a grip'n grin picture.

fat 23" rainbow

it twas a lunker

toothy sucker

tubby & tubby

shoulders and gut just like its catcher

Day 2. The next morning Matt and I took off to hit a little lake with some tiger trout. We wanted to catch them on mice patterns so we left early in the morning to hit first light. I knew 3:30a.m. was to early but Matt didn't. We fished in the dark for an hour, kinda creepy, but when the stars started fading and the light started creeping in the tigers turned into monsters attacking the mice. I missed probably 15 awesome hits and had lots of "noses" and follows. It was nerve racking to have a big wake behind a huge mouse pattern and knowing that the beast is going to strike anytime. I ended up landing one on the mouse, but was to worried about getting measurements and it took off before pictures were taken. Matt caught some pigs, a 23" and a 24" both taken on the mice. His biggest fish to date, and first on a mouse. We ended the day not too long after the sun came up, but by then we had put in a good 8 hours:)

Mike's Mutant Mouse

Mikes 23 7/8" tiger no matter what he says;) on the mouse!

SLAMMED the mouse

Another $ shot for Mike the genius behind the Mutant Mouse

Most disgusting fish I have ever seen. Awful slanted mouth and in all ways a retarded fish.

Proud like he's my own son

2009-11-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

I am going the same way Mike went with his post. I am so proud of our little guy, I mean just look at him, who wouldn't want to put this kid on the cover of a magazine? Scott Donaghe that guides down on the beaches of California came to southern Utah for a visit and got some shots with the notorious Mathew when he volunteered to take him fishing(wish I wouldn't have so graciously bowed out due to small water fishing and the being crowded factor;))

I don't know which picture I like more

I'm really proud of you and your Adidas chucko.

Pigs have all the fun........

2009-10-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

When I say "pigs" I am not talking about the pink fat animals we get bacon from, but the other white meat, cops. Whats with these guys anyway? The oinker I was with got out of 2 police stops with no tickets. At all of these stops he thought it would be funny to mention,"hey the guy in the back is a cop hater". Not only did he not get any traffic tickets, but he caught the biggest fish of the trip.Best fish of the trip for me a fat 23" fall brown

Dan with the biggest fish this trip a nice 24 1/2" rainbow
glad he could get over that 23" mark.

Josh with a fat 21" Cutt, Yellowstone?

Narly kype on this guy

Showing off some fall spawning colors

We got spoiled the first day.
Me as Gangsta as I can be with some serious wind chills

Rockin the lumber jack hat with my friend the moose.

Moses "Josh" parting the Moose.

Dan at the last second snagging(no pun) a nice little 23" brown to end the day.

2009-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Finally met up with James to go rip some lips. We left earlier than anyone ever wants to leave when they go fishing. We drove up to Circleville hoping to hook into some pigs with streamers, but much to my surprise when we got to the water it was about 50% less of regular flows. I heard they cut flows in the fall, but have never witnessed it. Any hope of catching some hungry browns off guard was out of the question. James hooked into a few fish from the start, it took me awhile to get warmed up, but finally got the skunk off. We fished the normal stretch, but nothing great, lots of rainbows, 1 brown James caught for the entire day? Where are the browns hiding? We drove down to Hatchtown and caught some more dinks and whitefish. With flows so low it made everything different and I'm going to have to change my game plan a little bit.

First Day Back

2009-09-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

The old ball and chain let me sneak out finally this weekend for some fishing. Just kidding first weekend as a married man and I was out fishing, told you so all you haters. I woke up and went towards Circleville. I fished the water I usually fish when I go that way. Started off with a yellow zoo cougar and on one of my first casts I floated downstream and pulled up towards a good bank and had a vicious take from a nice 18" brown. I fished up river and managed to get my zoo cougar stuck in a high tree behind me. While trying tug it out of the tree one of my ferrules on my Sage SLT 4 weight broke in half. I was so disappointed I left to fish water further down the road, so I could cool down. I ended up driving towards Hatch and fishing the area there. I caught a bunch of dinky rainbows, but it was a good time. It was nice to get back on the water. 3 weeks I went without fishing just about killed me. Hope I can manage to get out again;) Sorry no pictures I forgot my camera and my buff.

End of an Era.

2009-09-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

Epic Journey
Today was the closing of a chapter in my fishing career. With my wedding next week I will be no longer able to fish Blue Springs without a member. It's unlikely I won't fish Blue Springs again, but it won't be the same having to have a member to fish along side of me from now on. There have been enough memories made at Blue Springs in the last 10+ years to start its own blog. I started flipping(developed pictures) through old pictures and was reminded of some great trips. Blue Springs is where Matt "Pike" Anderson and started our fishing adventures. We started fishing bait and eventually worked to fly fishing. Collin Cleaner started fishing with me and Matt pretty much at the beginning, but not the very beginning:) There have been many friends along the way.

The Beginning Years
We fished a lot of bait from a boat and from shore, kept a fair amount of fish, we chewed a lot of sunflower seeds, listened to 959 the hawk faithfully, drank a lot of Dr. Pepper, skipped a lot of school, slept at the cabin many nights, and had a lot of fun. Also, started the SPC fishing club. We had a bunch of old 70's SPC hats and decided to start a club. It didn't last, but it was fun at the time. A lot of early mornings at the cabin with hot cocoa to get us going. Phrases like, "Collin the GD sun isn't even up yet," happened somewhere in the early years when we worried about waking up really early and anyone that knows me, knows I like my sleep. I also fished with a lot of different people in the beginning years. It was always an adventure.

First actual photo of first trip fishing trip to Blue Springs with Matt

Matt and I unashamed to take partial credit of Collins fish

Brett, Kyle and Joe, the 3 of us spent a lot of time on the waterWe would ice fish a couple times a year
Consumed lots of this, start of the belly
The beginning of the SPC fishing club. Never had any luck night fishing though

Seeds, SPC hat, Sun Tan and Soda(Dr. Pepper)

Somewhere In There.
After everyone we knew had to many fish in there freezers and a lot of bait chucking we started venturing into the unknown world of fly fishing. I believe it was me, Matt and Collin that got the necessary gear to get started. Eventually Steve, Brett, Joe and others got involved. I still remember going to SPC and fabricating our own fly rod tubes. We were all new and learned a lot of hard lessons. We eventually would go back to chucking due to frustration, but for the most part we stuck it out. Had some help with from people like John Schultz, Larry E, Wes C, Chris H, Dustin D, and some others. We didn't have nearly the help online that there is now from the extensive websites and youtube. I also began tying flies sometime around then,

One of the many sunset pictures I had.

Had to be awhile ago in those waders
In the beginning of the change

Old Glory, Woment want me fish fear me

The annual Kyle's butt kicking from Collin

Matt with a recent slab

Later years

Alot has happened in the last few years at Blue Springs. We had a couple epic seasons that produced many fish days often. The fishing got so good it seemed like I was taking lots of friends that wanted to learn to fly fish and families to fish with there kids. I took teachers that used to allow me to sluff class once in awhile so I could go fish(I think it was a good trade off), fished with lots of family I started taking a fair amount of clients, so I could get out on the water for work. It is a lot like the beginning years. I take a lot of different people because of the high volume catch rate and large fish.

Some of the Barney clan.

Matt Hirischi with his first catch on a fly rodErickson FamilySuwyn with a slab this early spring21"

Last Supper

The Last Supper
Got an early start up to Blue Springs with Matt this morning. We got on the water around 6:30 and got fishing. Not much later Desert Rock showed up and started fishing. They got one quick fished and released it. They figured it would be one of many to come. At about 10:30 they picked up and left without another fish, not even a bite. Matt had one bite and we were started back to the truck at about 11 and I finally hooked into a real fighter. I decided to keep this fish to give to my Grandma. She has been asking me to bring her fish since I quit keeping them about 5 or 6 years ago, so I figured I would surprise her with a fish.

I don't fish Blue Springs nearly like I used too. I have discovered more moving waters that I enjoy to fish more often. There are many memories that were not shared or could not be shared, but we all know what they are. I have a bunch of fun old pictures from the glory days of blue springs. I'll put a link of my Picasa account for anyone wanting to see some of the old shots. If you have any to contribute please do.

Blue Springs

Fish 5050

2009-09-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Jeff Turner wanted to send his son off to college with a memory that would last with him forever. The goal was to fish 50 trophy waters in 50 days. They have recently completed there journey and have the entire trip logged on there website with video clips to journal entries. Definitely worth a read.
http://www.fish5050.com/index.html

4:1 Ratio & Bad Juju

2009-09-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

4:1 ratio is hours to fish for me Saturday. Out of 12 or 13 hours fished only 3 fish, but caught one hog so not such a bad deal, and I guess the company was okay?

Sometimes Dan feels bad for me when I don't catch fish. My hero!

Matt with a hog. Think he caught it on green sparkle power bait nuggets.

Oh look Dan caught a fish. Firefighters are such better heroes than cops.

In your face shot

Big SmileGrip'n Grin

Tying one on, something I did a lot of that day if you ask Chucko and the Donut Eater

A little golden light.

Saving the best for last.....If you think that this pig is so great because he is always catching the hogs. Well here is his secret, lots of weight to get down, just enough weight to hook the fish on the back. That's right, picture proof of Danny boy releasing his foul hooked fish something that happens for him more than not. Thanks Chucko for allowing me to shine light on this glorious fishermen. A fine fishermen indeed you might add.

Hoppers

2009-08-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of a couple awesome days of hopper fishing with Matt and Mike. We had our first run in with a landowner using our Conatser rights granted to us at Congress' last session. The first day we ran into Steve, he was quite sure of kicking us out. He understood the law, but was upset to see someone using their rights. He was sure we couldn't pass a certain pool, and would assume trespassing if he saw us past that point. After we easily waded through the hole we saw Steve again and he was flustered and obviously upset. We kept fishing and he left. We caught lots of fish on hoppers and a couple slabs. On the way home Matt and I started fishing a little creek that was thought to have fish and sure enough caught some native cutts and brookies.

Couple days later we went up again to enjoy some more hopper action. We ran into Steve at the same spot as before. He was very courteous and seemed to be getting used to the fact that this was going to happen. We talked to him about politics and ranching. We invited him and eventually pleaded him to come throw a line with us to see why we loved fishing. He declined, but attitude was much different than the trip before. Matt and I were excited to have that over with and thought we were done with problems from the landowners. Not 1o minutes later I hear Matt yell, " thanks alot" and look up to see an old man and younger guy throwing boulders and logs into the water. After a couple minutes of the childish behavior I yelled, " we have every right to be here". He told us to get the hell out and leave. I yelled to Matt, "get your videocamera and film this guy" he hurried back to his 40' diesel.

Pretty crazy, but what do you do? Keep fishing! Catching started off slow, but when a little breeze picked up and the heat turned on we started getting into them. We walked further up than the trip before and caught some slabs. Although great fishing, it is very tiring walking up river, but I think its worth it.

Mike with his slab of the day

Whitefish before troutNice shot by Mike

Extended arms like so make fish look bigger. Matt's secret

Matt loves his whitefish. Maybe becauase he catches so many of them.

When the day was almost over and my legs were so tired and missed a couple footsteps and ended up in the drink to cool off.

Day 2 not in order

2009-08-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Day 1 in order

2009-08-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Went up north with Josh to meet Dan and do some fishing. We fished the same river most of the trip, but hit the Provo for a bit on Friday night.

This fish was caught amongst all the 6" Bonneville cutthroat you could want. I think Dan foul hooked it, but I don't remember.

First fish I've ever seen Dan let go. I guess he forgot his stringer.

Saw this cold one in the Provo waiting for someone to pluck it out it out of the frog water and slam it.

Luckily.......

Here's the snake they through on my side of the car, it started climbing down the window. After the fishing Dan made us steaks at his place which were pretty scrumptious considering we ate the hind end of the cow. We went down to get some malts in Heber and ended up at Dan's place of employment, The Police Station. Dan knows that I think most cops are just plain idiots, but everyone thinks that, right? We ended up watchin police vidoes and shooting the breeze with the Sarge and some of the other cops. After a couple of hours hanging out watching videos and telling stories were just about to leave and Farva thought it would be funny to have his dog scare me a little bit. I don't like police dogs, but I guess cops aren't so bad after all.

A Fine Fishermen

2009-07-29T18:31:00.001-07:00

"A Fine Fishermen"
This will be a new highlight section for kolobflyfishing. If you want to show off a fish you caught in southern utah, or anywhere for that matter. "A Fine Fishermen" derives from "A river runs through it." It is the line when Paul and Normans Dad says after he catches the monster. You all remember, the memorable fish that takes him down the river. Send your pictures to kolobflyfishing@hotmail.com

The brown trout pictured below is just under 30" and a little more than 7lbs. The stream in southern Utah where it was caught is not much wider than the length of the fish. I have fished this stream and never seen a fish bigger than 10". I'd like to think there are more of these monsters, but I think this is the last fish this big in southern Utah. Casey is a great salesmen, but a fine fishermen. If you want anything to do with ATV's you can him up in Hurricane at Moto Zoo, and while your there you can have him tell you more about how he caught this monster.

Bears, Blood and the Boulders

2009-07-28T20:54:00.001-07:00

Great trip to the Boulders with Matt and Mike. Mike made freshly caught Brookie taco's that were awesome. First time keeping a fish for me in a long time, actually Matt killed them;) We fished a couple great lakes, but only because the lakes we wanted to fish were shut down due to smoldering ashes in the forest. It was still a great trip with some of the set backs. Matt was glad that I had such great doctor skills, when I pulled a scud hook out of his ear. I didn't feel like giving him his bill right after, since he was a little pale. We ended up fishing what felt like an old friend on the way home. We had caught plenty of smaller fish and were going trophy hunting. We started with hoppers and quickly changed to streamers. We didn't have many strikes, but the fish we did get smashed the fly which is fun to watch. I spooked myself out of a 20"+ brown due to excitement. It was an overall good trip with good friends.

Cali Bate on Us

2009-07-28T20:16:00.001-07:00

Leave this trip to them

2009-07-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Instead of writing on my last trip, I'll let a couple of my fishing partners do the writing for me. It is about time I do a tribute to my two good friends Matt and Mike's blogs anyways.

Googley Eyes Himself(Mike)

and finally.....

Our future Attorney (Matt)

Kolob Petition
You don't have to donate, as soon as you enter your name and press enter your name is added to the petition. We need as many petitions as we can get, so any one of age, please sign.

What i lay awake thinking about at night.

2009-07-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Pretty much same thing minus the four wheelers, chick, and lack of wind.

The Sea Was Angry

2009-07-04T00:04:00.001-07:00

The boat fishing portion of this trip was a real let down. I planned the surf fishing so we could have a little more difficult day and I could get the rooster on the fly from the surf, and the boat fishing I thought would be the day to get our numbers up.We started the day off getting picked up in the marina in San Jose. Our guide was Alex and his helper. Brian and Steve started off trolling with live bait, while I was working with the fly rod casting at teasers. I started feeling sick about 5 minutes into casting. 'The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli!"(Costanza)
We trolled around for awhile why I sat in the back trying to sleep of the sickness. The helper finally hooked into a Jack and gave the rod to Brian to reel in. He ended up losing it, and so did I. I can handle trolling around in the ocean, but when the boat stops I can't take it long. I yacked in the Sea of Cortez.
We fished for a while longer before we finally said lets end it early. The fish were not biting and our guides didn't seem to know what was going on. To be fair they usually fish the pacific and in trying to save us a drive we fished the SOC. It was still a good trip, and now I know what not to do in Cabo. I wish we would have planned two days of surf fishing. Oh well. Next time...

Hooked on Roostas

2009-07-02T19:36:00.001-07:00

This week I had the great opportunity to spend the week in Cabo with my good friend and his family to celebrate his old age. We stayed at a snazzy resort that was on the beach in Cabo San Jose. I had two days of fishing on the books with Baja Anglers, one day surf fishing for roosters and one day on the boat fishing for roosters and others.
This picture above is a picture of my guide with a great rooster. He caught this fish showing me what not to do? Sucks, because if I would have casted and doing the "wrong" thing I would have caught this guy.
It was very different from any type of fishing I have ever done. Your cast needs to be fluid and powerful. I had too much of what the guide called a trout "flicker." There are two methods that we tried; stalking and teasing. Stalking roosters is just what it sounds like, stalking. It is sight fishing, but nothing like trout sight fishing you have about 2 seconds to act and your cast better be perfect, because you only get one chance. I tried this for a bit in the morning, but there wasn't much action up in the shallows. Teasing is what we concentrated on. Grant the guide throws some pop gear out with spin gear and the roosters go into a frenzy and chase these "teasers," when rooster is close enough you cast as far and as close as you can to the teaser. This was very tough with 40mph wind into my cast, but kinda got the hang of it by the end of the day.
We fished hard all day and I was beat up by the end of the day. I had 3 roosters on, and landed one. I should have realistically had about 15-20 on. By the time I finally got the hang of the casting into wind and working with the teasers the day was over. The fight of the fish I caught was awesome. They made the 10 weight rod and the Abel reel feel like my 3 weight. I couldn't believe the fight on these guys. They are amazing fish and I can't wait to get back. I definitely caught a fever in Mexico, a fever for Roosterfish.

No Bananas Mike

2009-06-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Mike heres your link you non believer. Bananas

Tough day at the ol Blue Springs, for the four of us anyways. Matt seemed to do just fine in the couple hours he was there. Started off talking to some members and listening to them tell me there is no fish in there your wasting your time. Whatever, not tough for the master, and especially when I hooked up on a nice 20" in the first 10 minutes out, also bad luck. Matt hooked up right away as well, also a nice 2o". I don't think theres any fish in there smaller than 18". Matt missed one, but ended up getting couple more nice trout. We pumped the first fishes belly, it had a nice olive damsel nymph. Fished them half the day, and nothing.

Greg Anderson made the trip with us and he had lots of action, but landed 3 I think? Steve came later in the day, and only fished a couple hours, but had no luck. Mike, what to say about this yayhoo. You would think being a supposed fishermen he would have heard that bananas are bad luck. Not Mike, he ate half a bushel on the way up, jinxing all of us. Slow day on the lake, but the weather was nice, and the fish caught were big. Next time if you invite monkey boy anywhere make sure he doesn't bring his bananas:)
get everyone you know to sign this

Put your HANCOCK on it. PLEASE

2009-06-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

For any of you not sure about what is going on with Kolob reservoir. There was a petition passed around last year at local gas stations to change Kolob back to state regulations(bait fishing and 4 fish bag limit). The division of wildlife put together a committee to see what the best management plan would be for Kolob. The committee full of non fishers and cabin(trailer) owners was a very bias committee with a definite agenda, and did not use facts to come up with there plan.

The goals of the DWR 10 years ago was to lower amount of fish put into Kolob, it was to expensive stocking the lake so much, due to amount of fish harvested. Keep a healthy population of Colorado Cutthroat in reservoir, so Cutthroat can control size and population of golden shiners. Kolob has been proven to do all of the above goals, but since petition, DWR is turning there back on management plan and scientific data. If you would like more detail, facts, please email me at kolobflyfishing@hotmail.com

I finally have it ready. If you haven't got a chance to sign the petition to protect the fishery and the Colorado cutthroat in Kolob Reservoir here it is. Also, if you know of anyone that would be willing to post it on there site or blog to help with signatures it would be a big help. Let everyone you know to sign it, we need as many signatures as we can. My goal is 20,000.

Here it is

ONLINE PETITION: CLICK ME

Pinders Pond

2009-06-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Headed up north to meet Mike, Dan, and Charlie. We met up at Pinders Pond and started fishing. It was an overcast day and our thoughts of monster tigers and cutthroats took over. However, thinking about catching fish is about all that happened. We fished until about lunch or about as long as we could handle not catching anything.

We then went and fished a local river. It was fairly hight, but still clear. It rained on us pretty hard for a couple hours. We dropped Charlie off to fish some tribal water, where he supposably caught fish, but who really knows:)

Mike, Dan, and I went fished on the other side of the tribal water. Dan had the biggest brown in the river on, but he decided to not land it. I sure wish he could set the hook:) I caught a couple cookie cutter browns, but nothing of size. It was fun to learn the new water, and fish with some cool guys.

We knew the fishing at Pinders could be slow when we went, but wanted to check it off the list and hoped to have better luck. It was a good trip, but the next day that Mike and I didn't fish, Charlie and Dan went out again. Charlie caught a hog, if he is cool with me posting the picture of it will be up soon. Until then feast your eyes on some scenery, fish pictures were lacking.

What Mike and I missed the next day.

June Slab of the Month

2009-06-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Yeeehaw

Link to Moldy Chum

Soft Plastic Baits for Thought

2009-06-04T15:31:00.001-07:00

I had to keep this going, I got this off Moldy Chums site. Makes you think of about the earplug chuckers at Kolob.

Just got this note from Matt McKeever (Senior PR Rep from L.L. Bean department of affairs):

Greetings Moldy Chum!

Maine's Inland Fisheries and Wildlife did a study recently on how the ingestion of soft plastics harm fish...not only are they an environmental menace, fish arevoluntarily eating them...and as you might imagine, are getting harmed as a result.

In addition, by August 1, 2009, L.L.Bean Retail Storeswill no longer be offering traditional soft plastic lures and will be proud to only offer biodegradable alternatives which cost roughly the same, are just as effective and durable and breakdown naturally in waterwithin 60-90 days and within 30 days in a fish's stomach. The new assortment of biodegradable alternativesalso closely mirror the broad assortment previously represented by the traditional soft plastics L.L.Bean was offering. Read more at the American Fisheries Society

Woolly Mammoth

2009-05-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

It was nice to finally catch some fish here. Even though the water was high, it wasn't as high as the other stream we also wanted to fish why we were there. I have been skunked here for awhile, but today everything came together. We started off throwing streamers hitting close to the banks and pulling fish from the undercut banks. We both caught our biggest fish of the day doing this. Matts biggest caught was 19," and mine was 18." After checking some other water out, we returned to where we started. The fish seemed to be in the deep, so we started with some nymph rigs. We started really catching them with a special fly. It was too bad, because Matt had to be home for work, so we had to head home. It took us forever to get home because of the darn tourists in Zion. He was an hour late for work. Ooops. Also, my battery to my truck was dead when we got back to my truck to eat lunch, so we push started it and it worked. Pretty cool. It was a definite high fiver.

More Pics

2009-05-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

more coming..........

2009-05-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

K-Ville

2009-05-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Tried this picasa collage deal don't know what i think?

"This is My Lake" MH.

2009-05-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Trout and Turkeys

2009-05-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today Josh and I headed up to see if we catch some fish trying to spawn. How rude are we trying to catch these guys while trying to do their prehistoric dance of love. It was great. I met a guy by the name of Neal G. He is a member of the southern Utah anglers and was part owner of the late red rocks. Kind of funny, he was wearing a orange fishing shirt and fishing in flip flops. Looked really familiar. We talked and fished most of the time talking about how ridiculous it would be to change the regulations on Kolob. Not a family fishery huh? Ty had my niece up there and a family started fishing the same bank we were on, no joke at least 4 kids running around. We also saw some of those towable cabins owners all over that every ones talking about. Families all over, kind of weird I guess when they say not family friendly there thinking about those late night fires with drunks yelling obscenities all night? I made a good friend with Neal and we've planned to meet up for a little Panguitch fishing. Fishing was good, but company was great. I've enjoyed meeting all sorts of awesome fishermen this season.

On our way home Josh spotted a turkey on some land that I knew about where we could hunt. He jumped out of the truck and popped it. Pretty good shot, and now I have some marabou for some streamers from a Kolob turkey.

they worked!

No Fish in Motoqua

2009-05-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today Matt, Steve, and I tried are luck at Beaver dam wash in Motoqua. We started off the the introductions and found out Steve and Matt know each other through a good friend that is a great fishermen. We started fishing off fishing in Motoqua, this town is straight from "Deliverance". I don't know the history of the town, but get a real weird vibe. We saw lots of minnows and sculpins, but not trout. We tried many different spots on the stream, but didn't have any luck until Matt landed a 2" sucker? There were so many what we think sculpins in the water and the further we went up the bigger they got. I noticed a couple fish/sculpin that were bright yellow with black markings. I haven't found out what they are yet. The further up you got the warmer the water got as well. It was very warm at our final spot we tried. One of the tributary's Slaughter? was running into BD and it was very sketchy water. I think there were some high levels of something that may kill fish. It just didn't look very clean or healthy, no sign of life in it at all. We wondered if they locals maybe had something to do with it? they don't seem to like people snooping around. We dropped Steve off and headed to a little cow pond nearby to catch some cow pie eating bass. We got action as soon as we got on the water. Matt caught his first on a popper and I got one on a minnow pattern. It was great I ended up getting 3 to hand and Matt got 1, but he had lots of misses. I had a take on a huge frog popper, but missed it. It was a long hot day, but a good way to end the day even if it was with some bass:)

Who's with me?

2009-05-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

I am planning on going to the DWR meeting coming up in Beaver next week. They will be voting on the current propositions for the southern region, specifically Kolob regulations. If anyone is interested in carpooling shoot me an email. Lets go and fight like we did for hb187. I think our efforts will be appreciated, signing a petition is easy, but showing up and voicing our opinions should go a long way. Who's with me?

Southern Region
May 12
7 p.m.
Millard High School
200 W. Eagle Ave.
Beaver

SAY NO TO KRAK

2009-05-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

KRAK (Kolob reservoir advisory committee). This is a sorry excuse to push the regulations back to bait fishing for grown men that can't catch fish on anything but bait. They are using families and kids as excuses to get further with DWR. Kolob has been a better fishery since the regulations have changed to artificial lure or fly only. They have stats about the amount of fish being caught since regulations being changed catch rate down 10%, but what they don't put in is the average size of fish being caught 35 mm longer, and 127 grams heavier . This committee is a joke, and using families and children to catch/harvest more fish is sorry excuse. People act as if there is no where they can take there kids, this is the only lake in our area besides Minersville that has special regulations. Is it a coincidence that these two lakes have the biggest fish in the lakes named below? Take your kids your so worried about to Panguitch, Navajo lake, Grandpas pond, Quail lake, Beaver mountain lakes, and all of the fishing ponds strung about St. George. Better yet, take some time with your kids and teach them a way to fish that doesn't involve sitting around drinking beer, and slapping your high school buddy's ass talking about the good old days. Even better, drive your trailer to one of those lakes. Cabin owners. LOL. Its called fishing, not catching. Read it for yourself and talk to the committee and let them know what you think.

Click here for 14 page plan

Kolob ice off

2009-04-29T22:22:00.001-07:00

Met Josh at Kolob

I headed up to fish Kolob Reservoir after work to see if I could get into some ice off fishing. I was able to drive to the reservoir and walked to the dam side of reservoir. I fished around to the point between dam and boat dock. I had no luck trying several different things. I was fishing and Josh walked up, we fished together for awhile and no luck. I asked Josh if he wanted to try Blue Springs and he was up for it. We fished the north inlet and didn't have luck for sometime, but I finally ended up getting a nice slab! It was near 20" and probably around 4lb's. Very close after Josh hooked this nice rainbow. It was a little smaller, but still had some serious girth. I snapped this quick pic and we fished until dark. We both had more bites, but nothing else landed. I had a great time, and got to know Josh a lot better. He is a very knowledgeable and am excited about a possible Green River trip in a couple weeks.

Not quite a guide yet!

2009-04-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mike for sneaking a picture of me. However, not very good form. I was throwing a couple flies, thingamabobber, and lots of weight. Whats with all the orange shirts?

We took off for Marble Canyon after work on Thursday. It was Mike, Ty and myself. We had a good dinner at the hotel, then headed back to the room for some fishing dvd's and Mike tied up a few flies for the morning.

We thought we woke up early enough to find some of the hot spots to fish, but I guess 5:30 wasn't early enough. We drove up to the dam to show Mike how small of a spec we would be in case ol Glen decided to burst.

We ended up fishing in the same spot that a guide had taken me to a month earlier. Mike and I started off with a couple quick fish. Mike landing one of them while I chased the boat that almost floated down the river, due to fast rising water. We kept a better eye after that. We fished hard all day, and tried about everything. Mike and I ended up with 4 or 5, and Ty landed a couple.

It appeared that it was a tough day of fishing everywhere. We got off the river around 3:30 and we had 3 guides right behind us. I didn't see too many big smiles from other fishermen, and heard from another fishermen later at home that he knew a guy that didn't do so hot the same day. I think the sun off and on put the fish down. The midges were out, but the fish seem to be put down.

A little side note, for anyone reading this at my work, I post trips at convenience. If I write I went fishing today, that day was most likely on the weekend. If I called in sick and went fishing, well maybe I felt better, or maybe just decided to use up some sick days fishing. If any problems with that please feel free to talk to me about it.

Summer Trip

2009-04-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

I am planning on hitting all the local waters this year from the Sevier, Boulder mountains, few trips up north to the hit the Provo at my sisters house, and possibly trip to stay at friends and fish the Logan river, just to name a few. However, I want to plan a good summer trip to an "A" list river.

I've really been liking the idea of fishing the South fork of the Snake near Swan Valley Idaho or the Arkansas river in Colorado near Carson City. Both are about 8 hours away and both are prime fishing spots. Arkansas is better for targeting big browns and lots of fish. South Fork is lots of dry fly fishing for lots eager cuts.

I would like to take a guided day on the first day and fish/float on own the second. I figure a 4 day trip would work, a day for driving each way and 2 days of fishing. The average guided trip for two anglers for a full day is $500 on the South Fork. Arkansas is around $350-$400 If we got 3 others beside myself we could really cut the expenses of the trip.

I think around mid-late July would work for the flows on both rivers to be down. Possibly earlier who knows. Let me know if interested.

15 seconds of fame

2009-03-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

In a recent post I told of the interview I had with Adam Eakle of roughin outdoors. I was afraid he would put me in the weekly show, and he did. However, he only put a short clip of me fishing and an even shorter clip of my interview thank goodness. The clip is on the websites movie player(right side of screen), labeled Sevier river. I imagine the link will be up soon.

Roughin Outdoors Clip

Tying Expo Day 2

2009-03-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Round 2 of the expo was great. It was a lot busier today than yesterday, but there were a lot more tyer's on the floor too. I watched Marty, a guy that was part of my fly swap. He is a great guy and discovered in the mail when I got home he had sent me a couple of his dvd's as extra's with his flies. I got some great indicators from Herb. There were so many great things today. I met with Scott from Utah fly patterns. He is a really cool guy and ties great soft hackles. I watched my friend John tie ap emergers. I also watched one of his friends he fishes with at Henry's Fork tie with a nor vise. One of the great highlights was my friend Mike and I got to watch Charlie Craven tie some flies. We watched him tie a lime humpy, and we asked him to tie a juju midge for us and he did. It was really neat to watch, I have been messing around with that pattern for awhile and should have it figured out now. I definately won't miss this show again. I think Mike enjoyed it as well, even though we both wasted our $ on the raffles with nothing to show for it. I've even thought about tying next year, but who knows.

Wasatch Fly Tying Expo

2009-03-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

-Infamous Grumpy

Today I went to my first Wasatch fly tying expo. I wasn't able to get there in time to get a personalized autograph book by Charlie Craven at Western Rivers fly shop. I then went to the expo and was really shocked at how chill everything was. Everybody was really nice and helpful. My friend Mike showed up to my surprise. I watched 6 or 7 different tiers do there things and one rod builder. I met Boyd, the guy that sells the fluorocarbon tying thread, if you haven't got this let me know and I'll get you his # its a must have. I watched Charles Card tie polish nymphs using the Czech weave. I hope I can figure this out someday. I met Cheech and finally bought my Grumpy's that i have been waiting for since he posted some for sale. I watched him tie some up and it was great, can't wait to tie some up for myself. I entered into some raffles, and bs'd with a bunch of the guys from the forum. I'm excited to see John tie tomorrow and watch Craven tie.

Roughin Outdoors Interview. Arggg

2009-03-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was up fishing a stream up 89 near Circleville today, and here's what happened. I was originally meeting Emily's family visiting there Dad, and later planned to fish at otter creek. However, I can never make it all the way to the reservoir without fishing a stream. I have yet to fish otter creek due to this problem. When I pulled up to the stream access there was DWR trucks and others down at the water. I went up to the next spot and fished streamers, figuring the water was murky i could get some hits. No such luck. I went down to get some lunch in town, but the place was closed so downed some water and cheetos and was back on it. The DWR guys had moved into my hole, and i noticed they were filming, so I snuck in for a closer look. They were electro shocking and keeping data for the state. I went back to fishing and noticed Adam Eackle from Roughin Outdoors coming my way with his camera. He asked if he could film me fish, and I shrugged "sure". I was pretty embarassed and said that it was nothing pretty, just throwing streamers, but he didn't care. He filmed off and on and we casually talked about conservation, fishing and the local area for about 30 minutes. I had a fish on while talking, but lost it. He then asked if I would do an interview, I didn't want to be rude, so I agreed. I felt like a huge douchebag, and he had the camera right up in my grill asking me questions that we talked about earlier, but with camera a foot away, I was tongue tied and looked like an idiot. He invited me over to watch the shocking process, it was pretty amazing. Some decent size fish as well.Later that day, Steve Kroff showed up and we did some fishing. We tried streamers, I had one good hit, but tried nymphs for the rest of the day. Each had some luck, I only landed one, Steve almost had one. Weird day, but great weather. I wrote an email to roughin outdoors, hoping Adam gets it and cuts out my interview, hope to save some of my dignity.

You Healthy?

2009-03-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Starting up the canyon!

Lees Ferry SGS & SPC Trip, March 13, 2009
What can I say, but what a trip! We started the trip off with dinner in Kanab on our way to Marble Canyon. We ate at a Nedra's where we watched Steve cry from eating a habanero pepper disguised as a banana pepper. Quite funny.

The next morning we got up early for breakfast and to get our licenses. We met Skip Dixon(well known guide) at the restraunt where we had some small talk about fishing and what we needed to get.

I had really wanted to fish with Skip, but I figured the guys I was with were brand new could use the extra help. It was very tough for me to do, but talking with Skip before I figured he would be a better guide for brand new fly fishers. Steve and I met our guide Jeff English. He is a New York native, but found out he has been guiding on the Ferry for 20 years.

Steve and Jeff with Lees Ferry Rainbow

We started fishing below prop bar on a little island with two different runs. Jeff started me off fishing and I landed one right away(laser midge, zebra midge). I got a couple more quick fish, but then it slowed down. Steve got started and at first he wasn't getting the hang of the casting, but with Jeff working with him, I'd say about an hour into it he looked like a pro with long drag free drifts. He kept getting fish, but couldn't land them or get them on the line. After a bit we did some drifts off the boat where Steve was fishing. I caught about 4 quick fish. We loaded up and went up to the dam, but the spot was taken by another guide that Jeff wanted to fish.

Dam! Duh.

We went to another spot right around 12 mile and fished for a bit, by then Skip and the boys had come up river for lunch. We stopped and talked about how the day was going, filled up, and we were back to it. Skip and the guys headed back down to four miles and fished the remainder of the day. I walked up from where we ate lunch, and got my drift down and landed a couple more, but had lots of hits, and many fish on. It was great, Steve caught some off the boat too.

4 Happy Customers!

We drove up to the dam again, and still people in the main runs. Jeff was pretty bummed, but the river was very busy that day compared to average days. We went down below and fished near we were at lunch. We landed and hooked a lot of fish out of the boat, but Steve caught the biggest measuring to be 17." We started heading down river and fished with the other guys at 4 mile for about 2o minutes, had a couple on glo eggs. We then ended our day of fishing, got some pics with guides and headed home. I think everyone had a great day, I know I did!

Finally Defeated. Fish On!!!

2009-03-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Finally HB187 has been voted down for the second time. No thanks to my representative (Last), but regardless, its smashed. Remember to keep things positive; respect landowners, stay in water, pick up trash and tell the representatives thanks that voted "no." So until next year fish anywhere you'd like and keep a copy of the ruling in your fishing vest, so you can avoid getting buckshot in your ass. Fish On!!!

For more information on the bill and to see voting record check out
http://utahwaterguardians.wordpress.com/

Made a Newsletter

2009-03-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

I subscribe to Front Range Anglers in Boulder Colorados monthly newsletter and this month I made it in there fish tales. I use these guys as much as I can on gear and fishing supplies. These are the guys that put aside John Gierach books, and have him personally sign them for me. They are a great shop and if you need something check these guys out. I just got a bass assortment of flies that they tie in house and they are amazing.

There's no link for the newsletter, so if you decide you want to see it let me know and i'll forward it to you.

It's a secret

2009-03-06T22:54:00.000-08:00

Today I ventured out for a couple hours to a secret little stream somewhere in the lower half of the state. I dragged Emily along to enjoy the nice weather, and ended up fishing with me. I walked up to the water and saw a fish first cast hook up on a little bugger, second fish spotted same thing. I couldn't believe it. They are small little cutthroats, but they are a beautiful little fish, almost look like browns, but are definite cuts. When I saw how eager they were to eat, I put on a dry and they were definitely looking up. I caught some fish using the bow and arrow method of casting, just learned from my friend Mike, and surprising enough it worked and wasn't to difficult. I had a fish travel 4ft down water to take a fly it was awesome. I showed Emily how to stretch and flip the line and to my surprise 2 cast 2 fish. We kept fishing bigger holes and catching fish. What a great day. Emily caught fish almost every cast, and I caught a few. I did have one fish probably about 13"(trophy) on this stream, but didn't land it. I will definitely be going back, but can't tell where it is.

EDIT: HB 1-87 is NOT defeated, yet

2009-03-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

Looks like the bill is being reconsidered. The fight isn’t over. I thought this might happen.

Please continue to speak with your representatives and encourage them to vote no.

All though, there have been some interesting ammendments being proposed which are good.

Keep track of the bill with the following link
http://le.utah.gov/~2009/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0187S02.htm

2009-03-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

HOT OFF THE PRESS - HB 187 is defeated!!

Breaking news -- The House of Representatives voted the Bill down today 34 – 41!!!!

The public did the unthinkable, sunk HB 187! A big thanks to everyone who wrote their Representatives, called, lobbied, informed, spoke out, went with out sleep, work, food and fishing to fight for something we believe in. Today the people spoke, and today the people were heard!

We are proud of each of you, residents and non-residents alike. Everyone played a big roll in this victory. We all came together with a unified voice…. fantastic work everyone! Wow, unbelievable.

Link to final vote -- http://le.utah.gov/~2009/status/hbil...187s2.004h.txt

Thanks for nothing Rep Last, no emails, no opinion and definitely wrong vote. I'll have to straighten him out next time I see him.

It's Complicated (Day 2)

2009-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

Today we tried to figure out where to access boulder creek. We started off by taking burr trail road and ended up at deer creek, we fished it for a few minutes and had no luck. We ended up asking a local cowhand if we could access the creek at his land. Boy, what a treat he was, we heard sayings like," it's complicated, things got real weird, big boy about 6'5" and killed a guy." We ended up fishing a side ditch, i caught one small rainbow on a bugger. Mike had a 3 weight he wanted to deflower, so we headed back to calf creek to see if we could catch some more of the little dinks from the day before. We were sorely surprised when we saw a parking lot with about 6 cars there and a couple fishermen already there. We decided to try below the campground. No luck, spooky fish. We then decided to start heading back towards home and fish a stream on our way home. I am not going to mention where we went here, but will say we used our hb187 rights. We were fishing streamers chasing big trout. One of my first cast I had a monster fish smash my zonker. However, I couldn't keep it on, but it did feel like a monster fish. We then proceeded up the stream and Mike landed a little brownie around 14." I had a couple more fish take, but couldn't get them in. Mike got a few bites as well. It was a great end to a great fishing trip. We ended the trip excited to go back for more.

Great Birthday Present Day 1

2009-02-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

Besides Emily's awesome gift (fishing stuff, concert tee blanket), the only thing better was the fishing at Calf Creek in Escalante, Utah. I originally planned a trip to Lees Ferry, but couldn't get anyone with boat experience that could go. My friend Mike that I met a month earlier was set on fishing as much as I was, so we decided to go fish Calf Creek and surrounding streams. We took off after my college class and got to Escalante around 1. We started fishing in the camp ground in a deep pool and both had fish right off the start on dry flies. We fished the hole for awhile and moved on. Every hole we came to we caught fish. It was a great day, February and an entire day fishing dry flies. We didn't catch a fish over 10," but caught lots of little brownies. Great day. More to come for day 2

First try at the MP

2009-01-27T20:41:00.000-08:00

I was in SLC this weekend, Emily wanted to go to some bridal show. That was fine with me I wanted to have a shot at the middle Provo in the winter. I knew I would be going, so I gave John Schultz a call and let him know I was coming. In the past John and I had mainly fished stillwater together, but he said he wanted to catch up and needed to get out of the house anyway. I met him at his house, said hello to Susie and talked for a little bit. John also gave me some sweet beads used for spawning trout and a cool williams joseph light lanyard. We then went and fished a section of the middle Provo. It was raining, as it had all weekend. It wasn't to hard, but constant. We fished for probably 3 hours and nothing. I was shocked at how many people were fishing in the rain and cold in the middle of the winter. John says thats how it usually is and can't barely stand it generally its so crowded. We decided to go grab some food, so we stopped in Park City and had some good conversation while eating some pretty good Mexican food. Even though no fish, it was good to catch up with John again. Were waiting for the ice off at Minersville and he is going to head down here.

Winter Cherry

2009-01-20T20:29:00.000-08:00

Finally got the skunk off my back. Ty asked me to accompany him to Moab on Sunday to look at a job he was bidding. We took off around 5 and stayed in Green River. We went and looked at the job Monday morning, and then headed back home, but not without stopping for a little fishing. We got of I-15 and headed down 89. We stopped at a spot on the Sevier to fish, but not without asking for permission. We got our permission and started fishing. I started fishing with a streamer, but quickly changed to a nymphing rig. I didn't have any luck fish the deep faster riffles, but as soon as I started fishing the slower water I had some luck. I was using a brown san-juan followed by a bh red zebra midge. I was using a little weight to go along with the tungsten bead head. I started getting fairly consistent hits, but could not land anything. I finally landed a rainbow that was probably 15." It was very lethargic, but still tugged my line. I quickly hooked up another, but couldn't land it. I kept getting hits, but it was very tough hooking up. Ty was having a hard time landing them as well, but was getting consistent hits. It was very exciting to be fishing in short sleeves in January.

Skunked, but with company, January 16, 2009

2009-01-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

Today I met up with a Michael Anderson for our first fishing trip. I posted a forum on Utah on the fly asking if there was any interest in some winter fishing. We planned a little fishing trip to Asay or East fork of the Sevier. We met at 9:30 at Todd's Junction, got the introductions out of the way and headed to Mammoth. We got to the bridge at Mammoth and the stream was completely frozen over, so we headed to the mammoth confluence. We fished in some really fishy water, but didn't get anything. We walked under the highway and fished the Mammoth side, but nothing. We headed over to the same place I fished the week before by the cabins, and the water was a little off colored, but fish able. We put some time in here trying all sorts of different things, and nothing. I finally saw a fish when I spooked one out of a pool, but it was the only fish we saw all day. We called it quits at about 4, we then went to the gas station and had a steak sandwich. It was a great trip even though we didn't catch any fish. Mike and I have a lot in common. We got along really well, and it was cool to find someone that loves to fly fish. He is married and has a kid, but still manages to get out at least once a week. Builds his own rods, very nice ones at that, and ties his own flies. He is a great fly fishermen and great company.

Utah on the Fly

2009-01-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

Really cool website for everything about fly fishing. I posted a forum on southern Utah winter, and if there was anyone that wanted to go fishing. In a day I already met a guy from Cedar that wants to go fishing if not this weekend soon. It's got all sorts of cool things. You have to set up an account, but its quick, just add your email and a few anti spam questions. Check it out.

http://www.utahonthefly.com

Good Sunday Fishing Joke

2009-01-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

There was a preacher who loved to stream fish.
One year there was a problem. Every time he had a chance to go fishing
the weather was bad, or it was on Sunday when he had to work.

All year he was unable to go. Finally it was the last week before the
streams closed.
The weather was bad all week until Sunday, when the weather was perfect.
The preacher could not resist; he called a fellow preacher claiming to
be very sick and asked if he could take over his sermon.

The fly-fishing preacher drove over 200 miles, not wishing to see anyone
he knew. An angel seeing the preacher playing hooky went to God and
said, "You're not going to let him get away with this, are you?" God
agreed he should do something. The first cast the preacher made was
perfect. The fly floated past a log and a huge mouth gulped the fly
down. For
45 minutes the preacher ran up and down the stream fighting the mighty
fish. At the end he held a 50" world record rainbow trout.

Confused, the angel asked God, "What are you doing?"

God replied, "Think about it, who's he going to tell?"

Check These Out

2009-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

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View more Aquatic Life Fish T-Shirts

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"a dead fish will never strike a fly" by kdiddyb
See more bumper stickers At www.Zazzle.com
Browse Aquatic Life Fish Bumper Stickers

First Try at Winter Fishing

2009-01-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

Today I went fishing in Hatch on the East fork of the Sevier. I wanted to go to my usual places, but they weren't accessible. First, I went to the first pull off (south) and the road hadn't been drove through, and with all the snow I didn't want to push my luck. Next, I went to the other pull off (north) and the river was frozen over, except for a couple feet in the middle. Not knowing enough about winter fishing, i didn't know what to do with that situation. I explored around Hatch and ended up fishing near the cabins where I camped last time. In the whole area of cabins I only saw one person staying, so i geared up and walked to the river through someones back yard. Everyone has turkey feeders in there back yards, so there are turkeys all over, and there huge. I started fishing a stretch of very good flats and riffles. In this area the water was murky, but I thought I'd fish it anyways. I fished started off with a type of a san-juan imitation, and a hares ear dropper. I didn't have any luck, so I switched over to a zebra midge and a red brassie. I didn't have any luck. I need to learn more about winter fishing and the techniques i need to use. All and all it was a good day to be in the water the weather was nice in the 50's. I had turkeys, deer, and even a bald eagle all right next to me.

Great News

2009-01-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

My hope for trout being in the Virgin River in Zions main canyon has been decreasing, but today i found an article that gave me a little hope. I was looking at the river trying to see some fish, and had no luck, although, the water was very clear low. Here's a link of the website that gave me hope. Let me know if you wanna go fish it.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/naturescience/upload/Summary%20of%20Fish%20of%20Zion%20National%20Park.pdf

Annual Read

2009-01-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

Every year in about December I get the fishing blues and turn to some of my favorite authors. A book that I read every year is "the river why" by James David Duncan. It is a great book about a teenager named Gus and his journey through life and fishing. If you haven't had a chance to read it I encourage you to get a copy. You can borrow mine, but its getting pretty ragged with the back cover finally falling off.

TIME TO GET TYING

2008-12-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

These are some of the flies I've tied in the last couple days of tying. Most of them are small midge patterns for Lees Ferry. If you want to get together and tie, or if you would like to learn to tie, let me know. The winter time is a great time to stock up your fly boxes. I have a few extra vices and most of the tools, so if you want ill borrow you the goods to get started.

Whale of a time!!!

2008-12-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

Finally, a successful fishing trip. This is one of the first overnight fishing trips with more than 2 persons in a long time. Tuesday night Ty, Kyle Lallis, and I headed to Cliff dwellers Lodge in Marble Canyon. We had a great dinner at the restaurant and talked with a few of the locals about the fishing. We then got our fishing gear ready in the room, and later I taught Ty and Kyle how to play poker.

That morning we got out of fly shop with our licenses and lunches around 7:15. We got on the water I imagine around 8. We drove the boat through the canyon slowly at first unaware of the underwater boulders or logs. We luckily didn't see any and a couple miles in got the idea of how to drive the boat like a pro.

We fished first at duck island. We had no luck, but saw fish rising in unreachable water by wading. In the winter and summer the dam releases more water in a given time due to the high demands, so in the morning the water was rising very quickly until about 11. Therefore, the fishing was best to drifting boats in deep currents. Being beginners with the boat in the river we were unsuccessful with the drifting. We did waste some time trying though.

At 11:30 we got to a little bank near the dam and ate our lunches. By now the water was down and the fish were coming to shallower waters again. My first 5 casts in the water here i had fish on and landed 2 very quickly. The fish were a healthy 15-16". I landed another in the same spot. Ty had a couple fish in the area too. Kyle had one on that got off. We posed for a couple quick pictures in front of the dam. Ty caught a picture of me just in time while landing a 16" in a deep run by our lunch spot. We were catching the fish on San-Juan worms, zebra midges and a special worm pattern i tied before the trip. We then headed down river and fished couple different gravel bars. Ty was very successful at one of the riffles and landed a couple more. I had a few bites, but didn't land any.

We tried drifting down and throwing dries and nymphs, but didn't have any luck. We got back to the boat dock just at dark. We had great time fishing and feel like we learned a lot of how to fish the river for future trips. LANDED Kyle Ballard=5, Ty Bringhurst=4, Kyle(ZBAMFZ)=0.

We hope to be going again near the week of Christmas. Possibly the Saturday before.

Random PIcs from Last Year

2008-11-30T22:14:00.001-08:00

Skunked...... Mammoth, Asay/Bass Pond

2008-11-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

Fishing trip with Kyle Lallis. No fish, didn't even see a fish. Cold line and eyelets froze.

Kyle & Kyle Blue Springs

2008-11-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

Pictures coming

This trip was quite a let down compared to the week before. We woke up early and got in the lake. The lake had a thin layer of ice I broke through with my pontoon boat. I caught a few fish that day on dark zonkers, but not many. I can't remember how Kyle did. I know he had some fish chasing some spinners why he let his waders dry out from his float tube. Oh, he did land one on a spinner now i think about it. I invited Leo Fehrenbacker and he brought a buddy and a car full of kids. I told him the secret spot, and they caught fish pretty consistently. They took home a stringer of about 6 fish probably averaging 3lbs each.

Kolob/Blue Springs

2008-11-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

Pictures Coming

I started fishing in my pontoon today at Kolob Reservoir around 7:30. There were only 3 other fishermen at the reservoir all of them were from Nevada. They were very talkative and helpful. We all talked about our day and shared patterns we were having luck with. I was fishing with olive and brown zonkers. I had landed a 4 there that morning, but missed a couple nice fish.

I decided around 12 to go to blue springs, so after eating my lunch i got on the water around 1. I didn't stop catching fish from the time my fin hit the water. I started fishing with an olive zonker and probably landed 12-14 fish. These weren't just any fish. They were all above 3lbs, and that's being very conservative. Every fish I caught was longer than 19, I had trouble releasing one of the first fish, and had to keep it. I thought it was going to be one of the smaller fish and that 19" was the smallest fish I caught all day. I measured every fish and the biggest was 21 1/2" and the rest were between 19" - 21 1/2".

Matt and showed up around 4 to fish for himself. He caught a few in about an hour and a half's time. I ended up fishing from 7:3o and got home around 7. It was a great day and had such a good time. Even though i was by myself i was laughing and having such a good time catching all those fish i couldn't keep it in. I listened to my ipod most of the day and noticed that i was much more patient and relaxed with my fishing. There aren't many days like this and i definitely wont forgot it.

Hatch with Ty

2008-11-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

more coming

Asay with Matt

2008-11-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

more coming

Green River Trip

2008-11-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

What a trip.....more coming

New Law Helps Anglers...HOORAY!!!

2008-10-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Every fishermen or hiker should be happy to see this. Go to the link and read. Print off a copy and put it in your fishing vest and head out to that private place you've always wanted to fish. Make sure you access it on public land and stay in the stream bed.

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data/ut/cases/supopin/conatser071808.pdf.

Asay Again

2008-09-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today Matt and I took off early for a little fishing trip. I was getting my truck repaired, and he was out early for SEOP's. We decided to go to Asay. We left around 12 and got there around 2. We started fishing the mammoth river down where the big cottonwoods are right before the Asay flows into it. We had all right luck i caught a 10-11" right off the get go, on a bh prince nymph dropped behind a stimulator. We then drove back to where Ty and I fished the week before. We worked are way up the river heading south from the town of Hatch. Matt caught one as soon as we got there on a dry. I stared fishing up stream and had minor success' with dry's and nymphs. Caught a few smaller fish, and missed many on the dry. Matt and i started working are way up river and both catching and missing fish fairly often. On our way up river i caught another 10". It put up a great fight and on the strike nailed a black zebra midge as soon as it touched the water. While walking up the river I spooked a fish out of a pool into the open. It was at least a 17" brown. It was seriously huge. I couldn't believe that size of fish would be in these waters. We both kept getting hits and for the most part missing them, but still having fun. When we were just about done, we saw another huge fish swimming through the river. I couldn't believe the size of these fish. I'm excited to give the Asay another shot and possibly snag a couple of those big browns. The fish were bigger this trip, but not as constant. The weather was off and on. It was raining when we got there and quickly after the sun shone through and burned off the clouds. We also saw a coyote by the river and on the way home saw a gray fox in Zion.

Beaver Round 2

2008-09-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

I decided to go to beaver a week after my last trip. This time alone. I went up around 2 and started fishing higher up the river than the last time. I pulled off the road that had a pull off with a pretty large area free of debris. I'm sure its a popular spot for fishermen, but decided to fish it anyways. I started of with a stimulator and got some hits and landed a few, but i wanted to practice my nymphing skills. I started with a flashback nymph probably a size 16. I got a lot of action off that. It was great fishing and caught a handful of fish. The fish were bigger this go around. I caught one around 10" nothing to amazing, but not fishing rivers and streams a lot i was excited. I fished for around 3 hours and then drove to cedar and went up the back way to kolob to stay with ty and april. I was so gitty due to the fishing i could barely talk without laughing. I found a new place that is so much fun and not to far of a drive.

Asay and a little Mammoth

2008-09-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Another day for the books. Ty and I decided to go again, so we decided to head toward Hatch, UT. We left today around 2 and got there around 4. Longer than I expected, we had to wait at the tunnel. We started fishing off the road that follows Asay Creek, before the Asay Mammoth confluence. We were having great luck, well Ty was. I caught a few, but Ty was unstoppable. He was catching them left and right. We fished dry's and nymphs. We moved around alot, but ended up at the culvert where mammoth flows into the Asay. Ty went through first and caught a very good sized rainbow, around 12-13"? It was a great fish. We caught alot of fish today, and had a great time. I think next time we'll have to fish sevier, who knows. It was a little scary driving home almost hit several deer, but made it home safely. I guess you never know who is going to be your next fishing partner. I never would have expected me and Ty to go fishing 2 in a week. It is good i hope he can keep going.

Beaver River

2008-09-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today I heard from a customer of mine that beaver creek had some great fish and they were biting. So.. it being Friday i thought well i better check it out. I called Ty and he was down, so we took off around 2. We got there and fished right around Doyal Smiths lot by the river and caught some small little browns, and then i hooked onto a monster brown right by the bridge. I landed it and it was around 14-15," what i thought to be pretty big for the size of the stream. We both were catching fish off and on, all of them smaller, but still fun to catch on dries. We were using stimulaters, elk hair caddis', anything that floated well. We then went into the main canyon and fished behind and around the first water station, we didn't do to well, so we drove down river and fished in a different area and both caught fish there. Ty had a few really good hits, one that we think was a lunker, but who knows. After fishing we went to dinner with the Smiths at Marias. It was good food, but great fishing. It was good to go fishing again with Ty. It had been awhile, but we picked up right where we left off. It was great.

Trout with Poppers

2008-07-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Matt and I took a little fishing trip Tuesday morning to Blue Springs. We left around 6:30, which is something we haven't done in at least a couple years. I caught a fish right from the beginning and it was a 20." I didn't get anything for a bit, but the fish were rising pretty steadily. I changed over to dry flies and was fishing the reeds with a 16 parachute adams. I had a few fish rise at it and landed a couple. I was kicking in my pontoon and was letting my fly just drag along and I had a fish completely smash my fly. I decided if the fish weren't very picky of the fly or presentation i would get creative. I tied on a huge stimulator and started pulling it through the water like it was a bass popper and before i could say largemouth bass I had a trout come out of the water with the hardest hit I have ever encountered with a trout. I kept stripping my fly as fast and hard as I could and the fish kept crashing harder and harder at my flies. I had a fish come sideways out of the water and rip my fly off without even a fight. After that i tied on a bass popper and had the same luck. I kept this up for awhile it was the most fun i have ever had with my fly rod. I then decided to check out the mossiest shallow part of the lake and saw the fish there rising as well. I threw a lot of different flies at these rising trout and finally got the right one. It was a damsel nymph and the fish went absolutely crazy. While this was happening Matt was slaying the trout out in the deep with woolly buggers. We quit fishing around noon and both had landed probably 4 or 5, but we both had lots of action and lots of hits. It was a great day at Blue Springs. Oh before i forget the trout were hitting so hard because the damsel flies were mating and would link together and hit into the water, so the trout were trying to hit the damsels as hard as they could. It was great.

Work, Work, Work,

2008-06-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today was quite a crazy fishing trip. It started off great, It was Matt, Kyle(XBAMFX), and myself. I invited Lyf Erickson and his family, and also one of my customers Wade Milne. He was going to bring up his boys and go shoot rock chucks. We got up around 4 and all had some action, but not a lot. Kyle got a couple, I don't remember what Matt did, I got one that was a 19," that was quite a fight, and quite heavy. Lyf and Bryn were spinner fishing around the spring side of the lake. They weren't having any luck though. Wade showed up, so I kicked back to shore to tell him where to go, but he was all alone and hinted that he wanted me to show him where to go, so I did. By this time it was about 7:30, so I had some good time in the water already, so i figured what the hell. I hadn't got to spend anytime with Wade outside his shop, so i figured it would be a good opportunity. I showed him some places and he shot some rock chucks. We got to talk and get to know each other a little better which was great. He seemed like he really enjoyed it as well. Lyf caught up with us and Bryn got to watch Wade shoot a couple rock chucks. She seemed to enjoy it, its a darn shame. We had walked around until about dusk, so i got back in the water in time to get another hit, but missed another one. I had about 3 hits landed one. It has been very slow fishing lately, but when you get one its always a special treat. They are harder fighting and a lot bigger than the last few years, but not the volume, catch 22. On the way home we sure had a good time listening to Kyle tell us about WOW, what a game. Even though I had to do what i hate the most, watching people shoot live animals with guns, it turned out to be an all right trip.

Think we would have known

2008-06-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Kyle Lallis and myself took off for Blue springs around 3:30. We got up there and started fishing on what seemed to be a perfect day. There was a nice breeze on the water and the air was cooler than Hurricane by around 25 degrees. We both started fishing woolly bugger down deep. We both weren't catching anything for sometime, then Kyle got a couple fish. We both fished long and hard, I was changing flies like a fat women trying on pants that make her look skinny. Ha ha. It was very slow, Kyle and I started talking about why it might be slow, and we realized that it was a fool moon night and the moon has been out and bright for many nights now. We both started fishing are way back and both caught a fish. I got a few more bites and ended up landing one fish, and Kyle got 3. It was Kyle's first time in a float tube with a fly rod, but not his first by any means with a fly rod. (I'm sure you got a kick out of that Steve.) It was also Kyle's first time at Blue Springs. I think he enjoyed the scenery it looks a lot better than most bass ponds. I've said it once, I've said it a 100 times, "trout do not live in ugly places". We talked about going up to Blue Springs again this weekend, and also about a trip to corn creek, and the Santa Clara river.