Narrow Escape from The Skunk

In our District we get a day off of work in compensation for our time spent at Parent/Teacher Conferences and I knew right where I'd be spending my extra day off. So I was up in time to watch the sun rise while I waited for Ross to show up at my house. As soon as he pulled up we were on the road heading South to a stream I hit a couple of weeks ago (read about it here). Driving in Southern Utah is always great because of the awesome scenery, and this trip was no exception. As a bonus we even saw several deer, a herd of elk, a golden eagle and a bald eagle. 

Couldn't ask for a prettier day

Once we arrived at our first stop we realized that the water was running high and extremely off colored. After a few fruitless minutes of casting we set off to the same stretch that I had success on during my previous trip. The water here was still pretty dirty, but it was a least fishable. We were really struggling to find fish, however, and just as it was starting to smell of skunk Ross came through with a small bow on a red Zebra Midge.

This was supposed to be just a shot to make sure the camera was working, Ross made for the quick release however...

After that we regained hope that the day could be salvaged, though we didn't find any more success immediately. There was a serious midge hatch coming off, but no rising fish. I turned over some rocks and found what I thought was the answer, lots of very active mayfly nymphs. Too bad the fish weren't told, as they continued to ignore our offering. Finally, I threw on a rubber legged stonefly nymph (not too much different from this one) for weight and followed that up with a black Zebra Midge. Well, wouldn't you know it, the fish seemed to like the rubber legs even though it didn't look like the hatching midges or the mayfly nymphs. Go figure. Quickly found a few fish to end the day and was really happy to have them. 

Best fish of the day. Can't complain about a healthy little brown

Too bad I had some things that I was obligated to get back in time for, I think the afternoon could've been pretty awesome if those Beatis starting hatching. Oh well, just an excuse to get back down there I guess. Hope you can get out, be safe, and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

Catching fish isn't really the motivation, but it's definitely part of it.