Firsts

After making sure that the Wife and kids didn't want to go, I invited a friend of mine to head out on Memorial Day to do some fishing. When Ross said he couldn't, I asked if his little brother Luc would be interested. Luc hasn't done much fly fishing so he was pretty excited to get out for a full day on the water. 

We found the parking area unusually busy, but not crowded by any stretch so we put on our waders, grabbed our stuff, and put some distance between us and everyone else. While making our way downstream I even managed to not stop where I usually get distracted, but this was the first trip to this stream for the year and I was excited to get fishing. 

Sorry for the grainy pic, but I've never seen a crane up a tree before

Started fishing at the same place as I did years ago when I first made the hike down and we found some willing fish right off the bat, even if the first few were long-line released. Luc then made the first catch of the day and informed me that this was his first fish on a fly rod, and his first brown trout. I was pretty excited for him, and glad that he quickly added other brownies to his resumé.

Glad to be a part of this first!

Luc was using a Chubby Chernobyl with a Prince Nymph dropper and while the fish didn't seem too interested in the dry, I still had hope. I managed to catch a couple on my dropper, a Mod. Hare's Ear that I fished behind an Indicator Chernobyl. The second hole even let me show Luc what a tiger trout looks like.

Cute lil guy

The fishing seemed to get quite a bit slower when the sun came out. Although the pair of pelicans that insisted on staying just ahead of us probably didn't help much.

They know where the fish are

With the slow down in the fishing action, we started looking for answers by way of fly changes and while I tried a Slumpbuster, Luc decided to put on a Zebra Midge that he bought at Walmart as a second dropper. It was money well spent as he soon hooked the biggest fish he's ever caught.

A beauty

Other than Luc's big fish we didn't find much more success for a while so we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the sunshine. After that we decided to skip ahead to a good hole that's been productive for me in the past. Too bad the fish didn't hear about that as we continued to struggle finding any willing fish. That is until I reached the very top of the hole and put on my Simple Sow Bug (I'll tie some of these up soon so you can see 'em) as a second dropper and found a few willing fish, including a couple of small rainbows and a cutthroat. That rounded out all the trout species that live in this stream! Moving up stream the fishing was still spotty, but we found a few more willing fish as long as our nymphs were fished deep enough. 

Some great fish were caught today

At the final spot before making the hike back to the truck both Luc and I hooked into a nice fish...briefly. Even though it was tempting to continue fishing, it seemed like a good finish to a great day. The hike out always seems at least twice as long as the hike in, but we made it in good time. It only gets better from here on out! Hope you can get out, be safe, and enjoy nature.

- Kidder

Can't wait to get back there

Book Review: Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing

Sex, Death and Fly-Fishing

by John Gierach

I know, I know. Another Gierach book? I'm trying to stretch out to different authors but I can't help coming back to John's books and his familiar circle of friends. 

This collection of short stories takes us around John's home state of Colorado, Wyoming, British Colombia and even Utah's Green River. Though I have to admit my favorite chapters deal with the lesser-loved fishes like gar and carp. This is another great read, one that it's very easy to get through too quickly. 

"There was a time when I thought I could just be a fisherman and live a quiet little life. Now I see that, like it or not, I have to be a soldier in the trout wars." pg. 224

Homegrown

The last week of school is great and terrible all at the same time. It's great because after this week I'll have a few weeks to relax, catch up on chores and hopefully do some fishing before I start my Summer Band program. It's terrible because the kids are all amped up on their impending freedom and the graduation ceremony is looming. Because of the added stress (or whatever I need to tell myself to sneak away) I try to get a little after-work-fishing in the last week of classes as some sort of observance. .....Or, maybe I just like fishing.

Either way, I made a get away one afternoon this week for a quick fishing trip. Ross and his lil brother Luc joined me. With these two it's always a pretty laid back affair, so we fished together for the hour or so that was available, taking turns in the likely looking spots. Last time we were out Ross was the only one to land a fish, and while it was good we got one, it wasn't much of one. That's why I didn't mind letting Luc have first shot at the honey hole. When he didn't find any success with his Chernobyl Ant and Zebra Midge dropper, Ross gave it a shot with his Puterbaugh Caddis and a San Juan Worm/Flashback Hare's Ear double dropper. When Ross was getting in his casts he had a small, but distinct, take on one of his droppers. When the hole was turned over to me I figured that the fish might take again if Ross's flies were presented a little differently and borrowed his rod. 

Great to see a fish like this, especially when the average size is closer to 8"

This is only the beginning of what should be a great Summer. Hope you can get out, be safe, and enjoy nature.

- Kidder 

Gone to Hail

Finally able to get out and do some fishing this past weekend and I knew right where I wanted to be. Up in the hills chasing some cutts and, hopefully, some brookies. Storms were a possibility so I planned accordingly and headed out. It was a little disappointing to find another car at the trailhead but I didn't want to go anywhere else and just accepted that I wouldn't be alone. An uneventful hike through the mud was soon over and I found a few different people fishing the small lake. No big deal, I tried to be friendly and find out if the guy closest to me had figured out the fishing. He was still working on it but told me that yesterday the fishing was great, and that Loah (Utah Water Log) had been there and had great success. 

Nice lookin' Cutt

The saying, "You should've been here yesterday" seems like a cliché but that doesn't mean it's not true. We found a few fish that came to a variety of flies before my temporary fishing partner Jim had to leave. 

Check out that jaw

After he was gone I tried some different areas and tactics but found the fish right back where we had been fishing together. The cutts are getting ready to spawn and while they weren't feeding on anything in particular, eggs, pink & olive scuds, and some olive chironomids all produced for stretches. I hooked into a couple of quality fish, including a nice brookie that managed to break me off in the logs. Too bad, the brookies in this lake seem to glow.

Best fish of the day for me

About the time that I started thinking about making my way back to the truck and heading home the skies opened and it hailed pretty hard. Typical spring weather in the mountains, from shirt-sleeve weather to freezing in a hail storm, you've got to be ready for anything! Hope you can get out, be safe, and enjoy nature.

- Kidder

I'll be back soon

Right Foot

Yesterday, after finishing up a week that seemed to last for at least twice as long as it should have, I snuck away for a little fishing. I didn't have long, so I just hit a local creek that hasn't been very kind to me lately. Trying out a new version of the Parachute Zebra was at the top of the list for the day, trying to decide if the extra effort of adding a peacock herl thorax was worth it. 

#22 are a little bit of a pain

Made the short drive from work to the stream and walked down to one of my favorite holes. Intent on the work at hand I started out with a parachute zebra but had no takers. BTW they do seem to float better with a little peacock in the mix, hopefully this doesn't change the way the fish feel about them. I switched it out for a Chernobyl Ant with a Bead-Head Pheasant Tail dropper and managed to miss a few fish before starting to make my way back up to the car. A likely looking riffle produced the only fish of the day.

Small, but I was happy to see him

A rising fish in the slick above the road distracted me enough to keep me from jumping in my car and heading home right then. Switched back over to the Parachute Zebra and managed to miss him three times before putting him down indefinitely (or at least till I was back to the car and gone). Today might bring better results, but it sure felt good to start May off on the right foot. Hope you can get out, be safe, and enjoy nature.

- Kidder