After a long drought of not fishing I have finally got some fishing in.
On Saturday July 26th, 2008 I fished the Weber River near Wanship, Utah. I went with Jack at 5am to be on the river relatively early. We have been wanting to fish a certain stretch for a while and now with the Utah law changes it was going to be possible again. The fishing was overall excellent for a hot July day. Dog days of summer are slow to actually affect the river this year with higher than normal flows for July. The river was flowing a good 25% higher than I was expecting to see and the so the water was a little off color and quite cold. Great for the fish!!!
We got to an area we affectionately call "School Hole" and basically put up camp. This is huge hole that is a good 8-10 feet deep with a big run on top of the hole making this a great place for fish to hold and casually eat as food floats by. A lazy trout favorite for sure. This also has some big boulders in the bottom of it making it easy to snag up, but the big challenge is the back eddies. This give the fish easy holding water and makes detecting strikes pretty hard sometimes.
We started off fishing Prince nymphs (12-14) and Pheasant tails (14-16) and "Whitefish Jack" starting hooking up immediately. Of course Jack can catch Whitefish in a puddle on the interstate so this is no big surprise. I took a little longer to finally hook up, and after changing my dropper to a green larva lace caddis I finally caught a whitefish. We did some river screening and found green lace worms and lots of sow bugs. Classic Weber river fodder.
I broke off on a big snag and re-rigged with a grey sow bug and caddis dropper and that started catching me fish. By lunch I had 11 in the net with another 10 hookups that didn't play out. Jack had something like 18 (17 Whitefish - including one that when netted appeared to be lassoed because the leader was wrapped around the fish but no hooks to be pulled).
After lunch we fished until about 6pm. We decided to wet wade the afternoon and the river was pretty cold but felt really good at the same time. When time came to start working our way back to the cars I had 17 in the net with at least 15 hookups that I just couldn't keep on. I caught 1 Rainbow and 3 Browns and the rest were Whities. Jack had 32 by his count but sometimes I think Jack counts them before they are in the net....... (love you Jack)
The best patterns were Provo Sows, Jack's Red Headed Step Child, Green lace worm caddis, and prince nymphs. We didn't see much bug activity but a few PMDs were around and of course we had little midges around too. Not alot of dry fly activity but there were tons of hoppers along the trail so those days are not far away.
*******************
Friday August 1st I met Phat Matt and Jack again at Wanship for some afternoon wet wading. We fished our way up to School Hole again and had a great time fishing with Phat Matt again.
By the time we headed off the river for dinner at the Spring Chicken Inn, I had 7 in the net. One Rainbow, 3 Browns and 3 Whities. I had one big male brown with a HUGE head and jaw that was pushing 20 inches. We had a photo lined up but fish dropped and disappeared before we could get the photo. Matt caught 3 (2 whities / 1 brown) but the brown he caught took him for quite a ride down river and Matt was all smiles about it. Jack caught 9 - ALL WHITIES - and we that is why he is known as the Whitefish Whisperer.
Those 2 big browns made this a great couple of hours. Again it was Beaded sows, Provo Sows and Prince Nymphs.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Utah Fishing Laws change - July 18th 2008
On Friday July 18th 2008 the Utah State Supreme Court issued an opinion on a case that had been traveling the courts for some time. This was a case concerning trespassing laws and how landowners enforce them over the rights of the public to use a waterway.
It was long my opinion that Utah's laws were not up to date with how most Western states had instituted the way that sportsman or recreationalists use the waterways. With Montana leading the charge in recognition of how much the fisherman and outdoorsmen use the water, Utah has been a little slow to take up the challenge of who has the rights of the water.
For some background on this you can look up the "Equal Footing Doctrine" which is what lots of river rafting groups use to make their claims for access to run certain waters. This basically says that the states have a requirement to hold the waterways in the public trust. It also says that the states cannot give away this right by way of land deed or other method. In the 1970's the state of Utah sued the US Gov't using this doctrine and the newly passed Clean Waters Act to force the government to allow certain use of the Great Salt Lake. They won and in the decision the courts expanded the law to include any tributary of the navigable waters that fall under the "Equal Footing Doctrine".
In Utah up to this new court decision, many landowners would refuse access to the waterways even to rafters and kayak groups and would often, illegally, place fences across the rivers. The battle between outdoors & sportsmans groups and landowners has been going on ever since.
The court decision in essence reads that in Utah if you are in the river you are not trespassing. This is marvelous news for fisherman. This means we can enter the rivers on public access or areas and then stay in the water and fish the water that was previously "posted". While this isn't going to be the favorite ruling for landowners this is a new era for sportsmen and finally drags Utah's laws into the 21st century.
I look forward to fishing a bunch of water that I haven't fished for years.
It was long my opinion that Utah's laws were not up to date with how most Western states had instituted the way that sportsman or recreationalists use the waterways. With Montana leading the charge in recognition of how much the fisherman and outdoorsmen use the water, Utah has been a little slow to take up the challenge of who has the rights of the water.
For some background on this you can look up the "Equal Footing Doctrine" which is what lots of river rafting groups use to make their claims for access to run certain waters. This basically says that the states have a requirement to hold the waterways in the public trust. It also says that the states cannot give away this right by way of land deed or other method. In the 1970's the state of Utah sued the US Gov't using this doctrine and the newly passed Clean Waters Act to force the government to allow certain use of the Great Salt Lake. They won and in the decision the courts expanded the law to include any tributary of the navigable waters that fall under the "Equal Footing Doctrine".
In Utah up to this new court decision, many landowners would refuse access to the waterways even to rafters and kayak groups and would often, illegally, place fences across the rivers. The battle between outdoors & sportsmans groups and landowners has been going on ever since.
The court decision in essence reads that in Utah if you are in the river you are not trespassing. This is marvelous news for fisherman. This means we can enter the rivers on public access or areas and then stay in the water and fish the water that was previously "posted". While this isn't going to be the favorite ruling for landowners this is a new era for sportsmen and finally drags Utah's laws into the 21st century.
I look forward to fishing a bunch of water that I haven't fished for years.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
San Juan River Review
We have been home from the San Juan for a month now so I figure I had better post the results. The water this year is WAY up due to record levels of snow in the Cortez mountains in Colorado the BLM decided to raise the river from 600 cfs to 3000 cfs to clear some water before the run off and they were planning to raise the river to 5000 cfs once the run off begins. With 3000 cfs coming from the dam we knew that fishing below Texas hole would be really difficult without a boat so we planned to attack the upper stretch known as the Braids and Kittie Hole.
I am posting the pictures very late in this process. I also have some video I need to clean up and post as well. Also, somehow I never got a photo of Leland with a fish. I know he caught some. I'll have to see what I can dig up and get it posted too.
This final picture is after a full day fishing and then a HUGE mexican dinner, it was all I could do to keep the eyes open. Off to dreams of bigger and bigger fish.
We began our drive around 2pm from Salt Lake City and we crammed ourselves and gear into Leland's Suburban. This ended up being a great vehicle for 4 guys and their gear and put me in the market for a 'Burb' myself. The trip down was uneventful and after some gas stops and pit stops we made it Farmington, NM around 10:30pm. Of course we hadn't bothered to eat dinner so we found a still open Del Taco and ate there. We drove to the Walmart to buy our licenses and other misc. junk and then hit the road for the 20 miles to Abe's Motel and Fly shop.
Abe's has been around longer than I have been alive so some of the rooms aren't that new or that nice but they are right on the river and very convenient. We have stayed there twice now and previously I had camped in the Navajo State park so this is a real plus to have a shower and bed every night. When we found our room we were really surprised to find a newer room that would comfortably sleep 4 guys if one took the floor. The notes on the room are filed away for future reference. The one MAJOR downer to Abe's is that they only have 1 station on the TV!!! It comes in on 3 channels but it is the same station. COME ON ABE - HOW ABOUT A LITTLE SATELLITE OR SOMETHING???
Friday morning we hit the river and headed up from Texas hole. Hard to picture the volume of water until you see it, and it was impressive. We did some scouting and found some fishable water and got into a few fish. The secret was to find a decent channel of water with a good feeding lane or riffle above it and then you would find fish below there. Numbers of fish per day were down a bit from where you would like them but the quality is sure there. Actually the issue isn't number of fish, rather the fact that there is so much water means that the fish are really spread out. You could see fish in many places as we waded to new sections. The fish are just all looking for places to not have to swim hard and get lots of food and with the high water in the braids there are lots of places for fish to hold.
I am posting the pictures very late in this process. I also have some video I need to clean up and post as well. Also, somehow I never got a photo of Leland with a fish. I know he caught some. I'll have to see what I can dig up and get it posted too.This final picture is after a full day fishing and then a HUGE mexican dinner, it was all I could do to keep the eyes open. Off to dreams of bigger and bigger fish.
Monday, February 18, 2008
San Juan River - Feb 2008
We are in preparation of a trip to take place this week to the San Juan River in New Mexico. We are leaving Thursday Feb 21st and driving the 8 hours from Salt Lake City to Navajo Dam State Park in New Mexico. We will have 2 full days fishing Friday and Saturday and 1/2 day on Sunday before driving back home.
The San Juan is a great fishery and this winter has layered southern Colorado in snow and it should be a good water year for the dry southwest. All the reports have been positive on the river flows and conditions. Snow pack is at 170% and flows are already up to prepare for the big run-off season.
It has 2 years since we last journeyed to this great river and we have been looking forward to this trip for a months now. We are anxious to have some warmer weather since the Utah winter has been cold and heavy this year. We should easily beat the reservoir turn-over by a month or so and the fishing pressure should be less than the peak spring and summer times.
The San Juan is just one of those locations that you have to fish at some point if you are a fly fisherman. This is a must fish river that can completely baffle you one day (or hour) and then fish amazingly the next. The river is obliviously famous for the San Juan Worm and there are plenty of them but the main diet of the trout are midges.
The water is very cold due to the design of the dam and the powerplant which makes the first few miles great water for Rainbows. I remember reading someplace that the average fish is 16" but they look much bigger than that because they are all so healthy. Of course the reason to go is the chance at some really big trophies that lurk around. These are VERY educated fish and the river can be extremely technical at times.
Here are some of the best links I have found about the river.
http://www.ifly4trout.com/
http://www.sanjuanriver.com/
The San Juan is a great fishery and this winter has layered southern Colorado in snow and it should be a good water year for the dry southwest. All the reports have been positive on the river flows and conditions. Snow pack is at 170% and flows are already up to prepare for the big run-off season.
It has 2 years since we last journeyed to this great river and we have been looking forward to this trip for a months now. We are anxious to have some warmer weather since the Utah winter has been cold and heavy this year. We should easily beat the reservoir turn-over by a month or so and the fishing pressure should be less than the peak spring and summer times.
The San Juan is just one of those locations that you have to fish at some point if you are a fly fisherman. This is a must fish river that can completely baffle you one day (or hour) and then fish amazingly the next. The river is obliviously famous for the San Juan Worm and there are plenty of them but the main diet of the trout are midges.
The water is very cold due to the design of the dam and the powerplant which makes the first few miles great water for Rainbows. I remember reading someplace that the average fish is 16" but they look much bigger than that because they are all so healthy. Of course the reason to go is the chance at some really big trophies that lurk around. These are VERY educated fish and the river can be extremely technical at times.
Here are some of the best links I have found about the river.
http://www.ifly4trout.com/
http://www.sanjuanriver.com/
A New Beginning In A New Direction
For some time now I have had every intention of starting a blog focused mainly on fishing and some of the travels I and my friends have made in search of cool places and big trout. My intention is to chronicle the trips (hopefully with pictures) and share them.
In Feb 2007 six of us traveled to Argentina for 2 weeks of adventure (how we talked our wives into it is a whole other blog) and ever since that trip I have longed to create this space.
Hopefully this blog will evolve and become a great resource for anyone who would like to share their experiences or use our notes to plan their own trips.
Tight lines~
Scott
In Feb 2007 six of us traveled to Argentina for 2 weeks of adventure (how we talked our wives into it is a whole other blog) and ever since that trip I have longed to create this space.
Hopefully this blog will evolve and become a great resource for anyone who would like to share their experiences or use our notes to plan their own trips.
Tight lines~
Scott
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
