 |
|
Emmett's
Sneakin' out 2005
Emmett's Sneakin' out 2nd Half 2005
Traditions in fly fishing appear to be
ever-present, at least in my fishing career. Throughout my career, pretty much
every season I had a certain routine which I followed, as far as fishing trips
went. Interspersed in my daily, and short fishing excursions I would spend a
week in the Yellowstone area early June to try and catch the Stone Fly hatch on
the Henry's Fork, plus some early season action on the Firehole before it got
too hot in the warmer weather of summer. Another must for my fishing
satisfaction was a streamer trip to the Madison around Bakers Hole. This
particular tradition lasted from about 1974 to 1986, ending when my guiding on
the Green became to popular leaving precious little time for the excellent
waters to the north. This streamer escapade developed as an escape for me to
fish by myself in the late season, which progressed to my best fishing buddy
(Ellis Adams) and I, then more and more people materialized after seeing our
pictures of the beautiful water and impeccable streamer conditions. It became so
popular we had friends and subsequently people who had heard about the trip coming
from all states in the west.
One minor and personal tradition I developed over my guiding years on the Green
River occurred just after my arrival every year. We had opened Western Rivers
Flyfisher in Salt Lake, and while Steve Schmidt and Dave Lattimore ran the fly
shop, I was to operate the Guide Service on the Green. During the dead of winter
I would migrate back to Salt Lake to help with the Christmas rush and then to
kick the next season guiding into gear. I would try to get back to the river
fairly early, some years as early as late January. Now as to my tradition, upon
my arrival I would always endeavor to get to the river and hit the midges,
however my first trip was always into Browns Park, by myself, and many times I
got into some great midges, and some fairly good sized brown trout working to
them. As a point of fact, I also developed a leaving the Green tradition by
making my last fishing day a solitary trip to Browns Park. It too left some
glorious memories of dry fly or streamer fishing to sustain me through the
winter in Salt lake.
Today, after several cool days the weather has warmed a bit. Still it's spending the complete day under freezing, however the wind is quiet and as I arrived at the number 2 ramp the fish are very sporadic, but I am anticipating a hatch because reports have been quite good. Before long the fish began coming up and I already had a two fly rig on, one a size 20 white winged emerger pattern and the second a black Brooks Sprout size 26. This tiny fly I planned on picking all my fish on, but to my surprise, today the fish all took the larger fly. This was exciting because I could finally witness the fly and follow it and the fish to the take. I fished the flat below the ramp then moved up above the first ramp and fished the small run just above it that has been full of fish lately. Last year in slightly less flows this run didn't hold fish, but with the higher water this year it has been quite good. After several hours of working these two runs, I moved down into the lower area of Little Hole and tried several of the pools there and they also produced a couple of small rainbows and several very nice brown trout. Today was a fun day except for me losing my midge fly box completely full of my favorites.
I was invited to float with four of my
best friends today and jumped at the invite. We worked out a "B"
shuttle so we could throw streamers on the middle section, which we've all
been looking forward to. The "A" section has been working extremely
well for streamers recently but there had been no reports down below. We pulled
down to the ramp and Rod walked over to a rock and picked up something and
"said look what I've found" and there was my lost fly box. Of course
he didn't believe it was mine. I guess he knows me very well.
Just after launching, and as we started casting our streamers, we all marveled
at all the large fish rolling to a very good midge hatch. It was beautiful and
damn, we should have been out there wading among them, because it was perfect
conditions and it was classic rises, but because of being dumb or lazy we were
determined to work the streamers, and we kept getting enough hits to keep us
from switching over to the dries. As it worked out we never did dry fly fish.
The streamers worked great all day and I can't tell how many fish we caught,
but it was a good number. Nothing was bigger then 19" but we pulled in some
very pretty fish, mostly Browns with an occasional Rainbow.
There was no clear-cut best area, because we hooked fish all the way. In some of
the larger slow moving runs with moss beds in them, we pulled many fish off the
edges of the moss.
Casting into the rocky edges with very slow strips, then hesitating, letting it
drift and drop in the current brought many strikes. That is how the streamer
fishing has been through the winter. Very slow retrieves. Sometimes complete
dead drifts have been the best.
We all used bunny streamers about 5 inches long. Olive, chartreuse, gray, and
black were the most used colors. I didn't even use my favorite white and pink
Playboy bunny today, nor did any of us try the river favorite Goldilox.
By the way, my fishing partners today were Danny, & Rod Mangum, Gail and
Terry Collier all of Old Moe Guide Service.
Since the weather has been
keeping me from doing the type of fishing I prefer this time of year, and my
stories are lagging a bit, I thought a small anecdote might be in order here.
This tale goes back a ways in my guiding career, if memory serves correct in the
early 90's.
the setting for this story is right at the upper end of the Big Pine area on
river right where there is a small neck of the river and a nice small stretch of
quicker water emptying into Big Pine. There is a shelf of larger rocks mostly
underwater, and as the flow goes over these rocks it runs into an excellent drop
off that riffles for about 30 feet before coming to this downed tree. This
obstruction backs a push of water where fish can hold very easily so it
naturally would stack up with fish. It was also a large enough obstruction to
create a back eddy behind it, thus making an excellent feeding run moving back
up stream about 20 feet before hitting the tree and running out to the tip where
it hits the current and slides down along the seam, then back to the bank and
around again. The insects that are in this swirl stay there for a length of time
giving the fish here plenty of opportunities to partake of them.
Fishing was not going to well. The fish were just not coming up regularly to dry
flies and before I switched to nymph rigs to check out the bottom fishing I
wanted to find a spot where I might find some working fish. Luckily I was within
a short float to this known spot which most of the time had a perfect condition
for holding dead insects, and building up of terrestrials unfortunately fallen
into the water. It was also below a small neck in the river which created a nice
riffle, thus a great spot for hatching bwo Mayflies. I was approaching the Big
Pine area, so as a desperate measure I steered the boat for this little
lifesaving run with hopes of redemption.
As I approached the run it was easy to see that things were going on, fish were
moving fairly well, and I could observe a number of fish noses in various areas
of the hole.
At this particular time of the season the fish had been a bit skittish, so our
approach had to be quiet and smooth. I couldn't let the boat make any noise or
discernable wake which might upset the feeding of the fish, nor could I get
right in on top of them like I usually like to do. With this in mind I anchored
the boat in the current, still in the faster water but close enough to the back
eddy created by the downed tree so that our presentations would not have a cross
current to contend with.
I told both of them how we were going to work our presentations before rigging
their lines, and all the way through putting the sons outfit together I
suggested how we would make the casts, drifts, mends, and not to overextend the
drift as to upset other fish in line that would be subsequent targets. If
everything worked as planned we would be sitting pretty here and maybe take up
to ten fish from this run alone. So after getting the boys flies and leaders
tied on and setting him up for the first fish, I was very impressed by his first
cast and drift, plus the stealth he used on the entire presentation. With a
happy soul I began tying the fathers rig, and while I did the boy hit his first
fish, so I put a pause on the building the fathers to net the fish. It was a
very nice rainbow, and after it's release I went back to finishing the 2nd rod.
After completion I set him up to work from the back of the boat just off
the tip of the downed log, where there was a build up of drifting material
piling up against the log, creating a veritable lunch counter for the trout.
He too showed some patience with his presentation as I was working with him on
where and how to present the fly, better to work the entire area with care of
not spooking the fish. I complemented both of them on how they were working and
told them we would surely take some fish from here with this type of
cooperation.
You know this is leading up to something here by the way I'm relating this
story, and you would be correct.
I began working the front with the lad and being a guide still kept a corner of
my eye focused on the back of the boat. I slightly envisioned the father
lowering his posture in the back (I thought to lower his silhouette), but
instead, he
placed a coke can on the floor of my glass boat and stomped it to smash the can
for discarding it. Have you ever been walking along a shallow weedy lake that
contains a lot of carp in their time of spawning? If you have you see a rush of
fish that spreads out and causes the entire surface area to froth creating small
waves that extend out across the lake. Well, that is what we witnessed this day
with a swarm of trout. I could do nothing but chuckle, sit down at the rowers
seat, pull anchor, and head for another pocket. As I did this the father turned
to me and asked why we were leaving with an astonished look on his face. Like
"what the hell are you doing". His son turned to him with the same way his
father looked at me and said well, "Duh, Dad".
I had the opportunity to fish with an old friend (Bob Anderson) from many years ago. He had just bought another new boat, so for it's maiden voyage we planned an old time run down the river together. The blue wing olive mayflies are starting to show now and there is still a very good midge hatch in the afternoon, therefore the dry fly fishing should be very good. We spent a little bit of the morning just floating and getting accustomed to the new low-side Clacka and it's counterbalanced new oars. And as we were testing all this I broke out a 6 weight streamer rod and flipped a few of my favorites to check out if they would be responsive to them, but alas, they were not. I had one follow and it was very lethargic and pulled off the chase never getting closer then 5 feet from the fly. So I then enjoyed the ride and suggested we keep cruising to get into the lower 4 miles of the canyon stretch below the dam because that is where we would be most likely to find some bwo action. I also had a chance to take over the oars from Bob and test the new design on the boats. It seemed to handle very well and I'll be looking forward to getting into another new boat soon after that.
We cruised through the Secret Riffle and passed
several Guide boats there. They looked like they were going to hang out and wait
for the hatch. Frequently I always found this to be to my advantage, because the
Secret Riffle was always so extensive, and great water that it would hold most
of the boats from floating farther down during any chance of hatching, thus
making the areas below much more accessible for me and the few others that were
willing to slide on past letting such splendid water alone. Still nothing
showing as we floated through Frog Water directly below Secret, but it was
getting close to time for things to happen, so we reckoned on a spot of lunch
and a little relaxo waiting in the grass along the great rock bed of upper Shark
Alley. This is a special spot in the canyon due to the narrowed canyon walls
at their highest and steepest. The backdrop behind us along the rim is very much
like a bunch of Castle Spires piercing the clouds more then 1000 feet above.
Truly a beautiful section which is definitely one of the most photographed parts
of the chasm.
Lunch as usual with me is not much to speak of, a couple of Turkey Sandwiches
and a few chips was enough for this shortened run down the Green. We spent quite
a bit of time eating it though because of all the old trips and experiences on
the river we had to discuss. Both Bob and I have fished the river since the Dam
was being built back in the early 60's. We have witnessed quite a transition
throughout the ages. We both remember much more sand along the banks, actually
it was mostly all sand banks back then. Now with the rock structure taking over
it has made the holding water as good as I have seen anywhere.
As our musing drew to an end we began to see fish rising in the pool below us.
This is typical because of the large back-water area there, which tends to pile
dead insects and create an amazing smorgasbord board for the fish. But then
above on the rock bed fish started rising regularly which is indicative of the
hatch beginning. Wherever there are shallow riffle water along the river, it
seems these are the breeding grounds for the mayflies. from these areas the
flies will float into the runs and pools below, but for the true hatches these
riffle areas are the places to seek. I was still packing my Scott 8' 8" 4 weight
G series rod from the early midge fishing. I have been enjoying it so much this
year I've neglected some other equally great rods. I tied on one of my
favorites, even though the hatch just began. It was a Quigley emerger type of
fly which rides more in the film. At this stage I could have just as easily gone
with any high floater type and have the same results I'm sure, but we all have
our go-too flies and this is definitely one of mine. There in the middle of the
shallow rock bed was one
boulder
protruding thru the surface of the water and around it were several nice feeding
fish. Too the near side and slightly behind was a very nice Brown. he was
feeding in the slight current slipping to the side of the boulder, so if I place
the fly correctly it would get a good float directly into the fishes feeding
path. My cast was on target, however I did not allow for the slack water between
me and the run. This dead water would not allow my drift enough time for a
proper presentation. My fly would start dragging immediately, so to account for
this I moved a bit upstream and when my fly landed above the fish along side the
boulder I produced a small downstream mend allowing the fly to drift farther
drag-free, and this seemed to do the trick the fish came up so slow I was
tempted to pull the fly away but was able to curb my enthusiasm and the fish
eventually closed his jaws over the tiny fly. The fish naturally bolted away
from the tension of the rod and in doing so went right through a pod of other
fish spooking them so that delayed any other casts to the rear of that boulder
for a while. There were a lineup of other fish up stream towards the head of the
run where water poured between some bigger boulders and worked on this classic
run while Bob moved down into the pools of fish in the backwater. Although I had
my back turned to him it was easy to tell that he was into fish, because I could
here him. "Damn, too soon" or "Damn, missed him" or "Damn, I'm rusty" wafted on
the air currents back to me. We had much fun at Shark Alley today while it
lasted but rather shortly after we began a gust of heavy wind hit us and
continued to blow, eventually blowing the fly right off the water, thus we were
taken right out of the hatch. With the hatch stopped and no fish showing we
headed down river looking for the odd fish sticking his nose out of the water.
It would happen in a few special spots where the wind couldn't blow as hard but
these spots were diminishing as the wind blew harder. As we came through the
Black lagoon near the end of our float the wind did slow some and the amount of
midges stacked in the areas I use to call the Kiddy Pools were
incredible. The fish were plowing through with open mouths taking hundreds at a
time. In yard square areas one couldn't even see the water because of the piles
of midge.
We tried fishing too them with our dries, but I could tell it was useless. I
have seen this quite a bit over the years and found the best way to pick fish up
in this situation was to add a small dropper, like an RS2 or a tiny soft hackle
emerger that would float just under the film maybe an inch or two. This way we
could pick fish up, and sometimes very effectively.
Today, we didn't catch a bunch of fish, but no matter, we had an excellent time,
talked a lot of old times and old friends. Vowed to get out more together, and
floated through a magnificent stretch of America.
April 11th Tuesday
Today I wanted to check out the hatches in the park and headed for Browns Park just before noon supposing that I would arrive just about in time for bugs to start moving. I have some very large Pines in my front yard that make an excellent wind metering system, and today they were registering just right for a fishing trip. However in the time that it took me to negotiate the roads into that area the wind had really kicked up and made it impossible for any bugs to be on the water, or if they were there I could not see them due to the waves. I did watch the river above Taylor's Flat Bridge for quite an extensive time with my binoculars, but I could not discern any hint of the hatch. Therefore, since I was in the area I thought an exploratory drive could be in order and headed up into the Red Creek Drainage to get a few pictures. I ventured out onto the rim on a couple of 4 Wheel drive roads but my ultimate goal was Red Creek so I kept aiming towards it. I was walking the cliffs on a high ridge above the river but from this area there were too many trees and the top of the hill sloped off so I could never get a straight shot down on the river and in doing this much uphill hiking I really tired my legs to the point I could just barely get back to the auto. After resting and eating my lunch I was able to continue along the path until reaching the jump off point where I use to hike down the creek to where it enters the Green, course I could never make that trail any more so I just headed up the road along the flood plain to check out where it comes out of the mountain to enter the park. At that point it is a very rugged, small, canyon. Along the the way I began to pick out herds of deer everywhere. They were scattered all along the river in the drainage. It was great seeing this many so close together. I figure there must have been 20 or so herds totaling possibly 300 head of deer, and more were spotted along the road back to the river as I headed back to see if the hatch had maybe started to do something, but alas, twas not to be, so I gave up and headed home without wetting a line but it did not matter due to the animals. On the way out through Clay Basin I spotted more small herds and also several herds of Antelope that are ever-present thru the Basin.
Was going to float the river on the Devil's Hole
section with two old friends today. One guided with me on our early days of the
Green and the other would have if he didn't already have a very successful and
lucrative Business he had to take care of. Connections were not made very well
today and I never herd from the guide, and as the morning was passing and still
no word from the other (Page Spracher) I thought maybe I had better get moving
if I wanted to fish today. My wife Holly helped me do the shuttle and I launched
Old Yeller 7 about Noon still giving me plenty of time to get into the lower
part of the upper section in time to meet the beginning of the bwo hatch. My
goal today was to get into the rocky section of the faster water and my ultimate
goal was to reach Rock Garden to fish the south side away from the trail. there
are several places where the fast water slows and many boulders have fallen into
the river from the cliffs creating some great structure fishing on flat water.
I worked against a moderate wind all the way down river passing quite a few
boats along the way. After leaving the Secret Riffle I began to leave all the
boats behind except for a few guides who also had it in mind to hit the hatch
down stream from the usual places. I decided to pull into the Honey Hole below
Mother in Law Rapids to have a bite to eat and to put a couple of rods together.
My dry fly rod was to be a 3 weight 8' 8" Scott G series sporting a small Ryall
reel, and the rod I slipped a stalcup's nymph on was the next size bigger in the
same series, 4 weight. As I was fashioning these stick I was beginning to see
flies floating past the boat and several movements in the water as a fish would
glide up and take one of the naturals. Not being able to control my need to fish
I stood up in the boat and put a size 18 extended body bwo in front of the
nearest fish, and as easy as that was into my first fish, an average 15 inch
rainbow. However, I was still not as far down river as planned so I pulled up
stakes and pushed on the oars negotiating the rocks through Deadman and the
upper part of Rock Garden then pulling off to the right slipped the bow of the
boat up on a grassy bank, and stepped out with both rods in my hand preparing to
do battle. There were already some fish working the lanes but before long more
and more began to feed until I was into a pretty good hatch and loving it.
My first attempt was to a good looking brown feeding right in front of a large
boulder slightly below my position. It took several casts before my fly was to
nestle into the correct lane with enough line out to create a drag free float.
When the perfect float reached the fish he showed no hesitation on taking the
artificial very smoothly and routinely, and I was fast to what turned out to be
a near 20 inch brown. I tried getting a close-up picture of the fish but as I
held him in the water and moving the camera in for a head shot I could feel him
sliding out of my hand, and without taking the picture he slipped beneath the
surface out of my hand and away. I stood (no struggled) to my feet and with out
drying my fly again put it our in front of another and he came up and took my
imitation also. he was much smaller but still nice. All the fish caught today in
this section turned out to be browns. After I had taken several more fish it
started to get harder. The fish became more picky and were refusing my fly so I
began sorting thru my box and came up with an emerger but it also failed to
produce as I thought it should, so my next resort was to pick up the nymph rod
behind me. Now for several years I've been experimenting with a method of
fishing an unweighted nymph as a dry fly by itself, and on most occasions it has
proven itself to be very efficient. There were several nice fish feeding in a line
just a bit farther out then I had been working but still within easy reach.
Possibly 35 feet out between several large boulders I placed the Stalcup's
Baetis slightly above the first feeding fish and he immediately moved forward and
took the nymph right off the surface with a splashy rise no different then a dry
fly. Next cast produced another, then another with one of these taking quite a
bit of line out into the main current making me move down the river a bit before
bringing him to net. It was another 20 inch fish and made a fairly good fight of
it. While taking care of this fish I spotted another rising right in on shore
below me right between two boulders about 2 feet off shore. I put a sneak on him
by creeping up into the boulders off shore and getting below him. By saying I
was creeping is really akin to a dance of a dazed Water Buffalo. None the less I
made it below the fish and stepped out into the water below to try for the angle
up between the boulders and was able to put it right the first try and he took
immediately and another rush out into the current
and it also turned out to be
approaching the 20 inch mark. all these fish were unmeasured so who really knows
how close they were. I must admit that when I was guiding, I couldn't be fooled
by the length of a fish. I could tell the tape to with in a quarter inch. But
after my operation and due to some of the steroid type drugs I have to take for
my heart my eyes went bad and I had to have the lenses changed to see again. In
doing this I see things differently and I found I misjudge the length of fish
all the time now. I still think they would be pushing 20 but who really knows.
The Baetis nymph continued to perform for a good number of fish but finally it
too began to slow down and the hatch became so heavy there were just too many
naturals on the surface to even compete with. Then about 4:30 it slowed, then
stopped. and I headed for home. I did keep watch in some of the more fishy type
pockets but even those few I spotted fish still working, I passed by feeling I
had my fun, so I kept rowing to the ramp and headed for the car. While walking
up to the car I found that I had been in the river to long because my legs
wouldn't work and I had to stop and rest half way up. It was a great day and I
enjoyed it immensely. Oh! and later I found out that my other friend had put his
boat in behind me and tried to catch up all day, finally stopping to fish about
400 yards above me. What a bummer! found out he had trouble with his truck
trying to leave Aspen. After several hours getting it back home and transferring
gear to his jeep screwed up our trip. Luckily we both love to fish alone so we
talked about our success that night and had a good time there.
Back on bodacious B to try for the great bwo hatch
that is found in abundance on this stretch at this time of year. I have always
looked forward to any chance of fishing this area, for it's expanse of waist
deep water found throughout, creating first-rate dry fly fishing. Runs like
Minnesota Flats, Down Town Brown Town, Grasshopper Island, and Washboard, are
all great wading areas any person would love to be at when the bwo hatch
commences.
Fishing today with Dave and Liz Speaks from Jackson Hole (Always a fun time with
them).
As we begin our float the first thing I note are the Guides fishing deep and
running nymphs along the bottom. Mostly to imitate the nymphs of the blue winged
olive mayfly (bwo). On the bright sunny days this method has lately been the
best for steady fishing.
Today we are looking more for the hatch on top or some Streamer action. Fish on
the move either dries or the emerging nymphs as they swim toward the surface.
The weather has made this style of fishing slow and tough fishing for us while
the bottom drifting nymphs continue to have a quite a bit of success.
We first stopped at Lost Bank and stalked up the shoreline spotting fish and to
my dismay we came up short and seeing very little activity with only a couple of
fish along the edge where in the past I would have spotted many fish feeding.
The bright sunlight must have helped keep them off the edge, plus they probably
have not moved into this feeding area. It will probably take a good hatch
feeding activity to draw them back here, or when the terrestrial insects begin
showing up a bit later, such as ants and beetles.
The same thing happened to us on Minnesota Flats, we witnessed know activity at
all and were unable to do any sight fishing that I believed would be great at
this magnificent stretch of dry fly water.
Our first taste of success came from a secluded bit of a rock bed that I
affectionately call Netter Flats named after an ex client of mine who became a
very good friend over the years. He and I spent many April days along this bank
stalking and fishing to many feeding fish. It is a classic bed of rocks that the
water runs over at a depth of two feet for the entire expanse of the flat. I
rowed across the river to take a look because it seems to a perfect run always a
forerunner to any hatch, and sure enough there were several fish in feeding
positions sipping insects at a fairly good rate. Closer inspection showed that
there was a spinner fall of the bwo happening. Out came the light rods and what
we could find to match a tiny spinner and eventually Liz and Dave both were into
nice average Browns. It was a delight watching them work the fish, one at a time
until we had either caught or put down all the fish on the flat. It would
probably have been better to stay and wait out the fish until they were back
feeding but I opted to move on to Down Town Brown Town expecting it to be as
good, but on our arrival in just a few minutes there was nada happening. So,
back to the bigger rods and streamer chucking until we find something else. We
did pull one nice brown with the streamer there and also just above our lunch
spot at Grasshopper.
As we were eating out in front at the top of Grasshopper a few fish began to
come to the surface taking something that we could not see. I guessed they were
taking emergers from the beginning of the hatch, so we put lunch away and pulled
out our dry fly rods and immediately did our best to put the fish down. Liz
caught a very pretty brown with one of the stalcup's Baetis nymph fished as a
dry and that ended that rising session.
Back to the streamers and waiting for the dries that never came. It is late
enough into the bwo that they need clouds and moisture to get them moving. There
were many fish rising as we coasted through Pugmire. They were taking midges and
probably some dead mayflies from the spinner fall earlier. We should have stayed
and worked them but we kept at it for there was much water yet to cover and it
was getting later. We took another good fish out of Washboard on the left side
by some cliffs on a bunny streamer, and with a Fat Albert Attractor dry fly we
were able to entice several more fish below Red Creek. It slowed down very much
late in the day and we had zero activity for the last couple miles above Indian
Crossing.
Not very windy today, really quite nice. Hottest day so far of the year.
Possibly the reason for a hatch-less day.
Floating Dam to Little Hole today again with Dave
and Liz Speaks. Today was pretty much like Devil's Hole was yesterday. For most
of our action we depended on the streamers mostly of the bunny persuasion,
olive, white and fairly heavily weighted. We were able to pull many fish after
the streamers making the day an exciting one, however they were not following
thru and hitting very steady, they would pull off after a healthy chase and no
matter how we tried to excite them they would not turn back on the fly after
quitting. We were able to catch fish enough to call it an ok day but still with
the bright sunshine it was hard work for the fish we caught.
On reaching the flats across from Lunch Counter we spotted fish feeding nicely
on tiny midges so we pulled over and waded out into them and took another
thumping. we tried many different patterns, some I knew we would take fish on
but alas, again, I was wrong. The naturals were very tiny, and I got all the way
down to size 28 trying to imitate them and we were still too large and the fish
could see it. Being able to watch everything from the fish coming off the
bottom, rising 4 feet to check our fly out and refusing still makes it
acceptable and exciting, but just a tiny bit frustrating. We enjoyed it so much
we worked the same place for 2 hours without catching a fish. We managed to fool
a couple but missed them when they did strike.
The fast water from Skinny Dip to Dripping Springs was our best area with the
streamers, and that too slowed down after 4 in the afternoon. We also tried some
big Cicada, Chernobyl type flies with a few looks but not enough activity to
warrant steady use.
There was a bit stiffer down-stream wind today making it harder to hold the boat
but it wasn't bad. It was definitely better then working in the Fly Shop.
Rain and heavy clouds all day. people got cold but what a Hatch. The Blue Wing Came out with the bad weather and it was nothing but raves from the throngs coming off the river.
Not quite as good but still cloudy, so it was still good.
BOTH DAYS I SAT IN THE SHOP AND TOLD MY USUAL LIES WHILE ALL OF YOU WERE OUT
THERE CATCHING THE FISH. DAMN!
There I was, breasting the current of expert water. Rolling out casts of 90 feet
with 14 foot leader tapered down to 8x tippet. Then of course I was startled out
of my reverie by a shout of hey stupid you just had a rise. Danny and Rod Mangum
and myself were floating from Little Hole to Cowboy Bar today. Weather was
excellent with very little wind and a bright sun. Today was the day before they
were to bring the water up to over 3000 cfs to begin the spring runoff. As we
began the float we noticed a slight tinge to the water and various deleterious
material floating by, indicating that they had possibly tried a test the night
before raising the water high enough to break this floating debris loose. With
our early success being somewhat limited compared with previous days we further
agreed that they must have let it loose. It was quite a bit slower then we had
expected, however we pressed on and kept getting the rises to our various
attractor patterns that we kept changing out. It seems as though we would pick
up a fish every so often just enough to keep our interest peeked, but it kept
going and eventually got a bit better. Still not an epic day and best told by
Danny when at the end of the float he stated that it was the greatest slow day
he's ever had.
We had no great runs but a few spots where we smacked fish in succession, like
along side Grasshopper island left channel, Washboard Rapids, Jungle Trail,
Wagon Crossing, Jarvie Ranch and below Bridge Hollow. The fish we caught today
were all in excellent health including several fat Rainbows, one I caught from
the riffle at Jarvie Ranch was a gorgeous 20 inch Rainbow (sorry no Pictures).
We also caught one Brown from the Bridge Hollow riffle very close to 20 inches
but not quite as fat as the Rainbow. Our best overall fishing came from below
Red Creek.
Red Creek was doing a small bit of runoff that only dirtied the river in a small
area below the rapids then as we went farther down river we completely got away
from the stain and the water was very pretty all the way.
The water came up today to 4000 cfs so Dudley
Campbell and I headed to the Red Canyon section mainly to ride the Waves and try
a spot of streamer fishing which usually gets quite good with the rising of the
river. I began throwing a large Playboy Bunny streamer to begin with and had
several follows but none were committing and whacking the fly. Dudley had put on
an Olive, so instead of me switching I had him get up and try the other color
and it was basically the same results but he did get a few hits but none were
solid enough to keep them on the hook so after a bit he had me get back up. I
threw several casts still getting the follows and several hits but quite shortly
after starting I sat down and said I'm done so we kicked back, put our feet in
the air and enjoyed the canyon, the birds and the larger waves.
Guide Boats fished quite well today using mostly nymphs, longer leaders and
drifting them right on the bottom. This continued for several days throughout
the high water. The dry fly fishing never materialized as I had predicted based
on prior years and this led me to believe the water must have stayed colder or
they drew the water from colder levels or changed levels to change the
temperature. None the less it was a slower dry fly spring then I predicted.
Today is the day the water is to be raised to it's highest of the season. 6000 cfs. We heard this and Holly, Melissa, our Niece and I grabbed the boat and ran for the river. I do enjoy riding the waves in the McKenzie River boats. Just the sight of seeing the Jets releasing water at the base of the dam is impressive and it gives you an idea how the rivers going to be. It was an enjoyable ride quite thrilling. I especially like Roller Coaster and Dripping Springs at this level. we didn't fish at all except for one spot in Rock Garden. Melissa couldn't stand it so she put her rod together and immediately had a fish on. That was enough, after losing it she put the equipment away and we continued on our which was very quick at this level.
Another boat ride with Doug Roloson, Denny's Son in Law who runs the Raft shop and maintains the complex. It is still high water running at 4600 cfs, and we didn't put any rod together at all. The weather had turned colder and I believe it would have been slower fishing anyhow. We had a bunch of fun in the waves and hit all the high spots wherever we could find them. We did see many fish in the flats as we cruised along. they looked as though they were hugging the bottom and not doing much feeding. Still, a fun Beautiful day on the water.
Sky is clear, very little wind blowing along the
mountain ridges. It looks as though we have the makings of a very good fishing
day, so Holly and I pack our gear and head for the back country of the Uinta
Mountains. Up into the Brush Creek and Ashley drainages for our first visit of
the early season. The first thing we notice is the brilliant colors of the trees
and ground foliage, they seem to be brighter and deeper shades of green then
we've been seeing for the last six years of the drought.
First creek we stop to look at is Dyer Creek near East Park lake which drains
Little Brush Creek, one of my favorites. Dyer is a small stream they are trying
to rehabilitate with it's native Colorado Cutthroat and they are beautiful. I've
been keeping a close eye on this stream to see how they are coming along. The
water is pretty, it's down from the run-off with just a slight bit of silt
running with it, however still clear to spot fish. We didn't try to fish it
deciding to fish on the way back out. There are several areas to gain access to
this very tiny stream. On the way we passed Big Brush Creek which also is
running with a tiny bit of silt but very fishable at this stage. Next came Trout
creek with it's confluence joining North fork of Ashley Creek. These are two
very sweet streams running parallel through a large meadow until near the end of
the clearing they join to pass into a gorge taking them out of the meadow.
This is where we had our sights on all the time for the start of the season in
the higher country. We pulled the old Land Cruiser into the primitive campsite
along Ashley Creek and began our preparation ritual of putting the gear
together. I needed to get the right fly boxes into my chest pack and make sure I
had some shorter leaders for the small streams. After getting the right flies
and leaders, tippets plus forceps and nippers, dry fly Aquel it was time to get
the small stream rod together. I had placed two rods in the Yota upon leaving
home, a small 7 foot Scott Fibre-touch 3 weight and a 7 1/2 Sage also 3 weight.
They are both wonderful rods, but my personal favorite is the Scott so that's
the one I opened up and religiously slid the three pieces together, held it out
and flexed it for the feel and with the sound of the creek we parked along side,
and the flex of the rod, I was in heaven. Then came the Reel. A small size 1
Evolution in blue color to match the blue of the Fibre-Touch. But!!! Where's the
reel, I can't seem to find it under the pile of fishing goodies, and after a
small search and coming up empty I come with the realization that I left it home
in the Orvis Rod bag along side all the light weight rods I had been using on
the Green throughout the winter. So endith my ritual and I begin putting
everything away and asking Holly if she would mind coming back with me tomorrow.
Only problem, they are predicting thundershowers for the area so we may not make
it.
After exploring some old camping and logging roads in the area to see if they
get to the streams in places I haven't fished we head out and on the way back
some high white clouds come in creating a bit cooler air and not as bright sky,
and with this change it triggers the animals to come out of hiding. As a result
after my dumb move, we are rewarded nevertheless. First a Badger jumping into a
culvert next to the car but, we could not grab the cameras in time to catch him,
then in the Trout Creek meadow a lone Elk prancing the length of the clearing
for us. Many more Elk are seen on our journey back. We were able to get some
camera shots of a few of them. They are in absolute excellent condition and are
looking superb. There were actually many more Elk seen then Deer which is a
surprise due to the numbers of Deer in the area. None had antlers showing, too
early I suppose but there were some very large bodies so I believe we had some
Bulls there.
Back to higher streams aiming for redemption after
yesterdays debacle. I can't really mean that because we had such a good time
exploring and sighting the animals that decided to come out and play. We headed
right back up towards Trout, and Ashley creek with a few stops on the way. First
we stopped at Dyer creek in another spot and was able to watch a small Cutthroat
feeding in a log jamb which created a deep hole in a very heavily forested
setting. It would be a tough cast , but he was feeding so eagerly I believe he
would have been an easy catch. We thought about coming back to him but I thought
he had given us a good enough show to leave him alone until another day. From
there I headed right back to the junction of the two streams but to our grief
somebody had taken up residence overnight and had already made a ghetto out of
the pristine campsite. Two bikes were already scattered and laying flat at
either side of the drive in. there were clothes hanging from a rope between two
trees along side the stream, and the family was all sitting on lounge chairs
drinking beers and sodas. Oh! and the Guard dog was already protecting the area.
He made Cujo look small. Therefore we looked elsewhere for a spot to fish. Up a
small side canyon we followed the road for several hundred yards and found some
very pretty runs in a close series of holes. We were able to take 5 fish from
there in quick order then headed for another area just for diversification. The
fish caught were one small Brook trout and four Rainbows from 9 to 11 inches.
small but fun to fish for.
A quick drive to the other end of the canyon which we get to by going around a
small mountain, more like a hill. And there we find Soldier Park, one of our
favorite fishing areas on the North Fork of Ashley creek. But the bright Sun and
hottest day of the season so far worked against us and the fish were hugging the
bottoms or undercut banks and not out feeding. We only managed bringing up two
fish. By this time it was getting along in the afternoon so we headed back out
and stopped in the Round Park area where Dyer creek and Little Brush creek meet
creating some very good fishing ordinarily, but the bright sun kept it slow. We
were able to entice several cutthroats to the hook before calling it quits and
getting me home to the couch.
I'll be getting out on the river for some float trips in the coming weeks and
I'll bet things start happening. I hear they're bringing the water down lower
then I had previously heard or expected. They are talking like running it at an
average of 1000 cfs for the summer. I don't like that low flow but it does make
it easy sight fishing, so expect some good times coming up. See you shortly!
With the river in a bit of a transitional period we
decided to once again seek our fortune in some small streams of the higher,
cooler Uinta mountains. A creek that always draws my fervent looks is the canyon
stretch of Carter creek above it's junction with little Deep Creek. This canyon
is a made-to-order fly fishing stretch. It looks like a small glaciated canyon
instead of the usual "V" shaped canyons carved out by erosion. This effect gives
it a small flood plane where Beavers can more easily make some interesting
structures thereby making some nice ponds. My biggest problem is getting into
the canyon. It really is not that hard for the average fisherman, just for guys
like me that have had limiting injuries prohibiting hiking. None the less we
headed up the canyon, found the easiest looking route to get into the bottom end
of the valley-like stretch with the pretty runs one can see from the road, high
above. There were many small Brook trout in each hole and we had some fun
fishing for them. First fly I tried was my old standby hopper but they gave it
more looks then actual takes, plus I witnessed a few insects flying about, not
many but maybe enough to create problems for matching whatever the fish are
feeding on. After watching the air for a bit I witnessed several caddis flitting
through the thick willows, so after checking my box and finding a pretty small
Goddard Caddis I began whacking the little brookies pretty well. In one hole
alone I had about 7 fish on, all from different parts of the run. I always begin
at the back of the run and work it completely. Where it spills over into the
next hole there is usually a lip of rocks or a log stretched across which makes
an excellent station for feeding fish, so these should be probed first off, then
moving slightly forward I work the edges of the currents especially watching for
underwater rocks that could be a holding position or a spot used as protection
for the fish. Then the middle of the deeper pockets saving the riffle water that
spills off the rocks above creating channels into the deeper pockets. I also
watch for areas where there have been pockets scoured out along the banks with
overhanging grass or branches to create a safe hide for the fish.
I would like to say that we hiked way up into the canyon and fished run after
run, because from the road above one can see some dandies above where we were,
but alas by the time I had got into the river and worked just 5 or 6 of the runs
I was done sitting on a log under the shade of a beautiful Ponderosa,
contemplating the hike back out.
In just the last week things started happening on the Green, good things,
hatches on the lower river are getting under way a bit earlier then usual. Both
Yellow Sally Stone flies and the PMD are coming out in Browns Park and a
migration of the giant Mormon Crickets have stampeded through hitting the river
first at the area Denny appropriately named Long Lake. They then worked their
way down river eventually entering Swallow Canyon. I had reports of guys
floating thru and having some of the large insects falling into the water off
the high cliffs and being gobbled up quickly. This info made it imperative that
I personally go down and check it out. My hardest problem on fishing Section C
(Browns Park) is deciding where to fish there. With so many riffle sections
creating excellent runs at their bottoms it is a waders perfect water. It's been
quite a while since I last fished the riffles above Burnt Tree while wading, so
I let that sway my decisions from many of my more usual areas. So after worming
my way through the tall willows that have grown up over the years and working my
way to the lower end of the giant spill-out of the riffle the first thing I did
was to watch the water, but before I could see anything I heard them coming up,
all around me. Some of the takes were massive splashes like they were very
excited about them, so the first thing that came to mind was the stone flies.
But I could then pick out many pmd's floating by, therefore that is the
imitation I began to tie on. I went right to a cripple but as I tied it on I was
thinking about my leader being to small (6X) left over from my earlier midge
fishing of the spring. One of my first casts, which was a short one barely on
the edge of the slower current on the edge of a slight drop off brought my first
fish a small 13inch Brown. He was very chunky and put up a fair fight. The next
cast went to a rise that looked to be a better fish, but sometimes the rise can
fool you and the take on my fly did look like the peck of a smaller fish but it
took off up river and I could tell something substantial was fastened to the
fly, however my fears of the too-small leader came to pass and the fish was gone
in quick order, along with my fly.
I changed patterns with the next fly even though the first proved very good and
went with an emerger pattern. I did this switch just to see how the different
patterns would work and this was not as good as the cripple but still brought
fish to my net. After several more switches and equal results for the next half
hour, my legs started to weaken in the bowling ball size rocks so I decided to
head for the head of the riffle where there is an excellent drop off and I was
amazed because I had no success there at all. That was a puzzle to me for over
the years this drop produced as many great fish as anywhere on the river I can
remember. I didn't probe the area with any attractor patterns and that could
have brought a strike from one of the better browns but who knows. There were
fish still working at the tail-out of the pool so that's where I headed back to
in order to continue my fun.
As I neared the slower moving water as it deepens off the riffle I witnessed
several very excited strikes that brought some fish right out of the water, and
not small fish but a couple of very good rainbows I think. This made me start
thinking again and I rummaged in my fly boxes looking for a special fly. There
among some old patterns that I had tied up while laying in a hospital bed back
probably in 1998 or 1999 were several variations of old soft hackle wet flies,
but tied with brass beads in the thorax area for the purpose to keep them
slightly under the surface of the water while stripping them.
Back in 1996 which was my last full year of guiding I remembered a day on the
Seeps riffle with two people who have since become very good friends of mine.
That day we had a wonderful time with a Dry dropper rig that imitated the pmd
nymphs with great success, bringing many strikes and excellent fish in The Seeps
riffle which is very much like the one I was fishing today. So with a speckled
grey wet fly size 14 fished in the old wet fly swing method, I had myself a
heyday with some very fat browns and rainbows, several near the 20 inch mark and
naturally the ones that got away were much bigger. But no matter it was a day to
remember, and once again I quit while the action was still going great. I quit
very satisfied and happy to have been there to see this water empty of fishermen
and full of nice fish.
I couldn't stand it hanging around the house on my day off trying to get some
computer work done and it such a nice warm day, so Holly and I packed the Toyota
up and headed for the high streams, mainly just to get out of the house for
Holly, but naturally I slipped in a spot of fishing gear. About 45 minutes later
we found ourselves on Ashley Creek where it starts into a canyon just above it's
confluence with the South Fork. There are some sweet holes there and I probed
several with a Rainy Hopper using my small 7 foot Scott Fibre Touch 4 with a 3
weight fly line. I was able to bring a number of fish to the fly and caught
about half of those. Today I caught mostly Rainbows and several Brook Trout. I
did fish a bit longer then expected but conditions were very nice with a cloud
cover and milder temperatures with intermittent rain showers.
Ashley Creek still had a very good flow in it but several other streams we
crossed were already showing signs of not enough rain in the high country this
early summer. I do hope this isn't a trend for our water year.
Well, I started to rekindle one of my old
traditions again today. A ritual which started in the mid 1980's and was
repeated yearly until 1997, when I was unceremoniously jammed into the University of Utah Hospital for almost three years.
Jay Hill, one of my first clients, who actually
was an acquaintance and friend for quite some years before that, got in touch
with me at the Trout Creek Fly Shop and we set up our Old time period for a float together
through Browns Park. A voyage that was continuously a delightful point in time
and especially good fishing. Things take place in Section "C" in early July.
The first item of the day took place before we met, actually before Jay left his
Father-in-laws house in Manila Utah, across the lake and the only other town in
Daggett County. We had our ritualistic flat tire, delaying our start by an hour.
That's ok though for I've always said the Green below Flaming Gorge Dam is a
middle of the day river. Because we were a bit late and we had decided to fish
all the way through Swallow we launched at the Taylor's Flat Bridge, and of
course the reminiscent stories began from fish taken in the flat above the
bridge and immediately below the bridge in that rocky riffle-strewn collection
of fishing runs. The first fish caught today was a very nice brown from river
left rock bed just below the beautiful bridge runs, fooled by a small Yellow
Sally Stone imitation. We moved some fish from the bottom of the riffle along
side the tiny island of Bridge Hollow camp area. In the flat below we switched
from the Stone fly to a pmd mayfly cripple and had some exciting fishing, taking
turns hooking a number and landing a few. These were mostly smaller fish, a
mixture of small browns and rainbows but dandy fighters.
I was up when we reached the upper edge of the Allen Ranch property. there has
permanently been a good shallow riffle at this point so we began to watch
carefully as
we floated near and both of us spotted a couple of tiny rises to mayflies so we
anchored the boat and I made the first cast with an upstream mend and had a
fish look but not take. so I repeated the cast with a bit longer float and all
we witnessed was his upper jaw slip out of the water and sip the fly in. At the
set of the hook he streaked across the flat giving a very nice run. We won't go
into the details of the ensuing struggle but after losing this fish I made a
cast to the 2nd one which was a bit farther from the boat, still in the very
shallow riffle looking as though there wasn't enough depth in the water to
support the fish, but up he came a carbon copy of the 1st fish and with the
sting of the hook he went aerial giving a very fine show. This fish, like it's
predecessor slipped the hook, getting into moving water below the boat and using
that current makes holding one of these fish very difficult. The most reliable
technique is to follow the fish, conversely if we were to do that all the remaining
water of the riffle would be destroyed, so we chose to battle it our on the
location
and if we lost the fish, so be it, because the most exciting aspect of catching
fish is the visible hook up.
Jay took over the rod at this point and after we spooked one more fish from the
riffle we headed out into deeper water and drifted while spotting rising fish.
This fishing was way too successful and we were caught up in this water for
quite a while. After reaching the riffle at the bottom of this stretch it was
already in the afternoon and we were still not to Cowboy Bar yet. Our only
alternative that made sense was to hustle down river, and to our chagrin,
skipping a great deal of water. The next bit of water we broke out the rods to
fish was the great water of Arrowhead. The large amount of jumbled
underwater boulders
create a tremendous holding and feeding run. From the middle of the River
trough to the flats on the south side would have to rate it as one of my
favorite dry fly stretches on our section of the Green. The fish we coaxed from
this water were also a bit small but add them to several nice fish Jay caught
made it very worth while. We dredged up a very good Hybrid from the pool at the
top of Arrowhead under the Eagle tree. A fish that evaded us only because we
could not fit it into the net. I treated it more like a ping pong ball then a
fish.
We had the wrong fly on as we floated Through the Burnt Tree riffles but since
we had done so well to this point, and even though there were fish splashing all
about to the Yellow Sally's hovering over the riffle, we pressed on aiming to
get down river and fish some other areas. Using a very light colored
Chernobyl style pattern to half-way imitate the Yellow's, we were able to put
the hook into some more nice fish in likely spots.
Burnt Tree! Where does that name come from, since there are no burned trees
visible in the area, and the Burnt Tree camp table is nestled directly
under the largest, full bloom cottonwood along this stretch of river? The truth
is just 50 yards upstream in the 80's there was a perfect Devils Pitchfork burnt
tree that was a classic. Sometime in the early 90's it was struck a second time
and burned to the ground leaving tragically no lack of evidence to a once great
landmark
As we passed through The Seeps area we discussed an episode from an
earlier float many
years ago with a very large Hybrid that was wallowing in one of the currents of
water seeping through the dike. Our fishing buddy pulled off a miraculous cast
and hooked the fish but did not
realize the true size and it easily threw the hook before he could feel the weight or
strength of the fish.
Within a short time and roughly 1 miles downstream from the Seeps
we coast out of Little Swallow Canyon or sometimes called The False
Canyon, into Hidden Valley. Another favorite by the guides
on the river. Jay was surprised by two very nice Browns right at the mouth of
the Emerald Pool which is at the start of Shangri La. They both gave a
very good account of themselves eventually succumbing and being led to the net.
This leads up to one interesting change in the river and another fish story.
First the change, my guess is due to the fire of 2002 that burned much of the
habitat along the rim on the North side. I needed to get out on a Sand Bar for a
bit of business, but after rowing along side and anchoring I nimbly vaulted out
of the boat and splock! was waist deep in very soft mud. Looking like a
floundering hippo I was very fortunate to have another person along with me.
There was no way I was getting out on my own. Jay had to jump from the boat
farther back on the bar making sure it was hard enough to support him, which
luckily it was. He grabbed my arm and slid me out of there. In the past there
were never places like that on the river, and this is an indicator that they
should blow more water through here and get rid of this muck that is still
accumulating in the lower river. Now the good part of the story is the fish tale
that occurred on the same day as the last one I related about the Hybrid in
The Seeps. As our boat slid noiselessly toward the end of the pool there is
a rock located on the edge of the shore and right where the current from the
main river meet. I explained to Jay's Partner who was in the front of the boat
to be careful and place the fly exactly so that it would drift to the waiting
fish that had to be in such an ideal location. A big jaw came up opened and
sucked the fly under. I yelled big fish and he struck and was fast to a freight
train that almost headed down current but then changed it's mind and just
burrowed to the bottom and held there. We tried lifting it but could not even
come close so I had him put as much pressure as possible. during the fight I
warned him about a submerged log in the deep just under the boat and it seems
more like the fish was listening then the client because it immediately headed
for the protection of the log. Again I told him to strip his line because it is
much faster control then trying to reel, but he let the line go limp and the
fish made it to the log and that was it. the Large Brown (I mean large, like
30") used the weight of the submerged log as leverage and easily broke the
line. The only redemption for our boat after the loss of these two beauties was
the 22" to 24" Brown that Jay caught at the entrance to swallow from a
current along side a large outcrop of Rock. On this fish I made the boo boo. I
jumped from the boat and took several pictures of them fighting the fish and
getting it up near the boat. I just didn't realize I was out of film during the
fight, and therefore could not get a shot of a beautiful fat brown.
Fishing
in Swallow Canyon is not typical trout fishing, because there are very few
riffles and little structure in the middle of the river. About every hidey-hole
for the fish to be in is cracks, seems, and overhangs of the canyon walls. Most
success a fisher will have there is to rub the walls with their fly, or even let
it drift back into crevices along the way. When there is a hatch present, only
then do the fish venture out into the open water to feed, and at that time it
can be quite spectacular. One incident of nature occurs right at this time of
the year, and I've discussed it in the past. It has to do with the swallows
nesting under overhangs along the canyon, and their feeding of their young
creates some very good feeding opportunities for some very healthy fish. We ran
on to one spot like this on our journey through the canyon. Not in one of the
more likely caves and fewer nests then usual but still, it did work for us
because we watched the water very close after spotting the birds working. The
area downstream from the nests is where we concentrated our search and sure
enough we spotted several noses breaking the water, one under a ledge and the
other where an outcrop of rock makes a small break current. we were able to hook
both Browns and get a last fight of the day from them. Today was a very sweet
day with many fish to our flies. Mostly spotting the rises and casting to them
and very ready fish to take any passing imitations. Matching the existing
hatches was essential today. After these last two fish we just drifted, laid
back in the boat watching the steep cliffs for eagles, hawks, or possibly some
animals. We've spotted many Bobcats in the deep canyon in the past, and on the
top of the cliffs while hiking several years ago I've found a bunch of caves and
sign of cougar activity. It's a maze of rocks made to order for cats to live and
stock their prey.
We did see a family of Geese hiding in the long grass as we floated very close
past. They kept ducking their heads trying not to be seen then moving a bit
deeper from the river's edge then ducking again. We hurried on so as not to
startle the young any more and they settled down. The shadows were beginning to
stretch out over the river as we left the canyon walls and drifted towards the
pull out. it was very peaceful, not a person around, no noise but the current
sliding past. A Great Day!!!