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EMMETT'S
SNEAKIN' OUT
2005
   
Emmett escaping the Fly Shop
January 3rd.
Didn't have any gear but had to get out for some fresh air. Went to Little Hole
to reacquaint myself with the river after the Hectic Holidays.
Rounding the bend, looking down into the Little Hole valley, first thing I
notice is zero cars in the lots. Like everybody else I think this is nice. It's
really quite cold today, probably will not make it past 20 degrees. I pull down
to the 3rd boat ramp and immediately witness numerous fish nosing right along
the current below the shelf. Pulling out the binoculars I see snouts all across
the flats and a lot of them. By the way they are coming up I can tell this
is the start of the new seasons Midge Hatch. This Hatch will last to the end of
March.
From the 3rd ramp I moved up stream to ramp two to check it out. There is a
narrow flat along the bank below this ramp. It is ideal for rising fish. Along
the edge there are several rocky points and there were fish in good numbers
right into the rocks. One would not even have to wear waders to fish this spot
and he would be within range of at least 30 working fish. The time was early
afternoon.
January 4th
Didn't get down to the river today, but got an interesting tidbit: Two local
Fish & Game officers came into the Fly shop and reported they had recently
planted a small herd of Big Horns into the Goslin Creek Canyon at Little Hole.
Approximately 25 of them.
January 10th
Today is the first day I've been off and the wind wasn't blowing for a while. It
has warmed up from the southern jet stream coming out of LA. I found it hard to
believe that it would be raining here at 6500 feet in January but there it was.
Without the wind I figured there should be a good hatch today so at 11:00 AM
(beginning time of the Midge Hatch) I headed for Little Hole. Once again there
were no cars in the lots and the fish were coming up, plus there were two
beautiful Bald Eagles in the dead Ponderosa across the river from the 3rd ramp.
The fish weren't as prolific as on January 3rd but enough for one man. I put my
gear together including a brand new Scott G series 8 ft. 8 In. 5 weight rod. and
headed right for the spot that Goslin Creek enters the Green. That is right
between Ramp 2 & 3 right at the drop of the shelf. I sat and watched for a
bit and started picking out more and more of the fish coming up. They weren't
showing much due to the low light and the rain, but there seemed to be quite a
few. I started with a very tiny size 24 midge with grizzly hackle over thin
peacock, and a flashy trailing shuck. My very first cast produced a healthy
rainbow about 17 inches. It took another 10 or so casts before the 2nd fish hit.
It was a brown about 15 inches. Without moving I landed 4 more fish including
one 20" Brown that was quite chunky. While there I noticed another
fisherman approaching from up river. It turned out to be one of my partners
(Doug Burton) and his Brittany. he had been fishing the edge below ramp 2 and
had the same experience there.
At that time a very hard rainy squall came washing down the river and it chased
me back through the trees to my cruiser. When I left the two Eagles were still
in the dead Ponderosa across the river. Rain wasn't botherin' them at all.
January 15th
I've been stuck in the shop for the last week, but have been talking with guides. The weather has warmed and they've been floating the Red Canyon
section. Throwing streamers has been great fun for them. They have also seen the
Midge Hatch in the canyon. Today I've had some good reports. early fishermen did
well with tiny WD40s then when the fish started coming to the surface for the
midges at 11:00 AM they started tying on the dries, but the wind came up and put
the fish down.
January 17th
What a beautiful morning, cool but showing signs of warming very well.
Right at 11:00, when I figure the midge hatch generally gets active, I'm on my
way to Little Hole. Not in any hurry, just cruising along eye out for animals of
any kind following a raven down the road. Not paying much attention to anything,
until I see a bright red jeep roaring up behind me. Turns out to be one of our
Guides Darren Bowcutt figuring to beat me to the river. Actually I pulled over
and we talked for a bit then decided to fish together between the boat ramps.
When we arrived we were startled to see the numbers of cars in the lot. An
inordinate amount for a Monday. But our spot was still open. I moved in below
Darren and started with a Befus emerger size 24. The fish were just barely
starting to rise. Very sporadic to begin with but it was building. The fish were
quite eager to hit my fly. I caught a number of fish from the same spot, as a
matter of fact they were stacked up in a clear spot in the moss.
I had caught maybe 9 or 10 fish, fairly close to
half & half Browns and Rainbows between 16" and 18" and then two
spin fishermen moved in very close. I said hello to them and received a contemptuous
stare. I believe they were telling me I was in their fishing hole. I knew there
would be fish coming up everywhere so to get a bit of breathing room I sauntered
back up river to where Darren was fishing. He was catching some nice fish using
an emerger of a different kind (I didn't see it). One interesting point we
noticed was, the fish he was hooking were mostly near the shore. There were
plenty of fish along the seam in deeper water, but they were more difficult. Eventually
I moved up above Darren and continued to pick the fish up here and there. I did
catch two very nice fish, One a 19" Brown very well built and colored
beautifully. Three pictures came out terrible, which proves I'm either a bad
camera man, or I don't know the camera very well. A very chunky 18" Rainbow
was very beautiful. It was a nice surprise this time of year.
Eventually we separated then I decided I had reached my quota for the day and
headed for the car and ran into another guide so for the next 2 hours we sat and
enjoyed both conversation with all who showed up and the unseasonably beautiful
weather.
For the day I had used three different patterns, the befus midge size 24, the
Two-bead midge also size 24, and a Smith's cripple size 22.
January 24, 2005
A continuation of the excellent weather, and a day off, so I'm headed for
Little Hole once again. Why Little Hole so much this time of year? It's a
combination of several reasons. The main reason is because that's where the
optimum midge hatch is occurring. The Little Hole valley is open where the rest
of the river is in a deep shadowed canyon, which is probably the explanation for
the quality hatch. Secondly, it is so convenient for us residing in Dutch John.
This morning passing Dripping Springs campground on the Little Hole road there
is a small herd of Elk resting in the grass as I zip by. They look very
peaceful.
One car in the upper lot when I arrive, and as it turns out they are old fishing
buddies of mine from my Western Rivers Days (We’ll hook up tomorrow and fish
together). They have gone up river so at the moment I've got the river to
myself, but as I'm stringing my rod a line of autos come down the road. All
friends and guides from Dutch John wanting a quick fix. I fished today with
Terry Collier who owns Old Moe Guide Service. We are old friends even living
together back in the 80s at the DJ airport.
I did quite a bit of fly switching today, trying to check out which flies might
work best. My first fly was a very small RSll fished in the film, but the fish
were looking passed it definitely taking from the surface. Next I put on my old
standby this year, the Befus emerger, which did OK. I know this one has been
working so I didn't use it long and switched to an old favorite of mine, the
Fuzzball in a size 24. It was hot, they came to it readily. It's only problem
was that they chewed it up to easy (I'm going to tie some of my own,
industrial strength). Next I used a Brooks Sprout size 26 and still caught fish
fairly well. The fish tapered off a bit early today, so as my last fly I tried a
small black midge with a tiny red post and no hackle, just some flash outrigger
wings tied spent wing. It also worked pretty good. I would have to rate the
Fuzzball as tops today.
I don't have as much stamina for wade fishing due to my Heart Transplant
several year ago so I stop to rest and watch others after the first hour of
fishing. I was sitting on a rock while Terry waded up and we talked while he
kept fishing the water that I had just been through. There were still a few fish
rising but they were being a bit more stubborn. To my amazement we started
seeing some bwo popping, very sparsely though. Terry switched to a female Adams
and commenced getting hits more regularly, especially in the heavier water.
Overall, today the fish hit my tiny flies better then other fishermen using say
size 20 or 18. The hatch didn't last as long today, plus was not as prolific
as it had been. The temperature was down a little, which could be the cause of
the difference.
This Midge Hatch should last until the bwo starts in late March, so this is a
great time to be here. One must watch the storms and weather when trying to hit
the hatch right.
January 25th
Today's much like yesterday, a wee bit cooler in the morning, but
with the clear sky I knew that it would warm enough for some good dry fly
fishing. I got to the river about 10:30 in the morning and noticed it was about
5 degrees cooler then yesterday. The hatch is just beginning with a few fish
starting to nose up. No wind at this point and things are looking good. It didn't
take long before more midges were showing, then a bunch on the water, but still
no fish. With the fishing I've had for the last month I've grown a bit
particular so I waited sitting on a rock on the edge watching as more and more
tiny midges showed and flew away with very few fish interfering. I haven't
seen this as much on this river as others, but I believe the Full Moon Which has
been very bright, kept the fish active through the night.
I sat around and enjoyed the day anyway, took my rod down, and slipped out of my
waders and walked the shore spotting fish. They weren't moving much so
eventually I headed home without any fish caught. I know they'll be up again
soon, and we will get plenty more chances this winter.
February 1st
Snowing -- all morning, but what the heck, I packed my gear and drove to Little
Hole. Although there was snow on the ground and roads, plus a nice downstream
wind blowing, there were surprisingly more cars present then I would have
surmised. It was late for the early hatch, however there was still a good amount
of trout rising near the 3rd ramp. I watched for a while and because there were
already people at the head of the run about 100 yards upstream, decided not to
fish today.
February 2nd
Told Terry Collier of Old Moe Guide Service that I would meet him at Little Hole
about 11:00 A.M. today. When I arrived at Little Hole there were three cars in
the lot so I parked next to Terry's Excursion and sauntered down the river
from the 2nd ramp and shortly found him. He had already landed several Browns
before my arrival. Together we moved down the bank until reaching the drop at
Goslin Creek, where quite a few fish were working. The midge hatch was going
quite well. I could see a good number floating together. They are still very
small, I would say about a size 26 hook would match the size. I tried some
recent ties of my own that were on a size 22 2x short hook. The patterns that
worked best for my today were of the fuzzball variety. They were mixed grizzly
and brown hackle, with the bottom clipped to make them ride flat on the surface.
They seemed to work ok but in the short time I fished, and as many different
patterns I tried, my catch rate was down today, but still it was a very nice day
to be on the water. The weather was certainly better today then the last
several. The sun was out and the wind was very light.
I caught only one Rainbow, and about six Browns. My first two fish were 14"
and the rest between 15" and 17" and the largest, a Brown around
19". I was using 7x tippet on a 10 ft. Leader.
February 14th
Weather has been a factor to my poor success
over the last few days. Since I am looking so much for the dry fly action during
these early months, my fishing has suffered. The wind specifically has been the
main culprit. I let it dictate whether I take my rods with me while checking the
river out. I try to get down and look at the water on all my days off.
Today I could see fish taking insects off the
water, however it was very difficult to present a pin-point cast to the fish.
Using a very light, long leader and the leader gets moved to the side when a
gust comes through. Still, with a gray Brook's Sprout size 22, I was able to
manage several nice Browns and Rainbows. As the midges continued to pelt me in
the face I conjured up a memory of many fish feeding on them.
I talked with several customers later that had
been fishing right below the Dam, and with its' protection from the downstream
wind they had very good days nymphing the runs and drops both below and above
the boat ramp. The usual Green River nymph assortment did the trick. Zebra
midges, size 18 and smaller, wd-40 in black, camel, and red, were very good. I
heard of some brassies very small (sizes 26,24,22) doing well.
Boaters are still getting them with streamers,
but now they are having occasional days where Chernobyls and Cicadas are
surprisingly having some fun success.
February 28th
Found some good water slightly out of the breeze
blowing and sure enough there were several nice snouts working along the seam.
This was just 50 yards below the inlet of Goslin Creek. They were very picky
today making me sort through my midge box quite a bit. The usual flies were
having some trouble so I went very tiny, with emergers and even some size 28
nymphs floating free just under the surface, and I was able to get a number of
hits this way. A lot more hits then fish landed.
March 8th, 9th, 10th
Anticipating some good action because of the
warm high going on now I poised at my door, but all three days were very hard
winds. I did go down to the river the last day and watched the water for a
while. Didn’t see any fish at all, but did see white caps. I looked in
protected spots and could see fish there but not active. There was one fish two
feet off the upper boat ramp at Little Hole while I watched he snuck his nose
out of the water once.
I can say I have had more time to work on the
computer and get caught up with work, but who the hell wants that when I could
be down on the river.
The wind has blown quite a bit for the last
month. We will have some quiet days coming up and the hatch will still be
favorable through March, and the bwo will commence any time later this month. In
the mean time if the hatch isn’t there the small slender nymphs will persist
in being successful and keep us happy.
March 22nd
My first float trip of the year. An old guide
buddy of mine (Frank Johnson) off the Big Horn River in Montana came down for
three days with some of his long time clients. Today we floated the upper
section through Red Canyon. Two of our guides, Darren Bowcutt and Jeremy Sparger
floated the other four while Frank & I and an old friend of his Bob, also
from Franks home-town Sheridan Wyoming, floated together. I have heard that
there have been several good afternoons where people had a very good time with
the baetis (bwo), however with today's' wind I didn’t expect to have any luck
with the dry flies. This was to be my first day of the season fishing nymphs.
Once again I try playing with unknown patterns to see which ones will be
working, and none of the odd flies do well. Not until I start using the old
standbys do we catch the fish with any regularity. The patterns that worked best
were camel zebra midge size 18, and even better was a stalcups baetis nymph,
brown. These two patterns were quite regular for most of the day until it really
slowed down after 4:00 PM. The wind blew very hard, and the temperature dropped
some, keeping any hatch off the water, so dry flies weren't even in the
bargain. We could have picked some up in protected pockets but not in the main
current.
One other point I noticed today was the fish
averaged smaller than those I have been catching for the last two months.
Generally I associate this anomaly with a slow fishing day.
This time of year all types of fishing are
successful. You read and hear me talking mostly dry fly fishing, but don't
take that to mean it is the only method you should try. If you fish the Green
extensively you already know nymph fishing is productive about any day of the
year. Streamer fishing is doing quite well for the people floating the river,
but streamers are more hit and miss fishing. Great when they are working and the
fish are chasing, but there are those days when the fish are a bit turned off
and it is hard to get them to chase the streamers.
April 19th
Floated down through section B with an old friend from Albuquerque, Mike
Maurer. Weather report said rain and wind to 30 mph. We didn't get the rain so
much, however the report hit the wind on the peg.
Nothing happening in the morning on top, therefore we tried to entice them
with a dropper off of a parachute Adams, with less then fair success. About the
time we were weighing our options, one of my very good friends came by on his
guided trip with a bunch of hooting and hollering, which generally means
streamers. We both like streamers so off came the dries and on went the Playboy
Bunny (white & Pink rabbit fur). The very first thing he caught was his own
hat, but from there on we also started making happy noises. The fish were quite
responsive to the streamers and we had a very good time for the rest of the day.
There was an hour starting at 2:00 in the afternoon when the wind decelerated
for a while and allowed the bwo to float on the water. We were slightly above
Big Pine at the time and found a pocket where fish were quite active and Mike
hit about every one in the area (I worked the camera and net). He must have
caught close to a dozen of them, mostly browns. From there we cruised down into
Pugmire to see if it's generally heavy hatches were on but the wind picked
up again and it was finished. No worries! We went back to the Bunny and
continued to have fun. Red Creek was running off color and staining the river
below but it did not deter the streamer fishing. It was every bit as good in the
murk as the clear.
Speaking of the clear water. One thing is happening that always comes on
normal water years. Cart Creek which comes in from the south under the bridge on
the lake near the dam, is in runoff at this time, and is pouring a good bit of
sediment into the reservoir. That in turn flows around the cliffs and goes
through the dam creating a bit of cloudiness to the river below the dam. In the
past we have looked at this as good for fishing because it is always harder when
the river is crystal clear. You still have ok visibility, can spot fish, and
maybe catch more.
May2nd:
The bwo is still here, so I decided to float A
section on
my own, with the thought of moving down into the faster lower
3 miles of the A Section. I figured this would be the better section to see more
of the Blue Wing Mayflies. They started the season in Early April coming off
about 12:00 noon, but now they aren't showing until closer to 3:00 PM.
During my trip down the river I would paddle over to some of the special points
and drops of my guiding career, and was still happy with what I found. At the
bottom of Secret Riffle on river left (right at the start of Frog Water), I
found two very nice Browns working a point there. Feeding on top occasionally,
but mostly working side to side taking what I would have guessed as baetis
nymphs prior to the hatch. They were identical 19" browns. At Mother In Law
right at the top, there is a bathtub drop on the right side. I slid close to it
to take a look as I passed over and immediately regretted not stopping to work
this hole. There were numerous fish going to town on nymphs just under the
surface. I knew for sure that it was nymphs from the bwo this time just by the distinctive
way they were feeding on them.
After negotiating the Diving board rapid at the bottom some heavy clouds slid
over the rim of the canyon and it was an immediate trigger for the hatch to
start and the fish were up instantly. the entire flat they were there, but like
a dummy, I had my eyes and mind set for Deadman and rowed through the rise.
What
a mistake that was at the time. The clouds passed over and it didn't take long
for the hatch to cease activity.
Eventually I made it to Deadman slid past the hydraulic boulder at the bottom
and pulled to the river-right rocks to anchor my boat. By this time it was at
least 3:00 in the afternoon and the fish were really working just beneath the
surface. I could see them in some of the deeper pockets between rocks and also
out in the open water as the current slowed from the rapids above. I tied a
small Stalcups Baetis nymph size 20 with no indicator or weight, so I could fish
it just under the surface so it would look like a tumbling nymph coming off the
shallows above. I hooked 5 fish in my first 8 casts and one was a very sweet
brown. Naturally I lost it, but one good thing is -- I can lie about it's true
size. This is the only fly I tried all day because it was very successful,
however all the boats coming by were Nymphing deep in the middle run and doing
very well. I also witnessed some guys across the river from me catching fish at
a good rate. most of them were fishing dry to match the hatch. It was a very
good day and I am ready for my next one!
May 10th
I floated today with two of my old time friends.
Mark Neilson a man who guided with me at my Western Rivers days back in the
early 90's up until the time I fell ill in 1997. Also with Gordon Tharrett who
still guides with Denny, but also guided in those earlier days.
The weather was threatening, however when we put on it was sunny and really
nice. Several storms did hit during the day but not enough to chase us off the
river. It was still an early day for us because Mark had to be back to the Fly
Shop to work a late shift.
There was quite a good midge hatch going on when we put on about 9:00 AM but I
tried an attractor (quite small) to begin with and did pick up a couple of fish
but not good enough so I went to a very small Royal Wulff to more approximate a
midge but still bright enough to see in rougher water. It worked pretty well.
The three of us traded off every fish so we were moving around in the boat quite
a bit.
When we got to the Merry-go-round hole Gordon knew of a very nice Brown lurking
in a trough along the shore, so we stalked several fish there. Gordon climbed the ledge to
check the fish and the big one was not there but there was a smaller (21") in it's
place. We figured that was good enough to work on. We didn't get the big one
however we did put the hook into about 6 others in the same trough. I had on a
midge nymph, no weight because the trough was quite shallow, size 26. Mark,
using my rig tried first and hit 3 of the fish. Then Gordon moved in with a dry
dropper rig and spanked a couple more. While waiting for them I spotted several
others lower in the trough and picked them off.
That was the last place we could stop because of our early schedule, but we were
able to hit good number of fish, mostly on rocky flats, quite shallow, all the
way until we had to quit.
May 16th Monday
Had two friends from Jackson (Liz
& Dave Speaks) slip into town. They fish in the One Fly event as my
team-mates so we put
a quick trip together for a couple of days, first day on the middle section
(Devils' Hole). We planned this trip in a hurray to try and beat the rise of
the high water which generally comes sometime around the 20th of May. It didn't
take us long to figure that they weren't going to go after larger attractor
patterns on the surface, so by the time we left the Little Hole valley we were
already tying on the large streamer patterns. Fish started flashing right away
and we got our first fish in the T2 pool, then several more as we worked along
the trough on the right side of Minnesota Flats, then a bunch of hits in the
quiet water above Mann's Chute. Things were really looking up as we already
had some very nice Browns to the boat and many more hits.
We also had my ex partner in crime Mark Nielsen and his lady Palen fishing along
side us in their boat. They were doing equally well so there was much
excitement. We worked steadily down the river each boat on opposite sides of the
river fishing fairly side by side. All day we were alone except for some people
who had camped last night at Grasshopper. They ended up just ahead of us most of
the way, but far enough they were beyond our sight all day. It always makes it
special when fishing alone, without the crowds.
Our best fish of the day was a nice 19" Brown from the left side of
Pugmires Pocket. It was a perfect fish that looked like it had never been caught
before.
We finally noticed the water coming up just before we reached Red Creek Rapids.
The fishing remained very good right through the rise of the river but we
noticed it steadily getting more off color with more gunk in evidence. Red Creek
is much easier to negotiate at the higher flows then the drought years flows.
We took a breather below Red Creek and finally got gunked out with a combination
of another push of water from the Dam and the already dirty flowing Red Creek.
We tried to row out from there, but Liz wouldn't have any of it. She made us
fish all the way. She's hard
May 17th Tuesday
Liz and I fished alone today, as Dave and Mark
went in Marks boat. We didn't mince at all today about flies to use. The water
was at 4000 cfs today, so we went straight to the olive woolly bugger we used
most of yesterday. Our confidence was high, as the water was plenty clear right
below the dam. At first we were getting only follows and short strikes. Hard
driving fish that attacked viciously but still did not complete the strike by
hooking up. I kept Liz working hard because I knew she would start hitting them.
I couldn't believe they could move so fast on the fly and not hook up some. We
worked diligently at getting each cast deep into the pockets and up on the rocky
reefs. We knew from past experience that the higher flows would move all the
fish tight to the banks and in protection of the rocky areas.
We also experimented much with the retrieve by
varying our strips and pauses. We never did figure out which was the best,
however we worked much more with a quick short strip and a pause every so often.
We steadily hit fish and it picked up until we were thinking this was turning
out to be a very superior fishing day. We took all browns until near the bottom
in the Black Lagoon she nailed her first rainbow, a nice chunky 18", and
very colorful fish.
One other item I noticed today was the amount of fresh fish we caught. This high
water moves all the fish to the edges so we are now fishing to fish that have
not seen our flies. They are hot beautiful fish.
This time of year when we get the water releases I have always been amazed at
how many people treat it as being an undesirable time. The higher water does
change things but many of those are for the good. First it cleans the river:
the sediment from the fire several years ago has steadfastly built up in the
lower river. We have needed the water to push it out, but the drought years has
not supplied enough to complete the job. Maybe this year will do that.
It also will help with our new problem the New Zealand Mud Snail. They tell us
that the high water will knock them loose and wash them down river. High water
creates new holding water for the fish. We find more of them in the back eddies
and back channels on the lower river. One of the best pluses for the higher
water is the scouring the silt out of the habitat for the insects. This silt
impacts into the bottom rocks and strata choking out the insects habitat, so
when this flush completes the bottom will be ready for the insects to move back
in and flourish. I have always noticed that after the high water years we always
get better hatches.
May 24th
Ellen Dailey & B. J. Lester From Grand
Junction. A very memorable float on the river for me, because of a close and
deep relationship I've had over the years with Ellen and her husband Denny. We
opted to fish section A although it goes against our traditional tendencies. We
always float through B due to the type of water and fishing it has given us over
the past 15 years together. But water conditions and the possibility to stay
with top-water flies made our decision. Since it was early we did go with
streamers first and did not have as much success as expected, and as it didn't
pan out quickly we moved to medium sized attractors and had a bit of luck but
still not good. As I had found on earlier trips we knew we had to put our dries
right in the pockets of the rocks ledges and grass. The fish are holding right
on the bank and where there is grass they are back in or under it holding like
bass. We found that if our cast was a foot or even 6 inches short then the fish
would not come to it, but when we were successful in placing the fly right in
their pocket they would hit immediately.
The water level was still holding steady at 4600 cfs today and did not
fluctuate. There was relatively little floating debris so that helped keep our
flies clean. The visibility was still a bit cloudy, more due to the run off
coming into the lake and through the dam, then what the river was picking up. I
believe the chief factor in why the activity was a bit slow today was due to the
constant changing in the sunlight. There were intermittent clouds rolling
through constantly so the fish could never get use to one or the other. To much
change! None of these slight problems deterred our ability to have a tremendous
time on the river. We did a great deal of joking and reminiscing so we vowed to
do a repeat performance shortly.
June 21st
Set out to fish the canyon section
with Jack Lytle our local law enforcement officer from the Wildlife Resources of
Utah. Just before we could launch he got a call and we had to divert over to
Sheep Creek lake up on the north side of the Uinta mountains. There was a
problem with the fish they were going to milk to save the spawn, but
everything turned out fine and we returned to our original plan. Naturally when
we retrieved my boat and arrived at the boat ramp I became ill and had to abort
the trip. bummer!!
June 28th
Got an invitation to float with two guides down in Browns Park, and that's one I
will never turn down. Danny Mangum from Old Moe Guide Service and Dan Bolton
from Spinnerfall Guide Service.
We launched at Taylor's Flat Bridge and had great luck before going under the
bridge. we caught several Browns and a couple of giant White Fish all on dries.
There were numerous insects hatching from PMD Midges, Yellow Sally stoneflies,
and some very relatively large drakes. Our good fishing continued below, past
Bridge Hollow into the flats behind the Allen Ranch and past Cowboy Bar. from
that point things started to change, the ever-present wind started blowing and
the water started to rise. Still, we picked up occasional nice Browns but as we
reached one of my favorite spots (Arrowhead), we had another hump in the water
flow and it became quite dirty. Although Danny did pick up our biggest fish
along Arrowhead that about ended our good fishing. From that point on we had
several fish up but very little luck and no more rising fish.
Seeing the clarity of the river when we first got there and the good hatches was
impressive and made me very gratified. Through the drought years conditions were
steadily getting unfavorable in the Park, but maybe it's starting to turn again.
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July 5th
Holly and I took our first trip up into the Uinta mountains today to hit some of
our favorite tiny streams, and to see how fishable they are. The high water
runoff has kept the higher creeks and rivers out of sort longer this year. We
have the option of going to the south or north side of the mountain because they
are equal distance from our house. It takes about half an hour to reach the
first streams, but from there there are many options for us to try.
Our first destination was Little Brush creek. It was running very good, a bit
higher than normal and just a tiny bit of color in it, but still very good
visibility. We reckoned that the fishing might not be very good because it being
the day after the 4th weekend and much pressure had to be put on these streams.
Right off I took a small Brook trout on my favorite, for these streams, a foam
hopper. It was definitely slower but we still managed a few more rainbows and
was satisfied so we moved on to another stream. We stopped and looked at the
West fork of Little Brush creek where they have a Cutthroat project going on but
there were some streams higher up and further back in the mountains that we
wanted to check out. Off to Trout Creek, North Fork of Ashley creek and so on.
There was a camp right at the junction of these two streams so we didn't do much
fishing, I did cast a to a couple of riffles and hooked two Rainbows there. Then
we moved up stream to Soldier Park which generally is very fast for small
rainbows. before we got there it started to rain and hail with some lightening
along to make matters interesting, but we waited for a hole in the clouds and
got about half an hour of quick cast and move on to the next hole. I was able to
land maybe 5 fish mostly rainbows and one pretty cutthroat. All these fish are
between 9 and 12 inches, but fishing is relative, and exciting wherever you are.
You should see the scenery! Good numbers of deer were on the move, and feeding
in the high mountain meadows as we drove through.
July 14th
We went back to the junction of Trout Creek and Ashley to test the water and had
a very fun time. I fished with Holly and our niece Melissa. This is the first
time I've fished with her and I was quite impressed with her casting. She and I
marched up Ashley from the junction trading off the fishing holes as we went.
Holly ran along the ridge taking pictures and kept moving the car for us. There
were plenty of fish and it was quite fun. we were using 3 and 4 weight rods, a
couple of 7 footers with very light actions. She had a little sage and I had my
favorite Fiber touch Scott.
We caught Rainbows, Cutthroats and Brookies, and it looked like the hopper was
the quickest attractor, however we probably hit fish on any fly we tried. I lost
my last hopper after a while and switched to one of Charlie Cards "head on Humpy's" and did well with it.
We had to scramble over some rough rocks near the end and my legs gave out on
me, so as I collapsed on a rock resting, Melissa moved into a very nice run
right below our car and whacked several more fish. It looked like the fish were
starting to hit even better, but I was too tired and had to quit. What a bummer!
My legs just can't hold up like they use to before a several year stint in a
hospital. On the other hand, at the time, I never thought I would be hiking
around in the mountains ever again, so I should quit complaining and enjoy the
brief fishing trips I can put in. We drove further up Ashley and fished it at
Soldier Park for a very short time with very good results. Mostly we watched
Melissa whack a variety of small trout then moved on. We dropped her off at her
car near the Red Cloud Loop, us headed for home and her on her sells route for
Troutsmen fishing supplies.
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