Provo River Flyfishing

Today Justin and I spent a couple hours flyfishing the Provo River. We arrived at Vivian Park at about 7:30 a.m. and spent 30 minutes trying to find a place to fish. The river is running super high and super fast. We found one hole that was fishable and within 5 minutes I had one on. After a short fight, Justin netted the beautiful brown trout. I was shocked-I never catch anything on the Provo. Justin then took the hole over and caught a smaller brown. We were stoked to be having some success. After hiking around looking for other spots with no success, we ended at the same hole. I caught one more fish and then snapped my line. Overall, we only spent about 30 minutes actually fishing, but it was well worth it. I think that I may have the hang of it. For the record, I was fishing two flies a size 18 small grey fly with a red head and a size 16 hare's ear. Ialso used a zebra midge and another small grey fly (no red). The setup was as follows: size 3x leader-7.5 ft with 4x tippet. It went leader, 2 1/2 ft. tippet to first fly, then 10-12 in. more tippet to the second fly. Indicator was put where the tippet is tied on and sinker placed about 5-6 inches above first fly. That's the scoop. I look forward to getting back there soon. I have to mention that while we were fishing I heard a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot. Shortly after the noise, ambulances began making their way up and down the canyon. We left about 10 minutes after the ambulances went passed. About a mile down the canyon was an accident. It turned out to be fatal with one man dying. It really shook me. Life can end at anytime-kind of a scary thought!

Scouts at Strawberry

Right on the heels of our trip down to the Boulder Mtns. was a trip with the scouts to Strawberry. We left on Friday at 2:00 and set up camp as soon as we got there. We camped on the dirt road just west of the Marina and fished where the old island used to be-off the famous point. I have to be honest, having 6 scouts that had virtually never been REAL fishing, didn't give me much hope for success. After setting up 4 or 5 poles, a few of the boys let her fly. Within 5 minutes Daniel James had a nice fish on and lost it right at shore. I was amazed at how crystal clear the lake was. There were times that I saw fish swim right past us. The fishing was blazing hot to start, with 5 or 6 fish being brought in within 45 minutes (all on powerbait). Colton ended the initial streak with a 21-inch cutt. He was thrilled and didn't stop talking about it the rest of the night. Things slowed down and the boys were enthralled with catching Krodads for the next 2 hours. From about 7:30-8:15 it got hot again and 6-7 more fish were reeled in. We even caught 2 or 3 bows. It turned out to be a fun trip that the boys will never forget. Those present were Daniel, Colton, Austin, Cason, Elijah, D.J., Bro. Keller, and Myself.

Another Trip to the Boulders

It's that time of year again. The time of year when the Utah's Boulder Mountains start calling. It has become almost a tradition-making a June trip with boys down to the sacred Boulder Mountain Lakes. This year we left in the afternoon on Father's Day. We chose a Sunday through Wednesday hoping that the lakes would be free of other people and scouts. We met Tory just outside Loa and decided to head over to the Parker Mountain for some bunny shootin'. Well the bunnies were few and far between. The ones we did see were shot by Phil and Zenger with their newfound babies- Assault Rifles! It is definitely a down year for rabbits. After killing bunnies, we headed into Torrey. My Dad was there; he had stayed the weekend with Chantelle and Tom and their kids. The next morning we woke up and headed to Oak Creek dreaming of large Brookies. We took the wheelers into the lake and it was no more than a ten minute ride. When I pulled up, I realized that the key to my wheeler was missing. This led to some tense moments, but thanks to Zenger's faith, he found the key about half way back down the trail. We fished the lake and cought several fish on Jake's Lures and black wooly buggers. They were all brookies, but suprisingly, they weren't very big. We did see some nice fish taken by a few of the 45 people that just happened to be having a family reunion that day (on a Monday!!!!). It was a good day of fishing!
After debating where to go, we decided that we had better try to find the other way into Blind Lake. We had heard about it, but never had the four-wheelers to try it. While unloading the wheelers- Zenger about died! The Polaris tipped over backwards and was standing straight up with Zenger lying below. Luckily, it didn't tip the rest of the way or he may have been in trouble. Well, we found the other way to the lake. It was much shorter and easier hiking, but the road to the trail was horrible and the trail takes you into the lake across from our favorite point. Anyways, we fished it and caught a few on spinners. Phil caught a few on flies, but nothing spectacular. Overall, the fishing was poor. We headed back down and were exhausted. We watched Boston beat L.A. for the NBA Title, drove around and looked at deer (saw what will be a nice buck and several other deer), shot another bunny or two, watched a flick and went to bed. It wasn't the best fishing trip ever, but we had a good time!

Northern Pike At Yuba Reservoir!

Well, my second fishing trip of the season was beyond successful. On Friday, May 30th (first day of Summer break) Phil, Zenger, Chris, and myself headed down to Yuba. I had seen a report from Reece Stein on Roughin It Outdoors about the reservoir and it's Northern Pike, so we thought we would give it a shot. We launched Chris's new Tracker at about 1:30 and took a short jaunt over to the dam. Phil had a quick hit and I had a follower, but that was it, so we headed further down the reservoir. We fished around weed beds with little success and not a single fish. After thinking back to the show, we recalled that it had looked like they were fishing rocky areas, so we decided to give that a shot. This is what led us to Pike Point. After a few minutes in the new area, Chris had a mammoth hit. Although he missed the fish, it rejuvenated all of us to try a little bit harder. Shortly thereafter Zenger hooked into a monster Pike. After a short battle, he reeled in an 8 pound Northern Pike. We were stoked and would have been happy with just that one fish. We continued to fish around Pike Point. I hooked into one next and was excited, but disappointed to see that it was a baby pike that weighed no more than a pound and a half. It died down after the second fish and we moved on to try other areas. After quite the dry spell and several snags, I hooked onto a monster Pike. It took about 20 seconds before I realized that I had a fish on and not another bush. The large fish came to the boat quite easily, but upon seeing where it was headed it dove hard. This happened several times until
Zenger was finally able to net the 13 pound, 37 in. fish. Biggest fish I have ever caught. I was shaking with excitement. The rest of the night was full of disappointment. Phil had a large Pike break his line and I lost a monster at the boat. Other than that, I caught one more small Pike and Phil caught a nice Walleye. We had a blast and look forward to hitting it again. Who would have thought that Yuba held these nice fish!!! Thanks Reece!