Archive for October, 2009
Fall at Sundance
Oct 30th
With a weekend break between hunts, I had the opportunity to hit the trail with friends at Sundance. It was the last day of the season and one that we will all remember for a long time. The weather was perfect the trails were a little muddy/icy in places, but the fall colors and need for reckless abandment filled our cups. It was one of those days that you don’t want to end…you know those days right? All I could think is that this is the way life should be.
I think the pictures can tell the story better than I ever could….
Picture Of The Week #4
Oct 12th
A father and sons first time fly fishing…
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How do you not get hooked with scenery like that? They did…
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Scott & Bronx Thomas enjoying a summers day in the WY backcountry
Bad Day of Catching, Good day of Fishing
Oct 12th
You know those days that just don’t turn out the way you hoped? You think the timing, weather, hatch and location is perfect, but for some reason or another it just isn’t. We’ll this past trip we experienced just that. I had been to this river for the past two years on the second week of October and the fishing had been unbelievable to say the least. So with that in mind, I was pretty excitedto take a couple of my buddies (Hoss and Carter) and a newbie (Bre) to the sport. As I walked up to the river I could see the little river was low and full of moss. There were little fish rising everywhere on the tiny midges (too small to match) that were coming off. It looked like we would be going small and only on the top without a dropper. The fishing was sub-par with a few coming after our dries and most spooking before the first pass. By the time the sun was ready to set everyone had caught a few little guys, but really by then the catching took second stage and time spent fishing with friends in a beautiful high mtn river was really the catch of the day.
Still managed to have a three species day…
Study Topic Of The Week #3
Oct 7th
Study Topic Of The Week: Going Deep In The Name Of Trout Research
I was able to slide right into a run without spooking trout. They weren’t bothered by a big bubble-blowing blob, so long as I moved slowly. But as soon as photographer Tim Romano moved the boom-operated underwater camera overhead, even ever so subtly, the fish scattered in panic. At one point, a shadow passed above and I saw fish slink away toward the rocks. When I surfaced to ask what had happened, they told me a blue heron had flown over the run.
Jeremy Hyatt, one of the top guides in Colorado , fished a nymph rig. I observed the fish inhaling the fly and spitting it back out like a sunflower seed. Hyatt never saw his indicator move and certainly never felt the fish. The perfect “dead drift,” in which flies float with virtually no influence from the tippet and line, elicited more strikes, but the slack line caused more misses. Even the best anglers miss at least 50 percent of takes.
drift was set up, count slowly to three, then set the hook. Sure enough, he got into a few trout that way. Next we tried a variation on the European style of nymphing. The angler uses heavily weighted flies, casts more directly upstream into the run, and essentially rakes the flies through the fish zone. I saw the fish eat the flies less often, but the percentage of hookups on takes improved.You can improve your odds in sight fishing by casting at the right fish. What do I mean? Say you’ve spotted three fish in a run. Two of them are essentially glued to the bottom, not moving much, while the third is suspended halfway up the water column, weaving back and forth, eating naturally. That’s your player, and it should be your target.
feeding lane. Instead of dredging the run for the fish on the bottom, he lightened his weight so the flies would drift midway up the water column. Sure enough, that fish ate it on the first drift. This happened just a few feet in front of my face.I’ll never fish 6X or smaller tippet again. At least not in moving water, and certainly not on a nymph rig. I watched fish react the same way to a full range of tippets and flies, and dropping down in size on the tippet made no difference at all. Zip. I could see when the angler used 6X as readily as I saw 3X. Granted, I’m not a fish (just a writer pretending to be a fish), but I don’t think it mattered that much to the trout. At least that appeared to be the case when the water was moving at a rate of, say, 1 linear river foot per second or faster. You might as well have the advantage of stronger line.
When the fish are focused on a certain insect type, you want to pick a fly pattern that best imitates its size, color, and so forth. It’s not rocket science. But when the trout are eating opportunistically, you can and should use larger flies in faster water.
I always fish two flies on a nymph rig. The first, suspended about a foot below my weight, is a larger attractor fly, like a pink San Juan worm or a Copper John. Then I tie another 12 to 18 inches of tippet to its hook shank and attach a smaller fly, a “morsel,” on the bottom. This is my standard rig in fast water and often in slow water as well. In really slow, clear water, I use two small flies.From my in-water perspective, it seemed that strike indicators made of yarn did not freak the fish out as much as the solid-foam bobber kind. The fish would scatter away from the latter after it hit the water. I don’t know why; maybe the noise from the piece of foam slapping the surface was an issue. Certainly the solid indicators were more obvious and foreign looking as they floated overhead. Yarn indicators solved both problems. They were silent when they hit the water, and from my perspective looking from the bottom up, the yarn seemed to blend in more naturally with the dispersed bubble patterns on the surface. It looked organic, not man-made. We switched colors of the yarn indicators, and none seemed to spook fish or stop them from taking the flies.
Weight is an enormous part of the equation in nymph fishing, especially when you are “prospecting” by fishing attractor-type patterns like Prince nymphs and Copper Johns. If a substantial hatch is happening, or a prolific number of bugs are washing through a run, trout will key on those insects and make more effort to eat. When fish are just hanging out in the water column, however, and merely feeding on opportunity, you have to hit them in the head.
Places where you find changes in structure, changes in depth, and changes in currents are where you’ll find most of
the fish. We found trout to be less spook in the more pronounced feeding lanes, for example, where a rock made a hard current seam and there was protective cover close by. I was able to approach fish in these situations much more easily than I could those that were exposed in open riffles and pools. You’ll do yourself a favor by zeroing in on spots in the river where you see pronounced changes in current and the bottom.Ask a trout guide “What are they eating?” and he or she will likely answer, “A good drift.” If you flies are dragging, the trout will not only refuse them but will often swim away,. We watched over and over via the video camera as we floated a large nymph through a series of pools and riffles. On purpose, we alternated ad drifts (in which the fly looked like a dog pulling on its leash) with good drifts (in which the fly floated naturally). We could not have choreographed a more graphic response: The trout shunned and swam away from the dragging fly and, conversely, slid over to check out the smooth presentations. Your cast is about one-tenth as important as your drift. Learn to mend your line and control your drift, and half the battle is won.
Fly Of The Week
Oct 7th
Novembers fly o’week
The Copper John is a popular and effective pattern has taken the fly fishing world by storm. This fly sinks quickly and can be used as a deep nymph or a dropper. Fish seem unable to resist the combination of color, flash, and realistic shape. it is best fished where mayflies or stoneflies are common and even works in certain lake situations. Most guides and serious anglers never enter the river without several sizes, colors, and variations of this pattern in the fly box.
Octobers—fly o’week
Fall = Hucking Da Meat for Pissed Off Browns…Here are a couple must haves thanks to Kelly Galloup
Sex Dungeons
Zoo Cougar
A Dream Come True-2009 Duck Opener
Oct 5th
For years, my good friend Brandon Carter would tell me stories and show me pictures of the amazing opening day of the Utah waterfowl season. It is something I have always dreamed about experiencing and I had put it on the top of my list. Brandon Carter is one of the greatest sportsman I know. He lives and dies spending time outdoors with friends and family and thrives over the challenge of the hunt. It is this passion that has proven to be his secret 
weapon to success. He simply has put in the time and effort to improve his odds and make success in the field a thing of constant matter. It was this reason I was ecstatic to be part of his group for the opening of the 2009 duck hunt. The hunt started a day before the legal shooting began, Carter and a couple of his other buddies wanted to claim one of the best spots in the marsh at a very popular duck resting marsh. (In fact it is the largest resting spot on the Pacific Flyway) After setting out the decoys that night, we were all set and now awaiting the blessed morning to come. As I approached the parking area that night, I was 
blown away by the excitement, craz, and culture of waterfowl hunting that I had never witnessed, in my years of hunting ducks on the Utah Lake shoreline. There were $40k dollar Air boats, hundreds of long shaft motor boats, camo as far as the eye could see, excited water dogs and a parking lot full to the brim with jacked-up trucks covered in waterfowl decals. It was the real deal when it comes to public land duck hunting. In fact as I glassed over the parking area there were as many license plates from out of state then in state. I just couldn’t get over the excitement and feeling of the hunt to come. At our camp we were living life to the highest standard when it comes to hunting. We had a group of 8 shooters, 2 young guns and Max the dog. To top it off 
we were going to be spending the night all together in the Carters 35ft motor home. As the night progressed and the hunting stories started to stretch a bite, we decided we better turn off the Duck Commander DVDs and get a few hours of sleep before 4:45am was upon us. As the alarm rang, we all were more then ready to start the day. It is always hard for me to sleep with the anticipation of any hunt or fishing trip on my mind and I know it was for the rest of our group. (Plus it was hott) So we loaded the boat with shells and guns and sent them off while the rest of the group got on their bikes and headed down the dike for a 15 min ride to our spot. The next 2 hrs was torcherous, as the daylight broke the ducks started flying by the 1000s. It was one of the coolest sights I have ever scene out in the marsh. When the glorious 8am came I wasn’t ready for what was to unfold. It was as if a war had begun in the marsh. Shots by the hundreds rang the air for the next 2hrs. The ducks must have been just as excited because they were flying high and fast. It was as exciting as one gets when it comes to fast shooting for ducks. Within the first hour most of our group had shot over 2 boxes of shells and working on their 3rd. As we settle down, our shooting got better and the ducks started to fall.
We even were lucky enough to have the chance at a high flying banded goose that Carter hit just right with his 2 shot. (It was an awesome shot!) It was an amazing experience to say the least. We ended up shooting over 30+ birds and a banded goose.
Brandon, Brian, Travis, Tyler
I fill very lucky to have been part of such a great day of waterfowl hunting, as well as sharing this experience with my new friends (Bobs (Both), Bryan, Tyer, Shawn and the rest of the crew) I can’t wait for next years opener!!!
