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“Ice Off Memories”

Knowing that “ice off’ doesn’t stay around for long I made it a priority to get up and fish the berry as much as possible. Within 3 days the ice had peeled back 30 yards making it harder to fish from the shore. Knowing that I would have to fish blind, I decided to change that. I hiked up the side hill until I had a good look at the water below. Within seconds I spotted two very large cutthroats cruising the shore line. I sunk down the hill and with perfect conditions. (A little breeze picked up and put a riffle on the water covering my shadow casts) I stripped in and as my bugger approached the shore, I saw a big silver flash and a large cutthroat had rolled on my fly feet from the shore. I set the hook and with two head shakes the hook was loose. WOW, I though, that was sick! In hopes that the second fish was still there I casted out again. Strip, tick, hook set and a miss. One last desperation cast I thought, count to 5, strip, pressure, hook set, fish on! This fish was nice, it rolled, shook its head and tried about everything it could to brake me off. After the tug a war the beautiful 24 inch Cutthroat can to hand. After the sun went behind the mountainside my spot fishing came to an end. the remainder of the night was given to slot cutties and watching the amazing sunset finish its day with a masterpiece.

Next time I’ll use a real tripod-not my chest pack

Forever Solo

Fins of Fire

I woke up Sat morning to the sound of rain beating against my window. The first thing that popped into my head was BWOs. So I got up and mentally planned out my day as I got my warm clothes put together. I couldn’t help wish I was on my way to the green, but the extra sleep and The Middle would fit the mold just fine. After a trip to The King and Sportsman’s for a new rain jacket, I was on my way. The drive up Provo canyon wasn’t very promising. The LP was running high and cloudy, giving me second guesses on my choice of location. As I approached the Charleston turn off I couldn’t do it, I had talked myself into making the extra drive just to see if there was any open water at Strawberry. (I also thought if there wasn’t, I would still be able to make it back in time for the bwo hatch) The drive to Strawberry was wet and that turned into snow and ice. I watched as my gauge turned from 47* to 22* in the matter of 10 miles. When I finally reached my destination, I was stoked to see the gamble paid off big time. I had hit “Ice Off” just right! As I was getting ready, I was greeted by another fishermen that was cursing the crappy conditions and was leaving because of the thick slush that covered any open water. “You can’t get your flies through it” he said at least 10 times to me. “Good luck, you’ll need it” he said. I took that as a challenge and was on my way to the limited open water. He was right the slush was thick, due to the snow that was falling, but it was totally fishable with the right set up. For me the right set up was a 9 ft leader (with a couple weights placed 2 ft apart) with heavily weighted Sex Dungeon. The fly would brake through the slush and the fine tippet would cut through the slush allowing it to stay below and not get pulled to the surface where the fly line was. Within a couple cast, I felt some pressure and thought crap, a snag! As I pulled the line tight, it moved and then took off like a bullet under the safety of the ice. I yelled out in hopes that the negative fishermen could here me on his way back home. It was done! I had met the challenge with a beautiful 23-24 inch Cutthroat. After warming up, I continued to pound the ice line getting hookups and misses on a continual basis. The weather finally decided to give me some relief and with a little wind and rain the slush monster was gone and for about 45 mins the sun emerged and gave me some much needed warmth. In all it was an amazing outing. The fish were big and healthy and I was virtually alone all day. So who would have thought that a BWO hatch could be so good!