Friday, July 27, 2007

South Fork Float


I have been on a lot of fishing trips, but the float/camp trip down the Canyon section of the South Fork of the Snake has to top the charts to date. Our adventure began as an idea to take Jordan on one last farewell trip before he left on his mission to Iowa where there is pretty much no fly fishing. So we loaded up the shaky Jeep and were on our way. (Travis, Liz and Jordan) We got to the SF Outfitters Lodge at about 4 pm paid for a shuttle and got some info and were on our way to the Bridge put in. The first day of fishing produced just as we hoped. It was non stop dry fly fishing for hungry Cutts on PMDs and PMD Emergers. We stopped on a few promising gravel bars and they all produced a few fish.





We finally reached our river side campsite well after dark. It was ok because we had some good tinfoil dinners on the menu and a chance to just sit back and relax. (Liz read Twilight the whole trip)





The second day was very similar to the last with Cutty after Cutty hitting PMDs and Hoppers.


That night all of the camping spots were taken so we found our own private side stream and spent the night. Every thing about the spot was perfect. The fish were rising to Caddis that evening and there was a great bend just down stream that produced some nice fish. The only problem was the place was haunted with crazy animals. That tried to kill us. Here's the story, after we had a tasty dinner of Texas Tacos, Liz decided to call it a night. But Jordan and I hung out by the camp talking about missions and life. Out of no where we heard some crashing through the bushes and next thing we knew it we had a stampede of Moose trying to run through our camp. First was the baby which was still big. We jumped to our feet and Jordan yelled at it like it was a cow. Then shortly after it's mother followed and almost ran over Liz sleeping in the tent. We were both scared to death and wondered why they would be running at us like that. After some rock tosses to make sure they were gone. I told Jordan I was ready for bed and went in the tent with Liz, while Jordan was left sleeping outside with all the crazy animals. The next morning he said it was by far one of the scariest nights he has ever had.



The highlight of the day was when Jordan won our competition and caught a 23 inch Cutt on a size 22 gray soft hackle. It was sweet! Another crazy thing was seeing Ziedee and his white honey being very open in their love life as we pasted by their beached boat. "Hey guys, those guys are naked!" "Jordan your wrong, Liz look at the camp number in the binoculars" "They are naked!" "Liz quit looking in the binoculars" It was pretty dang funny. The rest of the trip was full of fish rising to Hoppers and just good old conversation. This trip opened my eyes to the world of float camp trip. Now I will constantly wish I was floating the SF in pursuit of rising trout and campfire stories. This trip we caught hundreds of fish all on dry flies.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Caddis + Night = Big Fish

July 11th, 2007 Provo River Jordan, John and Travis We got to the river around 6pm. After rigging up the poles the micro burst came fast and ferious almost blowing us off the river. Jordan hooked the first fish of the night with a nice bow (17 inches)and Travis fallowed shortly with its twin. John then lost the fish of the night as a 22+inch Brown leaped out of the water and broke his outfit. (Get'em on the reel) Travis landed a 20 inch Brown by pure luck.(Beauty) Finally the wind died down and the hatch began.What a perfect time to break Travis's rod in half!
So he was done but Jordan and John tied on the old Elk Hairs and Para Adams and knocked them dead. They landed 5 fish all over 18 inches and lost doubled that much. John had big fish rights with his 4# Bow and Jordan caught the a 18 inch Cutty. It was a great night to be on the Provo.







Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Lancaster Guy's Trip 07

Wyoming Fly Fishing (July 5th-7th)
Day 1. After what seemed to be a very short four hour drive. We reached our final desination (sorry I can't disclose this spot, it can't handle the pressure) We set up the brand new Wall Tent that my father-in-law just purchased. After camp was set up and looking good, I got rigged up to hit the river just feet away. It was a hot sunny day, the yellow sallies were out in good numbers. I caught some smaller fish (10"-12")on a little yellow sally and a PT dropper. As I worked my way up the river I started finding some better water and larger fish.(14"-18") The fly of the trip was a Royal PMX size 4 it was big and bright, bringing those big Cutties to the surface all day. The fishing was very fast I would catch a big Cutt. out of almost every deep hole or beaver pond and sometime multipal fish out of each hole. The high light of day one was when I finally found the perfect hole. I caught fish after fish as I worked my way up the hole. As I reached the top of the hole, I decided I was going to make one last cast for the day. As my big dry fly worked its way down the fast riffle Wham! Big fish on. It fight like a champ and finally came to the shore. It was dark yellow, hog 18" Male Cutthroat and the largest fish ever landed by our group on this high country river. That night many stories were told about the fish we caught and the ones that always get away.
Day 2. After a late night of stories and eating cold ribs at mid-night. The crew was up before the break of dawn. I decided I needed to replenish my fly box a bit with some more big Royal PMX's and some droppers so I spent the early part of the morning on the second half of fly fishing. As the sun came up so did the bugs and fish. Cicadas were every where, buzzing around. There were also PMDs, Sallies, Caddis. I first tried to hook a large fish that I saw the morning before. My first cast with my big rubber leg Wolly Bugger did it job. I hooked the fish but lost it shorly after. Dang!!! After that it was all big dries for the rest of the day. I walked up the river fishing every hole that was deep enough to hold fish. It was an awesome day to be on the river. There were bugs everywhere. Cicadas, Caddis, PMD, Sallies. I probabley walked 4-5 miles of the river looking for big fish. That was the most productive day of fishing that I have ever experienced. I can't even count how many fish I caught. At the end of the day my feet hurt, my back acked and my lawn chair never felt so good.
Day 3. I was the first to wake up before dawn. Excited and yet sad that this was the last few hours we would have to fish. I sped walked to the old trusty hole, that always seemed to produce fish in past trips. I used the big dry-dropper again but the long dropper was the key. (PT) In the 2 hour period I had to fish I landed over 20 fish in that same hole. There weren't any record breakers (mostly 12"-15") but their beauty and fight made up for the size.
This was a memorable trip for our crew we caught more and bigger fish then ever before. Just being in the Wyoming backcountry was worth every bit of the time that we spent. There is nothing better than being with people that I love and sharing coversation and experiences that will last a life time.