Monday, August 25, 2008

Lava Hot Springs Was On Fire


So we left to Lava around an hour and a half late, due to some slow moving folks (The Browns). It was alright because not only were we going to Lava, but we were also going to relax and just hangout for the weekend with 8 of our best friends. We got to the cabin a little early so the Browns and Liz and I decided to hit the local private pond for some evening fishing. When we got there I was pretty taken back the pond was really low and 75% covered in moss. This didn't stop us though we strung up our poles and with-in a few casts we had fish hitting our offerings. That night I keyed on to the PMD - Midge hatch and brought countless fish to the shore. It was awesome to set the hook 40 ft away and have the Rainbow trout just explode out of the water. Scott and Jocie also caught a couple on spinners. That night we stopped by the local bar to play BINGO with a bunch of rough old farmers and country folk. It was great fun and wouldn't you know it Scott even won 21 Bucks! The next morning I arose before the rest of the group snuck out of the cabin and headed back up to the new found honey hole. When I got there conditions were very similar to the night before, fish were rising periodically and there seemed to be a nice Midge hatch. I tied on the Single Midge #20 and the #18 PMD Hackle Stacker and a tung red blood midge. Right off the bat the Bows were keyed on to the dropper. I caught and released many bows on it then I decided to start playing around with patterns. I then caught a bow on a beetle, green hopper and a tung PT. It was fun to prove to myself that its not so much the pattern as it is the presentation. The last bit of the morning I spent looking at the bugs on the water and trying to figure out what they were. I was really blown away by the beauty of the gray mayflies that were hatching late morning. They would sit on the pond banks with spent wings making an easy target for hungry trout. The morning fishing ended when the girls came up to the pond on their morning workout saying "we were supposed to tell you it time for breakfast". It was a great morning on the pond and one that I will soon not forget. The rest of the day was spent swimming in the local pool, riding down the river and hanging out in the hot sun. After dinner I talked Scott into hitting the pond for the golden hour before dark. I strung up the rod with the same patterns as the morning. (midge/hackle stacker) I gave Scotty the rod and within a few shallow casts Scott had his sweet cast back and was hooked up with a big bow. The next 45 mins produced several hard fighting bows to Scotts dries. It was great to see the excitement and fulfillment in Scotts face as he "knocked em dead". This last outing with Scott has been very long awaited. We grew up chasing fish together from catfish and White bass at Utah Lake to sitting on the shores of the old Berry patch waiting and hoping that a fish would bite our worms. Scott and I have been fly fishing many times as we were new into the sport, but haven't been in the past 2-6 years. I wanted to show him that now I knew what I was doing and that we could in fact catch some fish. What it came down to is that I missed fishing with my best friend Scott and this was an outing that we will both never forget.



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