Off Roading, Brookies and Browns

With a free Friday morning to do whatever I pleased. I was having the hardest time deciding on a location to fit my desires. Its what I was thinking when I feel asleep and the first thing on my mind when I woke up at 6 am. I even sat in bed tossing and turning until I decided, I had better just go and where ever I end up will be better than working. It came down to the Price, Provo and AF. With a left hand turn the decision was made to chase the elusive high country Artic Grayling and Beautiful Brook Trout of Silver Lake Flat.

I sent in the coordinates on the GPS and was off. The narrow dirt road leading up to the lake was full of rocks and everything my Jeep loves to climb. As I reached the lake I was surprised to find that it was as low as I have ever scene it. The lake was only a 1/3 full, due to reconstruction on the dam. I decided to try the inlet which in most unfamiliar lakes will produce. To my surprise as I was walking down to the water I could see a few rises in the early morning mist. I tied on a #20 Para Adams and an Orange Griffin Gnat. My first cast produced a nice take, but the fish must have been joking. I missed about 5 fish in a row and thought "Man, what am I doing wrong? Maybe they are Grayling with their small mouths???" So I decided to try the "God Save the King" Technique. It where you save God Save the King before you set the hook. It must have worked because for the next hour and half I hooked and release about 90% of my fish. The Brookies have their fall colors and were remarkable. I left and decided to hit Tibble Fork to see if the Browns were up in the river. The spawn was on and the Browns were everywhere. I hooked up with a handful of fish and decided I had had my share of fish for the day. (That's a great feeling for fly fishermen) Didn't see and Graylin, but the Brookies and Browns were enough to feel my cup and restore my confidence.

Birthday Weekend

Fox Hunting with Carter and friend...With are bad shooting, we let the wilie fox go!

So this past weekend was pretty much perfect! The weather was unreal for this time of year and the fishing lets just say fast. What more can you ask for when it is your favorite weekend of the year. So it started out on Friday morning up on the Middle Provo. I was fishing with Mallary and Gunner in hopes of a pre-spawn or some little BWO's. As the morning temps rose from 17 degrees so did the fishing. By 10:30am we had our first hook up! I was in a battle against a nice 22 inch Brown that had taken my little #22 WD-40. I fought the fish until it finally tired and decided to come to shore. But just as you know it he didn't want to stick around for a pic and spit the tiny hook as I was trying to pick him up, Oh well! He was a nice dark colored, hooked jaw male that would have made a sick pic, but like I said before, oh well. (I'm still a little mad) The rest of the day was taken over by the emergence of BWO's that were captivating the fish all over in our hole that we were fishing. There must have been over 100 fish working the whole pool in front of us. Mallary managed to hook and quick release a little brown before she had to jet at 11:30am. Gunner and I stayed for another hour and had a blast hooking/missing a handful of average sized browns. It was awesome to see so many fish and know exactly what to use. I wish we could of stayed longer, but work was calling and I had to make an appearance. Saturday was a little bit of a different story I still woke up at 6:30am, but it was for a late season Mt Bike trip up Payson Canyon. We rode hard and had a great time tackling the steep trails of Blackhawk, Bennies Creek, Shram, Pipeline and what ever other trails we connected to to reach the bottom. In all we rode close to 25 miles worth of trails before Noon. (Two shuttles) When I got home Liz told new I shouldn't waste such a perfect Saturday watching the BYU game, so with that incentive I was packing my fishing gear and heading up Provo Canyon in search for some more technical BWO fishing. I reached the Lower Provo about 2 pm and from up above I spotted a few little rises. (I fished from the big lot to the beef jerky eddy) That afternoon the fish never committed to the bugs like they did on the Middle. However the few that I saw rising I could zero in on and get a take 90% of the time. I ended up having a 20 fish afternoon that day on either fish I would spot rising or by simply fishing the riffles with my dry and dropper set up. I caught 95% of my fish on a #22 tung WD-40. I nymphed for about 20 mins before I left and hooked up twice with nice healthy Browns that were pretty much twins at 17 inches. It was a great afternoon to be on the Lower Provo. I only saw a few fishermen and it seemed more like a weekday. The only thing I could of done away with was the hard wind that blew all afternoon. But with 65* weather on the 25th of October, I can't complain.

Monday was my annual Birthday fishing trip with Liz. Almost every year for the past 5 years I have gone fishing with Liz on what every local stillwater I choose for my birthday. In past years it has always been eat at the Hub Cafe then hit Strawberry. This year I decide to try my luck at the X. I knew that this would be a gamble, but I wanted the challenge and a chance at a huge fish. And you know what that is just what I got! We didn't get to the X until around 10 am, but It was fine because with the bright, windless day I couldn't get anything to commit. Unlit the wind picked up around 12pm. I finally started getting a few good hits with my streamers and Chronomids. Then I hooked up good with a monster that ran and never looked back. I finally decided to switch to a deep AP Emerger and Gray Scud set up and on the second cast as I was dragging the bottom at 14 ft, I felt some resistance on my retrieve. I thought moss, but then it moved to the right and I instantly set the hook and had a big fish on! I was only using 6x tippet, so I gently fought the fish until it made my forearm burn and to my amazement after 4 very hard runs I finally coached the 24 1/2 inch Tiger trout to my net. I estimated its weight between 5-6 pounds. (Freaking fatty) After that fish nothing else matter. I had accomplished the what I set out to do and I was as happy as a birthday boy could be. Its funny to think that I was satisfied with only one netted fish, but at the X one fish landed on this technical lake makes up for 100 fish landed any where else in the state. Plus they are hogs and the hardest fighters!

First Goose Ever!

So I have been an avid waterfowl-upland game hunter for as long as I can remember. Growing up next to Utah Lake and having our family farm of 300+ acres was the perfect situation that gave me endless opportunities to hunt birds and because passionate about the world of hunting. I have bagged many Pheasants and Ducks of all kinds, but the one bird that has always eluded me is the King of the Waterfowl birds, the Canadian Goose. I have tried on several occasions to harvest my first Goose, but one way or another I have always came up empty handed. My envy towards these birds started early as my big bro would go hunting with his friends Mike and Lane and they would come back with stories and limits of huge Canadian Geese on opening morning. Back then I was to young to hunt and by the time I was old enough they had moved on to hunting with other friends and other parts of the state. One of the only times I felt like I really had it right was when Sean and I were coming back from Duck hunting the opener, it was really windy and the Geese were coming in to the lower north grain field by the flock. We zipped home grabbed our decoys and set up in a ditch. With in minutes we had a whole flock of about 30 flying low and right over our heads. I unloaded a shot then my gun got jammed. I was so mad, sad and frustrated that my first shot didn't connect. I don't know how to this day we didn't knock down one bird out of 4 shots, but that's Goose hunting I thought until today.

Today was different I had spotted Geese in the lower Grain Field multiple times as I was coming back form Duck hunting. I decided that Tuesday morning was when I was going to get them. As I reached the field in the dark early hours. I was surprised to see that there were already people there setting up to hunt my exact spot. I was upset at first then I decided to see if it was Mike (which I tough it would be) to my surprise it was Mike, Lane and Brett who I consider to be Goose hunting royalty in our town and who I always wanted to hunt Geese with. They were cool with letting me hunt with them since it was my property. So we got our coffins (mine was just a bunch of straw) and decoys set up. By first light we could hear the Geese starting to quack and with in seconds it seemed we had two majestic Geese flying low and right into our decoys. Mike and Lane had the open shots and with two shots put them both on the playing field. It was amazing and my first real up close case of Goose fever. After some laughs and stories of the past we were surprised yet again with another flock of 7 Geese. This time I was going to get a shot off. They landed in the very northern end of our decoys so I jumped out of my blind to get around Mike, shoulder my gun and down went my very first Goose!!! I was filled with excitement and adrenaline, but kept my composure and downed another with my second shot. I shot again, but the last bird was to far by that time. To my surprise my second shot bird regained its strength and few away. Dang it! But I was just fine with that because I was sitting on the top of the world and nothing could take the happiness and joy I was feeling at that moment. I had accomplished another goal that seemed so far and almost lost and to do it with old town friends made it even sweeter. We downed 4 birds out of the seven and should have been five if my second wouldn't of flown away. But the action wasn't done just yet, we were waiting on the big flock to grace us with its presence and it did. As the loud honks and Goose noises came closer we knew that we were in for a treat. The big flock of about 20 flew right over our heads, circled around the front of us and looked as if they were about to land, but as I have figured out in the past Goose hunting is hard and everything has to work out right. We could have shot, but we pasted it up hoping they would land in the decoy spread, but those wise Geese must have noticed something wrong and headed for the safety of the lake. We all had a lot of "what if" moments after that, but that's why it is called hunting and not killing. What an exciting day...I love the atmosphere and feeling that Goose hunting bring out in people. The excitement of the Geese flying in is short, but the feelings will last with me forever. Thanks again Mike, Lane and Brett you don't know how special this day really was for me!

2008 Duck Hunt Opener

The Crew! Sean, Tanner, Taylor, Gunner and Cash

The New Duck Blind
This years Duck opener was pretty different to say the least. I was so excited and pumped to see a lot of birds and use the new blind. (Like we did on the youth opener) One of the two went great, but the part about bagging a lot of birds didn't. We saw a few birds and missed a lot of them. We should have downed at least 5 others. Everyone in the group got shots off and seemed to be having a good time regardless of the slower action. The other big factor was the constant rain that soaked all of us to the very bones it rained all day for the first time in months. I thought the storm would move the birds a little more, but it seemed to keep them put without much wind. The bright spot of the day for me was my 50 yard shot on a Teal the was flying a way. I knocked him down and Cash finished him off. It was his first diving Duck retrieve...meaning it dove down when he tried to get it, but he found it a minute later. Good dog!

That was the only Duck we bagged that morning, but we all had a great time with a couple first time hunters Tanner and Taylor... Then Gunner and Sean. Tanner is a little shy about shoot a Shotgun since it almost blew him off the blind and gave him a nice bruise on his cheek. Another bright spot was the new duck blind that worked great and was so nice to sit and wait for the birds. To finish off the day we were greeted by Mom's huge warm breakfast that totally hit the spot.

Cash Wondering Why We Didn't Shoot More Ducks

Jared, Sean, Tate, Tanner and Gunner went down later and got some ducks and Jared got a Goose! I guess the birds came in a little later. I also went down this Monday morning and and only had one duck come into the decoys, but at least it was a Drake Mallard that I got with one shot! I am 2-3 this year shooting!!!