Provo River Caddis And Some

So I usally try to post my stories/report of my latest trips as soon as possible. The reason being that if you wait a day or two I lose some of the feeling and emotions that came along with the adventure. So with that regaurd, I am going to start out with an overview of this past week. The good, bad, and ulgy. So to put things in to persective our annual Fishing Frenzy went from June 12th - 16th, I was home for two days and left to New Mexico for work the 19th-22nd. So now you understand how crazy life has been and why I needed some relief. So Monday, June 23rd after work was over I called up my Brother-in-law who just returned from Twaiwan serving an LDS Mission and asked him if he wanted to hit the Provo. Like most return missionaries he didn't have much going on so we were off to see if we could hit the summer Caddis Hatch. As we approached the section of river I had planned on fishing, the hole was already taken ( what a surprise for the Provo) The other problem we ran into is that the water was running high and fast. (which is good) but we couldn't cross the river to get to my other favorite hole. We settled at an ok seem and worked San Jaun's and Sow Bugs right on the bottom. To my surprise Andrew who had never been Fly fishing on a river before hooked up with a nice 13 inch Bow. It was great to see the excitement of a new fly fishermen try to reel in a fish with line everywhere and complete uncontrol. I remember those days and still have them. As it started to get dark we moved back upstream to Hoovers hole in anicapation of a great Caddis hatch later that night. The hatch did come off, but not in big numbers and only a couple of fish we keying on them. Andrew hooked up with a nice fish that completely broke his 8 pound test, so I finally decided it was time that I strung up my pole and try my luck out too. Since I had recently broke my Orvis I was using my brand new 9" 10 wt. Which was pretty dang stiff for little Caddis flies. After a couple casts I had a nice fish hooked up. I handed Andrew the pole so he could get a feel of fighting a bigger fish on a rod and just like you know it, the dang fish got all wrapped around the sticks and ended up swimming free. In all it was a great night to be out on the Provo introducing Andrew to a sport that I hold dear to me and on the other hand letting him reintroduce himself to the beauty of the Rocky Mtns. We got home at 10:45 pm

On Tuesday morning at 5:45 am, I went Mt. Biking with Brent(Lambert Park) then went to work and straight from work went biking again with the Payson Boyz on Blackhawk. It rocked except for the flat tires, bike issues and left camel pak which all added to getting home at 11 pm

Weds. I found myself back on the Provo with Wayne and Brent. We didn't play around this trip we started of the night nymphing Sow bugs and PTs. We got to Hoovers at about 7 pm and within the first 5 mins I had a 17-18 inch Bow saddled up and taking me for a good ride. It was a fat healthy trout that wanted just one more Sow bug. I caught another 16 inch football Rainbow, before calling it quites with the Nymphs. As it got darker the hatch really never can off. There were a few fish rising, but not even concidered good. I tied on a Para- Caddis, Para- Adams and killer caddis emerger. My first cast with the emerger I hooked into a scrapy little bow. It was awesome to see that 14 inch bow fling itself out of the water while it took my little emerger. I was like "WHAT! that was close to my flies, hook set. FISH ON!" My last fish came as the biggest surprise. I had just retied my flies and said just cast in the shallows like this and with in a second of my flies hittling the surface. I had a 18 inch Brown nail my Para Adams. It really caught me off gaurd. As it got darker I was getting colder, but the action for Wayne and Brent finally heated up. Wayne hooked up but got rapped, where as Brent hooked up to a hog brown topped of a great outing at Hoovers. The thing I will never forget about this last trip is how cold I got. I was freezing to the bone. I will always wear waders and boots for now on when I fish the late night Caddis action. I liked what Brent said "I don't care if I even fish or get my flies wet, I am just glad to be out here" I love it!!! We got home at 11 pm

Thurs, stayed home and got reorganized and recharged on being a good husband.

Friday, took the Jeep in to get A/C recharged. Had a couple hours to burn while waiting, so I picked up Gunner and Tanner and hit a little local bluegill and bass pond. Gunner is getting really good at Fly Fishing and land many little bluegills. He is a natural when it comes to casting and reading the fish. I made him do almost everything himself today which will help him grow in the long run. Tanner on the other hand did really good catching a hand full of bluegills, but needs a little more help on the art of casting a rod and where to place a fly. But when I think about it I started when I was 16 and they are only 11 and 9. It's awesome! Here are a couple pics of lasts years trip to the pond:

2007 Big Fish Club

So in honor of big trout every where here they are the best 20+ inch(or close to) trout pics of 2007

The Fly Fishing Den

So I have always wanted to create a real fly tying desk. One that's sole purpose is to be used to tie flies and do outdoors stuff at. (A Total Guys Hangout Place) After much careful thought I finally did it. In our extra room which is now used as a computer room there is a large walk in closet. It used to be kind of a storage room where I put all my outdoor stuff. But now it has been revamped as my own personal fly fishing room. I am going to be spending lots of time in there getting ready for the Frenzy and just hanging out reading fishing magazines and doing guys stuff.

Cicada Hatch On The Green

So it finally happened. I was finally on the Green River during the coveted Cicada hatch. The trip started out about 3 weeks ago when my friend Brent invited me to go with him to Missula, Montana to float and fish in that area during this weekend. After talking it over with Liz there was no way I could make that trip since I just got back from California. But with run off Brent decided not to go to Montana and called me to see if I wanted to float the Green on Friday and Saturday. I couldn't go Friday cause of work, so I gave them the boat and Liz and I met them out there Saturday morning. The drive went by fast since we had the 300. We met them at 8:30am at the dam. They seemed happy to see us. I guess fishing was pretty inconstant the day before and from their body language it looked like we had our work cut out for us for the day. On our way to stuttle the car I stopped and talked to Denny and Emmitt to get some of their knowledge and a life jacket. I'm sure glad I did. Denny told me what I wanted to hear. "Fish Cicadas" I bought a few of his favorites and we were off to the water. Now thinking about it, it was the prefect day to fish Cicadas. It had been cold 3 days before and warming since. Today was by far the hottest day so far. It was sunny and about 80 degrees most of the day. The other thing to note is that the river was running at peak flows for the year, 4,200 cfs. Which was actually very nice I though. We started off fishing deep right out from the boat rap. Dave had two on an landed one and Brent missed one. After that we worked our way to the next big eddy and Dave caught a nice Bow again with his #16 disco. I even threw out the Cicada and dropper and on the first three cast I had fish come up for the fly, but no hook ups. Dave decided to row and I got to fish for about 10 minutes which was just enough time to miss a nice brown and recast in the same spot to nail a beautiful Bow. We stopped and I got out to see if I could get that Brown to come up again and as I fish up to the hole another larger brown killed my Cicada and I was hooked up again. After that we had many fish either nose our Cicadas or come out nowhere with reckless abanddon and nail our Cicada. It was cool to see real Cicadas flying around and on the water as we fished the imitations. The next highlight was when we stopped for lunch. (I think its called Roller coaster Rapid) I got out to fish my favorite hole on the river and on my first cast a large gold shadow moved up from the depths and nailed my Cicada. It was a site to see! It was the biggest fish of the day for me about an 18-19 inch brown. I ended up finally catching a nice Bow on my dropper and them moving up river and landing two other nice Browns on the Cicada. The rest of the float was a mixed bag of hooking/missing fish on Cicadas, nymphs. The one thing I can say about this float is that it was CONSISTENT. We had fish coming to our flies all day. Even though we didn't catch half of them we constantly had action which makes for an exciting outing. But the thing I loved about this trip most is that it was the first time I was able to share this special place with my love of my life Liz. Not the fish, not the great Cicada hatch will top the having Liz with me to share this great adventure. It's the memories that we build and store in our minds that mean the most to us in this life.