Salmonfly Reintroduction Project

The salmonfly relocation project put on by trout unlimited and the university of utah went down today. i took austin with me fora day of rounding up salmonflies. we met up with about 20 other volunteers on the river. the weather was a little chilly in the morning but quickly heated up. the day was filled with turning over rocks and seining. i have never seen so many of these specimens on a river. it was pretty cool. most of the salmonflies were in the inch range with a decen number in the 2 inch range. i didn't realize that river had so much aquatic life. we seined drakes, cranefly larva, baetis, skwalas, various caddis and of course salmonflies.come afternoon some smaller caddis started popping off and i even had an adult skwala land on my shoulder. originally TU was looking to pull about 1,000 salmonflies but since there were so damn many they looked to get more around 3,000. we were done collecting around 11:00 ad then we all heading over to the logan to transplant them. we were all said and done at about 1pm. it was a very enjoyable day and i look forward to doing it next year.

A Moving Intermission

So we have been moving all week and naturally it has cut into my fishing time. i have tried to get out for a couple of hours before work and between moving for the last couple of days. weather has deterred me. i made it a point regardless of weather to get out today. i'm glad i did. once i got through the canyon the weather cleared up a bit. the water is up and off color a little, very condusive to streamers. i was on the water for 2 1/2 hours throwing an olive sex parakeet. 6 fish landed and 2 lost. i was hoping for at least 1 fish in the 20" range to make my day even better. i had him but lost him. cast to the far bank along this partially submerged clump of grass., i got in 1 strip and the water exploded. the fish jumped once so i got a good look, it was definately the fish i was hoping for.as i got him in close i pulled out my net and knelt down to scoop him up and just before i could scoop, my hook came out and off he went. talk about disappointed. i threw to that hole a handful more times to try and conjur him up again, knowing i wouldn't, but i did take a solid cutt instead.

A Little Slow Today

I won't be able to do any fishing this weekend so i made sure to get out today. i pulled up to where i usually park and while i was rigging up a guy on a quad pulled up and asked me if i had permission from the land owner to access his property. i told him that i just walk the creek down. he seemed a little in disbelief that i walked the creek cause it's kind of a bitch to walk. i told him that yes, the creek can be a pain to walk but that i do stay in the bed. he said that if i wanted i could park on his property behind his hay barn and just walk his property down to the river. i thanked him for the gesture and he said whenever i come up just to let him know i am there and i can utilize his property. he was a real nice guy. anyway the water was perfect, i pulled to small fish right away on a skwala dry and had another good fish follow it for about 10 feet and when it looked like he took it, i set the hook only to find that he hadn't taken it and never even felt the hook. i took a couple more fish nymphing stones. it was the slowest day i've had there in a minute, but taking a couple more fish on top was nice.

Small Creek Utah

Fished a small creek for a couple of hours before work. small browns on stone nymphs and 1 solid rainbow. i didn't think there were any rainbows in there but now i know. the weather was decent, snowed off and on but was warm enough. every once in awhile the sun would break out.

A Day With Austin

I finally talked austin, my future step son, to come out to the river with me. i went and bought him some waders and off we went. we got all the way to the river and i realized that i forgot my rod. man was i bummed! austin told me not to worry about it and let's just walk the river and enjoy nature. i was surprised by that answer. he has never been on a river so he had a blast and was fascinated by the waders, walking in water and not getting wet. we turned over lots of rocks and i taught him about some of the insects. i showed hime some of last years stonefly shucks that were underneath the bridge. the first rock i turned over produced a nice big salmonfly. the only onei've seen this year so far. i got excited. couldn't find anymore, just some caddis larva and baetis. he kept thanking me for taking him and he can't wait to come out again.