Todays Lunch Special......A Purple Haze

I went back to the urban fishery to try a section i hadn't fished in a minute. my first cast had me hooked into a decent fish but it was short lived. there were a few risers up above me but i could not get any of them to eat. but up above them a really nice fish ate and then came raising towards me so at first i wasn't sure of it's quality, size that is. as it raced by me i got a good look and was glad that i remembered my net today. it was truly a nice fish and i hadn't landed any of the bigger fish i have hooked in this stream. this one i finally got to the net and it measured a real nice 19". my biggest to date on this water, most fish i catch here are 12-16". i was pretty damn stoked. i skipped past a short section of water that has never produced anything for me and then came to one of my honey holes. missed a couple of smaller fish then right off the bank another really nice fish took my purple haze and got his acrobats on. 5 jumps later and that colored up beauty was in my net, 18" solid inches and my day was just getting better. well i had hoped to get into another tank or 2 but no such luck. i did however get into a lot more fish but of the smaller variety. actually i did lose one more good fish, not quite as big as my 2 big ones but a really nice fish none the less. i was moving up to some pocket water, stripped some line out, plopped my haze right down in front of me, within 10ft., i then tried to pick up my fly to cast it and it was solid. a fish had sucked it down right in front of me and as it bolted down stream, the line that was hanging down flew up and around my wrist and rod handle resulting in no slack in the line and a busted off fly. that one had me butt hurt a little but what can you do. it was a pretty good numbers day and i landed 2 of the biggest fish there. a good day for sure.

A Shift in the Seasons

It's that time again for the seasons to change. i noticed it especially today, not only in the beautiful colors that line the shorelines and the mountains but today with each fish released i had to continually blow on my hands cause they just wouldn't warm back up. hoppers were a no go today but a purple have and brown drake pulled some fish. a beetle also got smacked a few times but couldn't seal any deals. this river is constantly providing for me 15-16" fish the past couple of years and every once in a while i'll get into something in the 20" range, those of which i have yet to get to hand. today provided a bunch of smaller fish, 8-13" and one fish that i figure was 18-19". that one i had at me feet, hand on the leader a couple of times but his constant thrashing around caused my drake to come free. i forgot my net today other wise i could've netted this beaut and snapped some shots. oh well that's the way it goes sometimes. i only fish this river a few times a year but it is always entertaining.

A Not so Friendly Return

So to continue the theme of the utah waters not treating me well since my return, me, pat and corey ventured out with hopes of a killer day. the last time me and corey fished these waters they fished great and like an idiot i expected the same today, knowing that everday can be different. it was a combo streamer, hopper and various dries kind of day. the sun was out with a little breeze. nothing was really doing much, in the way of catching. top water had plenty of smacks but very few fish actually hit the fly. great looking water, just this time, the fish got the best of us. not much to report other then a few small fish mixed with a couple of netter ones.

A Few Hours

Met up with jake gillette after my in-processing for my new job. got on the river at about noon. the clarity was primo for streamers but of course the flows were dropped again, to damn much for my liking but what can i do. the good holes and runs are few and far between due to the flows. i did manage to hit a handful of fish and catch a couple of small fish. i did hook one nice cuttie that parked itself on the rocks but as it was flopping around it shook the hook and flopped back in the water. jake got into a few fish as well but like me, nothing noteworthy.

And That's a Wrap

My vacation in montana tommorrow will be officially done. just when the family and i had the mind set that montana was gonna be where we called home, i got a job offer back at hill afb, utah which is where i retired from. more pay, less hours and benefits was tough to pass up, plus now my wife doesn't have to quit her good job that she has. i really do like the missoula area better but for financial reasons utah is a better fit right now. i will truly miss some of the streams that i have wet my feet in and regret not hitting some of the waters i meant to, but it will be nice to get back and fish some of the waters that i do miss in utah. looking forward to chasing big aggressive browns again.

Deja Vu

I met scott at 7:30 in the AM then we were westward bound. the plan was to throw streamers on a a piece of water where i had probably my best day ever on a river. i hadn't fished it in a month and as shitty luck would have it, the levels had dropped considerably due to irrigation usage. we still headed up anyway hoping the fishing hadn't changed in the last month. holy hell it sucked! we landed a few small cutts then chose to say screw it and some water next door. we ended up fishing the same piece that i had fished yesterday, only cause someone had just fished through where i wanted to try out. it was almost like i had been here yesterday, almost like deja vu all over again. the weather was a bit cooler and pretty damn windy. we didn't get to the river till about 1:30 so we just made the walk down about a mile before fishing our way up. the fishing was nothing like it had been but we still managed a few, very few, nice fish. a chubby and a morrish hopper were the ticket for the few willing participants. i had planned on heading out again tommorrow but my old ass is wore out.

School was in Session.....

That was the way i felt the 1st half of the day. tirko was throwing a black spring creek special and i stuck to dries. tirko was landing one fish after another, all i kept hearing was fish on, fish on, while i was thoroughly getting my ass handed to me. tirko started the morning off with a decent bull trout, which none of the pics came out worth a damn. i did manage 1 fish before noon, but it felt cheap to me. at the time i was throwing a deer hair caddis with a dropper and neither was doing shit so i cast into the big pool and decided to strip the flies to me. a cutty took the submerged dry fly on the strip. almost felt like i was cheating, i was desperate, haha. the sun was kind of hit and miss today and much cooler then it has been but didn't seem to bother the fish to much, it was took a little longer the top water action to kick in, but once it did i gained a lot of ground on tirkos fish count, not sure what it was but i was picking up momentum. as usual a purple haze was unconscious then around 2-3pm the chubby started pulling it's wait. we fished the same section as last sunday but walked down much further this time. tirko did finally get his 1st fish on a hopper, a pink chubby chernoble, this nice cutt also had a nymph wedged in it's corner pocket. unfortunately while i was trying to snap a couple of pics it got away from tirko and snapped off his chubby. now it is swimming around with 2 flies stuck in it's mouth. the fishing ended with my crawling on a little log jam peaking at a couple of nice fish chilling in front of it. i knew if i hooked one it was going to be tough to land. on my 2nd cast a good fish came from out of my view and slammed the purple chubby and right away went under the logs. my 4 weight was buckled over as i tried to horse his ass back out of there. it took a bit but i finally got him to hand for a few snaps. i hooked in the same spot last weekend but it quickly busted me off in the logs. a little redemption this time. the temp's were comfortable but cool enough to keep my shell on all day and the fishing was almost as good as last sunday. when we finally arrived back at the jeep, since i was leaving in a few days, i wanted to show tirko what to expect if he had to fire off his can of bear spray. there was no wind so we should've been good. i fired it off and as we were discussing it we started to choke. apparently even though there was no wind it had lingered around and let us know it was still there. my nose started to burn and we were both quickly gagging. the vomit reflex was full throttle. man was my stomach sore after all the refelxin'. it seemed innocent enough but i guess even if there is no wind you're not safe. as it turned out, not one of my brighter moments but no harm done.