Rainbows at Flaming Gorge

Last month we took Kevin’s new boat out to Flaming Gorge to test it out.  It worked great as a fishing boat.  We camped at the Mann’s campground on the west side of the reservoir along Sheep Creek. 

We pitched my tent and launched the boat at the nearest dock. 

Isaac, Kevin’s son, enjoyed watching the movie Lion King while we headed off to Kevin’s favorite, secret fishing spot. 

No wonder Kevin was anxious to fish this spot.  We caught a good dozen rainbows including a few over 20 inches.  The smaller ones (those under 17 inches) we let go and fried up the others for dinner. 

One thing we wanted to test with the boat was my Minn Kota trolling motor.  Kevin had rigged up a transom on the skiing ladder that we attached it to with bungee cords.  We could quickly zoom around the reservoir with the boat’s motor and slowly troll or fish the edges with the trolling motor. 

It was the perfect system.  Along the edges we were able to catch smallmouth bass with crawdad rapalas.  One huge monster of a fish hit Kevin’s lure but didn’t hook up.  That fish will haunt him for quite a while.

Kevin’s parents and brother met up with us for dinner.  His family goes all out when it comes to food and camping.  On the menu was: BBQ ribs (more than we could eat), the trout we caught, beans with bacon, corn, French bread with cheese, and for desert-strawberry and blueberry shortcake. 

With so much food, we made sure we had everything put away well before calling it a night.  You may remember previous blogs where a raccoon was able to break into a cooler or what was even worse, a visit in the night from a skunk.

Kevin and Isaac slept in the boat and I slept in the tent.  Kevin’s parents and brother stayed in a hotel in Manila. Our plan was to meet at 8:15 the next morning at Browning’s restaurant for breakfast.  I gained five pounds on this trip.

At breakfast Kevin told us about what happened that night.  At about 2:30 he heard a noise in his boat.  He looked over at Isaac and he was sleeping soundly.  He peeked out of the cuddy and the noise stopped.  Everything was black. Then he saw this white and black thing moving out from under the life jackets that ran right in front of his face.  He startled the creature as he scramble to block the opening and just as the creature turned around and raised its tail…Kevin woke up from his dream.

We picked up some more ice at the gas station to top off the coolers and then headed back out in the boat. 

Kevin had rigged a ramp for the boat to make it easier to get to shore. 

The fishing was just as good as the previous day.  After two hours we had each caught our limit and decided we should break camp and head back home, hopefully in time for a movie. 

I saved my fish to cook up the next day for dinner.  It was delicious with my home made tartar sauce.

Scouting out the Green River in Wyoming

Fishing a new place takes a bit of scouting.  I noticed at the Wasatch Fly Tying & Fly Fishing Expo last month that The Four Seasons Fly Shop was offering guided trips to the Green River below the Fontenelle Reservoir.  This can also be considered the Green River above Flaming Gorge.   

The Green River below Flaming Gorge, of course, is the famous section that gets all the attention and crowds.  It is very scenic with all the red rock and canyons and has a very high trout count per mile.  The section in Wyoming below Fontenelle is quite different.  It is not famous and therefore not crowded.  

It is in a desert with flat land sage brush.  It has no red rock or pine trees.  It also has fewer trout per mile.  The trout however, are quite large.  The river flows through the Seedskadee wildlife refuge and therefore it is remote and you will see quite a bit of wildlife.

I drove up to the river last week to scout out the area.  It is only two and a half hours from Salt Lake.  In Kemmerer there is a BLM office with camping information and maps.

There are four campsites right near the dam.   

Three are right on the river which are free.  

I camped at Slate Creek Campground which is four miles downstream from the dam. This campground has a few outhouses and garbage bins.  It is right on a bend in the river which looks like it would have good fishing.  Even further downstream on the other side of the bridge there are some access points near some good stretches that have some deeper pools.  I didn’t fish much on this trip but did catch a few small rainbows and even managed to hook some big crawdads that I saw near the shore. 

Weeping rock campground is a mile below the dam.  On the opposite side of the river from the campground, water seeps through the mountain, thus its name. 

This also seems like a nice campground near some good fishing. They say in the summer when the mosquitoes are out, this campground has fewer mosquitoes.

Right at the base of the dam is tailrace campground which is also located right on the river.

I did catch a little rainbow here and looks like it could be good fishing.

I drove through the wildlife refuge a few miles downstream from the campgrounds.  

There is a dirt/gravel road that runs through the refuge with a few access points to the river.  

I saw ducks, pelicans, several other pretty birds, antelope, goats and marmots.  

I was the only one on the road and even at the visitor center.

I talked to a few fishermen there.  The stretch of the river near Slate Creek seemed to be the best stretch for fishing.  I saw one fisherman catch a fish right at the bend, similar the rainbows I had caught the day before.  The fish seem to take caddis nymphs and San Juan worms. On my next trip I will bring some crawdad imitations also.  

I booked a trip with a Four Season’s guide for next month.  I'll be able to provide more specifics regarding the fishing when I blog about that trip.

A Saturday Fly Fishing on the Weber River

Yes, it has been a while since I have fished the Weber River.  I gave it a shot last weekend.  Saturday was a gorgeous day - maybe a little too warm.  The melting snow brought mud into the river, but the water level was just fine. 

It felt good to be out; putting on the waders, rigging up the fly rod and stepping into the river.  Ice fishing is fun, but it’s not my passion like fly fishing.

I tied on the usual small nymphs like the bead head hare’s ear and bead head pheasant tail with some flash at the collar.  I put on one small BB split shot and placed the small thingamabobber strike indicator about four or five feet up the line.  The water was two to three feet deep.  Action was slow so I fished somewhat fast.  The first hour I did not catch anything. 

As the sun was going behind the mountain, I got a snag which broke off one of my flies.  It dawned on me that with the water so murky, I should try a San Juan Worm.  As I was tying it on, I figured I might as well tie on a second one since I hadn’t been catching anything on the nymphs anyway.  I tied on the typical red one and then also a dark brown one.

I cast these into the faster deeper water in the middle of the run slightly upstream from where I had been fishing the nymphs.  At the end of the drift of the first cast I had a strike.  I was pleasantly surprised when the fish jumped and it wasn’t the typical white fish of winter.  It was a medium size jumping brown trout. 

Get this, I took out the red San Juan Worm he had in his mouth and started to place him in the water and he was still attached.  The brown worm was also in his mouth.  This was one hungry trout.  With the water being murky I should have started out with San Juan Worms in the first place.

I kept working my way upstream and got another snag.  This was also in the deeper, faster water and I couldn’t get to it so I pulled the line until it broke.  By now it was starting to get dark and I had a good mile to hike upstream to the car.  With one of my flies broken off this was a good stopping point.  As I started back, I noticed a drop off in the water right where the fast shallow riffles met the deeper water.  I quickly crimped on a split shot and decided to give it one more try with the one fly I still had on.   I cast up into the fast, shallow water and let the fly drift naturally with the current into the deeper water.  After a couple of casts I moved upstream a little further and tried again.  Just as the fly hit the deeper water the fly was attacked by a dark, fast fish which quickly darted upstream.  He kept taking line, swimming upstream.  I couldn’t tell how big he was, only that he was strong; still taking line while swimming upstream.  I adjusted the drag slightly to make it tighter.  Oops, this was a mistake.  The fish broke the line.  Like all stories of the fish that got away, we will never know how big this fish really was.

Ice Fishing at Fish Lake

Fish Lake is 180 miles south of Salt Lake, a three hour drive. 

Bill and I were originally planning on going Thursday but due to weather, we changed the day to Friday.  It’s a good thing we did.  Friday ended up being gorgeous.  The roads were clear and it was a good drive.  We got to the north end of the Lake by 8:45 in the morning.  Although the sun was shining, stepping out of the truck we could feel the bite of the cold air.  We were the only ones at this section of the lake; we had it all to ourselves.  Bill ran out to drill a hole and see how thick the ice was.  It ended up being six inches thick, plenty safe to fish on.

By 9:15 we had our ice fishing clothes on and our gear on the sled, ready to drill holes and start fishing.  Since the ice was only six inches thick rather than the thicker than 20 inches we are used to, we only took out the hand auger.  I considered drilling the holes with the hand auger my workout for the day.

I placed a white paddle bug on my line.  I reached into my coat pocket and grabbed the container of wax worms.  I also keep the worm containers in my pocket rather than in the bucket so they don’t freeze and die.  I placed the wax worm on the hook and let the line drop through the hole. 

The water was about ten feet deep.  As I noticed the line was not dropping any deeper I pulled up to make it tight.  I immediately pulled up and felt something tugging at the line.  Expecting a perch at this shallow water I pulled up.  Something solid was on the line and started taking out line.  This was not a perch.  After a little fight, I had the fish up at the hole and could tell that it was a rainbow. 

I carefully pulled it through the ice.  This was a thick bodied fish.  It measured 18 and a half inches, a great start for the day.

Bill started catching perch right and left.  Even though he had a two-pole permit, he couldn’t set his pole down long enough to prepare the second pole. 

Same thing with lunch, he didn’t have a spare couple of minutes without a fish on the line to eat lunch. 

Don’t you feel sorry for him?

By 12:30 we were wondering how many fish we had caught.  Counting the trout was easy; we had caught 19 and kept five.  The limit was four each, so we were OK.  We started counting the perch. 

Its limit is 50.  When we got to the count of 100, we realized we had a few extra.  We quickly found some live ones to throw back so we wouldn’t be over the limit.  By now it was 1:30.  We had caught 225 perch and kept 100.  Maybe now Bill could eat his lunch.

Ice Fishing at Strawberry Reservoir

4:15 a.m. sure arrives early on a winter day.  Never the less, I woke ten minutes before my two alarms (phone and palm pilot) were scheduled to go off.  I needed to leave by 5:00 to meet Kevin at his house at 5:30, a half hour drive away.  I quickly got dressed in my cool, insulated camouflage pants and ate a few bites of a green spinach smoothie for breakfast.  After brushing my teeth, I grabbed the night crawlers, wax worms and meal worms and a sandwich out of the fridge and threw them all in the ice fishing bucket. 

Let me describe my ice fishing bucket.  The night before the trip I rigged the bucket with two bungee cords around the outside.  This would hold my three ice fishing rods and two ladles.  Everything else I was bringing, besides the agars, would fit in the bucket.  This included hats, sunglasses, gloves, extra reels, water bottles, jigs, hemostats, clippers, fishing regulations, map of the reservoir, Kleenexes, and granola bars. As Rob (Kevin's Father-in-Law) put it, the whole enchilada. 

First thing after leaving Kevin’s house, we had to stop at a convenience store to pick up some breakfast and movies.  We watched Planet of the Apes on the drive there.  This made the time go fast.  We arrived at the reservoir just after it got light.  You would have thought there was a tail-gating party at the marina.  The parking lot was jammed full, people everywhere.  There were snow-mobiles, ATV’s, all kinds of trucks, everyone wearing their favorite Cabela’s winter clothing.  On the ice, same thing; including ice-fishing tents. 

Since the Marina store was open, we hit the restrooms before hopping on the airboat and taking off.  Despite the crowd, it is nice having an indoor bathroom to use before a day on the ice.

We started out fishing at the Marina like everyone else there.  I pulled out the power auger and gave it a few pulls trying to get it started.  It usually starts right up, no problem. 

This year it didn’t seem to want to start.  Kevin came over and used some starting fluid on it and it seemed to want to start but then would die.  Then we noticed some oil/gas mixture leaking from the carburetor onto the ice.  The plastic tubing must have had a crack in it.  This is why I carry a spare hand auger.  I started drilling a few holes for everyone to use.  Boy, this is a good workout.  The ice was about twenty inches thick.  It took between 40 and 50 turns of the auger to drill through. 

I set up Britney and Grace (Kevin's nieces) with a pole each next to the holes closest to the boat.  I set up mine a little further away toward the shore. 

The water was 12 to 20 feet deep.  I placed a paddle bug with a wax worm on each of our lines.  We tried all depths.  After a while a little voice said “Howard, it’s time for breakfast”.  Wow, I didn’t expect this.  While I was keeping the poles baited and in the water for me and the girls, Kevin, Scott (Kevin's brother) and Rob were cooking breakfast.  I gave Grace a piggy-back ride back to the boat since she had made the long walk through the deep snow to come get me. 

For breakfast they cooked sausages, scones with honey-butter, hash browns and hot chocolate.  It was sure good, hot food out on the ice. 

After fishing a bit more, the game wardens came by and checked our licenses.  Then we decided to head to the Narrows and fish where there was more structure.  This was a good choice because immediately we started getting hits. 

Kevin caught the first fish, a nice 19-inch cutthroat. 

I caught another 19-incher and then a smaller cutthroat of about 15 inches. 

Again I was called over to eat, lunch this time.  Wow, I have never eaten so well on a fishing trip in my life.  This time it was beef and pork bratwursts, baked beans and rolls. 

Right before packing everything into the boat and leaving, Rob caught the biggest fish of the trip, a 20-inch cutthroat. 

Fly Fishing DVD Reviews: The Kelly Galloup DVD’s

The first time I met Kelly was at a Sportsmen’s Expo in Salt Lake.  I had stopped by the Clackacraft booth and started talking to him about the waters I fish.  He was asking if I ever made it to the Madison River.  I let him know that I had only fished it in Yellowstone Park.  I went on to say that I do make it to Montana once in a while but usually to the Beaverhead, Big Hole or Missouri Rivers.  I went to another booth that was selling DVD’s and asked if they had Kelly’s Nymphing by the Numbers.  They said they were out.  I went back and let Kelly know.  He said, wait a minute and I’ll run out to the truck and get you one for you. 

Nymphing by the Numbers

This is an excellent DVD that I highly recommend.  One of my favorite parts is that Kelly discusses setting up the terminal tackle with various dropper, weights and indicator systems.  He goes into the theory behind each setup and when to use each.  He also does some nymph fishing so you can see someone actually nymph fishing and see some of the setups work.  The DVD is two hours long, which is another reason I like it.  In two hours you can cover a lot of detail which offers information for even the expert nymph fisherman.

Madison River

This is another excellent DVD.  In this one, Kelly covers the various sections of the river (Yellowstone Park to Ennis Lake) and each sections peculiarities, the best tactics (mainly nymphing and streamer fishing) to use and the various access points.  It is enjoyable to watch because most of it is watching Kelly actually in the river.  It is an hour and forty-seven minutes long.  Although it is specifically about the Madison River and the details of the river and access points apply only to the Madison, the fly fishing applications apply to many rivers.  Oh, and the various endings also add a personal touch in making DVD’s that is fun to see.

Streamer Fishing for Trophy Trout & Advanced Streamer Fishing

These are the first DVD’s I have heard of that cover streamer fishing.  They go into a lot of the theory behind trophy fish mentality.  They also cover pattern selection as well as color selection.  They cover fly manipulation as well as tackle used such as recommended rods and fly line. 

Kelly does emphasize the realities of streamer fishing.  You are searching for the few really large trout, not several medium sized trout.  In the first DVD you get to see him streamer fishing while wading and discussing his approach.  In the second one, you get to see him fishing from a drift boat.  I like how he is fishing the Wind River which is a river you don’t hear much about.  He also discusses several flies he designed and the theory of articulated streamers.  These DVD’s total three and a half hours, a lot of video for your money.

While I’m discussing Streamer fishing DVD’s, let me also recommend the book Streamer Fishing for Trophy Trout.  It is written by Kelly along with Bob Linsenman.  It is great reading.  It covers the history of streamers, large trout behavior, reading the water, streamer techniques and effective patterns.

Clackacraft Drift Boats

This isn’t really a Kelly Galloup DVD; it is a Clackacraft DVD which has Kelly Galloup in part of it.  I do like this DVD which discusses how the drift boat is taylor-made for fly fishing.  It also discusses how to row to put the fisherman in the best position for an optimal presentation.  It is 1 hour and 47 minutes long.