The Cows Joined Me In The River

Monday evening was a very windy, but nicely overcast day. I decided to try streamer fishing and took off downstream with my 9 and a half foot Sage rigged with a large green, red, and white streamer. I placed a BB size split shot just above the fly to help it sink into the deep holes. After a few casts, I felt a hard strike and could see a flash underwater near my fly. But no luck, even though I quickly tried to set the hook, I didn’t get a solid hookup. I kept casting toward the far shore as I worked my way, hole to hole, downstream. I kept getting hits, but I never hooked any. I switched to a black, rabbit fur streamer and placed a slightly larger split shot above the fly. Soon I had another strike, just past a large boulder, but again, it didn’t hook. By now, I had fished downstream about as far as I wanted so I cut the streamer off and re-rigged for nymphing.

During the early winter I had good luck with size 16 scuds and Rainbow Warriors. I tried these first, heading upstream. No luck. I wondered, last year I remember having great fishing in the spring right before run off. What was I using then? I had been used to using smaller than size 20 nymphs on the Provo River and was using this same size on the Weber.

I cut off both of the size 16 flies I was using and tied on a size 22 WD-40 and size 22 Rainbow Warrior, both with bead heads. Within 10 minutes I had caught two 16 inch browns and one 17 inch cutthroat. The next fish hooked me up at the bottom of a boulder and my line snapped. At this moment I noticed a few young cows staring at me watching the excitement. In fact, after a couple of minutes the cows decided I was having so much fun in the water that they went ahead and hopped in the river too.

Kevin's Video

Last week I was fishing with Kevin on the Weber. He has a waterproof case for his camera that allows him to take underwater pictures and video. This one particular brown trout was especially cooperative. Even after Kevin released it, it stayed in place so he could get some good footage under water. The trout had taken a size 18 bead head Pheasant Tail nymph. Kevin also took a video of a mink that was running along the shore.

A Saturday Afternoon On The Weber

OK, I finally got out fly fishing again. Last Saturday was just too gorgeous to pass up. I headed to the Weber River like quite a few other fisherman. In fact, the first access point I drove to had what I considered a crowd so I drove to another. I noticed the other fisherman at this access point had headed upstream so I headed downstream. I worked my way down to a spot where the river was quite shallow all the way across and crossed the river. I went upstream a bit from there to a deep hole that I had noticed from the other side. The sun was out and I could see midges on the water. I tied on a Rainbow Warrior to imitate the hatching midges and a scud imitation to imitate, of course, the scuds that are always present. Scuds are always in the stomach pump samples I take from the trout I catch in this river. After adding 2 BB size split shot I was able to get the flies to reach the bottom and was rewarded with a strike. This ended up being a large 19 inch white fish just as I expected to catch a lot of in the winter. Two other fishermen using Rapalas were working their way upstream. I inquired as to their success, and they mentioned they had caught a couple of 16 or 17 inchers. I assumed this meant 16 or 17 inch brown trout although in the next hole they caught a 16 or 17 inch white fish. I was amazed that the white fish could fit a Rapala in its mouth.

Soon the sky turned cloudy and the browns began to feed. I lost track of how many I caught. Upon catching one particular trout, my leader ended up being tangled more than I had the patience to undo. I cut the line and in a hurry tied on a larger, size 18 Rainbow Warrior on a 3X fluorocarbon dropper. I then tied on a smaller; size 22 Rainbow Warrior on 4X fluorocarbon as the point fly. I immediately caught another brown and noticed it had taken the fly tied on the 3X tippet. This situation often makes me wonder how much I can get away with in regard to tippet size. Will I catch more fish on a 4X or 5X, or will I catch just as many on a 3X? How about a 2X? Of course the immediate advantage of using the thicker 3X would be fewer tangles. Another advantage is that if I happen to hook a fish that would test the strength of my tippet, the 3X would hold up better. Theoretically the advantage of the 5X would be the ability to fool more fish. The trout certainly weren’t shy around the 3X this day, even with the water low and clear.

Soon the sky cleared up again and it was nice and sunny. Or, should I say yucky and sunny as the trout stopped feeding. Even in a particular stretch where I can always count on a good trout or two, I only caught a white fish. It was another large white fish which I kept for smoking along with two others. All the trout I immediately released after a good fight and maybe a picture or two.

Corn Bread

When we had our perch fry last week, we had corn bread as a side dish. You may have noticed in the picture a pan of corn bread with some honey butter next to the fish. Jennifer has a great recipe that she uses for making corn bread. It is a recipe that my great aunt, Margaret Booth taught her while we stayed with her for a couple of weeks in Fresno. It is very yummy and worth trying. It is a great addition to a fish dinner.

½ box yellow cake mix (this is the secret ingredient)

2 eggs

2 cups milk

½ cup butter

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

Add together the ingredients listed above and beat for two minutes

Mix in 1 cup corn meal

Pour into a greased 9 X 13 inch pan

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes

Honey butter is my favorite spread for this. Mix 8 parts butter with 1 part honey (1/2 cup butter (1 stick) with 1 tablespoon of honey). If you are bringing it for lunch the next day, spread the honey butter on top of a piece of corn bread. Cut the bottom half off and stick it on top. This way the honey butter is in the middle and won’t get all over the sides of a zip lock bag and you don’t have to worry about bringing the honey butter separately. This is also the way I bring cake for lunch.

Baked Potatoes

While you are smoking the fish, ribs or whatever, why not throw in a couple of potatoes for an excellent side dish. This is so easy. Wash the outside of the potatoes so you will be able to eat the peel. Vent the potatoes by puncturing them a couple of times with a fork. Wrap the potatoes with foil while adding a bit of salt. Cook in the smoker with your meat for 2 to 3 hours. If I’m cooking something for four hours, I will insert the foil wrapped potatoes after an hour or two so they will be done the same time as the meat. You can dress up the potatoes as you desire, but my standard preparation is: Butter, sour cream, cheese, and bacon bits. I should start adding olives as well.