A Friend on the River

Going fishing is all about getting away from the city, crowds, work and worries.  When you get to the stream it is nice to find you’ve got the whole river to yourself.  Often times if someone is already working a particular stretch, you can drive a ways upstream or downstream so you don’t bother this fisherman’s solitude.  That’s in an ideal world.  On certain rivers, for example the Provo or Weber rivers near Salt Lake City, there are often cars parked at each turn out or access point near the river.  In this case, you do your best to fish upstream or downstream not disturbing those already on the river. 

On the other hand, those already on the river probably fish the river quite regularly.  They have also been fishing that particular day and would already have a clue what is working.  Any information you glean would be valuable and give you a good start for the day.  I have found that although fishermen are a quiet, solitary lot, they are also friendly, helpful and like to either share their knowledge or brag about their success.  Either way, you’ll learn something.

After Ron and I finished fishing the Ham’s Fork, we headed east over to the Green River.  As we arrived, we had all the above situations occur. 

 

It was exciting to find we were the only ones on that stretch of river.  We had the river to ourselves.  I stopped at the campsite restroom real quick before heading down to the river.  Wouldn’t you know it, a truck drove right down to the bank right where we were going to fish.   There is a drop off in the middle of the river at this particular spot where the fish line up to feed.  They have the current in the shallow water bringing food morsels by while they hang out in the deeper water without having to fight the strong current.

We started fishing just upstream from where this other gentleman was fishing.  After a while it was obvious that he was catching quite a few while Ron and I were not.  I walked over and started talking to him.  Just like I mentioned above about other fisherman, he offered what he was using and his technique to catch the fish.  He said he was using a prince nymph and glo bug although all the fish he had just caught were on the prince nymph. 

 

Prince nymphs, btw, are made with a peacock hearl body, soft brown or black hackle and white turkey or goose biots for the wings laid flat at the thorax.  He even offered to give me one if I didn’t have any.  Other than that, his rig seemed similar to ours, a small white strike indicator (Thingamabobber) about 7 feet above the flies, one or two BB size split shot for weight fished dead drift.  Ron and I of course, commenced to tie on prince nymphs and shortly thereafter were able to catch a few rainbows. 

 

One of these even approached 20 inches.  Prince nymphs were something I would have never thought of to try.  In fact, my prince nymph collection was still at home with my other infrequently used flies.  Luckily Ron had a few.  With the help from this friend on the river, we were able to have success on the river this day and learn something that I will be able to use on future trips.