Fly Fishing in Paradise

It was the day before my 54^th birthday and my good friend Paul had invited me to fly fish a private stream in Paradise, Utah.  This was also to be my first outing the whole year.  Can you believe that?  Yes, maybe I was going through withdrawals. 

Paul first took me to his favorite hole where he had good luck before.  He wasn’t fishing but was acting as my guide for the trip.  I had a glo bug on from my previous trip and figured it was close enough to fall that an egg pattern should work. 

 

In a couple casts I had my first fish of the day, a 16 inch rainbow.  In a few more casts I landed another. 

 

This was a good start for the day. 

 

 It sure felt good to be out on the stream again.

After fishing upstream a bit, we came to a series of pools.  I positioned my casts so the flies would land in the fast water and float down into the deeper, slow water. 

 

After catching a couple more rainbows, I decided this would be a perfect situation for a streamer.  I tied on a black wooly bugger and stripped it across the current flowing into the pool.  Trout would chase the wooly bugger and often even hit it.  After seeing this happen, I would vary the speed of the retrieve and finally caught a few. 

 

Either the trout would follow a fast streamer and then it would stop and the fish would have to decide whether to strike or not.  Or as I slowly stripped it, the fish would follow and I would start stripping fast and the fish would see the prey was going to escape.  This was fun fishing and I lost count of the fish I caught after a dozen or so. 

Heading over to the stream again, Paul suggested using a caddis pattern (bead head hare’s ear) and Prince Nymph. 

 

The water was real clear and it was tough getting a good cast without spooking the fish.  It was fun seeing the fish swimming and darting away.  Oh yeah, I found a garter snake in the road so I gently picked him up and took him to the bushes on the other side so he wouldn't get run over.  I love seeing wildlife like this.  I saw a leopard frog on this tip as well.

 

I was able to land a few and hooked a few more that managed to get off the hook. 

 

We then headed over to the frog water. It was rumored that there were monster brown trout in the slough which were difficult to catch.  We were able to find the large trout but they would also see us and dart under the vegetation. 

We then went to the big pool that was closest to the shop.  It had fast water at the top of the pool entering the pool underneath the road similar to the first pool I mentioned.  I cast into the middle of the fast water and quickly caught a rainbow on the hare’s ear. 

 

Another cast brought similar results.  Then I cast right next to the shore, still in the fast water.  This time I hooked a fish but it didn’t immediately jump.  It swam out of the current and into the deeper water of the pool.  I first thought it was a white fish but as I brought it closer it did jump and we could see it was a large brown.  Paul was excited and came down to the shore with the big net and I coaxed the trout over so he could net it. 

 

This was a gorgeous fish, buttery brown and pretty spots.  This made the whole trip worth it.  I quickly laid it against the net so I could note how long he was before carefully letting it swim out of my hands.  Back at the car I measured the net to the spot I had noted, 20 inches long.