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Utah Safari Pt 1 – The Green River

After a brutal 7 hour drive from Lost Wages to Salt Lake city, I arrived at my friend Jay’s house.  He had been busy packing up his truck for our journey, so it was simply a matter of transferring my fishing gear from my vehicle to his truck and it was back on the road.  I am fortunate that Jay was willing to drive the 4 hours from Salt Lake to the Green as I was in no condition to drive anymore that day.

We arrived in Dutch John around 1AM and it was time to look for a camping spot.  Fortunately for us, we were prepared to camp in Forest Service (that means FREE) land as Jay’s truck had a shell with a padded carpet kit exactly for this purpose.  We found a suitable site with little trouble, and turned in for the night.

The next day dawned bright, cloudless, and hot by the early AM.  We cleaned up camp, grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed down to Little Hole to start our fishing trip.  The Green is a big, beautiful river filled with big, beautiful trout.  As we were walking down to the river from the parking area, we saw tons of grasshoppers jumping around.  Could this be a sign?

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Been awhile – Time to catch up!

I have been nose to the grindstone for about six weeks.  Do not think that I have forsaken fly fishing or you, dear reader.  It’s just that if the decision is between spending my free time fishing, or writing about fishing, the former wins the battle every time.

I have several short blog entries covering the rivers fished and the places traveled in the last month.  Coming down the pike is a multi-part story of my fishing safari in Utah, a few entries about some local fishing back on the home front, and a few crazy stories thrown in for good measure.

The Utah safari came to fruition due to the fact that I attended a trade show in Lost Wages (Las Vegas to the foolish), followed by another trade show in Salt Lake City.  There was exactly 5 days in between shows…perfect for a short fishing excursion.  A call to my college buddy Jay, and the plan was hatched.  Our list of rivers fished includes the Green, a small spring creek that shall go unnamed, Current Creek, and Big Cottonwood creek on several occasions.

On the home front, it will read like you have been reading all along – the West Carson and the East Carson in both the NV and the Special regs sections.

Enough priming for now.  Time to get on with the stories.

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West Carson River – 07/21/08 Early AM

I know that I said I was not going to fish the West Carson anymore, but I had no idea when I opened my mouth that I was going to jinx the works.  We had several small storms in quick succession and now my favorite river, the East Carson, is a muddy, off-color mess.  I hope it comes down before I leave on my work trip.

I arrived on the river at about 7:30am which is “just a hair” late in the morning for the current water and air temps.  As always, the gauging station hole was in the shadows.  I crept down to my usual rock and was observing bug activity and enjoying some peace and tranquility when a large cinnamon bear sow popped out of the trees not more than 30 feet from me.  I do not think that she saw me in the water as I was kneeling behind some rocks and being still, but when I yelped in surprise, she jumped as well and took off running.  Just watching her run reinforced the fact that there IS NO WAY to outrun a bear…man was she moving fast.

That excitement over, I go back to my observing.  I see very little bug activity, so I decide to tie on a #16 yellow humpy with a soft-hackled hare’s ear dropper.  I got some half-hearted strikes right off the bat, but nothing serious.  I quickly move up to the next hole and start casting.  Same responses.  Refusals.  I snip off that rig and I tie on a #16 Royal Trude.  Again, more refusal strikes.  This hole is now spooked from all the rejected casts.

Continue reading “West Carson River – 07/21/08 Early AM”

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Caples Lake Drawdown

Over the weekend, one of my clients told me that Caples Lake was going to be lowered for some long overdue repair on the outlet works.  It has deteriorated so badly, that it has to be replaced now rather than later.  Also this will allow the state parks service to build a new boat ramp.  As of today (7/21/08), the El Dorado Irrigation District has started the release of water from Caples Lake.  The release will continue well into September.  This means that Caples Creek and the Silver Fork of the American River will be blown out.

For the official word, click here.

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North Fork American River (7/13)

I’m thinking that this last outing will be my last one on the North Fork American River until next spring.  The water has dropped so much, that the trout have moved in search for colder water.

I fished the NF today from 4:00 PM until 8:00PM.  From the looks of it, I knew that I would have to dredge the pools.  I rigged up with a #14 Pheasant Tail and a #16 Mercer’s BWO Trigger Nymph.  Within five minutes, I hooked up an eight inch Rainbow Trout.  It was a feisty little bugger that jumped around.  I worked my way downstream to the next pool.  No fish were to be had.  I walked back up to the first pool and hooked up immediately with another eight inch Rainbow Trout.

For the next two hours, I decided to work the downstream pools.  There were lots of baby Smallmouth Bass swimming everywhere!  There were not fly shy either.  I would drift my flies through the slots and yank ’em in.  I saw a few 18″+ smallies.  They wouldn’t even look at a fly.  I wish that I had my streamers with me.

I walked back up to the first pool since it was getting late.  Immediately, I hooked up.  A ten inch Rainbow Trout took my Trigger Nymph.

Before calling it a day, I decided to look down from the footbridge.  I saw a slot that could potentially hold fish.  I walked down and fished it.  I first dead drifted my nymphs.  Nada.  I changed to a #16 Pheasant Tail soft hackle.  I got a grab, then it went limp.

From there, I called it quits.