Logan River revisited

I went up on the Logan this week with my brother-in-law Jesse. We fished somewhere above the third dam.......???I think?(I'm still getting this place figured out.) Anyways, we fished a couple hours with hopper/droppers and I tried a new fly...... Turks Tarantula. It did awesome! I missed MANY and somehow managed to grab a few cutties and browns off the top. It was a fun day and it ended with a great big splash. Literally.... a double slip, fall, wet, cell phones, full waders..............you get the picture. Good times. Thanks Jesse.

I forgot my net.....

I jetted out this morning to explore new lands..... I ended up at the east fork of the little bear river. The section that I fished is a tailwater to Porcupine Reservoir and WOW was it ever a sweet spot! The little reservoir is a sight to see and is chuck full of Kokanee salmon. The run is just beginning so the inlet is closed until the end of September. I parked the truck at 6:30 am just a few hundred yards below the dam and started getting ready. The water looked good and I had high hopes for the morning fish. My pole was already set up with a nymphing rig so I decided to throw it for a while. Nothing happened for a couple minutes, but then I hooked up on a nice little bow! Next cast I hooked a nicer brown and lost him trying to rush him. After moving about 100 yards upriver, I saw a couple fish rise. I decided to switch to a hopper dropper. I tied on an olive rainy's hopper with a rainbow warrior dropper. I casted against the bank about 10 yards straight upriver into a slight pool. I watched the hopper float slowly back towards me. I was "feelin the money" and I stripped the slack slowly with anticipation. The hopper suddenly went under and I lifted the rod just as a really nice bow errupted out of the pool and bolted into the riffle. He ran downstream about 25 yards and set on the bottom. After a couple minutes, he tired and I had him in my hands. He was CHUNKY! I love fat bows. He had a sweet pink-band and really sweet spots. I fished the rest of the way up to the spillway without so much as a nibble. I decided to go back downstream, re-rig with a nymphing rig, and fish some of the lower stuff. ( I hadn't realized I was so close to the outlet when I started the morning)

While I was walking down the banks of the river I was noticing some of the nicer holes that I would fish on the way back up. Just then I spooked a little 7-8inch fish out of a hole. He swam slowly downstream......then............out of nowhere came a MONSTER brown that proceeded to MUNCH THE EIGHT INCHER! He had the helpless trout in his mouth crossways and was headshaking it like crazy! I think my jaw hit ground and my eyes popped out of my head! Just then the big boy noticed the bystander, let go of his meal, and bolted into a large tree covered hole. DANG!......... That would be my last hole to fish on my way back up to the truck. I backed up and looped down a 150 yards or so. I spotted a nice bow facing downstream on a back eddy. I reached out my 9 footer and dropped a lightning bug right infront of his nose. He casually swam up to it and ate it! I set the hook and quickly stripped him in. He was no more than 12". My next cast into a spillway produced a nice little brown. I moved up fishing some other nice holes and caught a couple more bows, one that was quite nice.

Finally, I reached the "tree hole". I snuck up to the side of the hole and casted my nymph rig upstream. I then allowed the whole rig, indicator and all, to flow under the branches of the overhanging tree. The indicator stopped.............and.........SNAG! DANG! Just then, the monster brown exploded out of the water, up into the entanglement of branches! It wasn't a snag! The fish was ON!!!!! I held on tight and grimmaced as the fish jumped three more times, each of which, tangled up my fly line more and more in the branches! I decided to feed slack and try to spook the fish out of the back of the hole. My plan worked and the fish moved to the tail-out of the hole. My fly line was still WAY tangled in the tree so I set my pole down and grabbed the line coming out of the tree at the tail end of the hole. The fish was basically beaching himself in the 5-6inch deep water infront of me. I scrambled down the line and tried to tail the fish. He wouldn't allow it and just as I had a hand on him.....he broke my line! Time stood still as I struggled mentally.... I instinctively dove on the fish, soaking my whole upper body in the icy cold tailwater. The fish struggled to escape! I held on tight, but just as I thought I had him............!!!......... he slipped out of my hands and raced back upstream into the darkness of the hole and out of my life forever. There I sat in the freezing stream, water dripping and running off my face and sunglasses.................. completely awestruck that this had all just happened. The fish was probably one of, if not my best brownie of all time. He won. I lost. I sat thinking to myself,....................why in the world did I forget my stinkin' net?!!!!!

The REAL Logan River

So I skipped out for a couple hours today to do some exploring. I drove about 7 or 8 miles up the canyon. I parked on the first good looking pull off and started walking down a trial towards the river. When I got there, I could see some nice looking holes. Ok..........no, they were AMAZING looking holes! Crystal clear, COLD water and a solid cobble bottom. Quite breathtaking really and I had to sit on a rock for a few minutes while I rigged to catch the moment a little. The smells, the sounds, and OH the sights were so sweet. I reached below my feet and grabbed a rock.... A monster golden stone nymph crawled quickly around. Several baetis nymphs and an assortment of other mayfly nymphs crawled quickly away. I tied on a pheasant tail with a rainbow warrior dropper. I jumped in about 20 yards below the holes and started casting. I chucked a couple short casts then, on my first good drift with the distance I was after, the pink baloondicator stopped and went under. I lifted the rod and the fish shot to my left. One headshake later that ended that...... The fish was off. I continued fishing up the river amazed at the clarity of the water and just enjoyed being out. I fished a couple more holes catching only one small small SMALL brown. I was a little disappointed, but it didn't matter and I had to get back. I made a new goal starting now to take pictures of the holes and runs where I catch fish. I think that will be a kinda cool way to capture the memory. I WILL learn this place..........

Logan: Land of ........trout....I think?

So we arrived in Logan on Sunday afternoon. We will be living with Jesse and Chelcie (brother and sister-in-laws) for this first week of school. (Long story.) Anyways, Jesse and I decided to walk down to the river with a spotlight and headlamps to check out what was "lurking" around the bridges and such on the lower Logan river stretches. We walked to the first bridge and looked in to see some nice 16+ inch brownies and some monster CARP! (I love to fight carp, but I hate to touch em.) We saw some nicer fish that looked promising so the next morning we were on the river with fly rod in hand ready for action. I tied on a bead hares ear with a San Juan dropper and my first cast I surrendered the entire rig to an overhanging tree! DANG!!!!!! I HATE IT WHEN I DO THAT!! He he. I re-rigged and Jesse in the meantime hooked a little whitefish on a 18 beadhead rabbit hearing device. I fished quite rigorously for the next couple hours with NOTHING when I finally spotted a nice little 12" brownie sunning and sipping. I tied on a green caddis larvae and let the drifting begin. First drift...... He ate it! But, I MISSED IT! After several unsuccessful attempts I tied on a rainbow warrior. I watched the fly drift close then..........HE SIPPED IT! BAM! Fish on! Whew! That was a long 25 minutes for a nice little................WHAT? It was a little WHITE FISH! ARGG. That took the air right out of that fun reward. Oh well. At least he put up a good fight. I visited Round Rocks fly shop afterwards and they pointed me in the right direction to the land of the cutties......That'll be the next trip........ Beetles hanging out of the lips of nice Logan River bonnie cuts. Still smilin....................

Grumpy time!

I gave Salt Creek one last hoorah this afternoon. We are moving to Logan and I start school Monday. It was four o'clock when I hit the stream and fairly overcast. It was hot as hades and there were a lot of stinky sheep stomping around in some of my favorite holes :( I went down below and was feelin' an itch to throw a new foam beetle pattern that I had recently tied up. I threw on a rainbow warrior dropper just for good measure about 18 inches below Mr. beetle. As I entered the stream, I sat for a minute or two, looking upstream for some risers. After a spell of NADA, I casted upstream and realized it was A LOT harder to see a size 16 black beetle than the fatty foam hopper I had been fishing. I finally picked it out floating in the surface film. Right as my eyes focused on it........ it shot under the water. FISH ON! The rainbow warrior did the trick for the next several minutes and before I knew it I had 6 fish and 8 takes! Not bad considering I usually miss most of the first few takes of any given fishing trip. Anyways, keeping an accurate take-count vs. fish-count was a priority today. I decided to switch to a Grumpy Frumpy because nothing was really looking up at the beetle. I waded slowly upstream noticing how the fish seemed to care less about the sheep glurping the clear water only feet away. (I oughta market some sheep camo for fly fishermen). About the same time, I spotted a nice fish under a mossy shelf. I watched him for a couple minutes as he casually moved back and forth, sipping unseen bugs subsurface. I check casted about 4 feet to his right to measure my distance. Unexpectedly, the fish shot out from under the bank and speedily attacked the Grumpy! I was so surprised that I set the hook like Arnold Schwarzenegger and broke off my flies. ARRRRRGHHHH! I HATE IT WHEN I DO THAT! After a speedy re-rig, I began casting again. For the next few minutes I had to whisper to myself with every cast and drift, "Lift the rod easy, lift the rod easy, lift the rod easy......" Within 5 yards of the lost-rig-fish, I set the hook on a nice little bow that fell for the rainbow warrior. He jumped twice then ran down river right between my legs! This can be problematic as those who have experienced it can testify. The fish luckily got tangled in some moss or I probably would have lost him. He ended up being a smaller fish than I initially thought. Rainbows seem to pull and put up more exceptional fights as opposed to browns. As I continued upstream, I spotted another little brownie sunning at the tail end of a calm, clear pool. My cast was pro-like (yes I'm bragging) and the grumpy passed UN-noticed by Goldie. The bead however couldn't be passed up. I saw the white of the fish's mouth as he sipped. WHAM! Fish on! He ended up being better than I thought and the coolest part of all was the sweet take he allowed me to watch :) I love sight fishing. Anyways, I had a couple similar takes and a wonderful day. I actually kept a great tally, ending the 1 hour and 50 minute trip with 23 takes and 16 fish. A solid day. Not anything like psychosity, but that's another story...........Still smilin'.............

Salt creek psychosity

I have been packing boxes like crazy for the past few days, but my wife finally gave me a kitchen pass to fish a couple hours on Salt Creek. I headed up the canyon at about 2:30 in the afternoon in my new truck (he he). I started out fishing a stretch of river that held a couple nicer fish that had previously kicked my but and won the battle. I rigged up with a rainy's hopper and below it an olive hares ear dropper about two and a half feet off the bend of the hopper hook. I yo-yo casted up stream above the riffle and let the fly drift down through the hole. I nailed a nice bow on that first cast. He so very UN-casually took the hopper off the top with a splash and a flip of his tail. After some high spirited jumps I landed him. While admiring the large amount of small, closely spaced spots and beautifully green back, I returned the fish. I slowly moved up the creek taking many browns with the occasional bow on the hopper, and even more fish on the beadhead. I love watching the hopper stop or even better, begin to race towards the underwater bank . I get some strange high on seeing my "indicator" go under. Fishing was hot and I caught a couple larger fish than usual in this small unknown secret of a stream. I had a few takes where the entire fish literally exploded out of the water for the hopper. I even had a nice golden brown chase the hopper downstream about 10-15 ft before attacking it. Fishing was dreamlike and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face that resulted from every solid set that followed a good presentation. I even found myself laughing out loud as a fish jumped and splashed, finding itself hooked. I caught a lot of fish today. In fact, I slayed em. Psychosity: definition......catching 40-50 fish in just a couple hours qualifying one as victorious. Phil won today, and he's still smiling.

The Provo wins....

Joe and I went to the Provo yesterday with hopes of top water action on a hopper-dropper combo. It was a sunny, but cool day and nothing seemed to really be coming up..... We threw hoppers for an hour or so without much luck. One small brown chased my hopper down stream, but that was our only look. Shortly after, I found a back eddi that looked promising. I casted downstream into the eddi and let the hopper swirl and float back along the bank towards me. The hopper suddenly got sucked down by some unseen opponent........The trout had taken the dropper, in this case, a Frito's sow bug. I set the hook and the fish fought a good battle for his size. (mostly due to the foul hook in the right pectoral fin.) We pumped the fish and he gave up three adult caddis and a couple small sow bugs. We kept fishing and shortly after another fish rose to the hopper.......... swing and a miss for me. I excitedly set WAY too quickly. Joe crossed the river and fished a promising undercut bank. Nothing came of it and he moved up into a little beaver pond side channel. He hooked up immediately on a beadhead brassie dropper below his hopper. It was a nice, fat brown probably 14-15 inches. I also crossed the river and we moved up the beaver pond side channel and didn't have much luck. Upon returning to the main river there were some fish rising to yellow/tan caddis flies. We changed flies and I quickly picked up a 10 incher off the top. After a half hour without a take, we decided to nymph for a while. I snagged up on the bottom near shore on my first cast. When I tried to retrieve it, the rig came loose right exactly at the moment I was trying to pull it free with my pole hand while at the same time sliding my hand down the rig to pull. The result? I had a tungstud nymph embedded in my pinkie finger all the way to the shank..... It was nauseating to pull the barb through my finger. Oh well. Joe hooked up on a nice one shortly after and lost him in the same minute. He's a nymphing master and soon hooked up on another big fish. He fought him for a few minutes while he slowly moved downstream. The fish was strong and on the first glimpse, we thought the fish to be a monster brownie. After a couple more minutes of fighting, we saw that the fish was a oversized white fish. This fish was also foul hooked had put up a great, sustained fight. After landing the fish we decided to call it a day. The Provo won......again. Joe and Phil lose their second-in-a-row battle with the middle. Until next time........... That big brownie still sits calmly on the bottom laughing as flies drift slowly past...........