Softhackle fun.........

Usually this time of year I usually reflect back from the year and try to improve on patterns I've used or in this case, havent used as much. I'm suprised I dont carry more of these with me but I think I need to start. Here is a couple of patterns I tied last night. Enjoy!!

Fun with Marabou....for a great cause.

I got an email from Cardiac aka Alan from the Utah on the Fly site to help out on a Christmas Box for a fellow board member that has battled cancer for most of the year. I knew I couldnt pass up the chance to help a fellow flyfisher so I jumped on the chance and since Dennis enjoys stillwater flyfishing I thought I'd tie up a few patterns for him. Thanks again Alan for letting me participate in your gift to Dennis.

1/2 day on the Middle

Normally I dont get that chance to fish under the week but since I had plenty of PTO I decided to hit the Middle Provo. Being that I dont fish the Middle to often I was under a time restraint and fished somewhere close. I got a call from Mark and we decided on meeting in Midway and we decided to hit the Hoover's Hole area. It was damn cold too. mark hooked up imediately on a nice 12 inch brown. We walked up stream and just hit a few holes on the way up. Mark was using a small size 20 black Pheasant Tail and was doing well. I could see him for the most part of the day. I couldnt land anything for the time we were there but it sure was nice to be out again though. What was nice is that this section is usually crowded and we didnt even see another person the whole time we were there. Ice was getting tough to deal with which comes with the cold temps but it was again nice to be out instead of the office. Thanks Mark for a little break.

Back to the Five Dollar Footlong

Nick and I got to talking about doing some fishing and we decided to hit the the Five Dollar Footlong. The last time I was here it was back in June with Mike and Jer. The drive up was quick. I met up with Nick at the Starbucks on Wasatch Blvd. and we headed out. Again it took about 2 1/2 hours to get there and there was no one in sight. The morning was cold but is was tollarable. The water was super low and from the flow charts that I had earlier read mentioned that we should expect a 70 cfs. Boy was that way off. Anyways Nick started below me and I was nymphing alot of nice water but nothing was seen. I worked a couple of holes that have produced earlier in the year, but no fish could be found. I finally met up with Nick and he scored a few browns on streamers so we decided to walk upstream. We found a couple of brown still on the redds. Nick was spotting me up on the opposite bank but from my vantage point I had a tree limb that was giving me grief and I didnt have a great shot at the 2 fish that were busy. I was either too short or too far right. I finally dropped a great cast up above them and one of the browns took off with my fly. He swam downstream from where I was standing and I could take the slack quick enough to get into him and lost him. Again we walked further upstream and found a school of browns fighting for dominance. Nice fat and healthly browns were going at it. Nick dropped into the water and hooked a couple of nice fish and decided to move up and give that hole a break. Nick fished ahead of me and when I got a visual on him he was fishing the spillway at the dam. I did manage to pick up another brown there that ranged in the 20 inch class. By this time it was early afternoon. We decided on leaving and go to another stillwater location that I have heard plenty about but never fished. Got to our destination and quickly rigged up. Nick walked the opposite bank from where I was and he mamnged to bring a Fat Tiger to hand. I had some success with throwing a few streamers. I got hooked up on a nice Tiger following the fly in and I saw him actually take the fly, but it wasnt enough and he shook off. The wind started to pick up and we decided to leave at that point. It was great to mix up the day with some moving water than hit some stillwater. Thanks Nick lets plan on some more outting next year man.

It's Fall and the Feedbags are ON!!

Got the call from Mike that he was interested in hitting another lake we had our eye on for some time. From a reliable source, we were told that tigers were in this high unita lake. So we loaded up the toons and headed out. You couldnt ask for a better fall day. The golden colors of the aspens were on fire in the morning sunrise. We had to take a dirt road which led us up a mountain to get to our destination. Once we got to the lake the water was alot lower than we expected. We had to drive down to the shoreline to unload the truck and we prepared for the day. Right off the top Mike was throwing off of the shoreline and connected with a nice fish. The day was setting up to be a great one. Once in the water Mike was kicking my ass and I had a lot catching up to do. Once I found my grove the leader board started to shrink for Mike. We dodged a few rain drops but the fishing remained steady for the most part. Later n the day the sun broke out and the wind started to pick up and we started hooking fish just 50 yards away from the truck. Mike stuck some nice Cutts and with a few Tigers in the mix it was a great day. After loading everything up we decided to try up the road from where we were to visit another lake in the area. Once we got out the wind really picked up and than we decided to pack it up and we called it a day.

UOTF Stillwater 08 gathering

The annual UOTF trip to Strawberry was great, this is an annual gathering of guys on http://www.utahonthefly.com/ Lots of food, drinks and just great conversation. The burgers that Jess had prepared were excellent. Chipolte Burgers!!! Some of the best tasting burgers you'll ever taste. Fishing was spotty at best but Ron was throwning down on us while we ate lunch on shore. He didnt want to come in while the fishing for him was on fire. The fish were not keying in on any particular pattern The great lunch made up for the lack of fish. While we ate there was a slight downpour of rain which didnt last long. Occasional break in the skies would turn the fish on. Later in the day as usual the wind picked up and it was time leave. Overall the Berry had been hit and miss for the most part. Great times were had and it was great to joke around with some of the guys I havent seen all year. Till next year.

Labor Day Weekend Bendo

Well I had the chance to take a 4 day weekend and I jumped on the chance to take. With all the home projects I've been doing, I hadn't taken the pontoon out at all. So I dusted it off in search of some Bear Lake Cutts in the Berry over the holiday weekend. It felt good to get back in the boat and take a stab at landing a few fish. I had heard before we left that the weather was going to turn bad on Sunday and as you can see in the pictures the high clouds started rolling in but the wind was tolerable. Fishing in the afternoon at the Berry can be tough especially in the afternoon hours. So I rigged up my 6wt Loop Rod and a type 4 sink line and went hunting. A lot of the fish I graphed were suspended in about 19ft of water. Took my first Cutt on a Spectrumized Leech size 8. I like to use Leech patterns with no weight at all. With a short 5ft leader, that fly will sink just fine. After about another hour went by and no fish to the boat, I decided to change the Leech for one of Cheech's Estas Bugger in White. First cast with this pattern produced a healthy Rainbow which seem pretty rare at best at the Berry. Another hour had pasted by and the wind started picking up so as a last ditch effort I threw on the Brown Spectrumized Leech again and hooked and landed another nice Cutt. I could feel that my battery was getting low on juice, being that I was using the battery for a dual purpose for lights in the trailer. I didn't was to drain it completely cause I needed heat in the trailer for the night. While I was out on the lake I had a friend which was catching crayfish in traps with my daughter and we had those for dinner after they cleaned them and boiled them. I have to say that they tasted pretty good considering that I have never eaten them before. After I quick meal of crayfish I started a camp fire to warm up with and the bottle of Jack Daniels helped as well. Over all it a great weekend and I certainly cant wait for the best the Berry has to offer as Fall approaches.

Random Ties.

Well this summer has been the summer of many house projects

and I haven't been able to get out as much as I have liked. I guess

things just need to get done. That's OK though, I've been tying various

patterns for hopes of some small stream fishing. I plan on getting out

again before to long. I guess this was the year a lot of things just

had to be either upgraded, or built. I miss getting out but tying a few

patterns and recent phone calls from fishing buddies have kept

my sanity in check. Above are a few flies that I tied last night just

to keep me from losing my tying skills. Late Summer has always been

my favorite time to hit the water, but I hope to get out there while the

fishing is good. Enjoy the patterns and if you have any questions

regarding how I did them drop me a line.

A Little PMX Love

I've been on a PMX kick lately since my last trip and decided

to share the receipe with some of a few friends. So here it is.

Tiemco 200R----------size 14

Orange Thread for the butt----------8/0 thread

Black Thread for remaining Fly-----8/0 thread

Bleached Elk Hair

Black Bug Body from http://www.flytyersdungeon.com/

Poly Yarn Post in White

Black Bug Body for the legs

Peacock Herl for the Thorax

Grizzly Hackle for the Parachute.

This Pattern has a lot of steps involved but it sure is a killer fly.

Tie a few up! You wont be disappointed!

Central Utah High Mountain Pizza Delivery

Got an IM from a friend Brandon telling me that a particular river in Central Utah was fishing well. After getting the low down and patterns that was working good for him I decided to give a few friends a call to saddle up were hitting some water. The calls went out to Jerry and Nich. Nich whom I haven’t had the pleasure of fishing with before was good company and full of laughs. We set the pick-up time for 8am and we motored out.

I was sent a google map of how to get to this location and after a missed dirt road we found our way traversing a mountain ridge at around 9000ft. Plenty of wildflowers all over the mountainside as we drove this single track dirt road. I would have hated it if we had to encounter another vehicle coming from the opposite direct but luck would have it that we didn’t see another vehicle on the way in. Sounds of chirping Cicadas were predominate throughout the drive down the mountain inching our way closer to the rivers edge.

By this time it was after 10:30am. As we pulled in the smell of hot brakes was in the air. We saw that parking area had 5 other vehicles which had the same idea's in mind. We quickly rigged our rods double check flies and all the other items needed for the day. Wet wading was the calling of the day and off we were.

Once at the river edge we saw fish rising in a nice pool. Nich quickly tossed out a Cicada pattern and "BAM" first fish of the day was on. Jer on the other hand was up above me having his own go at some fish as well. I was near Jerry when I heard him say "Fish On!" A nice 16" brown came to his hand using a Adams Dry. The fish were not very particular on what patterns they wanted but the presentation was the key.

I walked ahead of the guys to look at what the river looked like above where we were. I came across a nice slow running pool. I tied on a CDC Elk Hair Caddis and "WHAM" a nice cutthroat came to hand. Nich was working upstream and Jerry wasn’t to be seen until later in the afternoon.
I packed up my gear and started walking up river. Lots of stones fluttered the water laying their eggs in the slack water. Caddis were sparse but they were out as well. I could still hear the Cicadas in the trees. At this point I stumbled across an open meadow. Slow water and a lot different than the river below. The fish in this area seemed very spooky. Stealth was the answer in this section. Throwing patterns across the river to the opposite bank was the ticket. I took a couple nice fish throwing Hopper Patterns to get into a few risers.

Nich finally showed up and he was casting near a log in the water with about a 5 foot drop. He tossed his Cicada pattern by the log and pulled a nice brown out of there. That Brown tried to wrap him up into the deep undercut bank but Nich managed to pull him out no problem. By this time we walked up river a little and found a couple of other fly fisherman and decided to turn back to find Jer.
Once we got to the Railroad tracks we saw Jerry walking our direction. We stopped talked about how he did and what we seen down in the meadow section. We 3 walked back downstream talked about the various spots and holes that we fished earlier.

For one last shot Jer decided to throw a Black PMX out in this nice run and again he scored another nice brown. Than Nich scored again on his Cicada Pattern. Nice way to close the day out. We decided to fish where we entered the river in the moring before unloading all or gear and head out. Jer's Pizza was waiting for us when we got back and it was some good tasting pizza after a long day on the river. Let’s do it again guys!!

Experimental Hotwire Stone

This is my latest creation of trying to simulate a Stonefly Nymph.

I love the alternating wire for the body of these flies. I havent really

put them through the test yet but I'm hoping for good results.

Reciepe.

TMC 200R Hook Size 14

2 Black Biots for the tail

Gold and Black SM UTC Wire

Black Thin Skin for the wing case

A special Blend of dubbing bought through Fly Tiers Dungeon

Under body lead wire

Bead head,

8/0 Black Thread.

Partridge in Brown for the legs.

$5 Foot Long River

Well the day couldn't have started any better unless you enjoy rain and wind. The wind was a definite and it was hard casting a 4wt into a 25 mph wind. We got to our parking location and to our surprise there wasn't another sole around. Great times ahead as we hurried and rigged up. On this river we have our usual starting points and the water looked high but it was clear. With the sunny skies we knew the fish would be tough to catch and stealth would be the calling for the day.

As we walked up river Jer had the lead and I could hear Ol' Jer hollering that he had one on. From my vantage point I couldnt see him but from the sounds of his voice it was a nice Brown. The wind made it horrible with wind knots and the constant re rigging. Than Mike got into a few and I was still at zero around mid day. I was getting a little nervous thinking to myself " I cant get skunked again, I have to land one even if its a small fish. So about midway up there was a small deep stretch that Mike and Jer have already pulled a couple of nice Browns out of.

I broke off my flies to add some more weight and used a peacock stripped Baetis pattern that I had tied a week ago and I grabbed it from my Experimental Box. Tied that on with a huge scud. Lobbed a cast at this time the wind was at my back. Easy to cast ahead of me but the back cast was tough.I saw the indicator go down and it was game on! A nice 15" brown came to hand and boy was I relieved. Wow, I felt good. Time to move up and try the notorious "Money Hole". We got there and the water in this pool looked outstanding. No risers but this is a deep pool where nymphing is the gameplan. Jer, Mike and I all dredged it with no avail. This one spot you could always count on but the river didnt see it our way so we walked upstream a bit more to one of the last deep holes before we called it a day. I decided to pack the rod and man Mike's camera to catch some action shots. The fellas didnt disappoint either. First Jer had one on than Mike. A Double on film....Sweetness!!

About this time it was about 4pm and we were burnt to a good crisp. Jer had it worst cause he had worked the night before so he was pretty much toast. We had some of Jer's Pizza waiting for us at the truck and it tasted good. I couldnt pull my keys out fast enough to unlock the doors. Those boys got hungry for sure. I dont think I was on the road for 10 minutes and the ladies were fast asleep.

It felt good to be out in the sunshine with the cold water running past your legs while being out with great friends catching nice fish.......That to me is what its all about.

Photo’s courtesy of Mike Doughty