Welcome back!

Well, now that I am headed back to Boise it is time to start up the blog again. I hope everyones contact info is still good. More to come real soon. I have been tying some flies with the new Nor Vise and it is working out real well. I have some awesome fishing while in Colorado the past two years and I have had the opportunity to hike some 14'rs. I have had a chance to outfit the cat with a new NRS fishing frame so it is ready to go this summer. I plan on running the SFB canyon several times this year! Hope to fish with as many friends as possible this year. So you out there!

Lipsticking Pigs!

The Bad Boys of Spring and Summer

Thanks for a great time!

July 3, 2007 - South Fork Boise

Last Tuesday, Eric Henderson and I floated the South Fork of the Boise in my 16 ft. wood driftboat. The river was flowing at 1840 cfs and we slid in around 1:30pm after I did my single-speed shuttle from Indian Rock. When we put in, there were quite a few boats on the river and it seemed fairly busy. However, as the day wore on very little traffic was evident which meant we had a chance to fish all the good holes along the way.

Good hatches of size #18 PMDs kept us busy on the upper stretches of the river. Above the village, Eric tagged and lost three nice rainbows who were rising slowly to duns in the film. I lost one also in this stretch but landed another in the same place Leon Hoffman caught his monster fish last year.














Later in the day, I spotted a very nice fish working in an eddy line and pulled over so Eric could have another go at it. I went downstream and fished another promising run but didn't catch anything. Eric came down about 15 minutes later with the fish on we had spotted earlier. It was a fatty!














Around 6PM, the caddis hatch started happening full-strength with clouds of bugs migrating upstream. It wasn't until we got to the Pig Pond that we finally found fish working to these flies. Long casts with small flies against fast currents made it very tough to reach these fish. Fortunately, I was able to tag a nice rainbow on a #18 caddis dry fly, but was frustrated by other fish working in more difficult spots. Eric also tagged a fish in this area, but it got off after about 10 seconds.















All in all, we had a great day with good conversation, lots of beef jerky, and a few very nice fish to bend our rods.

Bass in Hagerman Valley - June 16th

Went camping with Pa and the boy on Fri/Sat.
It was the official Father/Son camp out for my Dad's ward.
Camped at Niagra Springs State Park south of Wendell.
Then we drove over to a private bass pond about 10 miles away in the Hagerman Valley.
We had 10 people standing on a 30 foot dock bringing in a bass every cast.
All largemouth. Some pretty good sized. (12-14 inches)
Will post pictures in the next day or so.
The kids were loving it because the fish were so dumb.
The bass were hitting any lure that was retreived slowly just off the bottom.
I think I could have caught one by tying my car keys to the end of my line.
I got my pontoon boat for FD. A 10 foot Sportsman's model with 7' oars and an anchor mount
So, it was a good weekend. Now, I just have to go fishing and christen the thing.
Rock on.
Eric

Provo River - April 13 - 14

Provo River

Water is perfect this year.
Lower Provo on Friday was rough.

I went 4 for 8 on nymphs. Nice Blue Wing hatch in the afternoon. My flies were laughed upon by the browns. My Dad and Brian did not do well. They are not nymph ninjas like I.

Middle Provo on Saturday went much better. Despite the sun, there was an epic BWO hatch all afternoon. BWOs came off for over 3 hours in good numbers.

Last two hours had fish rising in solid numbers for duns on the surface.

I struggled to find a dry that would work. I tried a BWO cripple and caught one.

Then I just put on the old, reliable, size 18, full-hackle dun. It took some coaxing, but I landed three fish on that guy. All told, I went 6 for 9 on Saturday.

No monsters were landed but all fish were 12-15 inches with a lot of zip in them. What is that whole 'only rainbows jump' deal? These guys were all over the place.

Brian and Dad also did pretty well on Saturday (10 and 8 fish, respectively)

-Entertaining anecdote of the trip -

Eric is fishing the hatch and frustrated with his cripple pattern.

Brian says 'Can I try it up there by you?'

'Sure' replies Eric.

Brian steps up to within 8 feet of Eric and catches a fish on his 2nd cast.

'You jerk' states Eric. 'You are not supposed to catch fish up here'.

Brian laughs as Eric continues to utter oaths against his existence.

Provo rocks and the cabin in Heber is sa-weet.

e

Bluegill at Halverson Lakes

My Pa and I took the kids down to Halverson Lakes by the Snake River for Bluegill and Bass fishing on Friday afternoon (6th). We had a lot of fun and ended up with 6 bluegill and 3 bass. Biggest bluegill was 9 inches. Biggest bass (largemouth) was 11 inches.

The kids were using the good ole' bobber and worm. Dad and I were using leech patterns and slow retrieves. The black leech seemed to be a better lure than other colors.

It is a nice place to take kids in the spring. There is about a mile hike to get into the two lakes. So that was a little long. My three year old was pretty tired when we walked back out in the evening. The loop trail was sandy but pretty even and wide. I would take the 'high road' when walking in again. The trail loop to the south is probably a little longer. At the lake, there were rocks along the shore for kids to scramble around on and lizards and snails to chase. There are a lot of leeches, so I wouldn't let the kids wade in the water very much.

According to one of several 'regular' float tubers there, the water is clear in March and May and cloudy in April. Runoff pours over the cliff above the lake in a waterfall and murks the water a bit during April. It was going full bore Friday.

My eleven year old caught her first two fish completely on her own and had a lot of fun. I would imagine the temps can get pretty hot in the summer. This is a great place for kids in the spring and fall. Fun trip. Fish on.

Belated SFB trip

This is a belated post as I went to Tucson right after this trip to the South Fork of the Boise. I went with Mark Thueson and I got schooled! Mark showed me that I have a lot to learn still about this river. I did real well landing many whitefish but could not bring a rainbow to the net. Mark meanwhile was busy landing nothing but rainbows and some real beauties at that! The worst part is when he came up to were I was fishing and landing whitey after whitey and he instantly lands a beautiful rainbow. A few casts later and BAM, another fish on. He was kind enough to let me in on his secret. I will keep that in my hip pocket so I can look good when I go out with one of you mugs.