Surf Flies 1st Attempt

These by no means are good ties, but was excited to take some pics with the new camera.

Merry Christmas to me.....

Its been awhile since my last post. I've fished a couple times, but nothing to post about. Since then I have acquired some new gear for 2010.

My new digs
Williams Joseph Fanny Pack/Lumbar. I like fanny pack better.
Williams Joseph Rain Coat
Ross Reel Evolution 8 weight with sinking line
Temple Fork TICRX 8 weight
Simms Boots and yes they have felt bottoms.

I also took the pics with my sweet new Canon Rebel XTI + and extra lens for close ups. Not great pics yet, but hoping to have better quality pics coming up.

Cool Feature on Fanny Pack it has a pocket that converts to a striping basket.

Rainbows and Rodents

Day 1. This weekend I fished a couple different places and both were equally unique. I started off the trip heading up to the same old place with Dan. We were chasing spawning browns and fishing near reds. We caught some fat rainbows that were munching on the browns eggs behind some reds early on in the day. We caught some browns too but nothing to crazy a 19" for me and a skinny 22" for Dan. The salmon were done spawning and therefore dying, it was different watching the dead salmon floating down in front of me while fishing. Also, there was this doofus that kept cutting my flies off my line when it would float by him, man what a jerk;) As it does here the wind blew hard all day and we were ready to call it a day pretty early. We ended up hitting the usual last hole of the trip. Dan ended up catching the fattest brown I have ever seen. It was so awesome I caught my self rolling on the ground laughing until I had tears in my eyes. We caught more fish this trip than I had hear which was great. Lots of rainbows and a memorable brown.

Decent 21" rainbow

Gill plate color

look at its gut, not mine.........

awesome colors

19" brown. Jerk I was fishing with wouldn't walk over to get a grip'n grin picture.

fat 23" rainbow

it twas a lunker

toothy sucker

tubby & tubby

shoulders and gut just like its catcher


Day 2. The next morning Matt and I took off to hit a little lake with some tiger trout. We wanted to catch them on mice patterns so we left early in the morning to hit first light. I knew 3:30a.m. was to early but Matt didn't. We fished in the dark for an hour, kinda creepy, but when the stars started fading and the light started creeping in the tigers turned into monsters attacking the mice. I missed probably 15 awesome hits and had lots of "noses" and follows. It was nerve racking to have a big wake behind a huge mouse pattern and knowing that the beast is going to strike anytime. I ended up landing one on the mouse, but was to worried about getting measurements and it took off before pictures were taken. Matt caught some pigs, a 23" and a 24" both taken on the mice. His biggest fish to date, and first on a mouse. We ended the day not too long after the sun came up, but by then we had put in a good 8 hours:)

Mike's Mutant Mouse

Mikes 23 7/8" tiger no matter what he says;) on the mouse!

SLAMMED the mouse

Another $ shot for Mike the genius behind the Mutant Mouse

Most disgusting fish I have ever seen. Awful slanted mouth and in all ways a retarded fish.

Proud like he's my own son

I am going the same way Mike went with his post. I am so proud of our little guy, I mean just look at him, who wouldn't want to put this kid on the cover of a magazine? Scott Donaghe that guides down on the beaches of California came to southern Utah for a visit and got some shots with the notorious Mathew when he volunteered to take him fishing(wish I wouldn't have so graciously bowed out due to small water fishing and the being crowded factor;))

I don't know which picture I like more

I'm really proud of you and your Adidas chucko.

Pigs have all the fun........

When I say "pigs" I am not talking about the pink fat animals we get bacon from, but the other white meat, cops. Whats with these guys anyway? The oinker I was with got out of 2 police stops with no tickets. At all of these stops he thought it would be funny to mention,"hey the guy in the back is a cop hater". Not only did he not get any traffic tickets, but he caught the biggest fish of the trip.Best fish of the trip for me a fat 23" fall brown

Dan with the biggest fish this trip a nice 24 1/2" rainbow
glad he could get over that 23" mark.

Josh with a fat 21" Cutt, Yellowstone?

Narly kype on this guy

Showing off some fall spawning colors

We got spoiled the first day.
Me as Gangsta as I can be with some serious wind chills

Rockin the lumber jack hat with my friend the moose.

Moses "Josh" parting the Moose.

Dan at the last second snagging(no pun) a nice little 23" brown to end the day.

Finally met up with James to go rip some lips. We left earlier than anyone ever wants to leave when they go fishing. We drove up to Circleville hoping to hook into some pigs with streamers, but much to my surprise when we got to the water it was about 50% less of regular flows. I heard they cut flows in the fall, but have never witnessed it. Any hope of catching some hungry browns off guard was out of the question. James hooked into a few fish from the start, it took me awhile to get warmed up, but finally got the skunk off. We fished the normal stretch, but nothing great, lots of rainbows, 1 brown James caught for the entire day? Where are the browns hiding? We drove down to Hatchtown and caught some more dinks and whitefish. With flows so low it made everything different and I'm going to have to change my game plan a little bit.

First Day Back

The old ball and chain let me sneak out finally this weekend for some fishing. Just kidding first weekend as a married man and I was out fishing, told you so all you haters. I woke up and went towards Circleville. I fished the water I usually fish when I go that way. Started off with a yellow zoo cougar and on one of my first casts I floated downstream and pulled up towards a good bank and had a vicious take from a nice 18" brown. I fished up river and managed to get my zoo cougar stuck in a high tree behind me. While trying tug it out of the tree one of my ferrules on my Sage SLT 4 weight broke in half. I was so disappointed I left to fish water further down the road, so I could cool down. I ended up driving towards Hatch and fishing the area there. I caught a bunch of dinky rainbows, but it was a good time. It was nice to get back on the water. 3 weeks I went without fishing just about killed me. Hope I can manage to get out again;) Sorry no pictures I forgot my camera and my buff.

End of an Era.

Epic Journey
Today was the closing of a chapter in my fishing career. With my wedding next week I will be no longer able to fish Blue Springs without a member. It's unlikely I won't fish Blue Springs again, but it won't be the same having to have a member to fish along side of me from now on. There have been enough memories made at Blue Springs in the last 10+ years to start its own blog. I started flipping(developed pictures) through old pictures and was reminded of some great trips. Blue Springs is where Matt "Pike" Anderson and started our fishing adventures. We started fishing bait and eventually worked to fly fishing. Collin Cleaner started fishing with me and Matt pretty much at the beginning, but not the very beginning:) There have been many friends along the way.

The Beginning Years
We fished a lot of bait from a boat and from shore, kept a fair amount of fish, we chewed a lot of sunflower seeds, listened to 959 the hawk faithfully, drank a lot of Dr. Pepper, skipped a lot of school, slept at the cabin many nights, and had a lot of fun. Also, started the SPC fishing club. We had a bunch of old 70's SPC hats and decided to start a club. It didn't last, but it was fun at the time. A lot of early mornings at the cabin with hot cocoa to get us going. Phrases like, "Collin the GD sun isn't even up yet," happened somewhere in the early years when we worried about waking up really early and anyone that knows me, knows I like my sleep. I also fished with a lot of different people in the beginning years. It was always an adventure.

First actual photo of first trip fishing trip to Blue Springs with Matt

Matt and I unashamed to take partial credit of Collins fish

Brett, Kyle and Joe, the 3 of us spent a lot of time on the waterWe would ice fish a couple times a year
Consumed lots of this, start of the belly
The beginning of the SPC fishing club. Never had any luck night fishing though

Seeds, SPC hat, Sun Tan and Soda(Dr. Pepper)

Somewhere In There.
After everyone we knew had to many fish in there freezers and a lot of bait chucking we started venturing into the unknown world of fly fishing. I believe it was me, Matt and Collin that got the necessary gear to get started. Eventually Steve, Brett, Joe and others got involved. I still remember going to SPC and fabricating our own fly rod tubes. We were all new and learned a lot of hard lessons. We eventually would go back to chucking due to frustration, but for the most part we stuck it out. Had some help with from people like John Schultz, Larry E, Wes C, Chris H, Dustin D, and some others. We didn't have nearly the help online that there is now from the extensive websites and youtube. I also began tying flies sometime around then,

One of the many sunset pictures I had.

Had to be awhile ago in those waders
In the beginning of the change

Old Glory, Woment want me fish fear me

The annual Kyle's butt kicking from Collin

Matt with a recent slab

Later years

Alot has happened in the last few years at Blue Springs. We had a couple epic seasons that produced many fish days often. The fishing got so good it seemed like I was taking lots of friends that wanted to learn to fly fish and families to fish with there kids. I took teachers that used to allow me to sluff class once in awhile so I could go fish(I think it was a good trade off), fished with lots of family I started taking a fair amount of clients, so I could get out on the water for work. It is a lot like the beginning years. I take a lot of different people because of the high volume catch rate and large fish.

Some of the Barney clan.

Matt Hirischi with his first catch on a fly rodErickson FamilySuwyn with a slab this early spring21"

Last Supper

The Last Supper
Got an early start up to Blue Springs with Matt this morning. We got on the water around 6:30 and got fishing. Not much later Desert Rock showed up and started fishing. They got one quick fished and released it. They figured it would be one of many to come. At about 10:30 they picked up and left without another fish, not even a bite. Matt had one bite and we were started back to the truck at about 11 and I finally hooked into a real fighter. I decided to keep this fish to give to my Grandma. She has been asking me to bring her fish since I quit keeping them about 5 or 6 years ago, so I figured I would surprise her with a fish.

I don't fish Blue Springs nearly like I used too. I have discovered more moving waters that I enjoy to fish more often. There are many memories that were not shared or could not be shared, but we all know what they are. I have a bunch of fun old pictures from the glory days of blue springs. I'll put a link of my Picasa account for anyone wanting to see some of the old shots. If you have any to contribute please do.

Blue Springs