This weeks fishing endeavors

Over the last couple weeks I have been able to get a little bit of fishing in. On Thursday afternoon a good friend came up to fish with me for a little bit. The fishing was fair considering the lack of real effort we put into it. The temps seemed to drop, and the wind picked up quite a bit. Making the fishing fairly poor.

Friday morning my brother and I decided to go wade down at little hole for a little while. We waded across at Catwalk shoals, and fished up the grassy bank. We didn't land any but each missed a few. And after about an hour or so, and fighting wind, and serious glare we took off without having landed a fish.

And while not fishing related. 

Saturday afternoon, my beloved Utah Utes football team capped off a perfect season, and made their way into the BCS for the second time in 5 years. What a great way to end the week. 

I look forward to following them to their bowl game and cheering loudly and proudly.

The loss of a great friend and mentor.

I got some tragic and saddening news this afternoon. My employer and great friend Dennis Breer passed away. Denny was a great proponent of the fishery on the Green often going to great lengths to inform the public and the powers that be about things that affected the river that we love. He single handedly created what is quite possibly one of the largest fly fishing outfitters in the country, as far as trips ran per year.

An avid outdoorsman, writer, fly tier, and great human being. He loved to teach and instruct everyone in the ways of his favorite sport. Taking young fisherman under his wing, and shaping them into great guides skilled in many aspects of the sport. 

I owe him a lot and will miss him incredibly. 

Season's A Wrap.

This year's season has been one wild ride. I have learned a few things, forgotten a few things, acquired a few things, and lost a few things.  We were very fortunate to see quite a few prolific hatches. It all started with the spring blue wings, carried through some amazing terrestrial hatches (Cicada's and Hopper's) and ended with an excellent fall blue wing hatch. I was able to fish a lot of dries, and dial in my skills on teaching a cast even more so. The nymphing was different every day. But all in all it was fairly good.

I finally got a newer car. One that I could rely on, was comfortable, and was honestly a lot of fun to drive. Unfortunately it did have a fairly high center of gravity, and if one were to lose control. It just happened to roll very well. Lesson learned. So now I get to go and find another newer car. 

Now that I am beginning the off-season, I get to devote more time to flies. I have already restocked on a few patterns that worked well this last summer, but should have time to make even more. I am now looking forward to next March/April when I can begin another season on the Green.

Been busy on the river; wish the fish could keep up.

It has been a long period of good terrestrial fishing. It pains me to see in heading down hill. After five months of the fish eating the crap out of Cicada's, Ants, and Hoppers, they have decided to up the refusals. As the days go on and the weather gets colder and wetter I find myself relying more and more on the nymph game. 

Through the August and the first week of so of September I was finding success fishing a small black chernobyl ant in the first six miles of river, and a larger brownish-tan chernobyl ant imitating a hopper in the last mile. But as the weather turned to more of a fall-ish pattern my nymph game has been what has carried the days. 

The fish have been responding well to nymph rigs of a wooly bugger trailed by a smaller nymph of some sorts in the faster shallower water. And in the slower deeper water either a deep somewhat heavy rig with either a worm and an emerger or a small gray bead and an emerger. This is definitely the time of year when patience and persistence are paying off. We are not seeing the spring nymphing days of 30-50 fish in a day, and are seeing more days in the teens and low twenties to the boat.

We are still seeing some quality fish, this has been attributed in my mind to the improved health of the fish from higher flows and abundant populations of scuds and aquatic worms in the water. 

In the evenings a fairly prolific caddis hatch has been happening in the last few miles of A through a bit of B, but the fishes major food supply has shifted back to midges and the small fall Blue-Winged Olives. 

As the season makes it's shift towards the end. I encourage all to come and fish the river to get some of those lingering feelings out of your soul before the cold drag of winter comes upon us. 

I look forward to this winter, tying; trying to update my stash with more bugs, and more varied. As I explore the intricacies in tying I look forward to keeping you updated with the new bugs that I am going to be playing with.

Keep in Touch,

John

Sorry for the wait.

It has been a very long time since my last post. I have been very busy working for the last few months and have avoided a long time around an internet connection.

Fishing has had it's plusses and minuses since last post. After our Cicada insanity through June we enjoyed another three weeks of absolutely gonzo fishing with our "Magnifica" Cicada's. These are close cousins to the little 7 year cicada's we experienced on the upper river. They are much larger, fished with size 2-6 imitations. Have a 13-15 year life cycle. And when these bad boys are out, the fishing is no holds barred. Big fish who are educated and reserved tend to throw caution to the wind. I have never seen so many 20+ inch fish caught within a 3 week period before. These large phenomenal bugs were on the B and C sections of the river and were the source of a lot of fun. 

Towards the end of the cicada's run the upper 5 miles of the a section of the river fished increasingly technical. I managed to do well fishing a size 12-14 black chernobyl ant in the first 5 miles of A, and either fat alberts, or brown Chernobyls in the lower two miles.

Flows this year have been going fairly strange, with mixed benefits. We had an extended period of high flows, and at the end of high flows, the powers that be started running the river at around 1600-2000 cfs a day. This was great, as a result of these heightened water levels we have experienced more abundance of food for the trout, more oxygen in the water, and more room. All of these directly influenced a greatly increased average health for the fish in the river. And for those of us on the river. It meant that we had less rocks that we could be hitting in the bonier stretches of the river. But these flows have been a bit deceiving and we have seen a few wrecked boats in the river. It still never ceases to amaze me at what can happen to people when they do not respect the river. 

As the summer draws to a close, we are still seeing abundant hoppers around the river in the lower mile or two. This has kept the dry fishing very well for the last little bit of the day. The dry is fishing increasingly more difficult in the top of the A section. But is still very doable, providing the patience to work for fewer eats, and many more refusals. 

As the fall approaches and the days get colder. We look at more days fishing nymph rigs, and less full dry fly days. We should be seeing an emergence of our small fall Blue Wings (pseudo's) which are fished well on the surface with very small mayfly patterns. And nymphing becomes even smaller and more delicate. Mostly fishing with sz. 20-22 zebra midges ( I find using black tungsten beads at this time to be more beneficial) and sz. 22-24 gray emergers, like the GT emerger, or my favorite, the gray RS2.

As always, I look forward to seeing you all out here, hopefully fishing with me.

-John

It's that Time

It has been a while since my last post. But I have been busy. Booked for the most part of June. The good thing is that since the last week of May we have been seeing more and more Cicada's on the water. These stellar bugs make fishing so much fun that It's almost easy. 

Cicada fishing started the last week of May, early in high flows. And since I was fortunate enough to be one of the first guide boats to throw cicada's that early I was able to catch more big fish then than I had ever before in my career.

The fishing went up and down through the end of May and in to June (mostly due to the weather). Every day that the sun was shining the fishing got better. It is finally starting to Peak.

One disadvantage lately is the amount of Wind that we are having on the river. Cicada's are very big wind resistant bugs and tend to make casting a little more difficult.  And the hazards are definitely there.

All In all I believe that the fishing is going to steadily improve as the flows drop and the fish get more spread out. 

I look forward to seeing you all out here for some amazing Green river terrestrial fishing Which is pretty much the whole reason that I became a Guide on this river. 

Been On A Bit Of A Bow Kick

Typically I don't get to hung up on rainbows but this has been one crazy couple of weeks. The Bows are all up to spawn out of the reservoir and that has made for some interesting if not retarded fishing. 

It all started out at the beginning of may when I had a client catch a beautiful 17.5" bow out of the river, easily setting the standard for how big and beautiful of a bow I could expect to catch out of the river.

Then a few days later we all decided to go fishing at a little creek called Jones Hole. This turned out to be one of the most enjoyable days of fishing I had partaken of in quite a while. I started the day fishing a small black stimulator which I was able to get quite a few fish to eat, and bring even more to hand.  I then broke off the last of the two Stimi's that I had in my arsenal and began to fish the Cicada (as I had seen quite a few in the area as well as heard them.) This fished very well and I landed a few more. Then as the day wound to a close. I went to the bridge and cast towards a fish that I had fished towards every time I have fished Joners. And after little success on the dry I then tied on a small neon nightmare and sight nymphed. Success!!!

Later on that same week we decided to chase some of the very obscenely large bows coming up out of the reservoir to spawn. We only did this for a very short time. But it was insane. We caught so many big fish.  I felt kind of bad about catching these fish while they were getting prepared to spawn but it made for some intensely good pictures.

PS. The Terrestrials on the Green are coming. I have been hearing more and more reports of good terrestrial days. I can't wait to get out there and verify the rumors. Stay tuned for more updates.

Welcome to the new season; Blue Wings and Midges

The 2008 season is finally swinging into gear. I have put a number of trips on the water in this last week all with fairly productive days. 

The mornings have been fairly slow with a lot of midges on the water, the fish will rise on occasion but the most productive days will be had nymphing. I have been using a deep nymph rig set at anywhere from 6' to 7.5' to the first fly. I have had the most production from using two bead head flies with 2 to 3 split shots above. The most useful flies have been zebra midges in brown, black, and red; sz. 18. But yesterday I found a small gray rs2 worked very well (sz. 20-22).

In the afternoons, we have been seeing a fairly pronounced baetis (Blue Wing Olive) hatch that has brought large amounts of fish to the surface for fairly productive dry fly fishing. The patterns that I have been using the most regularly have been hackle stackers and different variants of cripple patterns. As with most fishing on the Green the fish are more drift selective than pattern selective. I have been fishing with different dun patterns of Blue Wings, trailed by a small hackle stacker or a small cripple. 

Morning dry fly action has been happening for some of the guides up here by fishing really slow back water with some sz. 18-20 highly visible midge pattern followed up by a sz. 24-26 no see um bug. This seems to work well when targeting the so called scummer trout that rises regularly, because these fish have a long amount of time to inspect the proffered bug and likely have seen a little of everything that every passer by could offer. 

There is good news however for the Terre

strial lover. I have fished dry dropper with a large para cricket and have seen a few good eats on the larger dry. Some guides that I have talked to are fishing dry dropper with cicada patterns and are seeing a few eats on the Cicada. I have heard reports of seeing a Cicada on the water.  So this is really good news. Meaning we might not be too far away from the beginning of big bug season on the Green.

Good luck out there, I'll see you soon.

It's been a while pt. 2

I also managed to have my first guide day of the year. It was an interesting day weather and fishing wise. The fishing was definitely spotty with certain spots performing outstandingly well, with others failing dismally. I believe that the fish had fed all night due to a full moon, and due to the cold water and low barometer were not going to feed actively all day. The fish we did catch were for the most part caught deep nymphing black and red zebra midges (sz. 18) and on orange jig-a-glo's. All in all it was a good day, with fun clients.

After spending a day in the shop assisting Denny prepare for the coming season. I joined a couple of friends on a float down B. We had a good day, despite the fishing being abysmally slow. It was however rather exciting for two big reasons. I caught a decent fish on a sz. 12 PMX cricket (dry fly), and missed two others. And while fishing a streamer pattern that I had tied earlier, it was an incredibly hot fly. I had many strikes, but due to lack of mojo, and a long tail on the bug, I was unable to land all but a couple fish. 

My next post should be coming in a few weeks, when I return to the river full time.

It's been a while pt. 1

I have had a couple of busy weekends this month. To start with, I joined a few of my good friends on a trip fishing the Grey Reef section of the North Platte. We met up in Alcova, Wy the night of the 13th, and had the perfunctory kick off for a good weekends vacation. (cocktails, and lots of stories) We then passed out for the night visions of fighting rainbows dancing in our heads.

We then woke up the next morning to gray skies and threatening snow. We didn't let this daunt us (for the moment) and took off to start the day.

The fishing was dismal at best, it seemed that we might have hit the river a little too early in the year, and the weather wasn't doing anything to boost our spirits. So after a couple of fruitless hours a few of us decided to take off and spent that night warm and at the bar with a couple of cocktails. I ended up drawing the short straw and had to row out alone (for the most part) in a raft, not my favorite craft on a river. We then proceeded to have a memorable night that most of us probably don't remember all of. 

Day 3, We awoke to pounding heads and clear skies. It looked like it was going to be a great day compared to the second day. After a tasty deep fried breakfast in Alcova's one restaurant, we headed out to begin the day. I started the day fishing with the girls on the trip (essentially guiding) but it turned out being a good deal, My friend ended up catching a beautiful rainbow that was somewhere around 20 inches. And we didn't have a net on board so my hands got really cold.

After a bit more fishing I switched out and got on a different boat to where I could have a chance to fish a bit more. It was a few of the guys from the trip, and one of the 3 of us had never caught a fish on a fly rod, so Danny (another guide on the Green) and myself made it our mission to make sure he accomplished this feat. After a bit of fishing, a few penalty shots (shots of booze for losing an obvious fish), and one landed bit of driftwood. He finally caught his first fish on the fly (one of, if not the biggest of the trip)

 

I finally managed to catch a small little fish about 17-18 inches, but good and healthy and fought hard. (it was caught on a double when Ben caught his (above)). All day we deep nymphed a black flash woolly bugger, and an orange attractor nymph of some kind below. We then fished for a bit longer with limited success, until the urge to party our way down the rest of the river got too strong. We had a good time floating out, tossing a football between the boats, and just having a good time. 

We then ended the day with another deep fried meal, and passed out early to take off the next day for wherever we called home. I do feel sorry for whoever had to clean the rooms as our partying left a bit of damage.

(and this was after we had cleaned up a bit, let alone the muddy wader boot prints all around the room.)

Coming Soon!

I am heading out to Grey Reef for the weekend, I will be putting updates up upon my return.

Back on job.

Today is a great day. I now have a plan. It is always good when you have a plan. There might be difficulty in achieving the plan, but it is good to have one. 

I have set April 16th as my first day back on the Green River doing what I love to do. I will begin taking trips on the 17th if a booking comes in by then. But if not, I have a three day request trip lined out for the 18th, 19th, and 20th. I have my goals for this year in mind. Not only for how I will continue to improve as a guide. But also in how I will work towards making my situation better. 

As always I look forward to seeing you all out there on the river. And I hope to be fishing with you soon.

Super Sunday

This weekend I was able to go up the hill to Dutch John to watch the Superbowl and enjoy a little time off. While I was up there I decided that I had better go fishing, or else it would be a waste of time. 

With very little cajoling I was able to talk my brother into going with me. We left the house at about 11:30 in the morning and got to the river at about noon. When we got there it was gusting some cold wind and quite overcast. We decided to at least go ahead and check for rising fish. We started to walk downstream from Little hole, after about a quarter of a mile we stopped to watch a few fish rising. My brother proceeded to cast towards these fish while I finished rigging up a small fuzzball. He hooked up and landed a nice healthy little brown. After he had landed his fish I stepped into the hole to try my luck. After trying a few times to see my fly I gave up and changed up to a sz. 20 midge cripple. I made a few casts in and hooked up with another little brown. 

After a little more fishing we separated and started to fish different holes. After landing another 4 or 5 nice little browns my midge cripple was starting to look a little ragged. I then proceeded to change it up for a little Brook Sprout Midge, I fished this fly for a little while longer. And just before we decided to go in for the day I hooked and landed a healthy 16 inch brown. 

All in all a good day of fishing, and a good bit of time spent with my brother.

Playing with Midges

Over the last few days I have been experimenting with different little dries. And when I get a chance to go fishing anytime for the next few weeks the only fishing I am likely to get in will be stalking midging trout. 

I have been playing around with a few established patterns and have been trying to make them a little more my own. 

Here are a few that I have been playing with.

First Midge Day of 2008

On the 13th of January I was able to go out to the Green and chase midging trout. I met up with another avid fly fisher in Vernal who wanted to get a taste of winter wading on the Green. Since these were my days off and I was not in the mood to fight with indicators and terminal tackle I decided that I would start the day "dry or die", I tied on a size 20 griffiths gnat off of a 10' leader tapered down to 6x, and preceded to hike towards some good water. My fishing partner for the day decided to fish a nymph rig that seems to work well for him on his familiar water, and so as we were hiking up stream to a suitable location to begin the days endeavors I started showing him some spots that I like to fish nymph rigs, and explained what the river was doing in certain spots. 

As we got further up stream he found a good tail out where he felt like he could have some success, so in order to stay within eye and ear shot. I started to work a little swirling back eddy with little success. After fishing the eddy to my satisfaction I decided to hike a little further up stream to the top of an area called Coney Island. In a big pool that surrounds the island I waded in and started to blind cast to where the water was moving slowly down stream. After making a couple casts I saw a trout rise to take my midge. Because I had not fished a dry fly in months I set to hard and to fast, thus breaking off my fly in the fishes mouth, I then re-tied another similar fly and worked the area around where I had had that first eat. After a few more casts I was able to coax a few more fish to rise. After about 5 or 6 missed eats I finally hooked up and landed a little rainbow, he fought healthy and looked to be a little native guy that had spawned there in the Green. 

After landing another and missing a couple more, I then called to Brandon and advised him that if he wanted to tie on a little midge dry I would abducate that hole so that he could have a little success fishing it. After he decided to keep fishing the way he was, I went back to fishing the hole periodically taking breaks to let the fish settle back down and ended up landing around 7 or 8 fish including my first brown of '08. A nice little 14 incher with plenty of spunk.

All and all it was a great day of fishing little dries and enjoying myself.