The Grand Design

I got off work tonight and raced home to shed my work clothes and head into the hills. Thank God I remembered to get dressed in something before I went up, but getting to that fishing spot in the canyon was all I could think about. My sweet wife made me a sandwich and after a stop to pick up my shirts for work (damnit it all but I have to have pressed shirts) I grabbed some water and headed for the curve.

Mark if your reading this you know the spot. Hell you found it and after I spoke to you the other day via email, I had been thinking of that time we took Dave up there and worked that set of riffles for all they had.

I lugged to the spot, no other fishermen present and hopped into my gear. I went with my 2 weight 9 footer and frankly should have gone with my 1 weight 6 footer. That spot has changed a lot Mark. Gone is the gentle pool that we got hit after hit on the Elk Hair that night. It is now a continous riffle for about 80 yards.Not a bad thing really but it is tighter than it used to be, trees are right to the edge and high. So you have to fish it from the center and the obstacles in the middle have made it a lot more technical. Fun, but you have to be careful.

I threw a few different bugs and got a few glances at a Dave's Hopper. My Caddis were too big and all the fish would do is rise to the edge, look at it like a disapproving lover and jet back into the cover of a their rock lair.

Finally I found a small caddis as the hatch started to cook and by this time I had worked about half the flow to a good spot that gave me a glimpse into a backwater.

I tossed a roll cast at the edge of the backwater and mended right with the tip. The bug landed to the side of the bulk of the line softly and had a drag free drift for only a few seconds.

The Native caught the bug on its down swing into the water and I set back to see if he actually caught it. He was there and I brought him over behind a nice rock eddy to a grass bank to pick the fly from his lip.

This fish was breathtaking. Only about 14 inches (big for that water) but just stunning and full of life. No camera was handy so I quickly got the bug out and placed him back in the slack water. I found an image on the internet that could have been his brother, and thats what is at the start of this entry. But his colors were so much more vibrant, it could make you weep.

He wasted no time in heading out and that was all I needed.

I climbed back onto the rock where I had met a Cow moose once. It stands about 5 feet high and is a great place to stand and survey the scene. Way back when she had popped into the stream where I had been standing, took a big drink and raised her head to where I was crouching up on the rock. She looked at me and I at her, our noses about 3 feet apart. I could smell her wet hide, not unpleasant, but all animal. I got to watch her eyes as she realized I wasnt part of the rock, they rolled back up and her nostrils went wide and just when I though I was going to be part of that rock forever, she turned tail and ran back into the bush on the other side.

I have heard people say she was more afraid of me than I was of her. All I can say is that those people didn't have to change my diapers after that little face to face. I was pretty goddamn scared and I don't mind saying it.

Everytime I get on that rock I chuckle about that...but I also watch that big opening on the other side of the river pretty damn close as well. I might have been born at night, but I wasnt born LAST night.

I finally climbed back up to the road, old legs get rubbery fast and made my way down to the truck. It was cool and the smell was of the mountain. Clean with that pine spring water smell that I love.

The sun was down behind the mountain and it was getting dark fast.

I put my gear away and idled back down the hill. I felt like I had slept for a year. energized and ready to go.

God I love this place.

Interesting Bumper Stickers

So I am driving home tonight and I see a car with a bumper sticker ahead of me which reads "God is Pro-Life"
The word God is in red and the Pro-Life part is sort of shaped like a flag and is colored like the American Flag.

This got me to thinking.

Now before I fly off into the ether, let me just state for the record that as far as I am concerned I personally am Pro-Life. Meaning that if I had ever managed to find a fertile place where my seed could find good purchase, I would not extinguish this little bundle of joy. It simply is not who I am.

However, it is not my place to decide for someone else what they should believe in or how they should handle their given life situations.

After I read this bumper sticker the first thought I had was "have you ever heard of the great flood?" God made sure that plenty of things perished in that little temper tantrum. I know they were evil and all that but at least some of them had to be pregnant. Why would God condemn all those little kids prior to their getting a chance to pop out and become the evil little shits that their parents obviously were?

On top of that, I find it more than a little offensive that some prick chooses to spew the word of God on the back of a Honda Civic! But I digress...

I wondered...did he actually have a conversation with God? Is that when God revealed to him that he was Pro-Life? Perhaps he did. Perhaps he is a chosen one and did have a chat with our creator.

However if he didn't, then I wouldn't want to be his ass when the final bell rings.

Remember your Dante.

This guy would probably find himself in the 8 Circle of Hell in the 4th Bolgia (the place for false prophets).

Now I dig that thats a stretch, but putz boy brought God into the thing in the first place. I simply am trying to see this through to it's logical conclusion.

What's the point? Only that if you are going to speak for God, you ought to get a couple of things clear first.

1. God is God and as such can do what he damn well pleases.
2. Speaking for God is a bad career move...spiritually speaking.
3. If you choose to spout shit, then be ready for the obvious result...an extra hot spot in Hell with your name on it.
4. Put this shit on a better car, not that I would dare speak for God (frankly pissing him off scares the shit out of me), but I have a hunch that God drives a Harley...

Move along...move along...nothing to see here.

Strawberry...The Other White Meat

You know it's a bad thing when if there is no wind, you consider it a good day on the water.
I was fishing by 6:30 this morning and there was actually about a 5 mile per hour wind. I worked about 70 feet out from the bank and had no hits until I tied on an Autumn Splendor. Bang 22 inch cut. Dove straight to the bottom and finally came up to see me. Beautiful fish. Then nothing for about an hour. I started to get some rollers out about another 40 yards so I angled out and changed flies to a white crystal bugger with a bead head. As soon as I got out to about the same distance from the bank as the rolling fish were hanging I popped another fish. This one ended up just over 25 inches and is the biggest fish I have had on this year.
Again it was beautiful. I really love the look of these Cuts. Several hits happened and it seemed like things were heating up nicely.

Ten minutes later and I snapped off the fly when another fish hit. I dug around in the boxes ( I carry 5) and there was nothing even close. I tied on an egg sucking leech and had another big hit and that fly snapped off as well. These were clean bite throughs. No little curly end as if the knots had let go. So I dig around again and realize I had left that box at home. All the rest of my leeches were 100 miles away.

By this time the wind had finally died down and it was a great day. I worked in and out to the bank and back several times trying to find something else they were eating, but nothing transpired.

Still it was a fun day and it was just great to get back out on the water.

I am going to go try Jordanelle this weekend. Strawberry has the potential for some bigger fish, but it seems very hit and miss. I haven't floated Jordanelle yet this year, perhaps the catch rate is better. I will post after that trip.

Hotter than hell in the valley

I realize that sounds like a porn film made in California, but it also descibes the weather right now here in good old Utah.

Between work, catching some ungodly form of swine flu and the heat, my fishing has been postponed (or is that postpwned) for about a month and a half.

I am fixing that Wednesday. I have been invited to speak at a meeting for officials from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources on Tuesday and so I will be staying at the lodge that night and heading to Strawberry the next day.

Finally getting back in the water again.

I will post updates if there are any to post.