I took Connor and Oakley up on Cedar Mountain for a boys' day out. Katy left this morning for SLC to visit friends and go to a wedding. Luckily I brought along Connor's favorite DVD to keep him entertained enough to let me fish for a quick moment.


I took a little break and waited for the rain to subside. I think I replayed "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" about 12 times for Connor while I waited.


I got one quick shot before the lightning got too close for comfort. We headed home and rocked a pepperoni and mushroom pizza from Bruno's.

Boulder Mountain Bash

Matt has the schematics of the trip. But long story short, after many trials and tribulations (including nearly gluing my shirt to my arm with Zap a gap), I finally caught a Tiger! I got it to hand, but it slipped off the hook right when I was picking it up for the photo-op. But maybe I'll have photographic proof of my second Tiger.



Thanks to the Blood-thirsty Chucko, we had some tasty Brookies for tacos; fresh from the lake to our plates.


We finished off the trip on one of my favorite streams and had a fair share of fish sub-surface and a few on dries and streamers. Usually the irrigation flow is too high to fish the stream this time of year, but it was perfect. But I can't wait for this fall!

Kyle was nice enough to not only drive, but bring along snacks. Thanks again!

Mutant Mouse

I'm heading to the Boulder Mountains tomorrow and looking forward to catching fish on mouse patterns. I added a little glow in the dark foam to these flies. I think it will make things a little easier at night. I'll report back soon!

This is a modified "Matt Hynes Mouse". I really like this fly and he has a great tutorial on how to tie it. I had the hardest time spinning hair until I viewed his other tutorial on spinning hair. I used GSP 100 thread and didn't have any issues breaking the thread, but I cut the foam and hair a couple times from too much pressure.

Ode to my Fishing Fuel...

Double chin, here I come...

Multi-Species Marathon

I got home from work at 12:30am and quickly packed for the following day. 5:45am and I was up for the day. The plan was to head North and fish til dark. Kyle drove, Matt sat bitch, and I stretched my legs out shotgun. Last minute we took a diversion east and started out on the old-mill section. It was a little slow in the beginning. I picked up a little brown on a #16 PT. When I tried to take a picture, the battery on my camera was dead! I thought it was fully charged, but luckily Kyle and Matt had there's. Thanks for letting me poach some pics for my post. I picked out a nice Cutt a little further up. I'm positive it took the lead fly, but it was fouled by the dropper when I got it up to me. I only caught one more before Matt and I met up and started leap-frogging pools. Kyle went back to get the truck and we planned to eat lunch and move spots. While we were waiting for Kyle, we came upon a nice stretch of pocket pools. I switched to a dry/dropper set-up and immediately started hooking into fish. While Matt quickly switch to a matching rig, I cleaned out the rest of the pool. Matt stepped up to the plate and immediately hooked into a bruiser.


The casting was tight, but we managed to pick up a fair number of Browns and Bows. Kyle finally found us and got in on the action.


We drove up to Snake Creek and made a quick stop to pick up a few fish. I hoped the fish would be a little bigger, but they were fun still the same. The hot sun was beating down on us, so we opted to head to a cooler spot. I cut my "small-stream" teeth on this mountain. But I've never fished this particular canyon. Every time I've driven past, I always thought it was too steep and the water too wild. But last time Craig and I went to our usual spot, we noticed a good access point. I directed Kyle down a hidden dirt road and it stopped at the stream's edge. The water was clear and not too fast; the canyon turned out to be a hidden gem! Its banks were steep and littered with logs and huge boulders. The water spilled over multiple small falls. But with each tier we climbed, we found a new series of pocket pools and runs. The air was filled with bugs big and small. I kept seeing what I thought was Salmonflies, but I couldn't find any in the stream-side brush. But once I quit looking, one fell out of the sky in front of me.


I'd already caught a couple Brookies, but this little guy slammed my Amy's Ant right when it hit the water.


We finished off the evening watching Matt clean out the last pool and snaking Kyle's Brookie he was too lazy (or in too much pain) to catch.

Hurst Hook-up

I got a grab bag of goodies today from my only local source of fly tying gear (except Robert's craft). A couple months ago, I was going through a phase where I bought fly tying gear on a daily basis. One of the guys at Ace told me to save my money because he was getting ready to clearance a bunch of tying stuff and he'd give me first dibs on the goods.
Since then I've been hassling him to give me to call to come by and claim my reward for being his best fly tying customer. Last Sunday while on a break from work, He gave me the go-ahead to come in today and pick through the bin.
It was overwhelming all the items to choose from. I mixed items of need and wants together and depending on the price he gave me, I could put things back. I told him I only had about $60 and he said he'd give me the pile of wants and needs for $55 plus tax!
I walked out with;
2 vises
10+ pks of tungsten beads
5+ pks of cyclops beads
2 hair stackers
4 pairs of Wapsi scissors
8+ pks of TMC hooks
4+ pks Mustad hooks (original and signature)
15+ spools of thread
A tool/thread holder
and various other tools and material

This is a rough estimate of retail cost of items...



81% off...Not a bad deal!

I met Kyle back at Ace about an hour later and Kyle picked up the remainder of the items, with a few extras, for a fair price!

Oakley on the A

It was Oakley's second birthday July 1st. I took him Back to the A and camped out on a little meadow next to the stream. I got there a little late; I had to complete some maintenance on the truck. But I planned to complete one of my 2009 goals OTF, so I planned to fish far into the night. I purchased a new head lamp that included a night setting with two red LED lights. I hoped to be able to see better at night without spooking the fish.

I didn't worry about setting up camp, the fish were rising and the river was calling my name. I hiked down stream to about where I started last week. I rigged my DC SigV 3wt with a dry and put a mouse pattern on the XP 5wt. I started with the mouse and had a few aggressive strikes in the first couple pools. But no solid hook-ups. I gave up on the mouse for a while and decided to fish to the rising trout. I caught a few stockies on top and headed up stream. There is a pool where a fence runs into the river that has a giant brown in it. I saw it last time chasing an eight inch trout. I wanted to break my mouse curse with it. As I came up to the pool, I could see it working in the current. I got into position and right as I was about to cast, Oakley decided to take a dip. The brown was spooked and I was forced to move on. I caught a few more stockies as I rounded the bend to my campsite. I dropped the 3wt off at my truck and worked a pool close to my campsite. I lost the first mouse pattern in the tree behind me. The second fell victim to the log across the river. I had one more, but it wasn't my best tie.

This pattern wasn't making much of a splash when it hit and I wasn't getting the follows like I had with the other two wayward mice. I switched to various patterns of meat without much success.

I ended up tying on a zonker leech and drift it under the biggest Thingamabobber I had. I ended up using the 2 white LED setting when I was drifting the rig. The red light would dissipate too much to see my drift. I caught a number of 13"ish Stockies but not browns. I called it a night and went back to set up camp.

The next morning, I got up early and set out down stream for what I hoped a phenomenal day. I never broke the mouse curse, but I caught my fair share of stocked trout. I think its time to find a new stretch, I think I'm tapped on the stockie-bows. But by the end of the trip, Oakley is much more comfortable with the water and is much more willing to follow me across. He loved to chase after the hooked fish, even in deeper water that required a breast stroke. Happy Birthday Oakley!