Catching toads in frog water

I planned to go camping outside Escalante, UT this weekend, but fate had other plans. Sam has been frequenting this stream all month, I was finally able to join him. I started with a crawdad pattern, but my 9' #6 was a bit much for this small stream, so I went back to the jeep and switched to my trusty 8.5' #3. I caught fish on nymphs (scud & red CJ), elk hair caddis, and brown buggers. The fish below hit Sam's nymph and after a short fight came unbuttoned...the amazing thing is not 30 seconds later, he went for the same nymph and this time it stuck!

I caught mostly bows and Sam had a 50/50 brown/bow split. A couple fish proved to be picky, but after multiple fly changes, I seemed to gain the upper hand. Sam spotted the fish below holding in about 18" of water. I made a few casts without much reaction. It nipped at my fly a couple times but nothing aggressive. I finally pushed it's buttons enough to get a take. It measure just over 22"!

Exploring with the DRZ

 I'm planning a motorcycle trip (all pavement) with my dad and his friend in a couple weeks. I'm still pretty new to riding a bike on the road, so i thought I better practice a little before I'm forced to try and keep up with two road bikes with my '09 DRZ 400S. I started at the Toquerville exit off I-15 and drove towards Zion National Park. I decided to take a detour to see if the ice at Kolob Reservoir has started to recede around the edges (fishing related part of this post), but turned around about 1-2 miles from the reservoir as the snow drifts only appeared to be getting larger.
On the way back down I decided to explore a dirt road with a mix of ATV, MX, and Mountain Bike tracks. I drove down a dirt spine that only seemed to be getting more sketchy so I retraced my tracks back up the hill to a more worn path down the hill. I noticed a dirt kicker, and then another. I stopped to look what was above me to see a trail down the hillside that can only be described as insane. I think I was driving right through the course for the 2012 Red Bull Rampage. I was very careful not to tear up the track and avoided the 8 or so kickers as I got the hell out of there. I didn't see any signs, but didn't want to wait to find out I was breaking the law, or get my ass kicked for accidentally riding into some one's hard work. No harm done, but I will avoid this area next time.
I really had a great time and gained a lot of confidence navigating turns at 70+ MPH. I'm impressed by this little 400cc bike, can't wait to make a few modifications to the engine to really wake this thing up. I even more excited to explore my back yard with it, fly rod in tow...