Barbell Eggs, Muddy Worms, and Soaked Waders

I finally made it back up to visit my cousin in Vernal and fish the famed Jigalo Creek that runs into Flaming Gorge. This time we had an even larger group including my son, brother, dad, cousin, and another cousin (and his son and dad the 2nd day). I planned and packed for this trip weeks in advance, but I didn't plan to take my son until the day I was slated to leave. That morning I asked my wife to pack Connor's clothes and I picked him up early from school. I hastily threw in Connor's waders and by early afternoon we were headed north to start our adventure. When we arrived to Bishop Jan's I quickly checked Connor's waders for holes and something looked off. When I held the waders up to Connor they barely reached to his waist! In a panic I called around to various stores in the area as we continued north towards the airport to pick up my brother. Connor and I quickly ran into Cabelas and he walked away with a new pair of waders to help remember this trip by.
                           
Connor was the first to connect with a fish each morning. And he gave multiple fish (and my new Loop 6wt) a workout throughout the two days of fishing; I can't say that for some of the other participants in our group. The 2nd day Connor mixed his time between fishing and playing along the shore with his cousin. At one point he decided to check the depth of the lake beside the boat and found it deeper than expected; the rest of the day he wore a sweatshirt for pants and wool socks for shoes while his waders hung inside out in a tree; we were lucky that was the worst of it.

The weather was much warmer; a few years ago a newly fallen blanket of snow had just been laid down and we were breaking ice to access the bay. I came better prepared (so I thought) with dubbing loop eggs tied on stout hooks weighted with dumb bell eyes. Although the dumb bell eyed eggs produced, it was the Muddly Water Worm that took the show; unfortunately I had only a handful of them between a 1/2 dozen fishermen. The water was a little higher than 3 years ago and much more turbid so pink and sparkly was an asset. Even Bishop Jan found some action on the end of his line before resting on the hillside nursing his over-grown toenail. It baffles me how patient he can be watching others fish but can't seem to stomach having to wait for a fish to tug on his line!

Unlike Bishop Jan, my uncle Kerry has the fishing bug. But like his older brother, Kerry likes to bonk the fish he catches. It took some coaxing to get him out of the deeper water and allow me to rig him with some productive flies. But soon enough he found his rhythm and hooked a few.

I've always looked up to my brother Orman and I remember watching him fling flies with his bright yellow Eagle Claw rod; I couldn't wait until I could do the same. He was also a master at fishing "Balls O Fire" eggs, but that never caught on with me. I feel badly I didn't get a closeup shot of Orman holding one of the fish he caught but we seemed to always find ourselves on opposing sides of the stream; plus he broke my favorite streamer rod so yea...

My cousin (and trip host) Nolan and I finished the last day fishing one of the uppermost pools of this stream; above this the fish' path upstream is blocked by enormous boulders. Three years ago I caught my largest fish of the trip. I again caught my largest fish, but unfortunately we didn't get picture-proof due to a camera mishap. It was another amazing trip and I was happy to be able to share it with some many people close to me; especially Connor.

Late Night Construction Project

Journey On from Tight Loops on Vimeo.

I was still in a fog when I arrived to work this morning and watching "Journey On" while I took care of some medial tasks helped me break into my day. It inspires me to plan more trips exploring nature; summer is upon us and I an so amped to get outdoors!

I stayed up until close to 1:30 am last night constructing the frame for my raft. The design for this rig is inspired by Flycraft rafts; someday I hope to own the real thing. I started with a 9.5' raft I bought from Amazon and constructed the frame from 1" schedule 80 PVC conduit pipe & PVC fittings; the seats and rack are reinforced with metal tubing that fits snugly inside the 1" pipe. It can be broken down into 5 sections; seats (rowing & front), oar stands, front casting brace, and back rack/kid's seat). But I still need to complete a few more items--mainly paint the frame, thread the anchor system, and weave the seats & rack (out of 1" webbing)--but I plan to have this rig in the water by next week...

 
I have the hope (and plan) of floating a few of the larger--yet still very small--streams (and of coarse alpine lakes) in southern Utah; particularly a few private sections of river that to my understanding can still be accessed if floated from/to a public roadway...we'll see how that goes.

RR on Willow Creek- circa 2009

While looking over old posts on this blog (instead of working like I should be) I started looking back on my first blog "Pickle's Place" and really enjoyed reenacting this trip in my mind. It was a stressful time in life (one on many to come!) and was a great reprieve from working, going to school, and trying to fix a broken-down truck in my spare time...

Craig and I met at the Shell station and headed up the canyon. We've made this journey many times in the past three years and never once have we been disappointed. After a sour month of missed fishing opportunities, I was in dire need of respite. As we pulled up to the small, willow choked stream, we could see the flow had receded a substantial amount from just one month ago. It was second nature as we geared up and walked down to the first of many honey-holes. I tied on a Royle Wulff and immediately began catching fish.

After losing my fly to a small brown with a deep throat, I fumbled through a few patterns before I regained my momentum. I tied on a modified Boots Allen Emerger with a PT tail and body and the catch rate maintained from then on with about 90% Browns and 10% bows/cutbows.

Craig and I both had great success. I love catching fish on flies I tied and a rod that I assembled. Where these fish lack in size, they make up for in therapeutic value. With my batteries recharged, I'm ready for another week.