Leeds Creek

Mom has always said I could catch fish in a bathtub. Well, catching trout in St. George, Utah might seem almost as far-fetched, but this morning I visited an amazing little stream, Leeds Creek, that runs off the Pine Mountains just to the north of St. George. I left the hotel just as dawn was beginning to show east over the distant cliffs of Zion National Park, and 25 minutes later I got out of the car and immediately heard that beautiful sound of tumbling water. Looking down the steep bank, I couldn't see any water, but the volume of what I heard was that of a substantial mountain stream, enough to raise the hope of any fisherman.

Scrambling down the steep hillside, I saw quite a bit of trashy fisherman sign and empty worm cups, which dampened my anticipation slightly. I came to a small, somewhat brushy stream, shown below in one of the more open areas.

I quickly caught my first fish, the monster shown below. He fell off in the dirt, where I rescued him and sent him back to grow up. I hoped there were a few more bigger than that.

The first bit didn't yield much action, but then I came to a larger hole that was a bit more open. I could see a fish at the head of the hole feeding, and promptly caught three nice 8" to 9" Bonneville Cutthroats out of that hole. The next hour or so was full of action. The stream was brushy, but not so brushy as to be frustrating. There were enough open areas to keep the action stready. Often you could see the fish holding in the bottoms of the holes, like the one below. I got him with the famous Dr. Tom bow cast, putting the fly right on top of him and watching him slowly follow it down towards me and then suck it in - awesome!

The fish were gorgeous, all about 7" to 9", the one below being the typical smallest fish.

I started dry dropper, and caught the first couple on a psycho prince, but as soon as the light came up a little, it was all hair wing yellow humpy. After a while, the dropper broke off, and I didn't re-tie it on. Probably had three dozen or so to hand between about 7:30 am and 9:00 am.

On the climb out of the canyon, I saw no trails or footprints but those of deer, and had to avoid tons of prickly-pear, which was everywhere. Wonderful scenery, great fishing, I give this one a five-fly rating, not to be missed.

Beaver River

First day in Utah on my trip with Carlynn. She enjoys a couple hours extra rest in the morning on vacation, I don't, a perfect combination when there are streams nearby. We spent the first night in Beaver, Utah, where a short drive of about 10 minutes brings you to national forest land and the Beaver River (really more of a creek). I stopped first a mile or two inside the national forest land, and disappointingly found a rather murky stream (visibility six inches or so?). I didn't see anything at this first stop, and not a lot of really good water, so I hopped in the car and drove upstream a few miles farther, above the water plant and the takeout for a pipeline to the plant (these might dewater the river further down in summer?). Anyway, pulled off where the stream was right next to the road with a lot of big rocks and holes. I ended up catching five browns in this stretch, all about this size, all on a brown, beadhead stonefly with rubber legs. All the fish I caught were in shallow riffles, nothing in the holes, so they are either fished out (lots of trashy fisherman sign) or the water was too murky for them to see the fly in the deeper runs. Either way, fish to the hand is a good start for the trip. I was back in time to eat breakfast with Carlynn, and then on with the rest of the day. I'd give this one a two-fly rating, but with clearer water and a few more fish it could jump up to three flies.

TTT

We are hoping that Sarah commemorated the anniversary of 9/11 without any bombs - since she was taking the ACT test today! I drove her to Walla Walla early this morning where the test was being held. Since the test was five hours long, and I was already one hour closer to fishing streams, I decided to take the WWTT and the TTT (Walla Walla Trout Test and Touchet Trout Test). I think I had a lot more fun at my tests than Sarah did at hers!

The WWTT was a D-. At an access downstream of Walla Walla, I found the river pretty, but absent of fish except for one small steelhead smolt. I had read the water temps in this stretch of river approach the lethal range to trout, but I remember catching a couple nice trout here a couple years ago at a different time of year. I wouldn't go back until steelhead season. So after a very brief stop, I proceeded to the Touchet River right in Dayton.

Starting at the footbridge by the park, and fishing up to about 400 feet below the dam, I caught a bunch of mostly chesters, with some nicer sized fish up to about 10" thrown in. Peacock bodied elk hair caddis was hot, as was the psycho prince. I also tied on the x-leg prince for a while (prince with rubber legs - mmm, mmm, good) which they seemed to like OK too. Probably 40 - 50 fish in a little less than two hours. I went above the dam for a couple reasonably nice holes, and didn't turn a fish. TTT scores a solid B with solitude on the river and lots of fun catching; the fish just need to grow up a little more.