Spring breakin (new fish record)

Amy took all the kids to St.George for their spring break.  Since I'm still relatively new to my job, I"m trying to limit my days off, so I stayed home.  Not a lot on my agenda but first order of business is fishing.
I decided to break in the fishing year with a trip to Diamond Fork Thursday night.  I get to my spot around 5:30 without another person in sight.  I decide to go with the green Psycho Prince Nymph and a red beadhead WD40 dropper.  I hit the first seam I see and get a bite but my rusty reflexes are a little too late and I miss the the strike.  That is the only action I will see for the rest of the evening, it was discouraging.
I decided on a change of venue for Friday, so I head to the Provo.  I drive to the spot just below the camp ground before the Deer Creek dam.  I'm greeted with 5 cars in the parking lot but I decide to head down anyway.  I make my way to a favorite deep run with a BWO emerger and an olive scud dropper.  I know this run has fish in it but they do not like what I'm offering.  I notice a fairly bigger fish rising and just sipping bugs off the surface.  I change my setup to a BWO dry fly and move my way over to the rising fish.  On the second cast I land this fighter for my first fish of the year:

First fish of the year.

I continued to clean out the run with 3 more fish, smaller than the first one.  I decide to call it a night.

I decided to head back to Diamond Fork on Saturday, knowing the Provo will be a popular place with the nicer weather in the forecast.  I start with the same set up as a couple of nights ago (Psycho Prince Nymph and WD40).  No action in the first 30mins.  I snag my line and break off my current setup.  I decide to take the opportunity and change it up.  I put on a Crystal Flashback Scud and a beadhead Prince Nymph.  I decide to double back and try my previous holes I just fished.  First cast in and my yellow strike indicator dives down fast....fish on.  A small 12 inch brown, first fish landed on Diamond Fork this year.  I hit the same run and almost the exact same fish landed.  I move up to the next run and land 3 more, roughly the same size.  Then as I'm about to move on my strike indicator disappears quickly and to my surprise, I land this meaty brown:

Healthy Diamond Fork brown

I love the contrast in colors between the two fish from different rivers.  I fished most of the day and land around 15 (Diamond Fork record) on the same setup, they went back and forth on each fly, it was a great day.

Good Fishday...

It was a beautiful Good Friday Fishday, leaving town with a Sausage, Egg, and Chesse McGriddle in hand after dropping Mel off at school (#8 for those who don't frequent McD's for breakfast). And the good luck of the #8 meal paid off again today.

Blue sky to the west of the clouds overhead promised good weather, as long as the forecast for relatively light winds held true. I was headed for Dusty Lake, one of my favorite springtime visits, hidden between tall, basalt cliffs in an ancient flood channel. Arriving to an empty parking lot, I gathered my gear, shouldered my float tube, and started down the trail, a pretty and fun hike well worth the time even without the fishing. Without a breath of wind, the mirror smooth lake lay beckoning below.

Dusty Lake, one of my happy places

Arriving at the lake, no fish were to be seen in the shallows where they sometimes congregate in the spring, so I launched the tube and kicked out into the cold water, appreciating again the new float tube that allows me to sit out of the water. Fishing two of my newly tied chewy chironomids, I promptly missed a take down immediately off the launch, then shortly thereafter landed a nice 15" rainbow that was spawning unusual eggs.

Now we know what happens to Power Eggs that get swallowed by the fish

The fish had broken someone off who was fishing illegally in the lake with Power Eggs. The line and swivel were still hanging out the fish's mouth, while a loop of line with two Power Eggs was hanging out the tail end. The hook was somewhere still inside. I cut both ends of the line off to maybe help the fish survive a little longer. It fought well and didn't seem to be bothered by the line passing through it.

After the initial action, there was nothing more on chironos near the launch, so I headed across the lake to the point where Kirk and I had found a lot of fish last spring. On the way, I had five good strikes trolling an olive leech with the sinking line, but no hookups. I finally hooked one as I made a turn near the shore. Tried the chironos off the point, about 11 feet down, but nary a bump. Then I saw the mirror smooth water chop up to the west, and shortly thereafter, the wind was upon me. Not too strong, but enough that it pushed you along at a pretty good clip, making chironomid fishing difficult. So back to the leech to troll to the more protected east bay. Alternating between chironmids and trolling I managed to land another 4 fish, most decent at 13" to 15". Some were silver bright, others beautifully colored like this one.

Nicely colored Dusty rainbow

Hits trolling the leech seemed to stop when the bright sun came out, perhaps sending the fish deeper than my line would sink, and chironomid fishing was difficult with the wind, so I decided it was time to call it a day. As I prepared to shoulder my tube, I decided to take one last look in the shallows off the point, where I saw a solitary fish cruising. That was enough for me. What harm has ever come from a few more casts (well, at least no harm until you get home late again...)? The shore has become overgrown with brush, so I waded out above my belly button, false cast parallel to shore, then angled the final cast out as sharply as I could into the wind to get the fly into the deeper water. I had an olive leech on top, black snow-cone chewy on the bottom, about 7 feet to the top fly. Almost immediately, I had a take-down and a nice fish to hand, on the leech. Then pretty steady action for the next 45 minutes, with 5 more fish to hand, all on the chewy. Then the wind died down and so did the fishing, so it was really time to go now.

Back at the car, not too late in the afternoon, there was now a decision to make. Head home, or check out one of the wasteways that in a few more days would become rushing torrents until irrigation season ends next fall. There was one where Tom had caught a rainbow last fall when it was still running pretty high, but I hadn't found a fish then. Stream 129 was beckoning, and was kind of on my way home (which means, in the same state...). Guess which choice won?

Prime, Eastern Washington trout water! Stream 129

My friend Kirk claims that I have a very loose definition of the word "stream" but when you live in the desert, you can't be as selective as when you live next to mountains full of streams like where he grew up. If water is moving downhill and has trout, it is a stream. And this one met both those criteria. Olive leech and #12 psycho found six silver, identically-sized 11" rainbows here, probably first year fish from last years' plant of fingerlings.

Well trained fish poses for the picture. Say "Cheese!"

I have yet to find brown or brook trout which are also planted in some of the wasteways, but rainbows will work. It was a fun little stop to net stream 129 (even if it is rather straight). I fished up in some likely water but found nothing. Coming back to the starting place, looking at the culvert, I just knew there had to be...

Beautiful, 19" rainbow

Yes, culverts attract big fish! This beautifully colored, 19" rainbow took the leech, then basically swam in to shore. The 11" fish fought harder. Judging by the looseness of the belly, I'd say that it may have recently finished spawning, which could explain the lack of fight.

Needs to work a bit on the abs after lounging about all winter...

A great finish to a beautiful Good Fishday. I packed up and headed for home (after a few more casts, of course), wondering if Tom had found any trout streams in Italy, waiting for Rob to catch a trout in Peru on a fly rather than with his hands. I'm happy to stay at home, especially in the spring.

Christening the New Boat...

Finally opening my Christmas present

OK, so it is kind of small and has no motor, but it is a big step up from the old Caddis donut float tube I have used for years. It was nice having my bottom out of the cold water while fishing today. Which leads to the real reason for the post, no product endorsements here.

With my every-other-Friday-off work schedule, I get to spin the WhatToDo Wheel quite often, and today, just like every other time I have spun it, it directed me to go fishing. Who can argue with that?

I love this thing!

In preparation, I spent a little time this week tying up some of Tom's chewy chironomid patterns. These things look really good wet and in the water! Also tried a couple balanced leeches. The second one turned out pretty good, but is not available for a photo anymore...

Tom's awesome chewy chironomid pattern

Good dad that I am, I sacrificed an hour of fishing, leaving after sunup to drop Melinda off at school, so she wouldn't have to ride the bus. After a quick stop for the #8, I was on my way to Lake Lenice with my new boat (I think it needs a name). Arrived in the lot about 8:30, with only two other vehicles. My fishing buddy Kirk Morris was here last Saturday and was greeted by more than a dozen campers and who knows how many cars. Another nice thing about Fridays off. By 9 am I was on the water, dragging an olive leech on a sinking line on my way across the lake to the shoal by the island directly across from the launch. Nothing. Once at the island, I started with the balanced leech under the indicator, about 10 feet down, as Kirk had much more success with the leech than with chironomids. Nothing. The water was almost flat, and fish were swirling on the surface and swallows were swirling in the air. You know what that means. 

Out came the chironos, tiny purple on top, black chewy in the middle, red brassie on the bottom. Casting towards the reeds, had a couple little twitches of the indicator, but no takes. After quite a few casts, it finally went down and I hooked a solid fish. Definitely a carryover. It stayed down, had several good runs, and would not tire out. Several times I had it close, only to have it take off for another run. Not a good thing when you have a 15-ft leader that tends to catch on the guides at the leader not. About the third time as I was bringing it up to net it, it made another run, the knot caught on the guide, and the fish and red brassie were gone. That would be the nicest fish of the day. Lots of fish all around, but very little action for the next hour and a half. No more interest in chironomids, so I tried the balanced leech. After a number of casts, had a good take down and a bad knot and the fly was gone. No interest in the second leech, or a little black one. Back to chironomids, broke another one off on the hit, one other takedown, but that was it. Then the wind came up a little bit. Two hours, three fish broken off, one other takedown. Tried trolling the leech again, heading west towards the shoal and back. Not a bump. 

Almost noon now, back at the island where I began, the swallows were still darting to and fro just above surface of the lake, so I decided to give the chironomids one more try before heading for home. Fishing 12 feet down to the bottom fly, Tom's chewy on the bottom, red brassie on top. I just west of the point of the island right across from the launch, fishing out towards the deeper water. Suddenly, it was like a different lake. Within a couple minutes,I hooked a bright bow on a solid takedown that ran straight at me with three leaps clear out of the water, throwing the hook on the third leap. Positioned myself back to the same spot, and a few minutes later hooked another that performed similar acrobatics. This one I got to hand, and officially christened the boat with fish slime. Fat, healthy fish!

Nice fat rainbow

For the next hour, I had takedowns about every five minutes, preference for the Tom's chewy was about 2 to 1. By 1 pm, I had five fish to hand and about that many takedowns. Then things dropped off. By 1:30 I was ready to leave, so I dropped the sinking line in for the kick back to the launch, and within 10 yards had another cookie-cutter bow, a nice end to the day. Totals for the day: 6 rainbows to hand, all fat 13" to 15", 4 broken off, and maybe another 5 fought and lost. A few takedowns missed. With most of the action packed into one hour, it made for a few slow hours and one really fun one. That's fishing. My boat is looking forward to the next trip in two weeks to Dusty...

Fishin' on the Mission

From Elder Brian Merrill's missionary blog:

For p-day today, we went fishing on the property of a member that's in the middle of the forest.... we had to wake up at 5:30 to walk there, but it was SWEET!

Nothin beats fishing in the rain

HUGE spider

O grande pescador..... I'm not as into fishing as the rest of the Merrill boys, but it's in my blood.... I caught the most, and I'm proud to say I also caught more than Tom did ;)

Typical Day at the Ford

Here we are in the middle of the midwinter fishing blues, rivers are high, lakes are frozen, but Dad called and reminded me of the one place that is always fishable - Rocky Ford Creek. Melinda was dying to see cousins, so we drove up together Friday night so Dad and I could get an early start. Of course Dad wanted to wait until the sun was up and temps were above freezing, but my experience is the colder and darker the better (and the fewer people). So we left at 6:30, hit McDs for the #8, but Dad got something else, and you know what that means....

Arriving at the Ford about 8 am, we found four cars in the lower lot! Those people were just leaving from below the bridge, so we started above the bridge. Nothing on stripped, olive simi-leech. Moved down below the bridge where Tom and I had killed them dead drifting leeches last time. Nothing. Moved up to the reeds above the bridge, and I started seeing action. About 6 wakes on 8 casts, including two landed like the one below.

17" rainbow

Then dead again. Switched to a new fly, the skully bugger, a big ugly black thing with rubber legs. 

Skully Bugger, a good-looking fly that was well received

It was well received. After tying it on, I saw a trout suspended right in front of me. I dropped the bugger in and watched as the trout moved right up to it, then sucked it in. Sight fishing buggers! With some more interest and another fish on that one, I went up where Dad was at the big rock above the reeds and gave him a skully bugger to tie on and suggested he move down a bit where there was quite a bit of action from fish swirling. Soon after, he had this nice rainbow to hand.

Dad and a nice rainbow on the Skully Bugger

By now the sun was up, no more ice in the guides, and fishing had slowed down. I went down to the rocky peninsula above the skinny water and caught several dead drifting the simi leech, but they were pretty small (12 in. or so). Back up to the reeds, there were some risers so I tried some small emergers. No luck, although, after tying them on, I dropped them in front of a monster that was suspended right in front of me. He immediately rushed up to the fly, stopped about an inch away, then turned around. Finally tied on a bead, and landed one sight fishing it. The big guy in front of me was also interested, approaching it three times, but never enough interest to suck it in. So ended the day at the Ford. Decent enough for me, but typically slow after the early hours. A chance to be out with Dad. Maybe next time he will order the number 8 so he can see a little more action!

Another Blue Line and a Great Black Fishday

Sunshine, solitude, lots of small, wild bows with the chance for an occasional lunker, another new stream (#128 for Rick - we need Tom to add up and report his total if he isn't too embarrassed how far behind he is - but then again, I have nine extra years on him...). Trash talk aside, it was about as perfect of a Black Fishday as you could get.

The plan was to avoid the Ford and check out a new blue line on the map, where rumor had it some trout could be found. With morning temperatures in the teens predicted in the Columbia Basin, we chose a late 8 am start when the sun was full up to give it a chance to warm up. After the obligatory #8 at McDs, we were on our way. It was a balmy 24°F when we left, then as we approached our destination, a few fog banks appeared, and the temp dropped to 18°F. Memories of Black Friday on the Touchet two years ago, but by the time we arrived at our destination, the sun was shining through the mist, making the 18°F seem a little warmer. 

"Prime" trout water; doesn't look like much, but any water full of trout is prime to us!

Looking down from the bridge, we immediately spotted a few small trout, then more and more. Just upstream a school of thirty or so small rainbows could be seen, and fish were actually rising with the temp at 18°F! It was going to be a good day! I tried my hand at catching one off the bridge, but that would have to wait for Tom at the end of the day. Dropping into the stream, Tom fished below, I fished above. Trying small nymphs first, we each caught a couple small, pretty rainbows, but soon switched to stripping small buggers after Tom caught one about 16" on a black conehead bugger.

First rainbow from Stream 128 for Rick

I found a few more willing fish upstream, but they were easily spooked in the shallow, small water. I turned around and headed down to catch up with Tom, and quickly found the technique to avoid spooking the fish was to swing the bugger straight downstream. Hard to hook them, maybe one hookup for every three or four strikes, but we still caught multiple dozens of fish, Yep, it was a good day. Walking down by some still, deep water I saw a number of large fish, 16" to probably more than 20" in with a school of smaller ones. Stripping the bugger through them, I could only get interest from one little guy. But that would change when coming back up with Tom later....

I finally caught up with Tom, and we worked our way down, side by side, catching fish after fish after fish. In every run there were schools of dozens that would dart every which way as we waded through.

The rare solitary fish in this stream; we saw them in schools of dozens in every run

At one deeper hole, we surprisingly found no love for the buggers. Tom walked right up to the top of the hole, and saw a school of forty or fifty sitting right there below him in plain sight. In a brilliant moment of inspiration that can only be attributed to instinct, since Tom has only fly-fished since he could stand on two feet, he brought out the San Juan worm fly and began to dip fish like the primal bait-chucker (minus the styrofoam cup of worms, of course). And immediately, he had a fish. Then another. And another. After about six in a row, I got out the camera to catch this new and effective fly-fishing technique on camera - stand in plain sight of the fish, drop a worm-like fly in front of them, watch them eat it, then pull them in. 

Mostly small, he did entice one of the larger fish in the school to take his worm, I mean, fly...

Tom and a nice-sized rainbow

We continued fishing until the sun became low over the steep banks of the stream. Several hours of fishing, and we had only covered a little more than 1/2-mile of stream. And we had another access point to check out on this day of exploration.

I love finding trout in unique, out of the way places

On the walk back, we dropped into the stream to see if we could entice one of the big boys I had seen to give us a fight. I tried drifting a bead through the run, while Tom returned to the worm. No love for the bead, but Tom saw one of the big ones spook as we approached and head under the grass right at his feet. He dipped the San Juan Worm into the water, and watched as the monstrous fish approached the fly, opened its mouth, and sucked it in. He set the hook and the beast took off upstream, took his line into some floating tumbleweeds, and came unhooked. How to experience both exquisite joy and pain at the same time!

Back at the truck, Tom caught his obligatory fish off the bridge, and we were on our way to check out access at another point on our way home. As the road turned from paved to gravel to dirt, we were not met by any "No Trespassing" signs, and ended up on a bluff above the now larger stream. The sun was nearly to the horizon, and Tom had taken his waders off earlier, so we debated if we should check it out now, or another time. Well, we were here, and I was still ready to fish, so I found a path down to make a few swings while Tom watched from the bluff above. First hole, a good tug after a few swings, then the next cast, this nice fat rainbow.

A good little rainbow - note Tom on the bluff above

A little further down, a good, solid two pulls on the swing, but no hookup. That was a solid fish, but then nothing more. Tom was gracious enough to let me check out the likely run upstream. Not enough light to see how deep the water was, but it looked nice. Casting across and swinging/stripping the black bead-head bunny, I had a good hit, but again, no hookup. A few casts later, another, this time solidly hooked. As the fish jumped, even Tom from the distant bluff could see it was a good one. So as the sun was sinking below the horizon, I landed this fat, 18-inch rainbow, a fitting end to one of the best Black Fishdays ever!

A fat beast to end the day

I had visited this stream with Rob years ago when we first moved to the area, but couldn't remember for sure if we had caught fish in it, so it wasn't on my list of streams. Today definitely cleared that uncertainty up with an exclamation point. We will be back to visit this beauty again.

Lower Boise

Mel and some friends were running this weekend in the Nike Cross cross-country meet in Boise. Not because they are good, just because it would be fun. And fun is what I also found, since the meet was held at Eagle Island State Park, which splits the Boise River into a north and south section. My research found that although it may not be prime trout water, there can be nice trout in this section. No special regulations, and with limited public access and a large nearby population, it probably gets hit pretty hard, but hey, it is fishing, and every trip is an excuse to fish...

At the park entrance, the girls went straight and I turned right to a sportsman's access at the Eagle fish hatchery. Apparently, this is the hatchery that is working to restore the Snake River sockeye, quite successfully from what I have seen. It was a beautiful morning, empty parking lot, no wind, sun just coming above the trees. A short walk brought me to a smaller channel of several braids in the river. Fishing a psycho prince followed by a red copper john, in short order I found a small whitefish, followed quickly by about a 10-inch rainbow. Then nothing more.

Baby whitefish

Pretty little rainbow

Further upstream found a couple more nice runs, tried streamers, buggers, but nothing more. I heard the gun starting the girls' race, and made my way back to the starting point and fished another braid. Still nothing. So I packed things up and called Mel to see if they would be ready to go soon. She asked if it was OK if they wanted to stay longer to watch a friend race later. I said no problem, there are two more access points I could check out. So off I went, downstream about 10 miles to another access point. Obviously heavily used, by fisherman and hunters, but no one there at the time. Satellite images on my phone directed me up to the head of an island in the braids, and I found a nice broad run, first fishing the bugger with a red copper john, then switching back to the psycho. Patiently working my way up, fishing from the bank to the middle of the current, I finally had a takedown as the indicator was nearly beside me in the waist deep water. A lively, 15-inch or so rainbow took the psycho, and after a brief fight, came unhooked as I was trying to get the net under it. Finding nothing more to the top of the run, I went upstream and crossed to fish down the other side. Working my way down the nice looking water, another takedown, this time a 15-inch whitefish on the copper john.

Nice-sized whitefish

By now, it was about time to meet the girls, so I made my way back to the car. Nothing spectacular about the fishing, but anytime you can find some fish in addition to solitude on a pretty stream, it is a great day!