Fishing up north

Back to my favorite river up north. Fished it on the 24th & 25th of July. Had so much fun that
I came back with my brother on August 7th & 8th. Flow was around 4500 cfs. Water temp was about 58 near the dam and 61 a mile downriver. The moss grew somewhat between the first and second trip but was not significant problem. Moderate crowds (around 10 cars in the lot at most, guide boats were much more numerous during the first trip).

The green spotted torpedo

As usual, many of these fish put up incredibly powerful fights. One of them was so powerful it just snapped my hook in half! Several others managed to bend my hooks. Average fish size was 20 inches with 23-25 inchers being hooked on a regular basis. Needless to say, we were constantly having fish take us into our backing and running after them downriver (if they didn't already spit the hook by doing huge jumps). Two of them were into my backing in about 10 seconds! Very intense fishing to say the least.


Hook snapped in half

The caddis hatch was very strong during the July trip. Every night we had the glorious sensation of being covered with caddis. The hatch was much less intense in August.

Used a #14 orange scud for an attractor. Then a #14-16 tan pupa or olive larva. Most fish were taken on the pupa or larva. Here are some stomach samples I took with a #14 fly added for scale. The fish were really chomping on the tan pupa. Some pmd nymphs were found in other samples











Only caught one brown the whole time

Some bait fishing fags left evidence of their tactics. Wonder how many fish were killed by that corn?

Hey bait fishermen, ever notice that fly fishermen catch 10 times more fish than you? And we don't even cheat.



Can't get enough of those trout colors



As usual, nobody is around when I land big fish so I have to settle for rod shots

fat lard trout. typical.

26 incher

P.S. A cold front moved through during the August trip and there was a dusting of snow on the high peaks. Unreal. Jake was climbing the Grand during the snowstorm

Update: various activities

Some of the stuff I've been doing for the past few weeks:

Hit LCC with Paxton and threw down some of the classic routes: Mexican Crack, Pentapitch, and Sasquatch. Amazing cracks! Too bad I forgot my camera cause there were some great pics to be had.

Ferguson Canyon

Choss Garden, BCC. My brother bolted a new .12a called "Mellow Gold". It's a rather sucky approach and sketchy belay ledge but the climbing is good.
Upper Broads. Might hit one of those chutes in August.

Garrett on a nice 10b warm up

Climbing at Parley's Canyon. The noise from the freeway makes communicating with your belayer hard. Pretty interesting slab routes though.

Water is still quite high on the Lower so the fish are spread out. However the water clarity and temp are ideal so once you find fish it's easy.

After helping set up for the OR show I did a little night jog up Grandeur Peak.

This is what happens you take a night shot without a tripod.

July 4 skiing: Bald Mountain, High Uintas

Balloon from the Freedom Fest getting ready to land near Park City

No snow in the parking lot. Hmmmmm.
Trial Lake over there I think.

suprisingly firm snow

Atop Bald Mountain looking west

east to Hayden Peak

high elevation fireworks show

The northeast chute of Bald Mountain had just patches of snow. Doh! So we settled for some snow fields on the west side

Intersting 3 class scramble in ski boots. Not recommended

it was very nice skiing!!

looping back to the car just a storm rolls in around noon

Here's a little video to sum it all up. Music by none other than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Lower Provo

Excellent fishing with #20 sow and #18 wood duck special. 16 fish in 2 hours. Flows were still a bit higher than ideal but should perfect within a week or so. However, the side channel at the campground is amazing with higher flows.

Stomach pump: the fish are gorging on sows. One pmd nymph here also.

The rubber hatch is in its prime. Thankfully fish don't seem to care. Some of the rubber duns ain't too bad lookin' either :)