Fishing with Mike

A couple of weeks ago, we spent spring break visiting family up in Utah. Heidi was nice enough to let me leave her with the kids while I continued on up to Logan to go fishing with Mike. I drove up on a Monday afternoon, stopping off at In-N-Out Burger, Cabelas, Fishwest Fly Shop, Al's Sporting Goods, and Round Rocks Fly Shop. I did a lot of window shopping but picked up a few fly tying supplies I needed. With the car fueled with gas and my body fueled with a Double-Double Burger, I was really looking forward to spending some time with Mike on the river.

With the temperatures rising and the snow melting, we found ourselves Tuesday morning hoping to catch the start of the BWO hatch. Over the course of the day, we saw a few flies starting to come off the water, but nothing really materialized in the way of a good hatch. We didn't see any fish rising the entire day. It was kind of a rough day fishing, but we did manage to get a few (2 each) to take our flies.

I was really, really excited to go fishing with Mike. I used my SigV 8'6" 3wt while he tried out the 6'6" 4pc 2wt Tiger Eye I built for him for Christmas. Mike didn't have a reel for it yet so I took up my new Sage 3100 with Quiet Taper 2wt line on it. As happy as I was to fish with Mike, I was equally looking forward to trying out this new rod for the first time. I think we both were very happy with the Tiger Eye 2wt rod. It handled the 2wt line fairly well, although at the end of the day we both speculated that a 3wt line might be just a bit better for very close casting (like were were often doing for the small pocket water we were fishing most often). Based on this experience I'm looking forward to fishing my own 2wt Tiger Eye rods. Mike's short 2wt sure made my 3wt feel really heavy and stiff (and I really like my Dan Craft SigV 3wt ...). Anyways, enough on the new 2wt, and more about the fishing ...

Mike and I headed up the river and started out just past the areas we fished last summer. The river certainly has a different feel with the surrounding trees and shrubs barren of any leaves. This was my first time fishing here during the winter. I'm looking forward to getting back up there again this summer - I really enjoy fishing there.

During the summer this is a great pool to fish.  The reeds give you a place to hide while casting.  During the winter, it seems a little more effort is needed for a stealthy approach.

Mike managed the first fish of the day in the small pocket water just behind him.

This was Mike's second fish of the day - a nice brown.

This skinny brown was my first catch.

We were glad to be up there fishing before the spring run off. However, the water was still very clear. We found it difficult to approach the fish holding in the pocket water without spooking them. I really need to practice fishing pocket water sections ...

This little wonder was my second, and last fish of the trip ...

The upper section of the canyon has some calmer water. We didn't catch any fish in this stretch, but it sure made for some beautiful fishing. There are some really, really deep holes in this section.

About half-way up the canyon there's a small dam that provides a little stillwater action should you tire of fishing the faster river. We stopped off at the end of the day to practice casting. We saw several fish cruising around in there, but mostly it gave a great scene as the sun began to set.