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| We’re Ready to Fish! |
Mon, April 13, 2009 |
The emergence of Spring sharpens the mind of a fly fisherman to begin to focus on the coming Summer season. For some it means making preparations to travel to the Bahamas for our annual bonefish trip in late April. Those anglers fortunate to make the trip to the Mangrove Cay Club will experience superb hospitality, incredible food and fishing that is in a class by itself. Your chance of hooking a “bone” in the double-digit size in weight is a real possibility.
For others the dream might be of a trip the Green River or to fish local waters a little more often. This year our store will offer seasonal and daily Indian Fishing Permits to fish the rivers in tribal lands in the Uinta basin. Six different rivers the size of the Weber and the Provo flow south out of the Uinta mountains through Indian lands and you’ll rarely see another fisherman. Access to these rivers is only a couple hour drive through Duchesne and Roosevelt. For information and maps about this fishing opportunity visit our Park Avenue store.
My own personal summer dream is to fish the Madison River in southwest Montana after spring run-off subsides. It is but a 5-1/2 drive from Park City and I have been making this trip for more than 50 years. My passion for this special river never fades. My dad first introduced me to the Madison when I was a youngster and now I am showing my sons-in-laws and grandson the same magic of this place…four generations of appreciation for this amazing river.
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| 25 Years of Steelhead Fishing in British Columbia |
Mon, October 6, 2008 |
For the past 25 consecutive years I have had the pleasure of fly fishing for steelhead on the Bulkley River in British Columbia. I plan to continue this greatest challenge until I am physically unable.
For those of you who have never had the chance, you might imagine that I must be truly addicted. The rush of hooking one of these great fish on a fly rod is memorable to say the least – they average more than 30 inches in length and 10 pounds in weight! The fight and the battle will live long in your memory.
Just ask some of our “regular” fellow fishermen who return year after year with me. Don Sauer from Boise, Idaho, Bob McElvain from Salt Lake City and my partner Russ Coburn from Park City have been returning to the Bulkley River for nearly 20 years and are equally addicted. You can never really get enough. This year we included two of our valued employees, Chris Wistner and Larry Culley, and they will never quite be the same again. When you are in the stores ask them what it was like. They’ll get a glassy look in their eyes and a big smile that tells it all.
Over the years we have had a chance to take dozens of our employees to experience this remarkable opportunity. We fly into Smithers British Columbia by way of Vancouver and the fun begins immediately. The guiding and camp personnel of the Bulkley River Lodge are consummate hosts. I’ve fished with some of the guides for all of my 25 years. No one knows the river better - Whitey, Bunkie, Kevin, Jimmy and Pat have hundreds of years of combined experience.
Each day begins with a knock at the door of your cabin as coffee is delivered, then off to a hearty breakfast in the main lodge. You plan your day and you are on the river in no time, swing-casting with flies such as “the pink panties,” egg-sucking leach, and the Bulkley Mouse. Your guide is nearby to offer tips about casting and presentation, change your fly when necessary, and to help you land your fish. Then you stop for a hot lunch, beverages and snacks.
Before you know it, the day is done and you head to your cabin for a shower and the camp help brings your favorite cocktail. Dinners at the lodge are truly memorable, with cocktail and hors d' oeuvres, great salads and entrees, and special deserts. (My wife wonders why I gained eight pounds in a week!) Then it’s a nightcap and you are off to bed with sweet dreams. (This year I kept fighting steelhead all night)
I’ve caught a variety of great fish on a fly rod in both salt and fresh water, but a steelhead remains at the top of my list. Maybe it’s the majestic snow-capped peaks, the powerful river, or the chance to see a bear and other wildlife up close in a near wilderness setting. Maybe it’s the lodge and companionship. But the fact remains. This sea-run rainbow trout is the toughest fighting fish you’re ever going to encounter. |
| Thinking About Montana |
Mon, May 12, 2008 |
Spring has sprung and thoughts of our July trip to Montana are beginning to run through my mind. The crew heading out this year to fish the Madison River has been making the trek fro many years now. The group is from the shop and the ski industry who have a passion for fishing as well. It's a quick trip from Park City so we can fish the first day we arrive.
Some years we hit the Salmon Fly Hatch on the upper part of the river as it flows from Quake Lake. The "hatch" begins down near the town of Ennis, 60 miles downstream, and works it's way upstream about three miles a day when the weather is consistent. These bugs are big, two inches plus in length, and the fish gorge on them. They hatch from nymphs that crawl up on the banks, shuck their cases and begin to fly out over the river to lay their eggs. Hitting the hatch can be a very memorable experience since every fish in the river is keyed to feeding on these large insects.
We'll float the river fishing from drift boats. On particularly productive runs we'll foot-fish as well. This, year our base of operations will be the small town of Cameron with its seven cabins, general store, restaurant, and, of course, the famous Blue Moon Saloon. We have many fond memories here. It's a good thing that "what happens in Montana stays in Montana." Otherwise we'd all be in jail. Now that we are all a little older our behavior after a day of fishing is almost commendable. |
| Spring Fishing Fever |
Mon, March 17, 2008 |
As the snow starts to melt and temperatures start to climb, fly fishing fever returns with renewed intensity. Dream trips you’ve planned can now become a reality and you can focus on the details to make them successful.
I like to take trips to the green river in early spring. The weather usually holds and there’s a likelihood of dry fly fishing. Walking the banks as the day warms up looking for “lips” as fish feed on the surface make all those cold winter days a forgotten memory.
When the midges and blue-wing olives begin hatching there is sure to be some of the year’s best fishing. If you take a walk down below Little Hole or drive around to the river below Indian Crossing you’ll usually find some mid-day dry fly action.
But it’s not just the Green River. Good dry fly activity takes place on our local streams as well.
I’m also looking forward to our store sponsored trip to South Andros Island in late April. Sixteen of our favorite customers and friends try to temp the big bonefish of the Bahamas. This year we’ve chosen Mangrove Key Club because of it’s great lodging, service and guides. Two guests and a guide will depart the lodge each morning in search of these great fish. Evenings bring great camaraderie for cocktails and a dinner you’ll not soon forget. The cabins are modern, comfortable and air conditioned which make for a great nights sleep. There are still a few spots left for those of you who would like to join us. Call Russ as Jans 435-649-1020 as soon as possible to be included. But be aware, this fishing is very addicting. |
| Fall Blog |
Wed, October 24, 2007 |
Fall is the time that brown trout are on the move to spawn in our local rivers. The browns are more aggressive at this time of year and you can have great action by swinging a streamer or matching the hatch of BWO’s or PMD’s that occur throughout the Fall. Since I live across the street from the middle Provo, I’m anxious to go “wet a line” while this annual spawn is occurring. But I can’t seem to find the time. You see, my wife knows that I’m leaving for a return trip to the Bulkley River in British Columbia the first week of November and she is probably punishing me for leaving her home. She doesn’t fish. She would rather “we” go to Scotsdale and play golf and have some great dining. So she recently left me a “to do” list of things she wanted completed before I leave. How many lines are there on a legal-sized yellow pad? The answer is 29. I now have a full legal page of things to do before a leave. If I worked to complete this list without ever going to the office to work I figure it would take about two months. But I only have two weeks. Too bad there are only 24 hours in a day. I need at least 100 hours a day. Maybe I could hire some help. Or I could ask about 50 of our employees to come and pitch in.
Needless to say, I’m still going steelhead fishing. I may not complete my “to do” list before I leave, but that’s the breaks. My wife will probably change the locks on our doors and train the dogs to ignore me when I come home, but she needs to understand that the addiction to steelhead fishing rivals heroin or meth. Maybe worse. I guess I’ll have to accept my poison when I return. Within 42 years of marriage I have yet to be forced to sleep on the couch. This year a motel is probably not out of the question.
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| Looking Foreward |
Sat, August 25, 2007 |
In September 14 I will be fishing the Bulkley River in British Columbia for Steelhead with a group of customers and employees for my 25th straight year. Hooking and landing these sea-run rainbow trout is my favorite fishing and I can't wait to fly over the Canadian Rockies from Vancouver and see the river beckoning below me as we land in Smithers, a small town about the size of Heber City, Utah.
We will be met at the airport by the guides from the Bulkley River Lodge to be transported to the Lodge to begin our week of fishing. Check out their website at Bulkley River Lodge.com for details.
I think of all of the people I have encouraged to come to this fishing mecca and I am reminded that I told them to beware: Steelhead fishing on the Bulkley River is addicting. More than a dozen years ago Bob McElvain from Salt Lake City and Don Sauer from Boise took me up on an invitation. Since then every year they have returned as steelhead addicts to challenge this worthy fish. My partner Russ Coburn and Jan and Jack Massimino from Park City have become so addicted that when the majority interest in the lodge became available, they jumped in with money in their hands to make sure they could always get their "fix" in steelhead addiction. And it is not just the fishing. This quaint lodge consisting of a few log buildings along the river located well away from civilization has a charm and atmosphere all it's own. For some reason the food tastes better and the scotch is smoother than any place on earth. Only eight guests per week can share this experience and everyone seems to become lifelong friends. When the generator for power is turned off at 10:00 P.M. most of us are in dreamland waiting for tomorrow.
A friend of mine, David Houghton, who owns Alta Sports in Alta, has done me one better in this addiction. He was on the first trip I took back in 1983. David makes the three-day drive to Smithers and stays their all September and October and fishes every day. Some time maybe I can do that, but don't tell my wife Amanda.
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| Indian Lands of the Uinta Basin |
Mon, August 13, 2007 |
| If you are a fly-fisherman and looking to get away from the busy traffic on the Provo and the Weber rivers, it's time to think about a trip to the Indian Lands of the Uintah Basin. The Duchesne, Rock Creek, the Lake Fork, the Yellowstone, the Uintah and the Whiterocks are streams that drain out of the south slope of the Uintah Mountains through Indian Lands that provide exceptional fishing. These streams are all about the size of the upper Weber and Provo rivers and no one is there fishing. No one! And now is hopper time on Indian Lands. Any good grasshopper pattern will catch fish...a lot of fish. But you'll need to hurry. The fishing season on Indian Lands ends September 9.
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| What were we thinking? |
Tues, July 24, 2007 |
| Imagine going on a fishing trip to Montana with 8 people, 6 dogs, two horses and two boats. Sounds crazy? It was all of that and then some. Fortunately we stocked up at the liquor store. It makes me want to have a drink just thinking about the mayhem. The boats were river dory’s that hold three fishermen, each one trading off to row the boat while two fishermen actually fished. That took care of six people each day. The horses took care of the other two. What we did with the dogs is anybody’s guess. Fortunately we didn’t float the river each day and some of us foot-fished with the dogs, when they weren’t jumping in the river and scaring the fish- we actually caught some. My golden retriever, Saide, was perfectly behaved and just got in the river quietly to cool down. Can’t say the same about some of the others. As you can imagine it was a week made in heaven. Our only problem was one flat tire, a blown fuel pump, and its 100 degrees with four people, two dogs and two horses. Thank goodness, triple A ultimately arrived to save us from certain death. But my car and the horse trailer are still in Malad, Idaho. They say for about a million dollars I can go pick them up next week.
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| Concern for the Fish... |
Mon, June 30, 2007 |
It was sad news to read about the fish kill in Parley’s Creek as it enters Salt Lake valley below Suicide Rock at the mouth of the canyon. It appears to be some sort of toxic poisoning like chlorine. We won’t know until they analyze the dead fish, which is reported to be hundreds of native cutthroat trout in the stream all the way to Sugarhouse Park. This specie of trout is nearly endangered and is threaten in many of our waterways.
I am particularly saddened because this little creek is where I fished almost every day as a 10 or 12 year old. My family home was just north of the Country Club Golf Course and I would catch a few grass hoppers and drift them through the pools using a rod my father had made for me. I caught lots of fish over the summer and this was before we knew the merit of catch-and-release. With both of my brothers and father “bringing home a limit” every time we fished, it didn't take long to get very tired of eating trout. Come February of the following winter we would still have 300 fish in the freezer. What a waste.
But back to the poisoning. Take great care around creeks and streams to keep them pure and free-flowing. Clean habitat for fish is also good for wildlife and our future enjoyment of the out-of-doors.
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| Bitten by the Fishing Bug... |
Tues, June 24, 2007 |
Just heard a report that fishing on the high Uintah Wilderness lakes is heating up and the snow is mostly gone. The easiest way to fish these lakes is with a spin/cast rod with a plastic bubble and fly. The pine trees grow right down to shore of most lakes which makes casting a fly rod difficult because there is no room for a back cast.
This reminds me of a time when I was fishing as a boy scout on Marshall Lake where we were camped for a week in the early 50’s. I only had one bubble left and one day as a thunderstorm was in progress I cast out my fly and the bubble broke off. My fellow scouts had run for their tents as the rain began to fall so no one was around. With several days of fishing left I chose to strip off my clothing and swim for the bubble. It seemed like I swam forever as the off-shore wind blew the bubble further out in the lake. As I grabbed it and turned for shore I was so surprised at the distance I had come that took a big gulp of water and did my best to stay afloat. I mostly swam on my back but after what seemed like hours I bumped into the shore. My scout master later told me I was crazy but, as you can see, the fishing bug had bitten me hard even as an 11 or 12 year old.
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| The Legacy Continues... |
Mon, June 11, 2007 |
As a grandparent and a fly fisherman, I just recently had the experience of a lifetime. My grandson Zack was born six years ago. The day after his birth I attended the National Fly Fishing Show at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. At the Sage fly rod booth I told my old friend Bruce Kirschner, President of the company of my good fortune. He said that when Zack was ready to fish, he would build him a fly rod.
Several month's ago I called Bruce to tell him Zack was ready. The little rod and reel arrived recently and his father Matt and I planned a fishing trip to get him started at Rendezvous Ranch on the Weber River. It's a perfect place to get new fishermen started. The night before Zack and his dad tied some flies that might work on the lakes. Once we arrived Zack cast one of the flies he tied into the pond and about a 14" rainbow trout took it. Zack was fast into a fight with the little rod as his dad coached him on how to handle the fight and the landing of the fish. He hooked several more and was delighted with each one. What an afternoon!
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Mon, June 4, 2007 |
| I was driving by Coalville the other day and it reminded me of a great day of fishing I had with my dad on the Weber River nearby. I was about 15 years old and he had just given me a 7-foot 2-ounce Winston bamboo fly rod. "Don't tell your mother I bought you this expensive rod," he reminded me. We parked by the bridge and dad went downstream to swing-fish with streamers and I went up the creek to try my new rod. I caught a few small fish on dry flies and then went downstream to meet up with dad. As I walked down the bank of the stream a grasshopper jumped into the water and a huge trout gulped it up. This was before any hopper flies has been invented so I quickly re-rigged my rod with a small hook and caught a grasshopper. I threw it in the stream and watched as the same big trout grabbed it. I fought the trout for a long time and finally it lay resting on it's side so I jumped in and scooped the big trout out onto the bank. A minute later a hooked another big fish that matched the size of the first one. I was so proud of catching these two big fish that I carried them down to dad and told my story of the exciting fight and ultimate success. He was obviously proud but he examined my rod and pointed out how these big fish had "kinked" my new rod. We had to re-wrap the guides upside down and hope that the rod would ultimately straighten out after a while of use. Fortunately it did.
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Sun, May 20, 2007 |
| Living in Park City is an ideal place for a fly-fisherman. We’re minutes away from great trout fishing on local streams such as the Weber and Provo Rivers, both blue ribbon fisheries, yet we are only hours away from some of the most heralded trout streams of the West. The Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Green River below Fontenelle Reservoir in Wyoming are just a three hour drive away. The Snake River near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the South Fork of the Snake and the Henry’s Fork in Idaho are just 4-1/2 hours away and the Madison River and Gallatin Rivers in Montana are Just 5-1/2 hours away at freeway speeds. Add another ½ hour and you can fish the Big Hole River, the Jefferson River and the Missouri in Montana. In less than ½ a days drive and you can fish the best we have in the lower 48 states. Sure beats being a fly fisherman and living in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Saint Louis and Chicago. I can’t see living in any of those places anyway.
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Tue, May 8, 2007 |
| My dad taught me how to fly fish more than 50 years ago and it has been my true passion ever since. Those years with dad as my mentor are some of my most cherished memories. But it wasn’t just the fishing. He taught me how to appreciate and respect the environment, the property of others and to understand the etiquette of fishing. My dad used to tell people he could “teach them how to cast a fly rod in 20 minutes, but it’ll take the rest of your life to truly learn to fish.” Now as a father I get the opportunity to watch my son-in-law and his friends introduce their kids to fishing on the Deer Valley ponds using a little spin-cast rod and reel to help them get the feel of fishing. They actually caught some fish and you should have seen the grins on the faces of four and five year old kids. It was a special time for these young fathers and their little girls and boys, and perhaps the beginning of a lifetime experience.
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Fri, April 26, 2007 |
| Ever been invited on a boys only fishing trip that is scheduled to last a week or so and you are afraid to ask your wife if it is OK to go? The first thing you have to decide is if you have enough “credits” to even bother to ask permission. I just returned from a fishing trip in the Bahamas so I’m probably in the hole with “credits.” Maybe if I got her a nice gift it would help. Perhaps a gardener or a maid. I could take her out to a nice dinner and a movie. I could arrange a nice vacation for her to visit one of her friends…say in San Francisco. I could buy her a new car. Nope. All of these “gifts” still wouldn’t get me back to even, probably not even close. Divorce is even a possibility. So I’ll just settle in with my new Fly-Fishing magazine and tell my friends to find somebody else.
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Fri, April 21, 2007 |
| Sometimes being in Paradise has its drawbacks. Russ, Fran, Cody and I from the store are fly-fishing for bonefish on South Andros Island in the Bahamas with 12 other fishermen at Mangrove Cay Club. Tuesday the sun was shining but the wind was blowing 15 to 20 knots from the north, which meant the flats boats we fish from would not go out. The seas were just too rough, so we had to figure out things to do besides fish, which we came 3,000 miles to enjoy. There is really no beach, so we had to play cards or dominoes, watch television (ugh), carry on polite conversation, or read. I read most of Tom Patterson's Judge and Jury in 24 hours. Thank heaven it only lasted 24 hours. You put 16 people together in tight quarters and it can get ugly. The bar was an absolute savior. A few vodka tonics can make everyone clever and attractive.
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Thu, April 12, 2007 |
| One of the remarkable things about fly-fishing is the flora and fauna you see along the river. Sometimes I just sit on rock alongside the water and look around. Last week I stumbled across a large elk grazing along side the Provo River near Midway. I thought it strange because elk are not supposed to be down in this lower elevation at this time of the year. In my time fishing I have seen a lot of things on the river but no matter how many things I have seen or no matter the amount of time I have spent on the water- the river will always surprise me. |
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Thu, April 10, 2007 |
| On April 13 Fran Meehan, Russ Coburn and myself from Jans are leading a group of 16 fly-fishing customers to Mangrove Cay Club on South Andros Island in the Bahamas. Andros Island is not a single island but a labyrinth of islands, cays and waterways that make up the largest area of bonefish habitat in the world. We've been here before and have experienced the remarkable fishing and enjoying the quality and service at the lodge and the professionalism of it's guides. Those of you interested in joining us on future expeditions to the Mangrove Cay Club should contact us as soon as possible. This Trip always sells out early. |
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Mon, March 26, 2007
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| Here I am, looking out the window as the weather goes to hell in Park City, and my partner, Russ Coburn, is fly-fishing in Mexico at Boca Paila with a group of friends. At Boca it's probably 85 degrees with an on shore breeze as he casts for bonefish, permit and snook. I'm not jealous at all. I hope it rains all the time with hurricane-type winds. I hope he looses his sunscreen. I hope the chef burns his dinner. No, I'm not jealous at all. |
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