Fishin' Fridays

[Bucky]

This year, my buddy Eric and I have decided to institute a weekly fishing outing, where we leave the office early on Friday and hit up one of the local rivers for a few hours. This was the first week of our Fishin Fridays, and it was exactly what we needed. Now, we were only able to get out for a little under two hours, but the weather was perfect and we had a little luck fishing. We had both been on a streak of getting skunked (if not every time out, most of the recent times out).

We decided to fish between two of the lower dams today, as neither of us had ever fished that stretch. The river was pretty brushy with a few overhanging trees where we entered, but cleared up overhead a short way up. We found a good looking seam along some overhanging brush, and took turns casting to it. I was fishing a beadhead pheasant tail behind a hopper, and he was fishing a gold ribbed hares ear off a hopper. He had the first few casts and didn’t see any activity. Then I took a few casts. On about my third cast, I missed my target, but ended up on the seam away from the brush. As the hopper drifted past a submerged boulder, it dove under, and I set the hook. I could see the whitish yellow flash underwater and some weight behind it. After a 20 second fight, I had a beautiful ~13 inch brown trout in the net. It was probably the biggest fish I have caught out of this particular river, so my day was made.

About twenty minutes later, we came to the bottom of a riffle system with a couple boulders. Eric took the left side of the river, and I took the right, as both had beautiful looking hiles and seams. I threw a cast or two in the direction of a bright yellow-orange trout (they stock albino rainbows in this river) to see if I could get him to take. I was soon hooked on a submerged stick, and had to retrieve my fly. As I removed the fly from the stick, I heard my buddy give a shout of excitement. I looked over and he was working in a brown. He quickly landed it and had it in hand. The trout was about 9 inches, and the lateral spots were very bright red. A beautiful fish.

I landed one more shortly thereafter, and we had to call it a day in order to make a prior engagement. It was a great day on the water, as we both got the skunk off our back, enjoyed some beautiful weather and some beautiful fish. Can’t wait until the next Fishin’ Friday excursion.

[MontanaMoose]

Great report Bucky, i was doing the friday thing with a fly fishing friend all last winter and really enjoyed that time. Beat the heck out of sitting around all day looking out the window at the cold. Din’t notice how cold it was once suited up and hiking and casting over steelhead.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[KeatonsDad]

Nice report Bucky. Any time out on the water is great. Glad you got into some fish too.

[Uncle_Jesse]

@Bucky

I landed one more shortly thereafter, and we had to call it a day in order to make a prior engagement.

Great story, it carried me back close to 30 years, one of my best friends and I volunteered to come in late and stay late to take care of some flights coming into the Army Aviation Support Facility. We got into some serious bream fishing, releasing everything because we had to be at AASF at 0900. It was just painful leaving some of the best fishing either of us had been in all year. He was a full time sheet metal mechanic there and hated leaving more than I did. It is just so hard at time to leave the fishing hole.

I am a little envious of you having a buddy you can go down to the old fishing hole with. That makes good times into the best of times. Thanks for jarring the memory.

[Panman]

Nice story. It brings to mind one time I was home on leave from the Army and my dad, a native of Logan, took me up your way and we caught some browns as well as some of those Albano rainbows.

Thanks for refreshing old thoughts.

Tim

[kglissmeyer]

Bucky, nice report. Having grown up in norhern Utah I’m pretty familiar with the rivers and streams in your area, so I know what great waters they are. Your report takes me back to when I used to fish them regularly. Thanks for sharing, and I’m looking forward to more.

Kelly.

[Bucky]

Thanks for the comments, everybody. Was out of town at a conference all last week, so had to cancel last Fridays fishing trip. Not sure whether we will get out this Friday either, as I am going camping up in either Idaho or Wyoming (though I could possibly get in some fishing up there).

[Bucky]

Well, yesterday wasn’t a Friday, but I did get out fishing so I figure I’ll post it here. Went up the Logan River after work yesterday evening to get a few casts in before dark. The maples in the canyon have turned full red and the aspens are starting to turn gold.

As I pulled into the access point, I saw another vehicle parked, so I first went down to check if anyone was fishing or if it was just someone hanging out. Met the guy on the bank as he was gearing up, and we chatted about what the fish have been hitting recently for a while. Then he told me he was going to be going downstream a ways and fishing down, so I asked if he would mind if I fished upstream from him, to which he replied sure.

After throwing a sparkle caddis emerger for a while, I started noticing some trout rising, and tied on a Purple Haze. After watching the water for another few minutes, I picked my spot, threw two casts, got a solid hit and landed a little brown trout. Unfortunately, even though the trout were still hitting the surface for another 20 minutes, I spent most of that time tangling myself in the trees and riparian brush. By the time I got back in the casting groove, the top action had stopped. So I tied on a bead head pheasant tail (my go to on the river) and flung that around for a while. Had what looked like a strike that I missed, though it could have just gotten caught on a weed for a second. A few casts later, almost as soon as the fly hit the water, my hopper I had the pheasant tail dropping from sank and I set the hook. A few seconds later, I had this little fella in my hands:

As it was getting near to being too dark to see much, I started heading to the opposite bank, where I was parked. As I got about two feet from the bank, I heard a good sized splash just upstream from where I was exiting. I figured, hell, why not throw one more. So I tied on a rusty colored parachute pattern (which took about 5 minutes because I couldn’t see the tippet or eye of the hook too well), and started casting. First cast, too short. Second, too wide. Third, looking good. I let it float down about 6 feet and SLAP. A trout hits it pretty good, and feels bigger than the previous two. He doesn’t come to the surface until the very end when I have him in hand.

Now he wasn’t huge, but it was nice to end the evening with a decent sized fish that put up a pretty good fight on my 4wt. Can’t wait until this weekend which is likely the next time I will get out.

[KeatonsDad]

Great report Bucky. Keep em coming.

[Bucky]

Thanks KeatonsDad. I just figured out that if you click on the images they enlarge. I haven’t quite figured out how to just post the larger image.

[kglissmeyer]

Bucky, thanks for the great report. There are few rivers to rival the Logan in the fall. Great memories for me. Keep them coming.

As for the photos, I reduce them to managable sizes, load them to Photobucket and then copy them for use in my posts and they come across to the size I reduced them to for Photobucket. When you point at one of your photos in Photobucket it gives you four options and I choose the “IMG Code” option then select copy and then transfer the copy to my post.

Here’s what it looks like:
ShareEmail & IM
Direct Link
HTML Code
IMG Code
Link options

Hope that helps.

Kelly.

[Bucky]

Thanks for the image tips Kelly!

Got out on the Blacksmith Fork for a little while yesterday evening, though it was mostly playing around with a new camera (a few pictures turned out, still have a lot to figure out on that thing, will post later). Fishing did not go so well, at least as far as catching fish. A few fish were hitting something on the surface, just couldn’t figure out what it was, probably something pretty small, as I couldn’t see anything coming off really. They weren’t hitting the nymph I was throwing either. Now maybe if I was really into the fishing last night, I would have tried a few different patterns, but as I said, I was kind of just fishing between periods of messing with the camera. Hopefully will get out for a bit this evening. The fall colors are amazing around here now, and getting up into the canyons is a great way to unwind after staring at a computer all day at work.

Cheers

[Bucky]

Well, got out for about an hour this evening. Within the first five or so minutes of throwing a BH pheasant tail, I had a hookup, but set the hook too hard (or tied a bad knot) and the dropper came off. Unfortunately, that was the last pheasant tail in the box (really been meaning to tie a bunch of these up). The rest of the time, I spent trying a couple nymphs out, namely the rainbow warrior and the substitute. Neither got any looks, but I also spent most of my time untangling from the willows, as I usuallu do in this stretch of river. It has so many good looking pools, but all are along or underneath overhanging trees and willows.

Oh well, good to get out. Maybe a fish next time.

[Bucky]

So, its been a while since I have updated this thread, but then again it had been a long time since I had gotten out fishing (no real complaints though, got to go camping in the desert). So, first I will update about the last time I got out, right before the desert.

I headed up the canyon in the early evening, and decided to go further upstream than I had gone in a while to try for some cutties. The fall colors were going full bore on the drive up. As I got up into the part of the canyon where it opens up a bit, I noticed that there was snow on some of the surrounding peaks, first I had seen this year. So, even before I had wetted a line, I was in a good mood from the scenery and the autumn scents in the air.

I decided to fish a stretch that I had never fished before, and tied on a patriot with a BH pheasant tail dropper to start. There were no bugs coming off, so I figured I would try this rig to search 'em out. No more than half of a second after my first cast hit the water, BAM, a small cutthroat slams into the patriot up on top! I was thinking to myself that this could be a real good day out here if this pace keeps up. I landed the cut quickly and admired the colors and patterning, as it was the first cut I had caught in a while. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Not five casts later, the patriot quickly dipped under the surface, and I set the hook on this beautiful fella.

There is something especially blissful about catching these native cutthroat trout that catching a brown trout just doesn’t compare to for me, so I was ecstatic.

For the next two hours, I had only a couple more strikes, and a lot of snags that I thought were strikes at first only to find myself stuck on a rock. The hot to cold fishing was somewhat puzzling, but could in no way ruin my day on the river. Not a bad way to head into the desert trip where no fishing would take place.

Yesterday was the first time I got out since returning from the desert, and the weather in the Bear River Range had changed quite a bit. Tempteratures were down, and there was a good snow storm earlier in the week. I decided to return to the same stretch to see if I couldn’t get into a few more cutts. On the drive up, I noticed that most of the trees higher in the canyon are now defoliated almost completely, or at least not as colorful as a couple weeks back.

It was a picture perfect day when I started.

Again, a few casts in, I had a fish on the line. This time, however, it was a nice little brown trout. I was somewhat surprised by the brown, but it is fall and they are moving up the canyon to spawn. About five minutes after that, I had another fish on the line, this time a good cutthroat. Unfortunately, he slipped out of my hands before I could get a picture, but he was very pretty.

Then I went through about a half an hour of snagiing and losing a couple nymphs. I had hooked into a few more fish, but they spit the hook fairly quickly. One of them looked like a good sized fish, as it came and rolled near the surface as it was shaking me off.

Eventually, I had my rig set up again and cast to some slower water behind a branch and just off of a quick riffle. It looked like a good piece of water and it didn’t disappoint. On the second or third cast to the hole, the stimulator dropped under forcefully, and I set the hook. The fish felt heftier than the first two and fought for a good while. When I got him into the net, I was looking at a beautiful ~13 inch brown.

That was the last fish I landed yesterday, and it was a good fish to go out on. As I can only attach so many pics to one post, see the next post for the view I was greeted with as I exited the canyon.

[Bucky]

Here’s the sunset we got last night. Click on the photo to enlarge.

[Panman]

Bucky: When I was a yongster we would travel to Logan to visit my grandparents. They lived along the highway in a place called Collge Ward which was a few miles south of Logan. Dad & I would fish the Logan down through the farms in College Ward. Pops was a wizz with the fly rod and would come back with a creel full of browns most about 12-14 inches plus a bunch of whitefish. Last time I checked out that stretch of the river the farms were gone, replaced by a golf course and the water was so low I didn’t even try to fish. So much for progress.

Glad you are enjoying the Logan and thanks for the reports.

Tim

[Bucky]

Yep, the golf course is right on the river now. I have only been in Logan for a year and a half now, so what is there now is all that I know of the Logan. And, yes, it does get pretty low out there in the summer. However, a couple buddies of mine say they have caught some really nice fish down there. I personally have never fished that low. If I have the opportunity to fish in the canyon or in town, I choose canyon every time. Might be because mountains are still a new experience for me.

[kglissmeyer]

Bucky, once again you’ve struck a resonant chord with me. Gotta love the Logan and surrounding waters. The pic of the river in the canyon brought back floods of memories. Good looking fish. Well done, and thanks for sharing.

Kelly.

[MontanaMoose]

Great report and pix Bucky, wow ! … that sunset…nice !

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[Bucky]

Thanks for the comments folks. We have had a couple days in a row with sunsets like that. Just unreal.