Sunday, May 28, 2006

DATE: Sunday, May 28, 2006

TIME: 6:00 AM to 5:30 PM

WEATHER: Mid-50s to mid-80s, partly cloudy, windy in the afternoon

WATER CONDITIONS: Clear, temperature unknown

LOCATIONS FISHED: Quetico Wilderness, Ontario, Canada—Basswood Lake

HATCH: Several species of Mayflies and some midges, though fish were not keying on any of the hatches

ROD USED: Winston 9’ 7-weight BL5 Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: Olive green, two-toned #6 hard body foam popper

OTHER: I fished with Kay. A fierce storm rolled in just after paddling in from our shore departure near Ely, Minnesota.

Harry and Mary were able to get camp set up before the lightning and heavy winds arrived. We immediately went to the tents to get out of the lightning, lying on our foam mattress pads.

Kay and I alternated paddling each other, though Kay paddled me most of the time. I managed a 5+ pounder, a "board" fish, on the popper. I caught several other fish on the green popping bug, and Kay caught several on a green lizard. Our friend, John, caught two or three 5+ pounders, with one going over six pounds. Our friend Dave caught one over 5 pounds. John and Dave are great fishers, to say the least.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

DATE: Sunday, April 16, 2006

TIME: 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

WEATHER: Mid-50s to mid-70s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: Clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Green River, Utah, Section A

HATCH: Assorted midge emergers and some terrestrials

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: Unknown

OTHER: I fished with Kay; we were guided by Ed in a drift boat. We had a great trip, caught lots of fish, mostly browns. All fish were caught on midge emergers with strike indicator, but no weight. Ed was an incredible guide, and put Kay and me on lots of fish. He seemed to know where every fish lay, and what cast was necessary to drift a fly to the fish. I learned a lot about different kinds of mends for different water conditions, and Kay learned a lot as well. Ed and I seemed to be in a zone, and he would put me into position to cast, would call the cast, and I would catch the fish. I used practically every kind of cast I know. It was a great day. Ed would rank as our favorite guide, but only slightly above Boomer.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

DATE: Saturday, April 15, 2006

TIME: 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

WEATHER: Mid-50s to mid-70s, sunny, very windy

WATER CONDITIONS: Clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Green River, Utah, Section A

HATCH: Assorted midge emergers and some terrestrials

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: Assorted midge pupae, #20

OTHER: I fished with Kay; we were guided by Bill in a drift boat. This was possibly the worst day of fly fishing in my life. Bill was a nice "kid", but didn't have a clue about guiding the Green River. He kept the boat in the middle of the river, never offering an eddy or slow side water to fish. He put Kay and me in the worst casting positions possible. I fished midges with weight and strike indicator, including a small pheasant tail midge that worked pretty well. I did manage a half dozen or so fish in the hour before noon, and Kay had one fish, but that was it for the day. Section B is not as pretty as Section A, but still a great piece of river. We won't fish with "Bill" again!

Friday, April 14, 2006

DATE: Friday, April 14, 2006

TIME: 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

WEATHER: Mid-50s to mid-70s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: Clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Green River, Utah, Section A

HATCH: Assorted midge emergers and some terrestrials

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: Assorted midge pupae, #20

OTHER: I fished with Kay and we were guided by Boomer in a drift boat. We had a great trip, caught several fish, mostly browns. All fish were caught on subsurface flies with strike indicator, but no weight. Scenery was spectacular, as the Flaming Gorge is incredibly beautiful, containing every earth tone color imaginable. Boomer is a great guide.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

DATE: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

TIME: 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 60s, mostly cloudy, wind 5-15 mph

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units (no generation prior 5 days)

LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, Rim Shoals

HATCH: Some midges, what I believe was a Light Cahill or something similar, 3 sizes of caddis flies (one was small, #18, gray with gray mottled wings; another was larger, #14, olive with near white wings; and the third was #16 tan). The hatch was not as prolific as March 28.

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 9” 5-weight LT (broke the Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite this morning)

FLIES USED: #16 bead head flashback pheasant tail, #18 olive elk hair caddis

OTHER: Dick and I met Ed on the water; Wayne was there also. It was Dick's first time to "dry fly" fish, and he did very well. We both fished the riffle at the #2 "trailhead." There was not as much rising activity as March 28, but caddis flies were still coming off. In terms of catching, it was an even better day than March 28 for me. Again, none of the fish were large, but several were in the 16-inch class, and were surprisingly HEAVY fish.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 2006

TIME: 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM

WEATHER: Mid 50s, partly cloudy, wind 5-15 mph

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units (no generation prior 4 days)

LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, Rim Shoals

HATCH: Some midges, what I believe was a Light Cahill or something similar, 3 sizes of caddis flies (one was small, #18, gray with gray mottled wings; another was larger, #14, olive with near white wings; and the third was #16 tan).

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #16 bead head flashback pheasant tail, #18 olive elk hair caddis

OTHER: Ed and I began fishing at the upper riffle. I used a #16 bead head flashback pheasant tail and caught several fish, then noted fish rising (two to my strike indicator). I switched to a caddis and began to catch fish on the dry fly, about 9:30 AM. I fished caddis the rest of day and had one of those particularly wonderful days, catching fish almost every cast on dry flies. None of the fish were large, but several were in the 16-inch class, and were the heaviest fish, as a group, I've ever caught on the White River. We quit before the hatch was over, as we were too tired to finish the hatch. I literally wore out several flies. We observed no other fishermen fishing caddis!

Thursday, March 9, 2006

DATE: Thursday, March 9, 2006

TIME: 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

WEATHER: Mid-50s, overcast

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units, extremely turbid

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, above 2^nd island above Ackerman/Handicap Access

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #6 shad imitation (gray body, palmered grizzly hackle, fluorescent orange tail—it was the biggest, ugliest fly I had)

OTHER: I fished solo. It had been raining practically all week, and runoff combined with lack of erosion control at ongoing development at Overbrook Estates near dam "flooded" the river with sediment. It was so turbid that one could only see about one inch under the surface of the water. Regardless, I began by dead-drifting a fly in the riffle—nothing. I had heard that some browns had staged in the pool above the riffle, so I began casting the big fly quartering upstream and stripping back. I thought I had hung up, but then felt some movement. Making a long story short, I caught a 22-inch female brown. I made a few more casts and caught a 6-inch brown. I was so disgusted with water conditions that I quit for the day.