Moving Water Once Again....FINALLY!

It had been some time since I had fished moving water. Much of the late spring was spent chasing fish on stillwaters (which is not a bad thing), but something about not fishing a stream in a couple months just about killed me. So when the call came that it was time to head to the stream, there was no argument from me! Blake, Tyler, and I went up for the weekend and Kelly joined us for a day. The fishing was pretty darn good. The time in and around the water was perfect! This stream is spring fed and is home to some very healthy Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroat trout. These trout, in my opinion, are as good as it gets. Just the chance at catching these fish gets my blood going. And then throw in the chance of catching a real trophy at that, and this area is as good as it gets for a fly fisherman. (Blake had a legit 25+ incher break him off the day before we arrived.) We fished over a couple days catching fish in all types of water and with all types of techniques. We even unveiled the sex dungeon and were able to fool a few around dusk with them each evening. The time was well spent in one of those special places. This post is picture-heavy, so hopefully you enjoy!

Blake and Tyler working a hole.

Tyler's pig.

Kelly with one of many nice fish in this stretch he worked.

Tyson trying to get Blake's flies back out of the hog...caught his little brother.

Blake with a nice cutt at dark.

The rest are of the fish. As I stated, SRFS cutts are by far my favorite fish. They are a true work of art. These pictures attempt to do them justice, but come up far short of the beauty of these bad boys.

It was a great trip boys. Thanks Blake for making it happen.

-Tyson

Hog Hunting Part 2

Kelly and I went and tried our luck hog hunting again. These fish get big quick and as evidenced by our last trip that ended with a rod broke in half on a fish, they fight hard too. It was a good day and we caught some nice fish. The browns are starting to get decent sized as well.

-Blake

Hog Hunting

We were able to make our annual pilgrimage to the hog factory to get into some big boys, hopefully preparing us for a summer of chasing fish on smaller streams. It was a great day. We went through a ton of flies that fish broke off or bent the hooks out and one fish even busted a fly rod clean in half during the fight. These fish are stout, and they are not happy to be caught. It was a great time. We've attached a few pictures here, and more "hero shots" can be seen at the bottom of the page in a slide show. The pictures tell the story for the day. Not much more needs to be said.

Check out the slide show here as well.

Some very large trout with feisty attitudes made for a lot of fun. One highlight of the trip was catching a 9-10 inch bow and stripping line to land the little fella, only to have all the sudden my line take off at mach 12 the opposite direction. A very large trout had decided that my catch looked like a tasty treat and was ripping line off my reel faster than you could figure out what was happening. I tried to tighten down my drag, the large fish jumped, and let go of the smaller fish, leaving it mostly unharmed. Was quite the experience. Thanks fellas for another great day on the water.

-Tyson

First trip to "The Stream"

First things first, congrats to Curt for getting into his first "real" fish (as he put it) on a fly rod.  Not a bad way to kick off the addiction my friend.  Not going to find a prettier fish than the FS Snake River Cutt!  

Blake made the first trip to "the stream" this year and was able to get into some fatty's.  The next few pictures are all fish that he was able to trick.  These fine spotted Snake River Cutts are any fisherman's dream.  They are incredible fish.  And just not all that common.  So it is a real treat to be able to go and fish a water that has access to these wonders of nature.  This is a delicate system that sees VERY little pressure.  These fish are probably about average for the stream, but many that are a lot bigger have been caught.  Last year a 23 incher came out of this stretch.  Enjoy the pictures, surely more to come as the year presses on.  

This post is one that we hope kicks off a great summer of great trips to various waters around Utah and surrounding states.  Tight lines....

First Annual Central Utah Bowfishing Open

The Utah Bowfishing Association hosted the First Annual Central Utah Bowfishing Open at Utah Lake.  Blake, Brandon, and Jed all participated.  Blake and Brandon were a two-man team and Jed teamed up with another partner.  Tyson came along with Brandon and Blake with high aspirations of getting some good pictures and video of the event.  Due to some serious equipment failure we were stuck with a crappy point and shoot, but we at least got some pictures.  Congrats to Blake and Brandon for winning the tournament with a total of 83 carp!  I'm not sure how many total carp were shot in the tournament, but there were 13 teams and I have heard around 600 fish were shot.  Not only a fun time, but a good cause in helping to remove this invasive non-native species from a lake that desperately needs the work done.  

Brandon with first fish of the day.  That green garbage can you see filled up quickly.  

Blake with an early prize.
The team stalking in the flats.  This area was so chuck full of carp it was sick.  When we pulled into the bay there were literally hundreds of carp cruising everywhere around us.
Brandon getting ready for one of his "Best of the West" shots.
Putting the stock on in the vegetation.

The garbage can filled up quickly with the first 51 fish.  So they used an ingenious "stringer" system to rig up the carp, hook them to the boat, and pull them back into the launch so the fish could be counted.  I'm almost positive we lost at least 5 fish on the way back.  32 made it back with us.  That made a total of 83 fish.
Blake and Brandon taking her easy on the way back in for check in and official counting.  It was a great "victory lap".  

Here is an impressive pile of 83 carp, the final days take.  The winning take.  Not a bad slab of carp meat, huh?

The guys were able to score some sweet prizes for winning, including a camp chef stove, AMS reel, and cash.  Pictured here with Josh, one of the guys in charge at the event.  

Congrats boys on taking the tourney!  Not bad for a couple of rookies.  Especially with some of the competition there being pros who do it a lot more.  Team Lock Em and Rock Em definitely represented!  Here's to the next one.....

-Tyson  

Willard Spur cleanup and Bow Fishing

The Utah Mud Motor Association and the Utah Airboat Association teamed up to do a clean up project at the Willard Spur.  One of the launch channels had been completely overtaken and clogged with phrag.  The goal was to open this channel and make it safe for boat travel.  

What the channel looked like before the project.  

The workers getting to it.  It's good to see people out there giving back to the resource.  Thanks for doing this guys!
A good dosage of phrag spray coupled with a few hundred runs through the channel and it will be money!
It's looking a lot better, thanks guys!

The day wasn't all work and no play...the crew cruised around in the boats a bit and then went out looking for some carp.  

Blake taking the new rig for a cruise.  New carbs and all.  

The fishing armada.
Jed showing off his first kill.
Jed with another.
Blake got into them as well.
Thanks to Josh Noble for the pictures.