The Evening Hatch

Monday, May 3, 2010

I Finally Out Fished Her!

I have been getting my butt handed to me for the past year by Sweets. If I caught more, she caught the biggest, if I caught the biggest, she caught more. It's been a long time since I have out fished Sweets. We made a baetis trip to the Green to finally settle the score. The hatch is on, the weather was overcast, sunny, rainy, snowy, and the wind never stopped. The hatch also never stopped. It started at noon and fish were still rising when we left at 6. And to top it off, I caught the biggest AND more fish than Sweets.

(oh yeah, I guess I should tell you, Sweets didn't make the trip, she was home with stomach flu.... but I still win)

Gear Guide, Wyatt, putting the new Z-axis through its paces....

Wyatt's rock. He hooked up every other cast off of this rock before the baetis showed

Not the biggest, but one of the prettiest

Toothy bugger...

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Reminiscing and a Deke Update

After coming back from Maui, all we could think about was one, going back, or two, summer! I grabbed some shots from a few trips last summer and threw together last weekends trip up Logan Canyon. During our trip, runoff literally started as we fished. The water was in great shape and fish were active, but as we fished our way up river it turned to chocolate milk. Now we wait. We wait for the snow to melt, the river to clear....and the Salmon Flies to hatch on the Blacksmith Fork. Big bugs=big fish.

Even McDonalds has caught on to the Deke.... actually, it's a hockey move meaning "to decoy one's opponent" But I'm not telling Deke...

Mr. Brown, meet Deke. Deke, meet Mr. Brown

Deke was a little nervous about the liquid world in which we spend our weekends, but he's getting used to the idea. He better, there will be plenty of ducks to fetch this winter.

I told Deke if he puts his baby teeth under his pillow, the tooth fairy will bring him Scooby Snacks. He was not impressed and ran off to eat more sticks and branches.

Sweets with her new favorite fishing partner....assuming I was her favorite before....

Gear Guide, Wyatt, testing the new Simms Aqua-tread soles. Pretty good stick in the fast stuff

My niece married last summer

There are definitely better shots of the SLC Temple, but I was quite proud of my hand held, no tri-pod shot

Friday, March 12, 2010

Aloha..... or Sweets Goes Fishing

I realize this is supposed to be a fly fish/hunting/back packing/dog training blog, but when Sweets wins a free trip to Maui, how can you not post up the vacation fun. We were able to spend 5 days in Maui, Hawaii. We hiked in a rain forest, snorkeled with spinner dolphins, saw hump back whales and free range chickens, barfed over the side of a boat, and watched Sweets fight a 44 pound Mahi Mahi. For those who live in Hawaii, you live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Feel blessed. Sunsets from our balcony, bath water seas, and the bluest ocean I have ever seen. Driving through a snow storm to get on a plane and driving with the windows down, the sunroof open 8 hours later? Priceless. Annnnnnnd, soooooo gratifying.
Lessons learned on this outing?

1. In Maui, add 27% to the posted speed limit and drive it.

2. They have free range grizzly hackle all over the island

3. There is never a bad sunset in paradise

4. It rains every day in a rain forest (go figure)

5. Sweets can barf 4 times, land a fish, then go barf again

6. No matter the water, no mater the species, no matter the gear, Sweets will always out fish you. Get over it. (I am really getting tired of typing that statement…)

The USS Minnow. After watching walls of water rock this boat all over the sea (there were 20ft swells), I have no idea how Gilligan managed to wreck the Minnow. This is the "No Problem". She got us there and back, no problem. Although it was a white knuckle ride. This is the side of the boat that I yacked over.

The gear.

The enticer. Wow, let's see, a whole package of crystal flash, some dumb bell eyes, and two really really big hooks. Tie it articulated, fish on. They use these for Blue Marlin. That's a 400# test leader. I use that stuff to rig my duck and goose decoys.

Fish on. At this point, I was trying to battle the swell, the fish, and dry heaves. Didn't know if I should reel or barf. I can't begin to explain how big the waves were in the morning. We were the only boat brave (or dumb) enough to venture out to the tuna fishing areas that day, the others trolled for Marlin close to shore.

Sweets 43.8 pount Mahi Mahi. She barfed 1 time for every 5 pounds of fish. She did become famous, the crew of the boat were still talking about her fish the next day to some prospective fisherman.

The group with the mornings bag. You can see the size of Sweets' fish compared to the other fish. Everyone pictured here barfed at least once that morning, except two; the dude in the visor and the guy climbing on the boat in the background- Captain Ahab.

.... but you can while you're puking up breakfast off the side of the boat....

We had the Captain fillet up one of our fish and we took it back to the Luau that night, the hotel chef grilled it for us. The crew of the boat sold the other fish to the local restaurants. They were sold the minute our boat slipped into the... slip. Being the only boat out that day with tuna, our catch hit the most wanted list.