Snow in June

I seem to gravitate to extreme fishing situations.

After fighting the wind yesterday on Snake Creek I found out why it was blowing. A cold front came into Utah dropping the temperature 30 degrees in the valley.

When Chris and I finally made our escape from the office it was later than we expected and it was raining. I'm not one to let a little rain stop me from fishing but I was sure that before the evening was through I was going to wish I had brought some warm clothes and a jacket.

We decided to head up Daniels Canyon so I could show Chris another fishing spot. He thought I had taken him to a tough spot to fish already. The green scum, grass, algae, and high wind on Snake Creek seemed tame compared to the freezing temps and overhanging branches of Daniels Creek. It was snowing as we came over Parley's Summit and after a few minutes in the frigid air it was tough tying on a fly.

We fished the creek up and down and even found the beaver pond where I caught some big fish in the past but were unable to find the fish. I caught one 4-incher but didn't see any fish spooking ahead of us and only saw one rising fish in the pond. There weren't any bugs on the water or in the air but we saw lots of caddis larva, tiny mayfly nymphs, and one big stonefly nymph on the bottom of some of the creek's rocks.

Small Stream Fishing at It's Best

We made a last minute decision to head down the mountain to fish Snake Creek before darkness took over. Our progress was slower than expected as I kept stopping to look at elk, moose, and deer. When we arrived at the parking area I was glad to see that there were no cars there. I guess our new bud from yesterday stayed in by the stove.

We saw a fox in the hay field on the way in and Chris commented that he had seen it yesterday too so I suspected that the den must be close by.

Chris tied on the Black Gnat we used successfully last evening and I kept the "caddis poopah" I had been using in Daniels Creek.

We got to the pool well into dusk and cast from the same side as before but without the wind. We say the resident muskrat and a few rising fish but it began to look like we were too late for the evening rise. Then I got hit by a decent fish.

I thought it must be a Rainbow as it seemed to like to spend more time in the air than in the water. The 15-inch fish must have jumped five or six times before I finally coaxed it to the bank. That's when I discovered it was not a bow but a Brown!

Snake Creek Brown

While we were fishing we kept hearing the cry of a kit fox nearby calling for it's mother. That confirmed the suspicion we had about the fox we had seen earlier.

We couldn't seem to get Chris on a fish and after the two outings we had I was beginning to wonder if he would ever want to go small-stream fishing with me again.

We got supper at the Ruby Tuesday in Kimball Junction on the way back to SLC and got to talk with a local who lived near Chris's side of town. He was full of stories about Fairview, Thistle Creek, and other exotic destinations. By the time we got done talking to him we were both ready to head out again. The "lure" of fishing lives on.