Too Cold To Fish

This video says it all.



I'd better stick to evening fishing in the winter.

Heber Valley Fly Fishing

I was able to escape the clutches of the office this afternoon with enough time to get up and over the mountains. The weather cleared out and it was sunny and warmer today.

I brought the Temple Fork 5wt rod and a few flies (several boxes of assorted nymphs, dry flies, and streamers).

As I was happily driving from the turn at Midway my joy turned to disappointment as I neared the parking spot by the big pool. As many fishermen have doubtless experienced, the feeling of seeing a car parked in "your spot" is one that you don't welcome but is reality in this age of increased intrest in the "Quiet Sport".

I continued down to the Heber RR and parked. I was pretty sure there wouldn't be anyone brave enough to slog through the deep snow to get to the lower end so that's where I was headed.



I took several pictures on the way in but something seems to be messed up with my camera. The video seemed to be working but the still picture CCD must be shot.

I tied on a white crystal bead head wooly bugger to start off and cast both upstream and down with no success. The sun was still bright and since all the vegetation had been killed off by the cold weather, the fish were tucked in and laying low.

I moved around a little but tried to keep a sharp eye out for any surface activity. Just as the sun dropped below the mountains behind me I noticed some risers way down near the end of the run. They were farther than I could cast and the snow between me and the spot on the bank where I needed to be hid several holes and pitfalls as I found out the hard way.

I decided to tie on a dry fly and float it down by getting the fly into the proper channel and feeding out line until the fly got into the strike zone. My first cast with the elk hair stimulator was close enough and I watched as a fat brown took the fly at least 60 feet downstream. I got a good solid hookset and slowly worked the fish back upstream to my position where I was able to swing him up to the bank.



The picture is pretty poor but the fish was a thrill to catch.

I continued to fish the stimulator and had a couple more takes but I was unable to keep my line in shape to get a decent hookset. I switched to a double nymph rig under a strike indicator and floated it through the zone several times without as much as a tickle.

I finally decided to go back to the streamer and this time I tried a brown beadhead wooly bugger. This was the ticket as the light was beginning to fade. I connected with four nice fish and brought three to hand. The fourth one put up the best fight and I had him worked from 75 feet out to within 6 feet of the bank so it was worth all the trouble.



It is hard to imagine a better spot to fish for a traveling cubicle and conference room bug whipper.

Persistence

Some say fishing takes patience, others say you have to be in the right place at the right time, and still others think it is all just dumb luck.

Well mostly all of that is true but this I know, "You can't catch a fish unless your line is in the water".

I try to live by that motto and thus strive to keep my line wet as often as possible.

This week I am back in Utah for more meetings and training. I arrived to more snow and overcast weather with no signs of spring here yet. No worries - I hoped to be heading up the mountain to tangle with some brown bullies before sundown.

The Heber Valley has had it's share of snow and much of it still remains as this sidewalk shot on main street shows.

My plan was successful and after trudging down the tracks I found myself knee deep in snow on the edge of Snake Creek downstream of the Heber Trestle with about an hour of good daylight left.

This section of the creek had not been fished lately due to the deep snow and I was anxious to see if there were any hungry fish waiting for a tasty morsel to come floating by.

I cast the white curly tail grub first and within three or four casts had a hefty brown hooked up.

This big boy had been eating well and was a nice heavy fish around 18" long.

Give him another couple of years and he will develop the hook jaw of a mature adult brown.

I fished the rest of the area but Mr. Big had made some long and energetic runs which put the rest of the fish in the area down.

I made my way back upstream and couldn't seem to find a single fish all the way back up to the big pool. When I got there I was sure that I would find some fish eager to grab the grub but cast after cast yielded no fish. I saw several fish take a run at my offering but they would refuse it at the last second or just grab the tail and let go.

I changed tactics and began throwing a chartreuse Rooster Tail only to find a similar reluctance in these fish to "go ahead and take it already!"

I stood still in one spot for over 30 minutes alternating between the grub and the spinner knowing that persistence had paid off in this very spot not too long ago.

I became such a part of the scenery that Mr. Muskrat came out to join me and calmly ate roots and stems just across the creek from me. He was all but oblivious to my persistent casting, drifting, and retrieval.

The daylight was just beginning to fade and I was considering making the move back to the car when my efforts were rewarded by this nice trout finally jumping the grub.

I caught two more fish in the next 15 minutes and all these fish were acrobatic jumpers and fighters.

The last fish of the day was as long as the first one but he was much leaner.

This final shot is of him being released back to the pool to grow up and fight another day.

I'm glad I decided to stay and fish the pool as long as I did. I'm pretty sure I caught every fish that showed himself except for one little dink that foiled every attempt I made to entice him to the hook.

I'll be looking for him tomorrow!

Rawlings Cut Kayak Fishing/Birdwatching

Saturday morning was supposed to be clear after several days of rain and cold front had dropped the temps to the 40s. The forecast was calling for sunshine and warmer temps by midday so I elected to do an early morning saltwater paddle in East Matagorda Bay vis Rawlings Cut.



I'm ready for spring with warmer water temps and hungry fish.

Sun Fishin'

After several stellar trips to Evans Lake using the Buzz Bait I had to see if the recent rains would have an effect. The water temp must have dropped a few degrees and even though the sun was out the magic of the buzz was gone.

I had recently purchased some new hardware so I decided to try one out.

This baby bass sinking hardbait seemed to be just the ticket for some nice sunfish.

Even Jr. Bass had to get in on the action.

I can't wait to see if the white bass like this little number.

When conditions change - just change your tactics to have a good outing.

Snow Fishing

Man the snow is deep here in the Heber Valley.

I arrived in town for a meeting tomorrow with just enough time to head over the mountain in search of open water and hungry browns.

I soon realized that my mobility would be severely hindered by the deep snow but I figured I could at least fish the big hole on Snake Creek.

The hole was open but there was evidence of some other fishermen who had recently been visiting the spot as their bait containers and some bloody snow were all that remained.

I was optimistic and tried the white curly tailed grub which produced three fish in the 15-17" range. All three were caught at the tail of the pool.

I tried to move downstream but the snow was almost over my hip boots so I rested the pool for a few minutes then started working it over from downstream with a chartreuse roostertail.

I picked up one last 13" fish and had another one perform an aerobatic LDCR.

The temperature started dropping soon after the sun sank behind the mountains and it was time to head for the hotel.

Deep Snow


The Big Pool


FIrst Brown - Nice Color!


Victim of the White Grub


Silver and Gold


Chartreuse RT

I may get to visit the creek one more time before heading home if the weather cooperates.

Stay tuned......

Buzzzzzzzzzz Bait

For many years now Paul has instructed me in the fine art of bait selection.

First it was the White Roostertail - that little spinner has caught more fish - and different kinds of fish - than any other.

Then it was the Big Green Senko Worm. When we were chasing some largemouth bass in east Texas, I was taken to school by big brother on the seductive and productive BGW.

Up next was the curly tail white grub. Not your everyday go-to bait, but mighty effective when for some reason the BGW isn't getting the job done.

And finally last year Paul told me about his success with a small buzz bait. I had some moderate success in Evans Lake with this little noisemaker but up until today my best day on the water was always a result of working the BGW slowly through the weeds.

This being February, I wasn't thinking that the bass would be bedding up for at least a month or so but since it turned out to be sunny and 75 degrees, I thought I would give the buzz bait a try. I only had a couple of hours to fish in the afternoon and I didn't want to waste too much time changing baits. I stuck a pack of BGWs and an Eagle Claw snelled #1 bait holder hook in my shirt pocket and two new Booyah Pond Magic Buzz Baits in my pants pocket.

These 1/8 oz beauties are sized perfectly for the size bass in Evans Lake. When I arrived, I reached into my pocket and let chance decide if I was going to throw a white or chartreuse.

The white won out and on my third cast I had a huge wake and a vicious strike and I realized this was "game on".

In the next hour and a half, I landed at least 25 bass ranging in size from 10" and 1/2 lb to 18 inches and almost 3 lbs. It was a aerial display not soon to be forgotten.

I had one fish come on so strong that he completely missed the lure - twice - and did a Flipper move by jumping completely over the sputtering bait. On the third cast he grabbed the buzzing tormentor and took me deep.

I couldn't tell whether the spawn was actually underway but some of the fish looked as if they had been getting ready. There were telltale signs of mating activity with a few missing scales here and there on the sides of some fish and an agressive behavior indicitave of the territorial habits of springtime bass.

I'm going to include some pictures and I don't want to hear about "photoshop" or taking a picture of the same fish. These were all different fish and caught on one bait!

My wrist got a good workout from both casting and reeling in!

OK Paul - what other tricks do you have up your sleeve?

Road Trip

After Friday's floating and fishing it was time to launch the newest boat in the fleet. Tracy and I came up with a plan to head south down highway 35 and do some exploring.

Our first attempt was interrupted a few miles into the trip by the "check engine" light on the Jeep so we quickly came up with plan B. The Jeep is still under the manufacturer's warranty so I had to wait until Monday for the dealership service center to open.

I swapped the yak pads over from the shorter bars on the Jeep to the long bars that fit on the Sierra. By 9:45AM we were back on the road and headed south.

We covered a lot of ground from Bay City to Palacios, Port Lavaca, Rockport, Aransas Pass' and Port A before turning back north for the trip home.

We visited Goose Island state park and found the Light House Lakes paddle trails on the way to the Port A ferry but there were too many folks at the park and it was too late to paddle by the time we got to LHL.

We drove out on the beach at Port A and had a quick supper at the Trout Street Grill.
All in all not a bad way to spend the day..we even took some pics along the way so here are my entries:

Seagull in Rockport


Pelican at Goose Island


Lone Fisherman


On the Jetties at Port A

Next time we are launching the fleet!