Mikey, Jared and I got away from the house at about 1:00 this afternoon. We stopped at Hooked, our local fishing shop, to ask about recommendations for today's fishing trip. Logan, the Provo lower section, Blacksmith's Fork. All too far away. I asked about the Ogden River at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. Positive head nods from the local experts. There are some nice browns right in that area. Okay. We were on our way.

No other fishermen were on the river. We quickly got ready and within 10 minutes after arrival we were on the water. Mikey walked upstream a hundred yards or so. I got Jared going in a nice spot close to where we parked. I started working the water between. Within a couple of casts I was hooked up to a nice fish. Jared said, "wow, nice fish." So I knew he was watching me. It's nice that my future son-in-law thinks that I know what I'm doing on a trout stream. He will find out the truth through lots of experiences I hope we have together.

For me the satisfaction wasn't in catching a fish. The cool part was walking up to the water, deciding where a fish should be, casting a fly to that spot and having the fish take the fly. I saw a flash right were it should be. I set the hook and boom, fish on. It didn't hurt that the fish was a nice one. Mikey saw what happened and yelled. He wanted to know if it was a nice 8 incher. I'd already released the fish but yelled back that I though it went at least 12 or 13 inches. Later, after the fishing was over Jared chimed in and told Mikey that he thought it measured closer to 14 inches. Either way, it was a very nice, brightly colored brown.

Mikey caught a couple of fish over the next 3 hours. Jared had some good strikes and found a couple of good holes. I didn't see another fish all day. By the way things unfolded in the first few minutes I thought this was going to be a 15 fish day. No chance. I was glad to not get skunked. That's always a plus. But I certainly have a ton more to learn about fly fishing.

Mostly this turned out to be a great day to be out. We saw a little sunshine. Got in the middle of a brief but impressive snow storm that started with really hard little pellet flakes, turned to big fluffy flakes and then stopped as quickly as it started. Then some more sun. Then a few minutes of intense hail, finally ending in sunshine as we put away the gear.

Mikey took my 7 foot, 5 weight, Constable bamboo fly rod. He's made fun of me in the past for getting it. There was a time that I had considered making bamboo rods. I picked up a book and read it. I looked for T Stick bamboo on the Internet and placed an order. I even arranged to get some planes and forms. But Mikey hated the idea of bamboo and somehow the moment past.

We had just fished through an area with several deep holes. Mikey and I were fishing side-by-side with not much conversation. We were concentrating on working the holes and on not crossing our lines. Tangling lines is only annoying in the fact that the untangling eats into fishing time. It's hard to avoid snags on a small stream when you are all alone. Add another person and it can get messy and frustrating.

So after we got through this stretch we sat down on some big boulders and talked for a few minutes. Mikey said that he really loved the Constable and that he had as much fun casting with the rod as he did catching fish. That was astounding to me, considering that he has always been so negative about bamboo. I wanted to know what had changed. Well, the only experience Mikey has ever had was with a ten foot, ten weight bamboo rod. It was heavy. It was whippy and he couldn't control it. Worst, it made his harm really tired. The 7 foot Constable is a dream to cast. It's got a slow action, but that's what I really like. It appears that Mikey likes it, too.

Well, the moment past and we exhausted our insights on bamboo. I left and walked back down stream to try some dry flies. Mikey wandered up stream to catch up with Jared. About half an hour later we were all back at the Truck ready to go home.

I don't understand why fishing with a couple of good friends is so much fun. All I know is that I'm counting the days until we can get back together and do it again.

That's all for now..........
10:20:32 PM    comment []