Supporting Passionate Fly Fishers

From time to time I find small fly shops with owners who share a passion for fly fishing. Rare people for whom fly fishing is less a product to sell and more a passion to pass along to those who share it. Such was one shop I found in 1998 in Provo - Great Basin Outfitters.

I loved to wander through that store looking at flies, chatting with the owner, and hearing about great days on the water. I took my first fly tying class there. Shortly thereafter I made my first trip to the Green River where I caught my first Brown on a Griffith's Gnat I tied myself. I enjoyed the class and the trip with my good friend Paul Miller (after whom I've dubbed a certain stretch of the Provo River "Miller's Hole" - Paul, you know the spot).

Unfortunately, when Sportsman's Warehouse came to Provo it was the beginning of the end for Great Basin Outfitters. My days of sharing my passion with a like minded boutique owner were over.

Until I stopped at Eddie Robinson's Fly Fishing in Orem and met Eddie. It's a small shop with all the passion. I try to frequent Eddie's place whenever I can, wanting to do my part to support a small business owner with a passion he's willing to share. I recently stumbled across Eddie's website. His personal statement, titled "Passion for Fly Fishing," will introduce you to Eddie - another fly fisher with a river running through him.

Good luck, Eddie, and thanks for the hot chocolate on my last trip in.

Provo River - Dam Repair

Those of us who love to fish the Provo River in Utah during the fall have noted higher than normal flows during recent visits in October and November. Curious about the cause of the high water I noted an article in the Provo Daily Herald today, part of which is included below (http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=68207):

"This fall, it seems considerably more water has been rushing beneath the technicolor trees along the Provo River than in recent years. But it's not because the drought is over, as Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. recently declared. Rather it has to do with repairing a leak in the Deer Creek Dam, says Daryl Devey, 49, an engineer with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and one of three men who together determine how much water flows in the river. The high flows are the result of lowering the level of the Deer Creek Reservoir to repair a small leak discovered during highway construction across the face of the dam. "All dams leak," Devey said. This one is no cause for concern, he said. But officials want to catch the seep and pipe it out of the dam. To do that they have to dig into the face of the dam, and they didn't want to do that with the reservoir full, he said. Once repairs are completed, the reservoir will fill and river levels will drop again."

The article gave no indication of how long the repairs will take.

Few and Far Between

Life is so full of great things to enjoy that I'll never fly fish as much as I'd like. This summer has been no exception. The difference is that, though few, the fishing opportunities have been far between. I fished in Utah, Montana, and Alaska. Great experiences all and very different.

One of the things I learned this summer is that when it comes to fly fishing, I feel a lot like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz: "there's no place like home." (The heels I tap together, however, are wading boots - and they're not red). Each time I fish somewhere else I come back to the rivers and streams of Utah with a new appreciation for their beauty, their great fishing, and their proximity to the things I love most - my family and friends.