Ashley's First Fish on a Fly (say that fast three times!)

Mason, Ashley, and I spent an evening on the Huntington this week. Mason just finished sitting for the CPA exam and wanted a good trip in before he starts with Ernst & Young next week. Ashley had never landed a fish on a fly and that was our real objective.

We had a great time and got into a typical summer evening mayfly hatch. Ashley did great. Below are some pictures.

Ashley landing her first fish on a fly!  She was a quick learner and her technique improved rapidly during our trip

Another beautiful fish Ashley landed and released

Mason landing a fish

Mason releasing a beautiful Huntington Brown Trout

Another beautiful Huntington Brown

Ashley and Mason tying on flies.  PMD, Parachute Adams, and BWO all worked for us on this outing 

We celebrated a great night together by having dinner at a favorite spot, The Home Plate Diner in Fairview.

Summer Huntington Hatch

On a recent picture-perfect evening I was lucky enough to retreat to my favorite water - Huntington Creek in Central Utah.  The Huntington regularly delivers great mayfly hatches on warm summer evenings.  That evening was no exception and fly fishing the vigorous Mayfly hatch at dusk reminded me just why it is I fish this water in the summer.

Below is a video in which you can see the Mayflies swirl in front of me (you can also see a few eager fish rise in the background).

As the hatch continued the Cutthroat began rising actively to this abundance of mayflies. It's a good sign when I can't decide between watching the fish rise and presenting dry flies to them!

The video below shows more than a dozen fish rising in one minute (I had to stop the camera and get back to fishing).

The video below is for Lori who wonders if I ever do more than admire the beautiful scenery when I fish.  I felt like a "one-armed paper hanger" trying to film and land the fish so I chose the better part and put the camera away.

I quickly found a #18 Parachute Adams and a #16 Grey Hackle Yellow were the perfect flies for the evening and had a marvelous time casting to, landing, and releasing the typically beautiful and energetic Cutthroats like the one below.

The near perfect night, and the typical beauty of sunset against the trees in this narrow canyon, got better, however.  As I was winding down I sighted a large cow moose across the canyon. As I watched her stroll along I hoped her watering hole of choice this night was not the stretch of water I was fishing.

Another great evening on some of the best water I'll ever fish.

North America's Top 10 Trout-Fishing Towns

I just read a Forbes article containing the following quote: "A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it." Well said.

Forbes' top 10 trout towns are (in no particular order but I'm glad they began with West Yellowstone):

West Yellowstone, Montana
Missoula, Montana
Roscoe, New York
State College, Pennsylvania
Grayling, Michigan
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Redding, California
Asheville, North Carolina

I must confess my happiness that my favorite rivers and streams - Green River (Dutch John), Provo River (Provo), and especially Huntington Creek (Fairview Canyon) were nowhere to be found :-). Shhhh.....

Fall Fishing

There is no more inspiring time to be on a river than the fall. The typical sights and sounds are accentuated by spectacular colors, fish that feed with eagerness knowing that winter is around the corner, and the solitude left by summer fishers who have long since put their rods away.

A recent trip to my favorite water, Huntington Creek, brought all of these, including:
















Fall settling on one of my favorite bends in the water

















A beautiful stand of Aspens glowing in the day's fading light

















The first snow of the season at 10,000 feet mixed with the remaining brilliant fall colors. Notice the other signs of approaching winter including the sheepherder's trailer and horse as well as the orange snow depth markers already in place

















And, of course, one of the generous cutthrout trout that made my visit complete