Beautiful spring time rainbow trout
Some great links for your reading pleasure.
Anglers’ delight: Hungry fish seeking spring meal (Via Deseret News) – Be sure to get out before the great spring fishing is gone:
Green River electroshocking report and a big brown trout (Via Salt Lake Tribune Outdoor Blog) – What is happening to the big fish on the Green River? That river used to be full of them. I thought the fish on my last trip were generally smaller.
Utah DWR presents Fishing the Weber River:
NePo Suet Logo
I just wanted to thank NePo Suet for sending me a big box of cakes in the mail yesterday. The cakes are part of a popular suet cakes for logos exchange program that I am starting. No, actually I felt the creative urge a few weekends ago and whipped up a logo for them and they were kind enough send me a box full of cakes as a token of their appreciation. It sounds like things are getting busy for them. Please be sure to check them out and order a few cakes for your self.
I am in the mood to pay it forward so I will send 1 cake to each of the first 3 people to comment on this blog post (US only, sorry). Leave a love note below and I will contact you to get your address. Thanks!
Recycled material bird feeder, an easy weekend project
Given that Earth Day is quickly approaching I thought I would come up with a quick and easy bird feeder project made of reused and recycled materials that would have otherwise been garbage. I don’t recall how I came up with the idea for the feeder, but it really works well and doesn’t require very much to build. To get started, you first need to gather the materials.
The main structure of the feeder comes from Kirkland Organic Animal Crackers (which are yummy). The seed hopper is an empty 2 liter soda bottle, I purchased a bottle of Shasta club soda special for the project. It had the 2 things I was looking for; clear plastic and a 5 footed base which is an important part of the functional design as the feet push the seed out so the feeder can be completely cleaned of seed by the birds. You can enjoy a snack of crackers and soda while working on the project.
The rest of the materials – clothesline cord, 1/4 inch bolt and wing nut, and a carabiner are likely materials you have around the garage or house or can be easily acquired. Tools include a permanent marker, electric drill, box cutter or sharp knife, and may need some Goo Gone to get rid of label residue. Once you have the materials and tools, you are ready to get started.
Click here to view the step-by-step tutorial:
It is fun to involve the kids, but use caution as a drill or box cutter can seriously injure a curious helper. Also be sure to check out my other easy bird feeder project, the hanging suet log.
In a rare move, Apple has actually offered up some interesting content as a free download in iTunes. For this week only, you can download a full episode of the acclaimed BBC documentary series, Planet Earth. Get yours today while it is still free. Planet Earth – Planet Earth, Series 1 – From Pole to Pole 
I imagine I sound like a Brett Prettyman fanboy on this blog (I promise I am not stalking him), but I have to say he seems to hit the nail on the head every time and in the case of the link I am sharing here, he has written a masterpiece. This opinion piece which will be appearing in the Salt Lake Tribune says everything I wish I could say about the disaster that is HB141. This should be the rallying cry that the rest of the state, even those without interests in fishing, should use to express outrage at our pathetic legislative process and so called leadership from Governor Herbert. Please comment on your thoughts on his article. It’s not too late to get angry.
Prettyman: Legislative foolishness could cost us big bucks (via Salt Lake Tribune)
Check out these folks on Twitter: @RealSaltLake @mgaryhanson @WalkingAwake @flyfishingfrenz @fishingpoet @flyswinger
Fish Pimp fly fishing products. Keep your pimp hand strong.
Last month, at the International Sportsman’s Expo in Salt Lake I met Quentin, the guy behind Fish Pimp. He has a really nice product line including a cool line cleaning system that hooks onto your rod, a two part powder based fly drying and floatant system, Fly Sauce, and a cool take on cork indicators. He was kind enough to give me some free products to match any that I purchased from dealers at the show. I bought some Fly Sauce and the medium strike indicators and he gave me the smaller indicators and dry fly spray.
On my recent trip to the Green River I was able to use the stuff for the first time. Overall I was pleased with the products. I have been nymphing for a long time and have tried all kinds of methods/products for strike indicators. I tend to like the foam cork ones as they float high, are responsive, and are easy to add to or take off of your line. The Fish Pimp indicators really fit the bill well. Instead of a toothpick to hold them in place, they use tightly fitted lengths of tiny surgical tubing. I found that they were effective indicators and we definitely caught our share of fish even with many subtle strikes. The larger indicators stayed in place well and were easy to adjust up or down the leader. I had one issue with the smaller sized indicators when I applied one to the lower end of my leader to help me fish a tiny emerger. I ended up casting it off after about 5 or 6 casts, which was a bummer. I may have had it on a section of leader that was too light and slipped out of the tubing. The indicators have a dimpled surface and I’m not sure if that is more for casting or for surface tension or what, but I can report that even the larger indicators casted well.
As for the floatants, I will probably have to write another review to cover them better as I didn’t have to use them much on this last trip, but for the bit that I used them, they performed admirably. The great part about Fly Sauce is that it stays viscous no matter the temperature which is great in the winter when you really need floatant and it is all set up at the bottom of the bottle. Even on a wintry day as my last trip, the floatant dispensed effortlessly from the bottle.
In all, I would recommend these products, particularly the Fly Sauce for it’s free flowing blend. I think that the strike indicator product space is probably pretty difficult to really stand out from all of the others on the market, but the design and dispenser tube for the Fish Pimp Strike Indicators were nice and they worked well. Track some down for yourself and give them a try. Good fishing and in the immortal words of Snoop Doggy Dogg, “Keep your pimp hand strong!”
Me and a brown trout
I recently had a chance to float the Green River in Eastern Utah with a couple of old friends Andrew and Kevin. We had a great time. We floated the A section from the dam down to Little Hole in a drift boat we rented from the local lodge. The weather was incredibly snowy, but we carried on undaunted. The day started a little late as we were recovering from our late-night drive to the lodge which included plenty of snow, an encounter with pajama clad vixens in the Mountain View, Wyoming Maverick gas station, and a VERY near miss with a bounding deer (actually she brushed up against the car, but there was no real contact).
Kevin and a brown trout
After hearty breakfast at the lodge, we headed off to the river. We started the day with some deep nymphing, but found that to be a little slow, mostly I think this was due to not finding the right depth and feeding lanes. Within an hour of getting on the water however, we found ourselves in the midst of the biggest midge hatch I have ever seen. They were on the water in droves and everywhere you looked there dozens of fish up and feeding actively on the surface. We pulled over to make some rigging adjustments and I got out to wade fish. I had two beautiful browns in a matter of moments interestingly enough they were both caught on my olive compar-a-merger pattern which let me know that the BWO were also getting ready to join the act.
Nice healthy rainbow trout
After dialing in the bug selection, we set off with Andrew throwing a dry midge and Kevin nymphing. We got into fish right off the bat. The nymph rig turned out to be the most successful although they both caught fish.
We continued to make our way downstream with regular success all along. By the time we made it to Secret Riffle, we had boated about 10 fish. The snow was still falling and the bugs continued to pour off the river. This was about 2 in the afternoon. At this point we switched over to streamers to hit the long stretches of pocket water that lay ahead. This was a successful strategy and started picking up several fish on streamers.
Andrew and a nice rainbow
We mainly were throwing ginger colored stuff. The most successful ones were a cone-head sculpin and a monster oil can which is like the big mean brother of a wooly bugger. As we got closer to Little Hole the weather actually started to warm and change. There was a definite drop off in the number of fish taking the streamers, although they continued to follow. We finished the day with a couple of laps around the shelf across from the Little Hole boat ramps until wind forced us to get off the water. We had a great day.
Ice "anemone"
The drive home was nearly as eventful as the drive there, only with much more snow and ice. By the time we got to Evanston, Wyoming our car was encased in ice and there were some cool ice formations on the hubs of our wheels. They looked like sea anemones. I can’t wait to get back!
Click here to view the slide show.
Lake Powell Largemouth Bass (utah.gov)
From the last few reports out of Lake Powell by Wayne Gustaveson, it sounds like this year is going to be a stellar fishing year. The stripers are up in both numbers and size and the largemouth bass are readying to spawn. Both the largemouth and smallmouth bass are producing well and they are catching very nice fish. If you have means to get to Lake Powell in the next 4-5 weeks don’t hesitate to go. The fishing sounds unbelievable!
Lake Powell report: 2010 looks remarkable (via SL Tribune, Fishing Utah Blog)
Rugged camera review (Crunchgear)
Last week, Crunchgear posted a great review of the current rugged point-and-shoot offerings on the market today. Looks like there are some good options out there. I currently don’t have a camera like this and use either the family point-and-shoot or my iPhone. I am certain that it is only a matter of time before one or both them them take a swim. Hopefully I can resolve this situation in the coming year. In the meantime, check out the review below. What are you using on your outdoor adventures? Leave a comment below.
