Up and RUNNING!!!

Sorry for the delay, we have just settled into our new home and now I can get back to updating this blog on a regular basis. Last night I was able to get my office together, that means my fly tying bench and internet are set up and we are good to go. I haven’t been out on the water in close to a month and I really need to get out.

We’re planning our annual “Montana” trip. We will be leaving June 14 and will be back on father’s day. In years past we have stayed on the Madison River at Campfire Lodge. They are under new management and with new management that normally means jacking up prices! Of course, prices have gone through the roof. We love the area, atmosphere and the memories of years past. Thanks to our realtor and friend Danny Kettle, he has offered his father’s cabin out of Island Park, ID. We will be staying in a 4 bedroom newly finished home for the week for the same price we would have paid for a little 2 to 4 hundred square foot cabin’s for 5 days. We will be closer to West Yellowstone, which will be good and have the chance to learn the Island Park area for fishing. We will take a couple of days and head over and fish the Madison, but I’m looking forward to learning Island Park.

I’m going to be sitting down at my bench for the next couple of weeks tying like crazy. I hope to get out at least once before we head to Idaho, but with all of the little projects I have sitting around home, it’s not looking good. We will see what this weekend brings I might be able to break away for an afternoon.

Don’t be afraid to head out and fish the rivers right now, the water may be high, just be careful when wading!! If the water isn’t murky the fish are still hungry and fishing should be fair to good. Change your tactics, don’t fish your normal holes, fish the edges more and look for slower water. Fish bigger attractor patterns, this is a good time to fish streamers. Good luck and hope to see you on the water!

Snow, Wind and Rain!

Today Jason and I headed up to the Weber River by Coalville. By the time we parked it was getting closer to 3:00. We ended up at the “Bridge”, there were no other vehicles and we really didn’t want to deal with any crowds. The clouds were dark and looking pretty scary. The water levels looked pretty good, little higher than normal, but not murky. I set Jas up with a Chartreuse C.J., size 14 and dropped a Blondie (sow bug, size 16). I started off with a size 16 Green Arrow and dropping size 20, BWO-Barr’s emerger.

Right off the bat we were both catching fish, mainly whitefish. Jason is now known as, “The Whitefish Slayer”!! It seems where ever we go he only catches whitefish, if it be the Madison to the Weber, they just seem to love him! Jason seemed to catch all of his fish with Blondie and Brunet sow bugs, it seemed better for him to stay with a single fly set up, 2 heavy sinkers and keeping his rig on the bottom. I used a few different set ups. I stuck with the Green Arrow as my attractor fly and dropped everything from BWO-Barr’s emergers, sows bugs and a red serendipity. I caught my 17” brown with the serendipity and my smaller trout with the Green Arrow and sow’s. I too was heavy, heavy, being on the bottom. All sets seemed to be on the lighter side, but I would say the day was a fair to good day of fishing. The weather played the fair part of our trip from snow, wind and rain. The sun did break out for a little while and that’s when we seemed to get into the fish. Until next time, go out and wet your waders!!

Challis, ID.- Steel Head

This past weekend a few friends (Mike, Jason, Kendall) and I headed to Challis, Idaho to try and get into some steel head on the Salmon River. Past fishing reports were looking promising and we were all very excited. I had been fishing once a few years back with no luck and I myself was very excited with anticipation with the number of fish that had been reported.


We arrived late Friday evening and our first stop was to an old friend Carla Young. Mike has known Carla for years now and she is the kindest person I have meet in quite some time. Her home is always open and the weekends the steelies and salmon are running her basement is full with fellow fishermen. Thank you Carla (and Jim) for your hospitality, knowledge, advice and yes the legend is true! This year I had Carla sign my hat, which did pay off for this trip and hopefully for fishing trips to come.

We started our day early and we were on the water by 7:00 a.m. We had permission to fish on some private property, Thank You Allen, by the time we had our rigs set up Mike was in the water and with his first cast, fish on!! This brut was the biggest fish of the trip with a big old hook jaw, very think and heavy. My best guess would be 30 to 32 inches and a good 10 to 12 lbs. He was a native male that we released, not after taking a few pictures. Not long after Mike hooked into his fish, with a few words of advice and demonstration it was my turn. I hooked into my first steelie, a nice 23” hen and she too was a native. Over all the day was GREAT!! We were all able to hook into fish, bring some home and release a few, not to mention, we could have feed an army with the number of sucker fish we caught! I caught most of my fish with a green butted skunk fly and dropping a gummy egg pattern. We had luck with all sorts of salmon flies, but it seemed the black flies caught more steel head.

Fishing Trip 02/27/10

I plan on fishing next weekend, 02/27/2010. With the warmer weather the middle Provo is looking good. The section at the "Provo River Restoration Project" right next to spring creek. If you can make I look forward to seeing you on the water and will be more than willing to share any advice you may need. I should be there around 10:00 a.m. and plan on fishing until 4 or so.

Fish deep, put it on the bottom, heavy, heavy, heavy! Fish any copper johns, hares ears and drop any small midge, zebra, blood or similar. Good luck! See you on the water.

Introduction

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"

I love to fly fish, fishing is my passion! There's nothing like tying your own flies, placing a perfect cast, with a perfect drift to a waiting fish that takes your presentation. What a rush!! Landing a beautiful trout, taking in it's beauty and then releasing back into the water.

The best way to learn is from others. I'm grateful to those who have taken the time to take me fishing (and my wife Holly for letting me fish). I learn something every time I go out and I want this blog to be helpful to those who read it. I want you to share your success's, failures, fly recipes, hot spots and your fishing reports for our local waters here in Utah. This is a great state with "Blue Ribbon" fisheries that are a short 30 to 40 min. away from home. I plan on updating my fishing trips, with pictures and what I find that works and doesn't work. I hope you enjoy this blog.

My name is Brandon Archuletta, aka "Utah" ToutHunter and I love to fish. I hope to see you on the water, let's go fishing!!