Good Day Sir!

A great day on the water and I was lucky enough to have a great camera dude on the boat as well.  David Komatar of Way Back When Pictures, was present to collect our experience.  The angler is a dude we call Colby Crossland.

Kudos Dudes! Thanks for furthering my cause!

Without further ado!

HYPERPHAGIA! (Also known as fall)

This is a time of year when people and animals get hungry.  Fish begin to glut themselves in preparation for the long, cold, icy winter.  It seems that fall, with its colder temperatures, shortening days and hungry fish, is a perfect time to fish.  It is!  Driving up the canyon early morning this week, I ran into temperatures dipping to 29*. Brisk!
Here is an example, I feel it applies equally well to fishing!
"Further increasing the odds of a grizzly encounter is the fact that hunters take to the field right when bears are most fixated on food. In fall, bears enter a stage called hyperphagia, a single-minded lust for calories in advance of their long winter’s sleep. When grizzlies find food, they can become so engrossed in eating they pay less attention to their surroundings than usual." Taken From Montana Outdoors
So here is my suggestion.  Get out as much as possible this fall, while your odds are high, to encounter the aquatic worlds meat-eating, monsters!

Note: This Kokanee is a poor meat-eating example despite its ostentatious apparel and dreadful grin, but an excellent fall indicator!  Photography Credit: Josh Gilbert

By:
Targhee Boss
Utah Fly Fishing Guide

Other World!

I'd been itching for a Grayling trip. As things began to line up, I had one of my oldest friends in town from HI.  We woke up one morning and hit a REI garage sale to see if we could score a few things that we "absolutely needed," ha.  As luck would have it I found a righteous deal on a down bag and my buddy collected a few items as well.  Good start to a great outing!
We hit the trail in the afternoon and started the relentless uphill climb in search of Arctic Grayling! By its name alone the fish conveys something "other worldly."
Years ago it was this "other worldly" quality that relentlessly beckoned to me.  After quite a bit of research I settled on a group of lakes that seemed to be my best option for a local-"out of this world" fish.  It was these lakes that gave my wife her first fish on a fly rod, an Arctic Grayling! These fish and this place hold a strong place in my soul.
Enough of that tangent.

We continued our march.  Realizing this trip, unlike trips past, that there is beauty in the journey.  We marched intermittently enjoying the pleasures of our surroundings.  Trips past have been all about the destination and the fish.  To a large extent fishing is always the motivating factor through the miles, I rarely hike at all unless there are fish included in the destination. This is most likely why I did not remember the hike being so vertical, my only memories were of the fish and the lake.

I am lucky to be passionate about such a thing as fish.  They are very generous, both as table fare and often take you to the most beautiful places this earth has to offer.
Up and up!  Passed lakes, passed people. The trail peetered out into braided game trails.  We'd arrived! One lake, NO people! Ideal!

We surveyed the water as we prospected sleep sites.  The lake seemed to be barren!  We set up camp and strung the rod.

Down to the waters edge! The only sign of life thus far had been scattered tufts of Mt. Goat hair.  Wait, add one bleached mule dear skeleton.  As the sun set the water began to communicate fish locations.  I worked my way towards an end of the lake nestled below a cirque.  Structure began to reveal itself and I placed a peachy, little soft hackle, with a golden bead head just off the deep side of a submerged boulder.
Lighting struck! Not in a jerk-the-rod-out-of-your-hand kind of way, but just as sudden!
The evening light burst from the Grayling's fins as it attempted to liberate the soft hackle from its fluorocarbon path.

The remainder of the evening followed this theme.
We surrendered to the invading darkness and stumbled back into camp to share memories and updates of families gained.
I hit the sac this evening tired and rejuvenated.  An existence only mountains, fish and dear friends can conjure.
Thank you Father.
 By: Targhee Boss
Utah Fly Fishing Guide
Utah Grayling

Tiger Musky Extravaganza!

Nate over at OutSmartingFish.com has put together some tremendous content.  Do yourself a big favor and discover this post for yourself.  Some of the best non-fishing moments of my day were spent on their site savoring every delectable morsel of this post. get on it!

OutSmartingFish.com

Photog Skillz courtesies of Cortney Boice, Click Here!

All orange text are links, click on them!


By: Targhee Boss
Utah Pike Guide

Lake Powell Utah

Lake Powell has come and gone once more.  This was a rough one not the fishing but the experience.  Of the 20 individuals that were on the lake in our group, only 3 managed to avoid morphing into barfing werewolves.  What ever demon visited us on the house boat was definitely a relation of the demon that wiped out whole civilizations in the past.
On the fishing side of things, it was as good as it always is at Lake Powell.  Boils/slurps/frenzies were common and we were able to pull up to four fish from them before putting them down for good.  I absolutely love the striper game at Lake Powell and they taste as good as they are fun to catch.  That being said, I am not a fish eater nor would I ever order it over a rib eye, but these guys taste good.  Between stalking carp, chasing stripers and tending to the requirements of a barfing family, it was an awesome trip! If everyone gets sick throughout the week and has still had a good time at the end, that is truly saying something about Lake Powell.  Of course there were always "Barbie" and "Cars" rods rigged and reeling in carp as well.  Between the Carp, Stripers, Catfish, Smallmouth, Largemouth, and Sunfish we kept busy!

Sandpaper Highs

I have been experiencing fishing highs and low blows.  Road trips with friends and family.  Big fish here, lost trophies there.  With only enough sleep to ensure that I maintain the pleasant feeling of turning my eyelids into sandpaper.  All in all, it would be tremendous, rough material for anybody with any literary skill.  But I just haven't had the writing bug lately.  Plus some moments/memories have been too scenery/environment focused to share with all you fishermen who do your due diligence on the web before any real adventures.  In short, it has been a tremendous week.  So here are few photographs to convey a few moments beyond the monitor.

 Tight!

 First Carp on the Fly Smile!

This Fish "Castanza-ed"  a pastrami sandwich off the bedside table, if you know what I mean!  This pastrami sandwich is also know as John Montana's Hybrid fly.

 Not bad for your first day carpin'!!!! Half Tail.

Now time to pack for the Next Utah Adventure!


By: Targhee Boss
Utah Fly Fishing Guide

Rocky Mountain Pike Conclave

Here I sit reflecting on the past two days on the water.  Day one we drove through wind and rain to arrive at the same on the reservoir.  We geared up quickly and hit the water in anticipation of large, hormonal, piscivorous fish.  Bouncing across open water was brutal.  With every wave we bounced over I was soaked.  The wind blew each hull splash over the gunwale and into my face.  We ran quickly to a sheltering cove where we found another group of fishermen huddle around a camp fire.  Brent must have been itching for a pike pretty bad, because as soon as the bow of the boat hit ground he was off and throwing shots from the shore.  Shane did the same from the stern deck and beat the surrounding cover soundly.  The storm subsided enough to venture out of our sheltering cove and endeavor a search of the larger bay.  Brent and Shane fished hard, wet, and most likely hungry!  Real fishy dudes here!  I think the only thing they stopped casting for all day was to ensure that their waders didn't become too "pleasantly warm/wet."  We were rewarded.

 Find Shane Thomas' report here, Fish Hunter Chronicles.  Find Brent Wilson's report here, Uprising.

Photography: Brent Wilson

By Targhee Boss

Eat!

As we drove down the road adjacent to the reservoir we couldn't help but be a bit disappointed with the turbidity of the water.  It was evident that the sight fishing high of last week would not be available today.  The wind was constant with some pretty powerful gusts.  We had one follow at last weeks hot spot that failed to culminate with an eat.  We were forced to seek other spots.  Water temperatures were 41* in open water and as warm as 46* at the back of wind blown bays.  We found fish in all temperatures although it took a few hours of searching to get the first to hand.  

Have you ever been fishing and felt a fish coming?  Not because it is a great cast or a great lie, but just because it is TIME!  Pretty good experience today.  I had that feeling.  I told my father "I can feel a fish coming," immediately, as if summoned from the depths I watched a pike flash out of the turbidity and savage my fly.  I'm not tootin' my own horn here because I "called" it.  Just saying that I like that feeling, a lot! I like it even more when it is vindicated, which often it is not.  

The other "feeling" I had was because of a cast.  My cast straightened out and the fly smacked the water.  I love watching a cast unroll.  I love watching a giant streamer swimming towards me.  Emphasis added, above and beyond the exclamation point, on this next one! I absolutely love watching an eat!

Another interesting note:  My dad threw a spinning rod for about a quarter of the time.  With a big rattling, wiggling lure on it.  I thought for sure he was going to be killing it.  I was surprise that the flies out fished the spinning set up 8:1.
By Targhee Boss
Yuba Reservoir