How to Make Sweets Cry

Making Sweets cry is certainly something I don't ever strive to do.  However, here's how:
1.  She catches a whitey
2.  She breaks her Sage while landing the fish

 I don't recommend purposefully trying it, but she was in near tears the other night when she came home from the Blacksmith Fork.

Uh-oh, Houston?....

How to make Sweets smile?  Upgrade!

First order of business was to get it slimey

Picked a good day to go...

Rusty from over at Livin' the Dream invited me along on a sled ride.  He rode.  I pretended and took pictures.

Pucker up for Sweets!

Winter Tailwaters=Midges= : )

The title may be a little misleading, we haven't seen anything that resembles winter along the Wasatch Front.  But tailwaters in the winter can usually bring the best fishing of the year.  If not for the numb fingers, running noses, ice build up on the waders, frozen line guides, and ice covered rocks, winter would be my favorite time of year to fish.  However, since this winter has been anything but normal, the fishing has been sensational at our local tailwaters.  So sensational, I've left the camera in the car and enjoyed getting my fleece gloves slimy and smelling of stocked rainbows.  I finally packed the camera yesterday as Wyatt and I searched for planters.

When he's not fishing, he's tying.  Wyatt's much to organized fly box... Box 1 of 6

We're still pimping the purple....

Ok, maybe not a planter...

It could be worse....

Optimists are always trying to see the bright side of things, the silver lining in every cloud, and the proverbial glass half full.  However, when you're getting your butt handed to you by a fickle river that you have driven 4 hours to fish, it's hard to see the silver lining.... until someone yells from behind you asking if you have a cell phone, because someone just rolled their drift boat about a quarter mile upstream.  Then, when you see the wet anglers being rowed to the take out by Search and Rescue, you realize things really could be worse for you, as well as the three anglers who just lost all of their gear and boat to the Green River.

The Green in February usually will recklessly give up her Browns and Bows to your tiny tandem midge presentations, but not today.  The BOR has been double peaking the flows for the last 2 months.  I can only think this has had an impact on fish behavior.  The bugs were hatching, the weather perfect, but the Green made us work it.  We managed a few, but not until we worked it, hard.

Wyatt, searching for answers...

 

Like I said, it could always be worse...

What's Hatchin'?

When The Evening Hatch first started to crawl around on rocks in its nymphal state (2009), there were several, ok hundreds, ok thousands of fly fishing related blogs on the interweebs.  Since then, we've had some time to explore some of the blogs and have enjoyed seeing fly fishing cultures from around the globe.  Some of them we have added to the Blog Hatch.  To be honest, if we put up every blog we loved, the list would never end.  Each week we discover another, then another.  Below are some recent findings.  If it's a slow day at work, give them a gander.  Especially Southern Culture on the Fly, the latest eZine.  I never realized there was such a large fly fishing community in the Southeast.  I feel a road trip is in order.  Blue lining.

Bent Rod Media, they were kind enough to buy some advertising space atop our Skybox.

Gink n Gasoline, updated daily with some great tips and incredible images from Louis Cahill.

Southern Culture on the Fly, a fresh online magazine with wit, humor, and great imagery.

Livin' the Dream, when you're ready to man up, try following these guys around as they chase and capture mountain lions or hike all over Idaho in search of big game.  Be sure to watch the NatGeo clip showing a capture in Wyoming.

Mysteries Internal, if she's not buried in 12 feet of snow, Erin is fishing or writing about life.  She's a very talented writer and has the biggest blog list I have ever seen.

Ian Provo...and Bro, I'm not sure what they enjoy more, fishing or skiing.  But their videos and imagery from both sports will knock your socks off.  Check out their latest ski and steel adventure in the works.

The Fat Lady Sang

Our 2011/2012 waterfowl season has officially closed.  I must admit, as I get older, my desire to pursue ducks in below zero temps has waned.  Before, there was no keeping me from getting up at 4am and breaking ice out to that years honey hole.  Maybe it is old age or the way our season began (we scouted a local lake, only to find it drained within a week.  No one bothered telling us...) that kept me in the covers on this years brutal mornings.  However, when the "last" day of anything arrives, you get up, get out, and get excited.  I was optimistic yesterday morning.  Deke, when realizing we were going hunting (when the gun case in my hand, he's clued in) was banana brains around the house, perhaps he knew it was the last day?  So we trekked out to our little hole, set up decoys, and......took pics.... cause we didn't take any birds.  Ahhh, there's always next year, right?  Perhaps it will be warmer....

Sorry Buddy, it's gonna be a long 9 months, isn't it? Wanna go fish?

Taking a bite out of.... fin

I had these sitting on my hard drive since Christmas Eve and meant to throw them up, but year end came quickly.  Here's a couple from our last trip before the river closed for the season.

I don't know what happened to this guy, but that looks like it hurt.  He's pretty stunted as well.  These are fish you wish you could see their life story.  Any guesses?

Good morning Ms. Brook.  You've had quite the swim.  You came down from Idaho, down the main stem, and back up to our little hole.  You must be tired, I see that you're hungry....and your favorite color is purple.....

 Big Rich Chili.  This was waiting for us when we came home.  The easiest and best tasting chili you will ever eat.  If you need the recipe, shoot me an email.

Top 10 in 2011

Last year we posted up our "favorite" shots of 2010.  Not the "best of", but our favorite images because of the stories they told.  This year we tried to find what we felt were the top 10 images of 2011.  We sure had fun putting ourselves in position to take these shots....and with more vacation time coming in 2012, there's more fun on the way...

 Sweets on the Green River.  She was having one of those days where everyone was into fish, but she was having to work her butt off.  Until this guy grabbed her Chronic and headed straight for the deep.  I love the colors and the bend her rod.

Sweets on our favorite winter fishery.  She worked this run to where the river forked.  No hits.  She changed flies and swung a Goldi Lox through the back end of the fork.  Bam!  It was the fish of the day.  After a couple of tail walks, Deke decided he was going to help Sweets land her fish.  He jumped in for the retrieve, promptly dislodging the fly from the fishes mouth and lodging the fly in his hide.  He didn't get near Sweets for the rest of the day.  He knew.

 This is one of those "accidents".  The fog was coming off the river as the sun began to warm the air.  I grabbed the camera to see if I could capture what I was seeing.  I didn't think the camera would meter the shot correctly.  I was pretty happy with what I saw when the images were downloaded.

 It was a one duck day and Deke made the best of it.

One of our favorite stillwaters.  I saw the sky turning orange from the dirt road leading to the ramp.  Not knowing how long it would last, I floored it, grabbed the camera and the tripod, and ran across the dam.  The sky was back to grey before I got back to the truck.

 The morning after a day of hopper fishing, I found this guy hanging out on our deck.  I grabbed the fly, set it down, took a pic, then moved the fly closer and closer.  This was as close as he'd let me get.  I love the "What the..." look on his face.

Gear Guide Wyatt and fall on the Logan River.  It was a damp cold morning.  I breathed hot air on the lens just before hitting the shutter.  Another one of those "accident" shots.

Does it look cold?  Please tell it me it looks cold, because it was dang cold this morning.  This is the same Logan River, after it has run its course through those mountains you see.  At this point, it has picked up the Blacksmith Fork (a great fishery in itself) and meets the Little Bear just down river from this location.  A little further down it meets the Bear River and together they all end their journey in the Great Salt Lake.

Deke (and Boomer did as well) thinks every bird flying in the air is a duck, and it's going to fly over to our decoys, and someones gonna shoot it, and he'll get to retrieve it.  Labs are more optimistic than  fly fishermen in the middle of a BWO hatch.  This is my favorite of the year.

The South Fork of the Snake River.  September.  PMD's.  Browns?  Gear Guide Wyatt caught five different species of fish this day (one being a nice Sucker).