The Four Virgins

The FourVirgins? Why yes! This post is about four virgins. Let me explain.

Yesterday was my virgin ice fishing trip this winter. It was also my virgin ice fishing trip to Pineview Reservoir. During said trip I caught my first ever crappie AND perch. So there you have it! Four virgins.

 My first crappie.

My first perch.

You'd think I'd have spent millions of hours at Pineview Reservoir over the course of my life. I mean, my grandparents have lived in the area for more than my entire life. I've driven by it countless times, but including this weekend, I've only ever been there twice. I've definitely been missing out.

On Saturday Seth and I met up with The Navajos and Eric (that should be a band name), to do some ice fishing. We chose Pineview because of its close proximity to our apartment and the fact that it was completely iced over. Pineview is a little different from most lakes in the area because it's not a trout lake. It's known more for perch, crappie, and tiger muskie. We set out to catch some perch and catch them we did!
We probably showed up later than we should have because the fish were only steadily biting for an hour or so after we got there. The total for the group was 8 perch and 2 crappie. Seth decided he needed more perch so he went out again early Sunday and caught 13 more.

We all had a great time and I'm sure this won't be the last time we ice fish at Pineview this year. It was definitely a beautiful place to be.

 Seth was really angry at his fishing poles. Or maybe he was giving them a pep talk. I can't remember.

 Eric, Ramona, and Gabe heading out onto the ice.

 Woah. That's deep.

 Seth showing us the ways of the auger.

Eric tries his hand at drilling.

Seth with his first catch of the day.

If you don't fish, you may be wondering why on Earth you'd want to catch and keep such small fish. I'll tell you why. Those perch are good eatin. Never cleaned a perch? I hadn't either! But we found this great video on YouTube that explained it really well. Also just FYI, these things are like mini catfish in the sense that they DO NOT DIE. Our perch were sitting out on the ice almost frozen solid for several hours after which they were put in a ziplock bag and taken home. I was half way through gutting one when it started flopping around. ALL of them did this. Creepy huh?!

For the record, we took way longer to clean ours than 10 seconds a piece, but this tutorial made it way easier to clean the fish than anything we would have come up with on our own.

Gutting the perch... it takes lots of concentration...

Some finished cleaned perch. That Leatherman Juice knife is the best for gutting fish, especially after being sharpened by Dad Hanson.

Don't know how to cook these guys? Well you're in luck! I've got the best recipe ever for fried fish from the fish cooking master herself.... Mama Hanson. Check it out over at Gravy Training!

Thursday 13: Fish Porn

 Seth and I have been out fishing a lot lately and have about a million pictures of fish we've caught. So, I figured I'd do a photo montage of our fish porn so I could show off some of these babies! I really should make you pay for viewing these...

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six 

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

 Eleven

Twelve 

I just thought this was a great release shot

Thirteen 

That's right... two fish at the same time... AGAIN!

To see more Thursday 13 participants click here.

Little by Little

I was dreading the winter season this year. It wasn't for the typical reasons... snow, cold weather, darkness. I dreaded winter because of fishing. Last year I didn't catch a single fish all winter long. It was a very frustrating and humbling experience. I knew it was possible to fish during the winter and had even heard of people doing really well, but I was not one of them.

This year has been a little different. I tried to pay attention when I saw any sort of information that could help me improve. I learned what flies to use, what time to fish, and even what I should wear. And it's working. The last two times I've been out, I've caught not one, but several fish. Some of them were small enough to be eaten by sardines, but I still caught them. In the winter. In the cold.

I'm getting better.

Snacks: The Secret to Fishing

This last Saturday we went ice fishing at Devil Creek Reservoir. We met Seth's dad, brother-in-law Marty, and niece Arielle there, along with what turned out to be a bunch of fishermen there for an ice fishing tournament.

It was a really nice day and it was good to get out of our dark apartment. Seth and I caught 4 good sized rainbows. They sure tasted delicious!

Marty and Arielle with a catch.

Daddy Hanson drilling some holes.

Seth pulling up a rainbow.

The Spoils.

I'm watching the holes. Honest.

Seth drilling more holes.

The Spread.

I have a tip for all you who are wondering what our secret was to catching fish.

#1 Rainbow colored Powerbait

#2 Go get a snack. Yup that's right. Not getting any bites? Go dig yourself out a snack from the cooler and I guarantee that'll bring them in. And don't get all sneaky on those fish. They know when you're just pretending to get one.

Of Course I Know What I'm Doing

I finally did it. I came up with the ultimate fish-killer fly setup. Sure, it might have taken me several hours of switching things up before I made my discovery, but I did it. I made this amazing discovery last weekend on the Weber River by Coalville. The sun was shining, the wind was calm and I found a nice deep riffle where I could tell the fish were sure to be hanging out, waiting for the next meal to come along.

I tied on a bright orange San Juan worm with a gold bead (#12 I think?) and a couple feet below that I tied on an olive Prince Nymph (I'd guess a #16). BAM! I got a nice fat 18" rainbow on my Prince Nymph. A couple more casts and BAM! a beautiful brown on the worm. One after the other I was catching big 'ol fish... a handful of rainbows, a brown and even a whitey. It was a great day.

Well I did what anybody else in my shoes would do in this situation... go back for more the next day! Same sunny nice weather, same hole, same flies. Nothing. Nada. Zip. The whole day.

So I found the secret fish-killer fly setup, but it only worked one time. It still counts, right? Although I can pretty much guarantee this will now be my go-to nymphing setup. That's what always happens. I had a lucky bite from a huge rainbow on a giant foam white and yellow Chernobyl Ant once. I was actually just using it as a strike indicator because it was the biggest thing in my box, but somehow it worked! Now it's my favorite fly. My "power fly." I've risked life and limb to rescue it from trees and bushes up high and deep in the water. I've only caught that one fish with it, but it's my lucky fly and I know one of these days it's got to work again... right?

Flaming Navajo Tacos

This past weekend was our last camping trip of the year (well, as far as we know). The Navajos invited us down to Flaming Gorge for a couple days of fishing and freezing our butts off. We figured, hey, why not?

It took us about 4 hours to drive to the camping spot Friday night so we got there pretty late. There wasn't much time to do anything but set up the tent in the dark and go to bed. Neither Seth nor I slept very well that night... our sleeping bags are getting kind of hammered and the zippers don't work very well for keeping the drafts out. Also, just as a tip, those little disposable hand warmers take a good half hour or more to heat up, so plan ahead.

The next morning proved much better as we started the day with a nice breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Seth and I went over to check out the fly fishing situation on the Little Hole section of the Green River while The Navajos (consisting of Ramona, Gabe, and Gabe's brother's wife's younger brother, Jerry. He was a very nice young man.) went to check out Flaming Gorge.

Sadly, Seth and I didn't do so hot. I got skunked.... which seems to be a trend lately, and Seth caught one and lost another one or two. However, we did have a delicious lunch of Asian Chicken Roll-ups. I highly suggest using tortillas instead of bread whilst camping. Anyway, the river was very beautiful and we had fun fishing anyway.

We got a little lost on our way back to camp (we were distracted by a gigantic pair of binoculars, missed a turn, and started heading to Wyoming...) but finally made it back about an hour late. Dinner that night was a combined effort and consisted of delicious authentic Navajo Tacos. Having Navajo Tacos has become a tradition on our Flaming Gorge camping trips. I didn't get a picture of them this year, but here's some photos from 2007. Doesn't that fry bread look delicious? The key is to have a real Navajo make the fry bread ( you HAVE to use Bluebird brand flour) and you HAVE to use Hormel chili, otherwise, they won't be any good. And don't ask me for the fry bread recipe because there isn't one. You just know what it looks like. Which is why I've never personally made fry bread.

That night we took a tip from Jerry and heated up some rocks by the fire to put in our sleeping bags. We also made sure to give our hand warmers plenty of time to heat up. We did not get cold.

The next day we had another pancake and sausage breakfast and then we all headed over to the Gorge together to do some more fishing. We were all using "the bling" this time and did much better. For all of you fisher people out there, The Bling is the only lure that consistently works on lakes. Never caught fish on any other lure (silver and gold both work). Seth and I caught 6 Rainbows and the Navajos caught their fair share as well. Ramona caught the super fish of the day... a 21", 3 lb. Rainbow. It was huge! Of course Seth and I knew she'd caught a big one just from the whoops and hollers we heard from her as she landed it.

As usual we had a great time camping with the Navajos. They've become some of our favorite fishing buddies. I guess freezing your butt off on a camping trip isn't so bad after all.

Show Off

Seth and I went fly fishing this weekend up on the Weber River by Coalville. Can I just say again how much I love my new waders? Anyway, I ended up catching 2 large fish (well, large for me) so I wanted to show them off. What's the use of catching big fish if you can't brag about it?

These first 2 pics are of the same fish... Seth measured it at 18".

Not sure exactly how big fish #2 was... maybe 16 or 17"?

After looking at these pictures I realize I need to come up with a better system of holding my gear in the middle of the river... it looks like I'm gonna pee my pants.

Pete's Hole

That's the name of a lake for those of you who are wondering what kind of crazy antics I'm up to now. More specifically, that's the name of the lake Seth and I went fishing at last weekend with Ramona and Gabe. It was just a quick overnighter, but it was fun and I have some pictures, so I'll post about it.

For the record, Seth and I got up at a decent time and made it all the way to Pete's Hole by early afternoon. That's pretty good for us. I drove the whole way and we didn't die or crash or anything! (not that I have a record for that sort of thing, I'm just sayin'). I even drove on bumpy dirt mountain roads and everything. Oh, for those of you who don't know where Pete's Hole is, it's up off of Skyline Drive. I can't go into any more details than that because Seth doesn't want me to give away all our good fishing spots.

Seth with a fish on his line... that's Ramona and Gabe laughing in the background

We lucked out and ended up getting a nice camping spot right on the lake. Of course Seth had to stalk a group of campers for the entire afternoon to make sure we got their spot when they left, but still.

Ramona and Gabe setting up their tent

Seth and I mainly caught Tiger trout with our flies and Ramona and Gabe mostly caught Rainbows with their bling. We could see a gigantic fish in the water which swam by us periodically, but sadly no one caught him. We'll have to go back another time to see if we can capture the elusive lake monster.

There were a lot of fish jumping and rising for almost the entire day. You'd think that would mean we caught a lot, but those little buggers were too smart! We did fool a few though.

Evening fish rising at Pete's Hole

On our way out of camp the next morning Seth and I stopped at a little lake called Soup Bowl, which is just below Pete's Hole. The fishing was actually pretty good and nobody else was there!

They're Here!!

I've waited for this day for a long time... the day when I would get my very own pair of stockingfoot chest waders. You heard me people. Waders. These are not just any waders. They are Simms WOMEN'S Headwaters stockingfoot waders. That's right, they actually make chest waders especially for women. And they should. I mean, what woman wants to go out looking like she's fishing in a potato sack? Ok maybe her, but I digress.


You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a pair of women's waders. They practically don't exist. Ok, they do, but not in stores. I've researched waders for the last year or so, mainly dreaming that one day I might have the money to finally buy a pair.


Seth and I finally decided that with my July bonus, we'd both get some waders. I was searching around online to try and find a good deal when I came upon a website that had 25% off the Simms waders I wanted. I decided to jump on it and buy the waders before they sold out. Sweet! They were on their way and in a week or so, I'd have the waders I'd been waiting for.


Except things didn't quite go as planned. The waders were supposed to be delivered on July 24th, but we left that morning to go camping so we missed the UPS guy. I wasn't too worried about it and figured we'd get them on Monday instead. So we get back from camping on Sunday night and on Monday I check the delivery status when I get into work. It says they were delivered. And left at the front door. My heart sank. There was no box at the front door. I asked Seth to look on the patio. No box. Could he go check at the front office and see if they have it? Nope. They don't have it either. It's gone.

At first I think maybe one of our neighbors picked it up when they noticed it sitting there. But no one ever came by with it. I was so angry. Why did that UPS guy leave the package sitting at our front door? And on a holiday weekend when lots of people go out of town?! Duh. Plus those guys ALWAYS leave our packages at the main office when we're not home. Such a pain.


So I contact the company I bought them from and the lady there tells me they gotta work with UPS and get things straightened out. After a week I protested and insist they just send me another pair of waders. The problem was that the style I'd ordered was sold out. They were last year's model and there were none left in my size. So I had to pay like $50 more to get the newer model. Argh.

Today as I walked in the door after work, I wondered when my waders would arrive. I talked to the cat and sorted through the mail and then... WHAT? What do I see?! A Simms box sitting on top of the bar stool with a note from Seth that says "SURPRISE!! THEY'RE HERE!"

WAHOO!

I place the box on the couch, lift the lid, and gaze down at the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. They almost sparkled with greatness and the smell of nylon and neoprene was almost enough to make my knees buckle. I deeply breathed in the heavenly fragrance as I lifted the waders out of the box. Perfect.

I couldn't wait to get them on. I immediately took off my shoes and slid my feet down into the little black feet. It was almost like climbing into a pair of feet pajamas, but better. I lifted them up and clipped on the suspenders and then added the finishing touch... the wading belt. I have to admit, I looked hot.


There was just one thing I needed to complete my look: my Simms Headwaters Boots. They were my birthday present and I'd bought them a couple weeks ago at the local fly shop. I pulled them on over the stockingfeet, laced them up, then finished it off by pulling down the gravel guards and hooking them onto the boots. Wow.


To my delight, everything fit perfectly. I can't wait to try all this stuff out. I'm pretty sure those fish are all going to want me to catch them because I look so ravishing, don't you think?

My Gigantic Birthday Celebration

Guess who's super cute and just turned 29!? ME! You wouldn't believe the huge birthday party I had. Even P. Diddy or some other really famous person would be incredibly jealous. The entire extended Hanson family came together in Huntington Canyon for a weekend of birthday celebration and camping all for me!!

Ok. So maybe it was the Hanson Family Reunion. And maybe it just happened to fall on my birthday weekend. But I still count it as a birthday party. I mean, we were camping and fishing all weekend... what could be better than that?

The festivities actually started on Thursday, but Seth wasn't able to get that much time off, so we went down Friday instead. I still took Thursday off because I have a policy that I don't work on my birthday. Oh, and I didn't run either. In fact I lounged around all day long and tied flies.

We got to the Old Folks Flat campground in the afternoon, at about which time it started raining. It rained on and off for the rest of the day but luckily we were able to get our tent set up during one of the breaks. The Loel and Kathy Hanson family was in charge of dinner that night so we cooked up some sloppy joes. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took over the weekend were during that dinner, but at least I took some.

Seth supervising Marty's sloppy joe delivery.

Collette supervising Marty's sloppy joe delivery (you really gotta watch this guy!)

Tim in line for some food

Ashley and Megan

(and another guy that I can't remember his name but he looks like Hal Holbrook )

The next day Seth and I got up pretty early and tried out the fishing situation on the Huntington River. I've always been told that the fishing is best early in the morning, but in my experience it never is. I think it's an old wives' tale.

This is a picture from when I meditated on a rock in the middle of the river & watched mayflies.

Early morning fishing

The rest of the day on Saturday was spent fishing. First we went to Mammoth Lake (aka Huntington Reservoir) which wasn't too good, so we went up to Miller's Flat Reservoir and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The fishing was slow, but we ended up catching a few Rainbows with some gold spoons in the late afternoon. That night we went to Cleveland Reservoir and tried our hand at fly fishing. Marty even gave Arielle a lesson in casting. She looked pretty good!

Cleveland Reservoir didn't work out so well, so most of us decided to go over to Miller's Flat again to see if the fishing was any better. We caught a bunch of really small 3-4" Rainbows and a handful of pan fryers before it got dark.

Arielle with her hand-crafted leather headband and t-shirt.

Mama Hanson & Seth in deep conversation. Or talking about how much they like the choice of a pink bandana for our family.

Calysta & Arielle eating some food

Cute Collette... spotted me stealing a picture!

Marty Jr. toasting himself on the big bonfire.

Daddy Hanson

The next morning everybody packed up and headed home. Seth and I stopped once more to fish on the Huntington River and caught a few Browns. On our way back to Layton we stopped at Cabelas and Seth finally got a new pair of Simms chestwaders. He's pretty excited to try them out. They look pretty fancy. I bought a pair of women's Simms chestwaders too but haven't gotten them yet (it's a long very sad story... stupid UPS and stupid neighbors who steal stuff...)