My Obsession with Trains and Trout Continues...

This winter has proved to be very busy. Ok mainly just the last month or so. I'm not going to get into details yet, but a house hunting endeavor has been sucking up all my time. I realized how bad it was when I went to write the February book reviews post and realized I'd only finished one book. Sad. And my computer is on the fritz. And then somebody stole Sexyterra's license plate. It's been a mess. Which is why this weekend was so great.

For the first time this winter I actually got in some fly fishing. Yes, I went ice fishing several times, but it's just not the same. This weekend I got to put on my waders TWICE. And I even caught a few browns. Man I've missed those little guys (who may or may not have inspired some decorating ideas...).  Plus, have I told you how beautiful it is up on the Weber River? What? I have? A million times you say? Ok I know. I'm obsessed. But look at this... how could I not be?

Posted up at a good spot and caught these guys all day!

Seth fishing on the bridge as a train passes.

I don't think anyone could be more handsome holding a fish. It's unpossible. (Heidi, I stole your word!)



Ok fine I'll stop. Even though you're probably begging for more because I've left you high and dry for so long. It's not my fault. But I promise there is more to come. Some time. Not really sure when, but hopefully soon. Who am I kidding... the craziness is only just beginning...

Shangri La

Seth and I braved the rainy weather this weekend and headed up to fish on one of my favorite spots on the Weber River (don't look so shocked!). All I can say is, it's near Taggart and it holds the best fishing hole ever... so good in fact that we call it "Shangri La."

The day started out drizzly but pleasant and only got better. It was a great day to be out and as we'd hoped, the fishing was awesome! We fished our way up to the Shangri La hole using streamers. Seth bought a few articulated streamers a while back and wanted to try them out. He was using an orange one called the "Sex Dungeon" (gotta love the fly fisher sense of humor) and ended up catching one medium sized brown and got several strikes. I used a regular cone head olive/black streamer with white rubber legs and didn't get anything. Then Seth let me try his olive colored Sex Dungeon. It looked really good swimming but I didn't get any action with that one either.

Seth's Sex Dungeon (HA!)

A big Rainbow Seth caught on the orange Sex Dungeon on a different fishing trip less than a month ago.

 

I gave up on the streamers after we got to the Shangri La hole and switched to my tried and true "Horny San Juan" nymphing rig which consists of an orange or two tone red/tan San Juan Worm as the attractor and a Green Hornet as the dropper. I immediately caught a couple nice browns. Shangri La was living up to its name.

So, in order get to the Shangri La hole we had to pass a guy who was fishing a nice riffle (behind me in the picture above). We were fairly close to him, but not so close as to disturb him. He fished that same riffle for at least a half hour... as long as we were fishing our hole, and neither of us saw him catch anything. I assume he was a fairly good fisherman as he was all decked out in Simms gear. Well after he left and went further downstream, I was a little curious to see if I could pick up a fish or two from that same hole. Sure enough I landed a nice brown and a whitey. You know, I hate to be all cocky and such but that sort of stuff really makes my day. Maybe it's because I'm a girl and feel like I have something to prove out there but nothing beats catching a fish out of a hole a guy just left.

Seth and I both caught about 10 fish during this trip which was the best day we've had for a little while. Seth even accidentally foul hooked a big old honking Sucker in the tail. That thing was HUGE! And UGLY! I can't get over how ugly those things are! It looks like they could suck you right up like a vacuum! Yuck!

It's days like these that just make me love fishing. I can't help it. What a great way to spend time getting to know your local water and surroundings. And not only is the fishing great, but the atmosphere is amazing. Maybe some people don't like this sort of thing, but most of the Weber River follows closely along the train tracks. These tracks are heavily used and see at least one train an hour or so. I love trains. They're so beautiful and I love to watch them every time they pass. They're so big and powerful and I love to hear them blow their whistles and listen to the screeching sound of the cars running along the tracks. I always have to stop and stare and listen.

I've vowed not to let bad weather keep me off the rivers. Fishing is one of the few ways I know of that helps me stay centered and happy.  Can't imagine how I got along without it. If you fish, you know what I mean. If you don't, you should.

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.

Thursday 13: Right Now

1. I am thinking… I need to wash my hands because they smell like sandwiches.

2. I am thankful for… this time in my life. I've got love, sufficient money, and enough free time to enjoy both.

3. From the kitchen… made some Beef and Broccoli stir-fry tonight for dinner. Come back later this week for the recipe and a detailed review!

4. I am wearing… A light blue Old Navy t-shirt with purple flowers on it, a hooded sweatshirt, jeans and my ugly brown clunky work shoes.


5. I am creating… A test to measure the performance of a heat exchanger.


6. I am going… to run a 5k this weekend. Hope I don't die!


7. I am reading… Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt and My Old Man by Amy Sohn


8. I am hoping… The rain will hold off while I do my grocery shopping this evening.


9. I am hearing… A basketball game on t.v. and the water running at the kitchen sink where my husband is doing dishes.


10. Around the house… I still have several loads of laundry to fold from last week! But at least I dusted.


11. One of my favorite things… When my husband leaves for work in the morning and pulls all the blankets up on me to keep me nice and snugly warm for another hour until I have to get up.


12. A few plans for the rest of the week… Grocery shopping tonight. T.V. night tomorrow. 5k on Saturday and probably a fly fishing jaunt up on the Weber on Sunday.


13. A picture to share…

Seth thought he'd finally tied into a "big 'ol brown" up on the Weber River a couple weeks ago. I think they call them 'suckers' for a reason.

(Borrowed from Fond of Snape)

To see more Thursday 13 participants click here.

Making Lemonade

We went out fishing twice this weekend and I didn't catch a thing on either day. Which is weird considering I've done pretty well lately. Must be those crazy fish getting ready for spring. Anyway, the other evening while I wasn't catching anything, I decided to make the most of it and take pictures of the awesome sunset. These views are just a skip away from my front door, which makes them even better.

There's a big horned owl that lives under that bridge. We named him Harold.

I thought the backhoe was a nice touch.

The Ultimate Sportsman

Yesterday was such a beautiful day we decided to make the most of it in the best way we know how. We spent a few hours fishing on the Weber River by Wanship, enjoying the "warm" weather. The river was full of whitefish and a handful of browns, both of which we caught several. Once again the fly of the day was the olive zebra midge, though Seth landed one or two on his bead head hare's ear nymph. We are really getting attached to the Weber River. I always enjoy fishing other rivers, but the Weber feels like home.

Seth fighting his first fish of the day

It turned out to be a nice brown

Working the foam line

Reloading... I (unknowingly) kept trying to catch fish without flies. Seth calls this the "ultimate sportsman." If you can catch fish with just a line, you've reached the top.

These Mutilated Home-Made Tortillas are a Product of My Love for You

Seth and I don't usually make a big deal out of Valentine's Day. We do celebrate, but try to keep things under control. This year we kind of spread the festivities over the weekend, mainly because we felt like it.

On Saturday morning Seth got called in to work. I was kind of bummed but figured it'd give me some time to run some errands and such. He left at about 7:00am or so and I stayed in bed to get in a bit more weekend sleep. About a half hour later I hear the door open and from the living room Seth says, "Are you awake?" "Yeah" "I forgot my phone" "Ok. See you later." So I stay in bed for another half hour or so and then get up and flop down the hall to the kitchen to get some breakfast. To my surprise, there was a dozen roses sitting in a vase up on the counter and a card from Seth. Ah! He tricked me! He DID have to work, but the phone bit was made up. Seth always manages to surprise me with things like that. And he always writes the sweetest notes. What a great guy.

Later that evening when he got home, I made Seth's favorites for dinner: grilled ribeye steak with sauted mushrooms, cauliflower mash, and steamed asparagus. Delicious!

The next morning on the REAL Valentine's Day, I made some heart-shaped banana pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I made some strawberry sauce to go on it too, but I think the strawberries had been in the freezer for way too long and they tasted funny, so we stuck with syrup to avoid the risk of explosive diarrhea. Nothing kills the mood of Valentine's Day like explosive diarrhea.

Then it was onto the most romantic Valentine's Day date ever.... fly-fishing! Yeah! We went up to the Devil's Slide area on the Weber River and for once we got some love from the fish. We always have a hard time catching anything during the winter, but we both managed to catch several browns and whiteys. We had a great time. Also, just for the record, I caught 2 fish at the same time... AGAIN! Can you believe it? We'd been fishing for a few minutes when Seth says, "Got any bites yet?" And BAM! I hooked a big one! But wait... there were two fish! Turned out to be a big whitey on the top fly and a little brown on the bottom. It was awesome! And for any of you who are interested, I caught the whitey on a rubber leg copper john (from an assortment of flies given to us from Collette & Marty!) and the brown took a tiny #20 olive clear bead-head zebra midge tied by the great Seth himself.

We were pretty hungry by the time we got home so I decided to make us some tortillas with refried beans and mozzarella. My tortillas were a little sad. Don't laugh.

So that was the end of our little Valentine's Day extravaganza. It's kind of fun to do something special for each other every so often. I love you Seth!

I AM a Genius!

So remember a week or so ago when I said I discovered the secret power nymphing setup on the Weber River? Turns out I was right! This setup not only worked the day I discovered it, but it's worked several times afterwards! Do you know what this means?! It means I look like I know what I'm talking about! That hardly ever happens! (ok it actually happens a lot, I was just trying to be modest.)

A beautiful rainbow caught by Seth on a Prince Nymph pattern we call the "Green Hornet"*

*Hand-tied fly by Seth "The Fly Master" Hanson

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?

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.

Do Your Best

I realize it's been a long time since my last post. Hopefully all my devoted fans out there haven't given up on me... The truth is, this last weekend was only my second time fishing since Christmas. Pathetic, I know. Especially for someone like me who is constantly raving about how much I love it.

I went fishing up on the Ogden River a couple weeks ago, but for some reason the old spark just wasn't there. I began to wonder if fly fishing was just a phase and maybe I didn't really like it after all. I kept waiting for the urge of 'I have to go fishing or I'll explode', but it didn't happen. It's been so cold outside lately and the fishing hasn't been all that great and I just wasn't in the mood. I couldn't really put my finger on what was wrong with me.

On Friday I was driving home from work, listening to the weather report on the radio. They mentioned that it was supposed to be in the mid-forties on Saturday and I thought, "Well, maybe I should get out fishing again. I've only used my new vest once, and I need to keep my skills up." Call it a coincidence, but that evening Seth mentioned that maybe we should go out fishing tomorrow. It had been several weeks since we'd gotten out of the house after all.

On Saturday morning, we got up at our usual late time and casually went about our morning. I prepared the standard weekend breakfast of waffles and bacon, while Seth read his book on the couch. Then, just as if he was reading my mind, Seth said, "Well, maybe we should get ready to go fishing huh?"

I was actually excited to get outside. I needed some fresh air and we were headed back up to the Weber River, my good old standby. She's kind of an unpredictable river, but I guess that's what I like about her.

We went up to a new spot that I'd never been to between Coalville and Wanship. We climbed over the rustic fisherman's ladder and trucked across a cow pasture towards the river. One last duck under an electric fence and we were there. The little stretch of river we'd come to was just beautiful. The water wasn't as low as some of the other spots along the canyon and actually had some deceptively deep spots. I screened the river with the small net I kept in the back of my vest and found an astonishing number of large sow bugs. Much larger than they were in previous months. I decided to put on a hares ear nymph with an iridescent wing casing and the biggest sow bug I had in my box as the dropper. Apparently it had been a little too long since my last fishing trip because I forgot how to tie a Surgeon's Knot. Seth gave me a refresher course though, and soon I was all rigged up and ready to go.

I went to the most promising looking hole I've seen in a long time, about 50 yards down from Seth. Not more than a couple minutes into fishing, another fly-fisher came by and we chatted for a minute about the typical things... how many fish had been caught, what we were using, etc. It was about 1:00pm at the time and the guy said he'd been there since 10:00am and had only caught one whitey. His buddy talked to Seth later on and said he hadn't caught anything. I wasn't too discouraged though because I just started the day and figured I was probably better than this guy.

We ended up fishing for several hours and didn't land anything. I may have snagged one or two momentarily, but not long enough to know if it was actually a fish or a twig at the bottom of the river. Although it would have been nice to catch something, it didn't mean as much as it does sometimes. I was having a good day. My casts were smooth, my drifts were nice, I wasn't getting snagged or tangled every two minutes. There were thin sheets of ice formed on the water and every once in a while I'd see one that'd broken off from the bank, drifting down in the current. I even broke a couple off myself and watched them glide along the rapids. It was relaxing and it was fun.

I noticed that I tend to compare myself to other people too much. It's one of the weaknesses I'm trying to overcome. Today nobody was catching anything and for once I felt like I was normal. There was no pressure and I could just sit back and fish and enjoy my surroundings. It's the days when everybody else seems to be catching them but me that I start to get frustrated and angry. That can be helpful sometimes, because it can motivate you to ask for help, but most of the time it's just destructive. It's impossible to fish well went you're angry and usually it just makes a bad day worse. I think fish can sense the bad vibes (and so can the trees and bushes!). You can do things just as well as everyone else and for one reason or another, it's just not your day. During times like those I try to be happy for other people and their success instead of letting the green eyed monster bring me down. It's hard to do sometimes. My niece, Lily, is five years old and takes karate lessons. Whenever she shows us her routine, she begins and ends with a bow saying, "Do your best." Maybe I should start doing that when I fish.

I also realized that I need to fish because I WANT to, not because I need to write another post on my blog, or because everyone expects me to or because I claim to love it so much. If I start to do it because I feel like I HAVE to, it'll just turn into a burden, just like so many other things. The good news is, I discovered that I actually do really like fishing. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I think some absence is all I really needed. I love you fish.

Foul Hooked Whitey

Right now I'm sitting at my desk at work, thinking about my fly fishing trip up on the Weber River this last weekend, and smelling the empty plastic container that held my spaghetti lunch just a few hours ago. During lunch the savory smell of the spaghetti was heaven to my senses as I wolfed down the noodles to fill my empty growling stomach. Now the container has been sitting on my desk for a few hours and the smell has become more of a putrid nuisance. Apparently it is too difficult for me to rinse out the thin coating of spicy tomato sauce that lingers on the sides of the dish. I prefer to sit here and be disgusted and annoyed. Funny how an empty spaghetti container can bring me back to fishing. Of course, just about anything can make me think of fishing.


Not more than a couple weeks ago, I thought I had conquered my Weber River nemesis. It became my favorite spot. It had everything I had ever dreamed of: beautiful surroundings, close proximity to my home, plentiful fish that I could catch. Not much has changed really, except for the fact that although it still contains plentiful fish, I can no longer catch them.


But that alone isn't exactly true. I caught fish there, just not legally. You want a foul hooked whitey? Coming right up! This week I didn't catch a single fish by hooking it in the mouth. Not one. Foul hooking fish (on accident, I might add) isn't quite as bad as getting skunked, but it's right up there on the same level.


In each hole I fished, I could see at least 15-20 whitefish. You'd think at least one of them would be dumb enough to eat my raggedy looking sow bug. I watched as the school of fish purposely dodged my flies and lined up to let them pass by. At least I gave them some exercise. Sure I may have been too lazy to tie up some decent looking sow bugs before I left that afternoon, but should I really have been punished so harshly?

What chaps me more than anything is that I know whenever I have a less than stellar fishing trip, 90% of the time it's my own fault. Just like this smelly spaghetti container sitting under my nose, I sit here and suffer because I'm too indolent to fix the real problem. It's impossible to be a phenomenal fisherman and remiss at the same time.

I Had To!

OK so I know you're all like, "Why doesn't she write about anything but fishing?.... BORING......" Well my answer is... TOO BAD! That's the only exciting thing I ever get to do so that means you all get to hear about it!

I mainly just wanted to post the pictures and brag about the gigantic fish that Seth and I caught last weekend, so if that means I have to write a little bit then so be it. In all fairness, Seth kicked my butt on this trip. I had a pretty crappy go of it until the very end of the day when I caught a huge rainbow. They all seemed to be lining up to jump onto Seth's line. Oh well, I've had my fair share of extremely good fishing days, so I figured I'd let him have one!

We fished on the inlet of Echo Reservoir (I believe it's still considered the Weber River up there). I spent most of my day being pissed off and untangling my line. Seth spent the day whooping and hollering about another giant fish. He was pretty excited and having a lot of fun, so I still had a good time nonetheless.

Meet the Fishing Pros

As many of you know, Seth and I have been taking a fly fishing class. We learned mainly how to fish with nymphs and even learned how to tie our own flys! (You can see one of the beautiful flies I tied in the mouth of the fish above!) We had our last class this past Monday, and on Saturday we went on a class field trip up on the Weber River to practice our skills.

As part of the field trip, the teacher and a few of his helpers would work their way around to all the students to make sure they had their rods and line set up correctly, the casting was good, and most importantly, that they caught a fish.

Seth did really well the whole time and caught a lot of fish from beginning to end. It took me a little while to get the hang of things, but after a very frustrating hour or so, I too began to get the rhythm down and caught fish as well.

We caught browns and whitefish... some in the mouth and others foul hooked in various places. We had a great time and actually ended up going there again ourselves the next day. We couldn't believe how many fish we could see in the water. We were catching them pretty regularly and they were fighting really hard. It was one of the best times I've ever had fishing.