Alaska Revisited, and a bit of politicing...

I was going through my Alaska pics the other day and i realized that Im a little better at processing now and that a few pics may have slid throught the cracks. I may have posted some of them, im just to lazy to go back and look. Plus im seeing a lot more traffic lately so i thought i ought to share them again.

On a more serious note, Here in Utah we have a real bad situation on our hands, Our supreme court gave us back our rivers recently but we have been working, i say we but it really has been all Bryan Gregson http://utahcutthroat.com/ who has fought this fight on many of our behalf. For that we all owe him a huge thank you. But Bryan and many others were working with many parties to work out some ground rules so that access works for all. At the last minute he was blind sided by a lot of money and a bill which totally strips our use rights. This bill has passed the house and now is on to the senate, and from what i gather, it looks bad. I have to wonder why this has not been a larger issue for the whole fishing community as a whole. If our senate can strip these right here, well guess what, It can be done anywhere. If the landowners here can doit, what is to stop it from happeniing all over the west. This ruling seems to me to be something that people who own river in other places are going site and start working for in there states. Scary!!!! It may be too late, It seems to me that this issue should have got more attention from those organizations who could have helped a lot. Yeah we need to save Steelhead,salmon and such but its all pointless if we loose our rivers... This past week was a bad week for all of us...I think there is still time to contact the senate, it doesnt matter where your from, infact it may mean more if you guys from out of state call and let them know that we all care.....and we are all in this together...... I went to the rallys and sent some emails and talked to representatives, But i was in no way as involved as many where. They deserve all the credit for what was done, they fought tirelessly. I should have done more. I dont get up on the box often, ill jump off now...

Stones and Streamers.

I spent a lot of time on the river yesterday turning rocks and looking at bugs. I found some golden stones, sowbugs and mayfly nymphs which your #16hares ear would have duplicated perfectly. The sow bugs that i found were surprisingly large. Some reaching lengths of up to an inch. Size 10 sow bugs are going to be in the works at the bench. I got some great macro shots of the stoneflies as well. Oh yeah, I also caught a few fish. I landed three in the 20 inch range, but the big one followed script, and got away. I felt the tug, set the hook, and he turned and spit the streamer straight at me. Ive got his address, i will visit him again.... Bottom 2 photos by Matt Guymon...

Articulated Sculpin

Hit the bench tonight and tied up some Sculpin patterns, they have been fishing very well this winter.

Streamer Express

Got up early saturday, after deciding at 10pm the night before, to go fishing. It was snowing and foggy when we left town. As soon as we hit the mountain valley containing our river, the skies cleared. We hit the water at 8am and never had to clear our eyeletts once. The day had streamers on the menu and we stuck to them all day. Matt was on white, and i was on green. We both turned some great fish and caught our fair share too. Hear are a few picks of one of the better fish of the day. The photo with the net by Matt Guymon.

Well we hit the capital today in support of HB80. It looks a little shaky, the bill seeks to spell out some rulers for the Conaster ruling so that the law works better for all. There still seems to be a long way to go. I even met a fellow flyer who actually reads the crap i write here, thanks, and shoot me an email and we can go fishin sometime. I found a skull in the river this week so i took a few shots with it. enjoy..

Spring Fever.

It seems like things are happening in the river a little sooner than last year. At least some bugs are working earlier. I tied up a mess of rubber leg girdle bugs today. Yesterday on one section of the home water, i had some nice fish taking them. I guess the stone nymphs must be moving and the hungry browns are in no mood to wait. I really like these bugs, its probably because of there size. They are big like a streamer, and as we all know, streamers rule. The prince nymph has really heated up lately as well. There is no way to say for sure, but it sure seems like a lot of new fish are in the rivers, having moved up from the lakes. They say that they are going to start putting those triploid or diploid, cant remember which, into echo. These fish should also grow quick and take on some good girth. Cant wait to see that come about.