Walking is better.

Been throwning dries on the nicer days. The river really looked like spring the other day. Cant wait for the first major hatches. Being in such a place all by yourself is crazy. You dont often get to experience these great rivers without another soul around. If you only fish when its warm your missing the point.

A Solid Week.

It was a great week. Paul Swint of Willy Joe and Gary Winterton with Hooked on Utah made it up here to my backyard. I was able to spend a beautiful day on the water with them. Fish hit everything from streamers to size 10 PMX,s, you read it right. Thanks for letting me tag along fellas. All three days this week were amazing. Winter is truely a most excellent time to fish..

The rusty old streamer in the back of the truck...

I was able to hit the river this past week with a buddy and as we are getting all set to go, he sees this old rusty streamers in the back of my truck. It was a pattern given to me last summer on the tail end of a three day float. Colin over at finpusher.com had been kind enough to let me use it after i had run through all my patterns that trip. It turned out to be the best fly for that trip and the next few i took down the river. So last week my buddy sees it in the bed of the truck all rusty and covered with grease, really, grease. So i tell him how great a pattern it had been back in its hayday. So i throw it in my box, for who knows what reason. So we are floating that day and getting it handed to us. So about 2 miles of river left, and after throwning everthing else, i tie it on. Its missing half its maraboo. The hook has rust all over it and there is the grease. In she goes, strip strip, was that a bump. Second cast, strip, whack, fish on. This fly proceeds to land like ten fish and a thousand chasers, no kidding. So on those days when your convinced that the fish are not hitting, they are, you just havnt found the right fly yet.. Thanks for the fly Finpusher, a gettin after it production..

Burbot Bash Jan 22-29 2011

Presented by the Chambers of Commerce of Flaming Gorge, Green River and Rock Springs. They are getting serious about the Bash this year with over $10,000 in cash prizes. The basic layout, teams of 2-4 people, tagged fish in the lake ( everyone who catches a tagged fish will have their name put in the pot, one is drawn for $5,000 at sat closing ceremony), lots of giveaways at opening and closing from William Joseph, Sportsmans Warehouse, and Cabelas. Cash prizes for biggest fish ($1,500), most fish ($600), kids big fish, kids small fish ($100).

We have plenty of rooms available here at the Flaming Gorge inn ($40 per night 435-784-3088). We also have the restaurant open serving up the good grub. I also may have a little bit of inside info on where the fish are. The Forest Service will be giving out maps of where the fish were tagged.

Burbot are primarily fished at night for the best bite. They tend to be very abundant on the north end of the lake down to about Horseshoe. The north end of the lake should be all iced over however it is possible that it may be open water toward Horseshoe. They are expecting a lot of people so it should be pretty fun. Heck its the middle of winter, you need something to do.

Bur-Bot Bugger

Well im willing to bet that not a whole lot of people have ever caught a Burbot on a bugger. Burbot you say, what is that? Burbot are a fresh water Ling Cod that were supposedly illegaly stocked into flaming gorge. Many people are panicing and thinking that they are going to destroy the trout fishing in the gorge. Ive talked to several guys from Wyoming who have said that several of Wyomings best trout lakes have had Burbot in them. I was hoping for a big bow and all i got was this damn Burbot...

Im Still Here I Promise

So i have kind of been off the grid for a while here. Dont give up on me, better things are to come. I had the oppertunity a few months ago to purchase the Flaming Gorge Inn in Manila Utah. I could not pass on the chance to live in such a great place, so close to so much great fishing. It will be very difficult this winter, but so far so good. I will be doing some ice fishing this winter and i have been working on a few lake trout on the fly. The water is cold and the spawn is almost over so i should have some great pics soon. We are right below the Uinta mountains and great brookie and CRC cutt fishing, we are right by the Green River, and then of coarse there is the lake. Hope to see you all up here for some fun.

Dutch John, Utah

This last trip may have been the last true flip flop excursion of the 2010 summer. The fishing left a lot to be desired but the company did not. We all had a most excellent time and I dont believe we will ever see chicken gorgonzola on a menu without a giggle again. Great trip.