This past summer I was fortunate enough to get a drift boat. If you have never fished from one before, it’s a whole new addiction. Just seeing the river standing on a boat is incredible. Rowing the boat down the river and putting your friends into fish is just as good as hooking into the fish yourself. These are the highlights of my summer in photographs.
The world is a wonderful place and this is some kind of life.
As I headed down to the Bahamas this past week, all that I heard from fellow anglers was how the Bone Fish is one of the most difficultly shy fish to catch throughout the world. Thinking nothing of this I arrived in Treasure Cay on a small Island Hopper plane and proceeded to the local Ferry for a lift over to Green Cay Island. Blue seas, high sun, delightful people, and my sister and her husband were there to greet my arrival.
I received a few tips on the area from my brother-in-law Nick and the best tactics for fishing the Bone fish (since this would be my first time). Wasting no time, we hit the water around 8 am to ensure the best place on the water. Quick side note, the locals do not have many ‘cars’ but instead they drive in jacked up golf carts with rims and big tires, but I digress. So off we set in our golf-cart and make towards the North side of the Island where we were told the fish are fun and plentiful.
6 hours past and all I caught was a small porgy and one of the worst sun burns I have ever had on my body. FYI to everyone, if you ever visit the Bahamas be sure to lotion up every 45 minutes!! You have been warned! After the burn kicked in and my buzz wore off, I ventured to the side lines and let my brother-in-law Nick kick it in the water solo for a few as I sat back, aloe’d my body like it was going out of style, and cured my pains with a locally brewed brewski.
Jumping to day 3 now, we were able to make friends with a few of the locals. Instead of paying a fortune for a guided tour of the near seas, our new found friends offered to show us a few of their honey holes along the reef, and help us break our streak of unfortunate fish-less 2 days.
Within the first thirty seconds of letting out the troll lines, the pole nearly rips out of my hands as a monster mackerel grabs my line and starts to raise hell. I grab on tight and ready myself for the fight. All of a sudden the line goes limp, then BAM another huge hit. After the second big hit the line goes slack and I reel in to check my hook and bait. To my surprise I have about 1/4 of my mackerel left and me pondering how big the barracuda was that just stole my catch!!
Never-the-less I bait back up and throw out my line once again. Within 30 more seconds my drag starts screaming and I hook up on another fish! After only a 2 minute or so fight, I have my first catch of the week. A 12 pound Barracuda with the teeth the size of my fingers!
At the end of the reef tour we pulled in a total of 3 Barracuda keepers and 1 Grouper keeper.
Now onto the part where I feel was the highlight of my fishing weekend! On the 4th day down under, we ventured back to the original fishing destination where I only caught a serious sun-burn and a hate for the sun. Like always though, I grabbed my gear, lotioned up, and tied on the shrimp imitation pattern that Nick tied for me. Off we went towards the North end of the Island. To be honest, I didn’t have much hope for this expedition to where I was just recently skunked at, but I was way off with my thinking!
I learned during this trip that you don’t fish for Bone fish, rather you hunt them instead. You look for shadows, movement, anything that could be a fish. So there I was, hunting down one group of about 15-20 Bone fish. After about 2 hours of casting at them and giving them everything I thought I had, they disappeared off into the horizon. So there I was, lost, bored, and my previous excitement was shot to the waves. Suddenly I see Nick waving his arms and yelling for my attention. The group of fish I was after was suddenly coming back towards me. Well, I thought to myself that it was now or never, so I threw out my line about 50 yards in front of the group, as not to spook them. As the fish were about 5 feet from my fly, I gave it a little action to help imitate a shrimp. The next thing I knew was that my pole was nearly dipped all the way into the water…. FISH ON!!! I scrambled about in disbelief as my line started stripping out and my drag screeched in happiness and anticipation. After about 8 runs by the fish, each about 40-50 feet, the Bone fish was finally tired enough to admit defeat to me. With tears in my eyes, I picked the fish up as Nick came sprinting towards me screaming in utter shock and exhilaration! I finally did what I had set out to do from day 1. I had hooked AND landed the infamous Bone fish, and my goodness was she beautiful.
So comes an end to the great tales down Under for this angler. The season is young, the weather is changing, and the waters are warming.. be ready for some sweet fish, some good times, and of course some sound advice from your friends here at Moose Knuckle Fishing. Be sure to check out our updates each week and our new flies and gear over at www.paulinskillriverfishing.com for all the latest hatches, accessories, and fresh tied flies!! Now I will leave you with the same scene that the Bahamas left me with..
“We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! We may conjecture many things.”
—John Wesley Powell
A Storied History
In the spirit of 236 years of glory, I’m going to tell you a bit about ‘Merica and our Green River. The river valley was originally inhabited by the Fremont culture, a people flourishing from the 7th century to the 13thcentury; their work can be viewed in rock art and cave overhangs. Eventually, the Shoshone and Ute peoples colonized the area for nomadic hunting purposes. While visited by the Spaniards and various trappers, the region remained unexplored. John C Fremont, legendary explorer, US Senator, and founder of the Republican Party, led an expedition into the region.
The first complete expedition was led by John Wesley Powell in 1869, the second was in 1871; most of the nomenclature of the region was assigned on these trips. Powell’s expeditions were not without controversy. Starting off in 1869 with 10 men and large gear carrying boats, they completed the expedition with 6 men. Four walked off, one successfully started a family in Vernal, Utah; the other three were possibly executed by Mormon Settlers. The Mormon Settlers claimed it was local Native American Indians. The true fate is still shrouded in mystery. Read the full account here.
Now for my favorite part of this story, The John Jarvie Ranch, founded in 1880 by an educated man of Scottish decent at Brown’s Hole. Located conveniently on the Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming border, Jarvie had significant mining and cattle interests. He distilled and sold Whiskey, while managing a general store, post office, blacksmith shop, and ferry. Jarvie made acquaintance with several notorious outlaws including: Matt Warner, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid. His ranch was a perfect location to hide out after a hard year of rustling cattle.
A Section
This 7-mile stretch of river commences at the boat launch under Flaming Gorge Dam, traveling through a red walled canyon down to Little Hole. This float is known for its aquarium feel, you can see the fish swimming below you in the crystal clear water. Also note, this section has the highest presence of rafters, though the Trout don’t seem to mind too much.
On this stretch, we used a couple of tactics resulting in Fish On! The deep pools and seems of this section are ideal for nymph rigs. Brenton developed his rendition of a bead head Pheasant Tail and some small Midges, size 16 and 18.
B Section
Below Little Hole, the river widens and the canyon walls lower, allowing for new angling opportunities. Furthermore, on the B, you can start to throw the Hopper Dropper combo along the shorelines and back eddies. Making this section even more enjoyable is the variety of primitive camping opportunities along the river. Halfway down, drifters will encounter Red Creek Rapids, a Class 3 section on the river. Upstream of Red Creek Rapids, is a long deep pool; fish activity is slow through here. We were able to coax some follows with articulated streamers.
Lapping the C Section
Now onto the true wilderness fishing expedition! The Green River, for management and discussion purposes, is divided into the three distinct sections. The C-section is by far the longest and most desolate section of the Utah Green River; it winds 12 miles through a desert valley, terminating in the high walled Swallow Canyon. In the later part of summer, this section is renowned for its Hopper fishing.
Day 1
This is our third day of living the dream, camping outside, fishing all day, every day. Having paid for a shuttle from Trout Creek Fly every day to this point, it was now our turn to use pedal power. To float the C, the preferred entry point is at Indian Crossing. It is also an option to use Taylor Flats, however, this will cost you a prime section of top water. Upon leaving the boat and gear at Indian Crossing; Brenton threw his Trek Navigator bicycle into “Toaster,” and drove the trailer to Swallow Canyon boat ramp. In my estimate, it takes about an hour to pedal back to Indian Crossing from that point, the road is shorter than the river here.
Day 2
Hopper action picked up on day 2, everyone landed a fish on a Hopper. Matt took the crown with a 20-inch German Brown. All was well, except the sunscreen started to run low, for trips on this section of the river, I suggest ample quantities of sunscreen and gloves for your hands. Swallow Canyon was markedly unproductive; we attributed this to the low water situation.
Day 3
Fish were keyed into Yellow Sallies on the portion of river between Indian Crossing and Taylor Flats. Unaccustomed and out of practice on the dry, I missed almost every fish. There was redemption for Matt, and just as the weather changed for a thunderstorm, the Rainbows drilled in on Yellow Sallies and Triple Doubles.
As I already mentioned, thunderstorms rolled in, and it was our last day on the river. In the distance, we witnessed a lightning strike. Then, there was a wispy spindle of smoke rising in the air! Brenton called the Forest Fire Service and reported it, luckily for us; the fire was over on a mountain ridge in Colorado. Needless to say, as the smell of distant smoke filled the air, we hurried up to the boat launch, packed our gear, and got the hell out of dodge.
Threats to the Future
The Green River is one of the Blue Ribbon Fisheries in the American West. Technically, a tributary of the Colorado River; an error of history, due to Colorado having more political sway when the Colorado River Compact was signed. There is currently a speculative project proposed to build a pipeline, in order to transport Flaming Gorge water to the Front Range of Colorado.MKFF opposes this project, as it will damage the local economies, the environment, and Trout fishing. The residents of the Front Range should adopt new water conservation measures, in lieu of attempting to use even more water in the semi-arid region.
Part 1 – This Is Our First Rodeo
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