It's All About The Shirt...And The Cookies!

Let me start with offering you a treat... For being such good friends and

 followers of the blog: 

Oh, this recipe now is my favorite...

Oatmeal scotchies with milk choc. and semi sweet...

No calories.  Ugh...in the first bite.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled topic of fly fishing...heehee

 

Last Saturday, my friend Jeri and I went to the Weber River to go after some big fish...and early...  We got there at 7 am...still a definite chill in the air.  Yeah, 38 degrees.  Jeri had her ski jacket on...Oh, good grief!  I told her that it was going to warm up quickly according to the weather report, so I got her to leave it in the car.  Trust is a great thing about friendship... = )

The water was high and murky.  Not exactly what the fishing reports had read... Oh well.  We gave it a try for a few hours.  Then, decided to go to another part of the river twenty minutes away.  It was also running murky.  I tried my Czech nymphs and some other mayfly nymphs, but without success.  It was now 1:00 pm... Time to go home?  Heck no.  I am a trooper until the end.  And this didn't feel like the end.  I still had some vigor left in me.   Jeri looked at me with a gleam in her eye... like she knew it wasn't the end of the day either.  "How about the Provo?  It is only another 20 min. away", I prodded.  Jeri responded with  a "Hell, yes!  Let's do it!"  So, off we went.  Two crazy fisher ladies.

Here's the kicker...

I really like my blue Simms shirt, but for some reason, it just doesn't bring me the same luck as my green Bud Lilly's shirt from West Yellowstone.  What can I say?  I have not been skunked yet in my "Bud" shirt.  So, why don't I wear it every time???  I might have to.  I am seriously starting to get superstitious!!   I'm sure that Jeri thought that I was nuts as I reached into my travel bag and pulled out a different shirt when we got to the Provo!  Haha.

Jeri is a great fishing partner.  She has spunk and she can hang with me on a 10 hour fishing day!  The Provo River was much more clear and lower also.  A perfect level right now at 250-300 cfs.  We headed to a favorite stretch of river that has given us luck before.  Yep, with the green shirt, it was bound to happen...

De-skunked!!  A smallish brown...but, I didn't care! 

And that was just the beginning...

Jeri followed suit and got her own catches in...

And a few more...and we had our fill of browns for the day.

 

Oops!  5:00 pm came... and as I looked at the sun over the mountains to the West, I knew that it was time to head back to the car.  A journey that took perserverance, patience and a little bit of luck. (At least for me)

As I headed back down the trail, I noticed a fisherman that wasn't all too careful with his release of the fish.  It got me thinking about the "Golden Rules of Fish Survival"...

•

                                                     Make sure your fishing net’s web is wet

before picking up a fish.

•

Wet your hands before handling any fish!

•

Don’t squeeze a fish’s stomach.

•

Don’t stick your fingers or any object into the

fish’s gills.

•

If you can’t remove a hook, from a fish, cut 

your tippet line

and release the fish before

the fish becomes overly stressed.

•

Quickly photograph a fish and immediately

return the fish to water.

•

In warmer water conditions try photographing

fish in a net that’s held partially in the

water.

Well, I am off to hit the pillow for the night... I have a bright and early fishing date...with, ugh...A FISH!

And don't even ask which shirt I put into the wash tonight...