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BONEDALE FISHING REPORT #8

THE PUMP BY JEFF BECK

I went fishing today with an old friend and laid-off rig hand, the infamous John Steele, who’s been forced into booking punk rockabilly bands in Spun Junction to support his fishing habit. We started at the Pink Bridge in Sutank, and the boys from the Roaring Fork Marina were testing out a new fleet of paddleboards. The surfing was stronger than the fishing on the middle Fork, due to the obscene number of Caddisflies. We did, however, spot several BIG BOWS on beds, and it seems we’ll have another successful spawn. Not spawning myself anymore, it was good to see the fish fighting the good fight. We headed up the Crystal, having caught a couple of nice native Cutts and a mixed bag of Browns. The Crystal dropped several feet last night, after a good freeze, and deposited a massive tree just above the Hatchery Bridge. Between the tree and a manky Beaver carcass, we caught several nice fish, then I sent my friends back down to the big ditch where, fortunately, the Mother’s Day hatch is no longer an issue. Maynard is still gainfully employed in BONEDALE, while I’m forced to hawk t-shirts and stickers out of the WORLD HEADQUARTERS. The dust layer forced some snow pack off early, but believe me, it ain’t over yet. Mother nature will deliver another epic runoff, which is good for all parties concerned. I’m headed west for the weekend to fish for river Cats, giant Carp and maybe Bass and Bluegill. The long suffering Mrs. Hause has a chore list, so it’s time to giddyup, or I’ll be forced into honest labor. I would, of course, rather be fishing. Tie up maaaassssive Stones and head west immediately. Also, send swag for the spiritual wars.

Live from the WORLD HEADQUARTERS

Kea C. Hause

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Pick a fly, any fly, it’ll probably work during the sweet spot after the Roaring Fork’s peak flow subsides and the big bugs come out. Photo: Copi Vojta

Is There Something in Utah’s Water?

In the latest and most extreme example of the long-standing animosity between states and the federal government over public land ownership, the state of Utah has filed a lawsuit against the federal government to gain control of vast swaths of the state’s public land.

This is largely about money and the smoldering embers of the Sagebrush Rebellion, with Utah politicians believing ​​their right to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing, logging and mining revenue supersedes the general public’s historical ownership status, set forth in the terms and conditions for statehood in 1894:

“Utah claims that 18.5 million acres of ‘unappropriated’ Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands must be turned over to the state because it has been deprived of the revenues BLM collects from grazing, logging and mining. History shows that as a condition of statehood, Utah agreed to not seek control of federal public lands. The Utah Enabling Act of 1894 established the terms and conditions for statehood and a constitution. The act was signed by President Cleveland on July 18, 1894.”

For the record, most hunters, anglers and the well-respected Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) vehemently oppose these largely self-motivated legal maneuvers. The land in question is public, by law, and should stay that way.

If concerned (you should be), reach out and make your voice heard: Patagonia highlights a roadmap for the sustainable conservation of all public lands with the co-management of Utah’s Bears Ears Monument.

The Five-step Run

When I’m reading water and approaching a run in a river, I like to use a five-step approach.

Say there’s a rock creating the run against a bank; a current seam sweeps outside the run and an eddy forms inside toward the bank. How do you plan your casts?

If you’re like most anglers, you’d like to catch two or three fish out of this run, so step one is to cast to the tailout of the seam. You’ll often find the biggest fish here. Be cautious and deliberate; shallow, slower water tends to make fish–especially larger, older fish–more skittish and selective.

Step two and three are casts following the seam upstream, toward the rock. Odds are the biggest fish in the run is somewhere in this area if he isn’t at the tailout.

Another place the big boy might be is in the eddy, likely feeding against the current, facing downstream. That’s my step-four cast, into the eddy, paying out line back toward the rock as the eddy sucks it upstream.

Step five is a well-placed cast or two on the cushion in front of the rock. Always fish the front of the rock and the front of the run.

Always have a plan when you approach a run in the river: where to cast first, where to cast last, where you intend to land a fish, if hooked. “Making it up as you go” is not a plan…

See Your Way Clearly

For many anglers, sight-fishing is the top-of-the-game approach, where the thrill of stalking and tricking their quarry is optimized as the drama unfolds in plain view. But there’s a more utilitarian reason to make yourself a better sight-fisher. If you can see fish before you make a cast, you can dramatically increase your odds of hooking up. After all, knowing where fish are helps you pinpoint your presentations, recognize takes and, ultimately bumps your effectiveness to a much higher level.

“How in the world did you see that?” is a common refrain the best fishing guides often hear.

While spotting fish may indeed be an acquired talent, it doesn’t require superhuman vision or a carrot-rich diet to improve your acumen. If you follow these simple rules, you’ll see your way to instant gratification on the water…

Rule 1: The secret to spotting fish is knowing where to look. Sounds simple, but it’s not. When I’m surveying a run in a trout river, for example, I know where fish typically like to hold–on the current seams, on cushions in front of rocks, in deeper depressions, against cut banks and so on. When I try to spot fish, I’m pinpointing my gaze in those areas, one small section at a time. I might be fixed on a specific area, maybe six by eight feet, while you might be scanning a space the size of an Olympic swimming pool. If I don’t see something in position A, I shift my attention to the next option. Divide and conquer, one small piece at a time.

Rule 2: Use sunlight to your advantage. When you’re staring into sun glare, your vision is hampered; position yourself with the sun behind you, and it’s like having a spotlight on the water (and the fish). Think about placing your body in relationship with your light source whenever possible, and you’ll see more fish.

Rule 3: Focus on the subtle. Joe Demalderis, one of the best guides on the technical trout waters of the Delaware River system in New York and Pennsylvania, once told me, “You have to look for a single star, not the whole night sky.” When you look only for the obvious, you minimize your effectiveness. Be suspicious of tiny reflections, shapes, and shadows that might reveal a fish. Remember, you aren’t always looking for the whole fish; a tail or a nose is all you need to identify a target and direct that cast.

Rule 4: Learn to recognize and eliminate things that are not fish. Legendary redfish guide Chuck Naiser from Rockport, Texas, once explained to me that the sooner an angler can weed out mental distractions such as wind, ripples, waves, sticks and bird shadows, the sooner he or she can get down to the business of identifying the position of feeding fish, and where to aim.

Rule 5: Let the water be your guide. On the bonefish and permit flats of Mexico’s Ascension Bay, guide Alonso Choc of the Palometa Club makes his living by recognizing nervous water, where the motion of schooling fish reveals their locations. When you stare at a uniform water surface, and suddenly notice a disturbance, keep looking. The flashes and tails often follow in spots where you first see wakes or ripples.

Rule 6: Learn to look through water. Terry Gunn guides on the Colorado River in Lees Ferry, Arizona, possibly the best sight-fishing trout river in America. His secret to spotting fish is looking through the water column, as opposed to fixing gazes on the surface or the bottom. Doing so makes you more adept at noticing motion and subtle color changes that pinpoint a fish’s location.

Rule 7: Take your time. When fish are feeding, oblivious to your presence, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking an extra minute to survey the waterscape. Better to spend the time to acquire a legitimate target than to blind cast and drop a fly or bait on a fish’s backside, thus ruining your chances.

Rule 8: Seek a vantage point and look into the current. If you’re fishing a river, survey it from a high bank. In flat water, understand that there’s a reason why guides pole skiffs from an elevated platform. Steelhead guide Tyler Palmerton of Oregon explains that, all things being equal, the key is to look up-current, because that usually positions you outside of a fish’s peripheral vision and gives you a more detailed point of view.

Rule 9: Inconsistencies are the name of the game. Whether you’re looking for bedded bass or trout holding in a run, you want to establish some waypoint markers in the water-rocks, weeds, depressions and so forth. Colorado trout guide Jeremy Hyatt establishes a water template in his frame of view, and lets anything inconsistent with that template (color shades, shadows, motion) tip him off as to a fish’s presence.

Rule 10: Wear polarized glasses. If I forget my waders at the start of the day, I’ll usually improvise or tough it out. If I forget my polarized glasses, I’ll go home and start fishing later. Good polarized eyewear is the foundation of the sight fishing game. Different frames and lenses offer various advantages, too. For example, on certain bright days, you might want amber or copper lenses, while in overcast conditions, yellow lenses might be better. The key is finding a style and model that wears so comfortably that you barely notice that you have them on. When you fish, your glasses should be an extension of your body. Without decent shades, you’re almost fishing blind.