Weber River Utah Fishing Report 5/4/12

Well what can I say, last Friday May 4th, 2012 I decided to buzz up to my honey hole on the Weber river.  I didn't have a ton of time to fish so I was reluctant to go but boy was I glad I went!  There was a mad midge hatch going on, they were flying around everywhere!  I had been up there a week before that and they had started hatching but definitely not like they were on Friday.  I started fishing around 4:30 and fished for about 45 minutes and had not had a bite.  So, I decided to switch flies a bunch of times until I found the right one.  A couple minutes later I landed my first brown seen below.  I foul hooked him so he felt a lot bigger than he actually was. 

I moved upstream to a hole that we usually do really well at but did not see any activity so I moved upstream a little bit to a hole where I knew I would get some bites.  I started fishing it and had a few bites that I missed but on one particular cast I had 3 bites and i missed all three bites!  Frustrating!  I think it might have been a smaller fish in the whole because the next cast is when I landed the toad.  He must have been jealous of that smaller fish trying to get some dinner and decided to take it before the little one even tried again.  I though I hooked onto a log when I first felt him on the line.  He did not go crazy like some fish do so I also thought that he may have been a whitefish (because we sometimes catch them in various holes we fish).  I did not realize how big he really was until he rolled on the top of the water and let me tell you what, that is when my heart started pumping.  I knew it was going to be one of the bigger fish that I have caught on my fly rod.  Being the moron that I am I forgot to bring a net which made the fight even more interesting.  I had to basically work him until he was tired enough that I could pull him onto the rocks of the shore.  This fight lasted about 10 min and included a couple of attempts on his part to run downstream into some rapids.  Here is a picture of this beautiful fish.  It almost looks like he swallowed a minnow and he is still digesting it because of the little bump under his front fin.

Here he is up in the rocks next to my pole.  I wish someone could have been there to help me take pics, the pics from my phone do not do it justice.  I did the best I could to measure him up on my rod and when I got back to my gear I measured my rod with a tape measure and figured that he was close to 21 inches long and I am guessing he was anywhere from 4-5 lbs. 




Here he is as I was releasing him.  After I let go I tried to grab him again but his massive body was no match for my hand so I was not able to grab him again.  Why did I try and grab for him again?  I dunno, I guess I did not want to see him go so soon but I know he needed to get back in the water and breathe.

 

Here is a picture of the midge that I was fishing with.  Look close, you can tell how much the hook bent after I caught him!  I could not believe it, I had to bend it back after I let him, pretty crazy!

 

I ended up losing that fly anyways a couple of casts later so I had to try and find another midge that looked close to it.  I picked the closest thing I could and put it on and moved upstream some more to try my luck in some of the slower pockets up ahead.  The slower pockets were checked full of territorial browns as I caught 3 in back to back to back casts.  Crazy thing is, most of them were foul hooked again which leads me to believe that they must have had a personal vendetta against the fly that I was putting into their territory.

I headed back to my truck because it was getting late by then and I came across a hole that I had noticed was hopping with tons of surface activity.  So, I decided to put on a dry fly midge pattern.  I put on some Frog's Fanny to make it stay on top and it was awesome to see those fish fight after the fly once it hit the water.  I caught 3 little 10 inchers on that dry fly.

Then, after I put my fly rod away, I though, I want to try something...So I got my ice fishing pole out (i brought it with me in case I wanted to throw some spinners out) and I put on a Rapala.  I threw it in right where all those fish were feeding and on about the 3rd cast is when I landed this fish.  I also foul hooked him in the fin because i think he was trying to swat it out of the feeding grounds. 

It was a great day of fishing!  I was glad I went, definitely worth my time!  :)
-Jimmy Sorenson May 4th 2012