trout bum

folks, this weekend was total flippin' awesomeness.

first off - utah's green river tailwaters below the flaming gorge dam is the prettiest river i have ever seen anywhere. red gorge walls, the most emerald green algae i've ever seen sparkling in the sun, and water so clear it looked like cold distilled vodka. and the fish.

so many fish.

i didn't catch a lot of them (just 3 to be exact), but good lord because of the clear water you could see them everywhere. and so beautiful - rainbow trout at the highlight of their fall colors.

on friday night, i hooked into possibly my biggest fish ever, but there's no knowing for sure because it got away. he just kept taking line, and at one point he almost had me into my backing (the kite-string type of line that attaches your fly line to your reel). after 10 minutes, the fish managed to wrap itself around a log and slip the hook. my heart was pounding, crushed but exhilirated.

saturday i caught 2 little ones, and a 14 or 15 incher that was the most beautiful fish i've seen yet. good times, good talk, beautiful scenery.

on sunday, geno and i peeled off from the group and drove 2 hours to fish a colorado western slope river that i won't name here, because it's just that good. had my best day ever - several footlong or shorter rainbows, another that was just shy of 20 (that i didn't get all the way in because my crappy old net was too small), and a 16 that was the last fish of the day, just before it got dark. several good-sized rocky mountain whitefish, too (basically, a tough mountain carp).

for my first time ever, i managed to match a hatch at the end of the night. the trout were rising to the surface on all these little mayflys all over the water. the last two fish went for the tiny trico pattern i tied on.

wow, do i love this stuff.