Red Rock Adventure Blog

My first fly fishing trip of the year proved to be a comedy, frustrating, but still fun.

We chose to fish the Lower Lower Provo (the section between Bridal Veil Falls and the mouth of the canyon). That portion of the river doesn't get much respect, doesn't attract nearly as many fishermen, and I was out to prove it is home to a good number of nice brown trout.

Down there the number of fish per mile isn't as high as on the famous fly and lure only section, and there aren't as many big fish, but it can offer decent action without the crowds found upstream. I've fished the canyon mouth several times and had good trips.

But this time the comedy hit quickly, as started to get into my gear. It seems that I've put on a few pounds since I last used my waders. They were tight - very tight. I squirmed in and waddled down to the stream, vowing to start walking off winter flab.

When I opened my fly box I discovered that all of my nymphs were missing. All of them. I have no idea where they went. My daughter probably "organized" my stuff for me.

Nothing was happening on the surface and so I tied on a black woolly bugger. No go. I found a glo bug and tried it, without success. A hares ear, pheasant tail or sow bug might have enticed fish. Without them, my fly rod was not an effective tool.

My companion Kevin, bouncing worms along the bottom, caught several nice fish. The biggest was about 14.5 inches. Not great but respectable.

I love to use the fly rod but I'm not a purist. If it isn't working, I'm happy to try something else. But I couldn't bring myself to use worms. I fished a Rapala for a few minutes and a 10-inch brown kept the skunk away.

A chilly wind blew off and on. When the wind died down the air felt almost warm and conditions weren't bad

So, I survived the ice-breaker trip. I'll get out again within a week or two, and I'll make sure I have my stuff together.

- Dave

I've been doing website development work for Millard County Travel. Among other things, I've posted two video clips showing the annual Snow Goose Festival, which takes place every year during the last part of February. This year it is scheduled to run Feb 20-21.

The geese put on a pretty good show every year. They are remarkable consistent, with some 10,000 birds stopping over as they migrate north. DWR partners with Millard County to host the festival, which has become one of Utah's most popular wildlife viewing events.

DWR has spotting scopes so people can watch the birds as they rest on Gunnison Bend Reservoir, and as they forage in nearby fields.

The video clips are pretty impressive. They were shot for the Roughin It Outdoors TV show. I pulled them from a DVD and snipped out the pertinent segments.

Go to Millard's Snow Goose page for more info on the festival. That page also has links to the video clips. DWR also has info on the festival. See it here.

The same DVD has great video showing the Amasa Basin ATV trail in the west desert. Millard wants me to pull it off and put it on their website. I'll get that done during the next few days.