The Fish Whisperer

There are few individuals that have the natural ability to catch fish like Sam. It seems like he can always some how convince the fish to rise to a dry fly when there is no sign of any visible hatch going on, and no fish are surfacing. When you go fishing with him he's the one to try to out fish, or measure your abilities against.

Strawberry 9-26-2009

Wow, can you believe it, this is the third week in a row I have been fishing. I'm not saying that I don't get out very often, because I do, but not usually every week. So you're probably wondering how this can happen. Well, for one thing Linda had to work on the Saturdays I went fishing, and she knows how much I enjoy the fall fishing.
Rick and I arrived at Strawberry just before 8:00 AM, to find several people already on the water. We put our gear together and kicked out into East Portal at 8:15. Fifteen minutes later I had my first fish to the net, a 17-inch Cutt. Two hours later I caught my second fish, an 11-inch Cutt, followed by three more the same size, and than a 7-inch Bow (the only one of the day). What the heck was going on, in the last five years of fishing Strawberry I have never caught an eleven inch Cutt, and just a week ago half the fish caught were 14-16 inch Bows. Finally just before noon we got into some 18-20 inch Cutthroats, but they were scattered. We spent a lot of time trying to locate the fish. The fish we did catch were still mostly in 15-25 feet of water, but we were able to catch some that were tucked in tight to the bank.
I will be taking next Saturday off from fishing to listen to general conference, and try to get caught up on some yard work. But the Saturday after that, who knows.


















The little guys. Sorry that they're out of focus. These fish were so small, I should have switch the camera to macro mode.













Some of the bigger fish.














Fall colors

Strawberry 9-19-2009

Linda had to work this day so I decided to make a run up to Strawberry to see if the fish were starting to move into the shallows. I arrived at the waters edge at 6:40 AM, it was just starting to get light and the sun would soon be peeking out over the mountains that were starting to put on their fall colors. It was a perfect fall morning. The mist over the water was quickly retreating from the bank. And the surface of the water was very calm and smooth except for an occasional delicate rise of trout feeding. Man I love fall fishing! I tried not to get to excited, because I new the really good fishing wouldn't start for a few more weeks when the water cooled down more and I would have to start wearing a coat and fleece under my waders.
One thing I noticed this trip was that I was catching more Rainbow's than usual and they were bigger. They must be the eight inchers they planted last year that are now 14-16 inches long now.














The Cutthroats were all 16-19 inchs, maybe next time out I will catch one bigger than this 19-incher.














Lots of algae in the water.












Notice the gill plate on this Cutt, looks like it was sliced off.












Fall colors.












This thunderhead with lightning got bigger as the day went on, but never made it to me.












The water was high, so not a lot of room to park on the bank.












The Control Panel.












Last fish of the day.

Scofield 9-12-2009

Picked Rick up Saturday morning around 6:15 AM, loaded his stuff up and we were off for Scofield. When we arrived Bruce and Dennis were already on the water and had caught several fish. It was a wonderful day of fishing. We all caught a lot of fish, Rainbows, Cutthroat, and Tiger Trout, with a few Chubs mixed in. Most of the fish were small 11-13 inches, with some in the 14-16 inch range, and a few 17 to maybe 19 inches.