Weber River 2-27-2010

During the week I had been thinking about going fishing on Saturday, but the weather forecast was showing rain. So I was surprised when I woke to partly cloudy skies. Linda had to work, so I did a few things around the house then headed for the Weber River.

The river was running low and clear, as I approached I could see fish in the deeper pools.














The first fish I caught was a whitefish, so I pumped its stomach to see what they were feeding on. Its diet consisted mostly of mayfly nymphs (baetis), cased caddis, and a few midge larva. The fly I was using (shown in the second picture) is a midge larva imitation it's about 3/8" long, a giant compared to the naturals.
NOTE: Click on the Pictures to Enlarge.













I put on a smaller fly (seen in the center of the first picture)that was a little closer in size and color to the bugs that came from another screening this time from the river bed. I caught a few fish on the smaller fly, but most of the fish were taking the larger fly shown next to a golden stonefly nymph that was in the screen sample.













I took another sample from a riffle further upstream , and was surprised to see so many stoneflies. The largest one was about 1.5 inches long, from tip of tail to tip of antenna.














Endded up catching (18) whitefish and (6) browns. The largest brown was 15-16 inches long.













When I returned home, I took some picture of
the bugs and the flies I used.

Golden Stonefly Nymphs

Cased Caddis












Mayfly Nymphs - Baetis

Midge Larva

Fly Tying-Midge

Last year I tied up some midge larva and pupa imitations that worked well on lower fish creek. This year I have been researching on different materials to use for the midge larva and experimenting with those materials, so check them out.

Last year's Midge Larva.













This year's Midge Larva.













Last years Midge Pupa. In the picture it's hard to tell how small they are, but eight of them can easily sit on top of a dime.

















This year I'm also going to tie up some Caddis Pupa. This was my first attempt.