Brown and Out

Keeping it Local

For the past couple of weeks, I've been fishing the lunch break spot here and there.  For the most part, it's been slow when I've remembered to bring the camera and better, of course, when I've left it at home.

At one spot, I like to try my luck using only a bare hook and this last go around produced several large carp.  Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of this, but one of them was easily over 10lbs.  Certainly not my preferred target species, but it's better than getting skunked!

Another stop at one of the nearby lunch spots, after work, provided some pretty good white bass action.  Most of them are pretty small and identical, but one was slightly larger than the usual catch:

A few days later, I thought it would be fun to check in on another spot that I had ignored so far this year.  Seeing how it's the closest hole to my workplace, it's odd that I had left it alone for so long.

Using custom plastics that were sent by a forum member to try, I was able to coax quite a few healthy browns to swipe at them, although I had difficulty getting anything to stick.  Several good browns and one really nice one bumped the jig enough to tear it up, so I found it rather frustrating that I couldn't connect with any of them.

Finally, using a neon green plastic minnow, a really aggressive little guy picked it up and after jumping out of the water for it a couple of times on previous retrievals.

It was nice to finally hold one of the browns that had been teasing me, although it wasn't the big one that I've been hunting ever since.  He'll come around soon enough and I'll be sure to report when he does.

Enter the weekend trip:

Normally, I like to get out of the valley and go on exciting trips on the weekend and this past Saturday, my family and I had plans to visit the High Uintas, fishing some easy-access ponds that are usually overlooked by most people in the area.

After the usual morning delays, we finally set off to accomplish this, but only made it about 20 miles to the city of Heber, where I noticed an awful sound coming from my engine compartment.  Long story short, I still had power and decided to reverse course and head home while I could.  The fishing trip was over before it ever began.

It was a good move to go back.  Turns out, my timing belt tensioner went out and it would only be a matter of time before my engine missed, causing major damage to my valves and possibly other internal necessities.  Needless to say, I'm not driving the Rodeo until it's back in shape and for now, I'm driving the Sentra, which has its own issues, although not severe and it will do.

Still requiring a fishing fix, I took a couple of hours on Sunday and zipped a few miles up Provo Canyon with my boy, James.  Father and son exclusive trips are a rarity for me, so it was a great opportunity to enjoy his company without other distractions.

Unfortunately, he still hasn't caught the fishing bug entirely and tends to get bored with it rather quickly.  Considering the river conditions, it wasn't the best situation for him to catch anything either and that didn't help.  Regardless, it was good to get out with my little man.

The fishing wasn't great and my head certainly wasn't fully engaged (I was really jonesing for the Uintas), but I was able to pull in a couple of browns.  The first was the biggest at around 15 or 16 inches:

The other brown wasn't too impressive, but it was nice to feel another tug before calling it a day.  James was getting homesick anyway.

 Back to lunch:

Just yesterday, I felt the urge to check the teaser hole again and I'm glad I did.  At first, it looked like a skunk since the fishy holes seemed empty.  Then I got a wild hair and decided to throw my favorite spinner into the darkness, where the creek is piped to flow under I-15.

Reeling back quickly to avoid unseen snags, I felt the bite and the bout was on with a thrashing brown.  It still wasn't the big one that I'd seen last week, but it was larger than I'd seen recently at an estimated 17 inches.

Not bad for 5 minutes of my time, not to mention within walking distance from work!

He was released to entertain me on future visits.  He also helped me have a better attitude at work, which was much needed on such a busy day at the grind.  Thanks, lunch spot!

Hopefully I can get the family into some good fishing this weekend, despite the holiday hoards.

Happy Fishing, Humans.