Mouth of Parley's

Went out for the sunset with Dunyon. He scored a new Nikon and he was doing some testing. I did some testing of my own and thought I would post these shots I took.

 Live in Utah where the freeways are plentiful

 I am not complaining...

 Scrub oak covered with snow

 Dark cloud looking East

 Nice

 Eary winter guards the north face

Power lines, I guess we needed to hike higher up.

Parley's Creek Bites Again

Well it was another close call on Parley's today with the big cut throat in the park.

Dalton arrived before I did and caught a few down river. He was gracious enough to leave the pool where the big one lives for me. It's become a bit of an obsession for me to land this fish.

The first cast was a little wide and he had a go at the hopper but I missed. I let him settle briefly and floated another one right over his head. Slam and he was hooked. I fought him away from his refuge and had him on for maybe 20 seconds. Dalton jumped in the river to help land him but it was not to be. He let go (as they say in Canada). Dunyon and Beez got a kick out of my primal scream after I lost the fish...

It blows my mind that such a big and healthy fish can thrive in the middle of the city like that. I estimate that he is probably 18 inches and fat as a pig.

Stay tuned for pictures when I finally land this guy (or girl).

Thanks,

Chris Giles

Late Fall on the Strawberry River

We had an opportunity to hit the Strawberry River this afternoon, for what was one of the most colorful fall days we have seen so far. The weather was a bit chilly and the threat of rained lingered for most of the afternoon. For a fly-angler, this "overcast" type of weather usually means excellent dry fly conditions, and today proved to be no different. Yesterday was actually the first day to legally fish this stretch of water, as the Kokanee Salmon spawn is coming to an end. We decided to start the afternoon off by checking the water conditions at the Strawberry visitors center. Upon our arrival, we stumbled across several bright red Kokanee splashing around in the shallows performing their spawning rituals. We immediately looked at each other and thought wow, we might be fishing for Salmon today! We were excited about the prospect of possibly hooking up on some of these beautiful fish, as these are definitely not a normal species to fish here in Utah. We drove about 500 yards up the road, put our boots on as quick as possible, rigged up with some big bright stimmies and hit the water. Within the first couple of casts, Chris had his fly smashed by a little cutty and we knew that the day was going to be productive and exciting. We continued up the river hoping to stumble across some spawning Kokanee, but were unable to spot any this far up the river. In all honesty, it really wasn't a big deal, as the three of us were catching nice little Bonneville Cuthroats cast after cast. Within thirty minutes we had lost count of the fish totals and became accustomed to getting hits on almost every cast. This section of the Strawberry really doesn't hold very big fish and anything over 8 inches was a surprise. None the less we had an excellent time and all laughed all day at the ridiculous little guys smashing our big fly's on the surface. We fished for about 4 hours, laughed all day and enjoyed the productivity of this beautiful stream. Home in time for a great dinner and some Sunday night football! What a day

10/15/2010- Provo River

I had a great afternoon on the Middle Provo and found some success on the surface with a few BWO variations and down below with a Prince Nymph. This time of year in Utah proves to be the best time to catch large numbers of trout and whitey's on all our local fisheries. With the Browns in mid-spawn and the weather still comfortable, it is very easy to let hours slip away on the water.
I feel very fortunate to call Utah my home and could not be more blessed to have such easy access to so many world class rivers. A 30-45 minute drive from my home in Salt Lake City puts me within close proximity of both the Provo and Weber Rivers, both "high yielding" streams. The notorious crowds on the middle seem to be dwindling a bit and I was able to snag a nice run with no other anglers in sight. Within 2 casts I had a beautiful little 12 inch brown on the nymph and I immediately knew that it was going to be a good afternoon. A few casts later I had a another 10-12 inch brownie smack my BWO with some serious attitude. After my second fish I could  not help but step back and take a few moments to enjoy the beautiful fall scenery. For those of you who are not familiar with this time of year in Utah, it is absolutely gorgeous. 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, golden, yellow, red and orange leaves covering all the trees in the area could not make for a better visual. Add some healthy spawning Brown Trout into the mix and you have what I like to call, paradise. However, the season is coming to an end and I would expect the trees to be naked and the temperatures to drop significantly over the next couple of weeks.
FISHbrain River Guides has a lot of work to do and we are looking forward to making some good headway in the upcoming months. With the website project in full swing, we are looking forward to seeing you online very soon. We appreciate everyone's support and look forward to fishing with you soon!
Cheers!

Weber Session with Father in Law

Headed up to the Weber tonight with my Father in Law Randy. We didn't have much sunlight but we both caught some nice fish. I was surprised when I caught one giant Whitty and from there on out it was all Browns. Probably 8-9 Browns.

The Browns are fat and healthy and have there spawning costumes in full effect. The weather was perfect but the wet-wanding season is coming to an end though...

It was a great fall session and I am grateful I could get out with my Father in Law.

Well. There it is... My first blog post ever.