Uinta's

 Went to a remote stream for the Cutty opening day.

 Ended up catching a bunch of browns!

 Cutty on the hopper.

 McGuin battles a trout.

 This brown I caught was FAT! sitting in 6 inches of water under a shady tree.

Caught some really great fish on this outing...

When we were packing up at the car a red bullet bike roared by up the canyon. On our way over the pass we came across the bullet biker and he had crashed and passed away. There was one trooper on the scene, he had just placed a sheet over the body. McGuin almost puked and the car went silent for a half hour. Enjoy life to it's fullest and if you have a goals go after them hard and fast!

Thanks,

Chris Giles

Henry's Fork + The Madison on Grider's Bachelor Party Weekend!

"You can stop hiding your women and daughters... I proposed to Kat and she said yes!" was the text message we received last fall when Cutty, Downing, McGuin and I were on our way to float the Green in Wyoming. What a great message to get!

We rented a cabin on Island Park Reservoir  and on Friday afternoon the "St. George Crew" snuck out to float Box Canyon. Grider, Frisch, Downing and I all lived together in St. George our freshmen year of college. Re-united back on the river felt great!

We all caught a bunch of fish but nothing BIG. Grider had the most and the biggest though as luck was on his side with the pending wedding...

Frisch fishing off the back of Darby.

Frisch with a tooth pick in his mouth...

It's a swift river until it cools off at Last Chance.

Downing off the back.

A shot down river with a little water fall coming off the cliff river right.

Taking a dip. It was a scorcher! 

The bachelor party was well attended... Let's see- Jeremy Copier, Jordan Meine, Matt Cannon, Steve Grider, Chris Downing, Ryan Frisch, Chris Neihart, Kelly Fitzgerald, Tony Harris,Greg Madsen and Jeff Adams. Sam Barnes, Jon McGuin and Danny J were sorely missed!

Hanging out on the deck after the Friday float. That night we proceeded to un-hook the dock and go out for a cruise around the lake. Talk about a classic moment! I had my guitar but Downing kept cutting the music off saying- "Giles, your just not putting your heart into it! You need to scream it out dammit!". Anyway we were all howling at the moon for a few hours as we drifted around the lake on a dock...

We all floated the Madison from Lyon's bridge to McAtee on Saturday. 27 miles and 8.5 hours later we made it. It was me, Tony, Adams and the man of honor on Darby. The other guys rode on Greg's boat. We had walky talky communication which was funny. 

It seemed like anytime anybody had a good drift with their rig we were catching fish. Adams caught 15 Whitty's in a row though and a curse fell on the boat.. As we drifted under a small bridge my oar clipped a beam and bent it, Adams had a fish on while this happened that he swore was a big one (turned out to be another Whitty), Tony kicks out the drain plug and we start sinking and Grider/Adams drop my brand new net!!!!! We quickly pulled over and declared "lunch break". I had to go lay down under  a tree while they bailed the boat and searched for the net. Icing on the cake was Frisch when they pulled up..."you lost your net? Was it long and red? oh I saw it...." 

It was  rough moment but we got past it. 

Jeff and Grider were standing cheek to cheek in the front of the boat catching fish after fish for all 27 miles. They lost a comical amount of rigs but it goes with the territory. Started calling Grider "Snaggy", hope it sticks...

I think we sent Grider off in style and it will go down as a great weekend with the fellas.

Thanks,

Chris Giles

A and B Sections

Finally it didn't rain! We planned a trip to float the Green and camp along the way.

I was confident on the oars finally and felt like I was in total control.

Everyone was in great spirits as we floated through the A section on Friday afternoon.

A shot of Sneaky after he got splashed by a wave...

Can't think of a better way to spend time with the family!

Rocco and Dylan taking a break.

Love this shot so much. Floated past Little Hole where we signed up for the last camp spot called "Pugmire's Pocket". It was pretty crowded that weekend.

Rocco loving on Mom.

Both Rocco and Dylan took naps mid float! like hour long naps...

arriving at camp.

The sunset, Darby and I

I hit a few rocks during the Red Creek rapids the next morning so I was a bit puckered up. Needed to stop for a quick fish. You can see the near half of the river is off color do to Red Creek coming into the main current.

Caught a few really nice browns.

Stopped at this island in the B section for a picnic. The water was crystal clear and the kids hunted for rocks.

Ash way up stream and its still only knee deep.

After the B section we drove out to the Uinta's to camp on Saturday night to make Sunday's drive a little smoother. 

While on the Green we saw a great horned owl with two owlets starting to fledged. A couple of feather balls jumping from rock to rock flapping their wings. I have never seen anything like it. We also saw snakes, rabbits, eagles, otters, deer, lizards, lots of trout and lots of birds.

The kids did great camping and keep asking when we are going back!

Thanks,

Chris Giles

Henry's Fork

 I am really excited to explore new rivers with the drift boat and I got to bag a great float in Box Canyon. Jeffery mentioned him and his Dad would be at The Ranch and told me to come up if I could. I took him up on it and we floated 4 miles through Box Canyon. 

 Jaime casts off the back of the boat.

 Nice little rainbow took the Stone Fly.

 Jeffery casts off the front. The day started sunny but a nice lightning storm blew in at the end of the float.

 We all caught fish and had a nice afternoon. The water is swift through Box Canyon and the scenery is world class.

 Felt like boy scout camp at the ranch. a big mess hall for meals and a bunk house to sleep in. 

I don't quite get the fascination with The Ranch. Heard stories in the mess hall of guys coming there for years and they have never caught a fish! When people do catch them I am sure its nice but I would rather see some more action. It's a true match the hatch type river and people come from all over the world to fish it. Like I said I don't quite get it...

Thanks

Chris Giles

Dark Skies and Dries

 I went out on Saturday for a few hours on a small creek. Caught 5 nice browns. Went back on Sunday with McGuin to find it blown out with all the rain. So we decided to find some tail water and it turned into an epic day.

 See if you can decipher what is going on in this picture... This is the small creek I mentioned that was blown out.

I came around a corner and a massive crane flew off her island nest. The creek was still rising and I fear she lost these two eggs not long after we left. Such is life I suppose.

 

 Once on the tail water the hatch was on! McGuin tied on a BWO and he got a bunch of hits on top. The parking lot started filling up so we got ahead of the crowd and went for a walk....

 The memories came flooding back as we worked up this stretch. I fished here as a boy, and when I say boy I mean 8 years old and younger. With my Dad and my brother Pat. If there was ever a home stretch for me this is it! I had my birthday party here when I was a small boy. My dad took me and and handful of my friends and we camped out! My Mom sent along a german brown shaped cake which we ate around a camp fire. We caught a few fish to boot. Most kids my age had different birthday party ideas but I wanted to go FISHING!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad.

Fly Fishing has come and gone in my life several times. Manifested its self in several ways... The early days with my Dad and Brother, the days fishing Millcreek in my own backyard on big dries during my teens, Danny J teaching me to nymph fish on the middle Provo, Dalt and I hoofing into some of the most remote spots around, to now.... Drift boat poised and new adventures loom on the horizon.

 My Dad used to take the "work truck" from the plant on days we would go fishing. It was a flat bed pick up and he would pull up in the drive way and we would load up and take off for the river. We were not well off in these days and it was always a big deal when Dad would take us fishing. We always had sour cream and onion potato chips on the way home... fish guts and potato chips (we didn't catch and release in these days)! 

 These browns today were very special.... I caught 25 at least, and they all seemed to be 16-20" browns. so fun!

 McGuin is to be commended as he was fishing the hatch and he was successful.. He caught a few less but they were really fun to watch. Nothing like seeing a big brown come up for a dry.

 

 The olde double. Always talked about, seldom brought to hand. This was a team catch, as McGuin hooked them and I handed them. Of all the fish this was the only Whitty of the day...

 Look at the spots on this guys. Beyond handsome...

 These big fish are what got me hooked back in the day and it was so good to get them this afternoon. I have fished this spot as a boy with my Dad and my Bro, with Danny J, with Dalt and today with McGuin. So glad Utah pulled its head out of its own ass and allows access to OUR rivers. I grew up on a creek surrounded by private property and I get it to a degree but.... FUCK YOU! Let us fish our rivers...

Sorry for the rant but I love to fly fish.

Thanks,

Chris Giles