Another Scofield Outing

I was really set on going to Strawberry for a solo (possible tube) trip, but it turns out Sonia (wife) caught the bug and wanted to go fishing again, this week. She also invited her sister. I guess the berry can wait a little longer.

With a gang, I figured Scofield was the golden destination with it's super fishiness, as of late. Sandra (Sonia's sis) is still pretty new to fishing and Scofield tends to have a pretty small learning curve.

With the hour difference messing with our heads, we reached our parking spot with some ambient light in the sky just after 7:00. The air was quite cold for the girls, so I got my coveted solo time for about an hour and some change.

For you ice-heads, you'll be pleased to know that I saw ice forming on my eyelets all morning.

I started off with the countdown rainbow pattern rapala that I already had tied on from last week. The other rod, a minnow.

I tossed the minnow out and started working the rapala to see what might happen. I only got to use it for about 15 minutes last week and felt like I could've done better earlier in the day. Well, it was definitely early and I wasted no time covering much of my surrounding area.

I got some decent hits just a few casts in, but failed to set and then I ran into this guy:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/17-4.jpg

Another look:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/16-4.jpg

He had a pretty good hook to his jaw and tall build up to his dorsal. To get the pic, I had to squeeze him pretty tight. He measured out at 17 inches.

So now my hands were cold, but I kept throwing that rap around for a couple like this little fella:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/15-3.jpg

My hands really were pretty cold, so getting photos wasn't my top priority for that moment.

The minnow hadn't produced anything yet, to my surprise, and I really felt like launching last week's hot pattern for awhile, so I threw on a bubble and a parachute adams.

First cast and 4 missed bites later, I finally set this guy:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/13-4.jpg

Not the greatest pic, but all I had of the PA pattern. Ice block fingers were buggin!

I got a few more with that (missed so many more) and then lost the gear on a botched cast that snapped my line. I had more flies, but thought I'd give my old standby a shot.

Here are some blue fox pics :wink: :

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/12-4.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/11-5.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/10-7.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/9-8.jpg

That was pretty fun. Just after that last pic, the rest of my party joined me. Sandra said she didn't want to keep any fish, so I handed her my rod with the spinner. At this point, I'd caught and released quite a few fish and had a pretty formidable tiger for the stringer. I didn't mind taking a shift with the boy and watching my minnow line (or should I say crawdad line :? ).

It wasn't too long after they arrived that I had to hand James (son) back to his Mom while I handled some business. I managed to get footage of this:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_IMGP1006.jpg

Nothing special, but it was a keeper.

Sonia wasn't having any luck, but Sandra happened upon a small rainbow with my BF (no pic). I was pleasantly surprised to see her holding a fish that didn't have a worm halfway to its stomach. Good for her. Now I need to get Sonia to try the spinners out. One day, I suppose.

I kept babysitting for a bit longer while Sonia tried and tried. She finally got a rainbow by laying a worm on the bottom for 10 minutes. I didn't get a pic of that one, either. I was glad she got her fish, though. It was about 14 inches and fat.

My turn. I set up Sandra with a worm on her rod and got mine back. I tossed out another minnow and then I rigged the spinner rod with another fly/bubble set up. I knew the PA was solid and a sure bet, but I decided to try something different that might have bigger returns. I set up with a brown bodied, olive tailed bugger about 7 feet behind the bubble and dropped a copper john about 2 feet behind that. I filled up the bubble all the way and launched.

That P-line can fly! I was getting close to the opposite shore with my light action Ugly Stik. I gave the bubble a few seconds to sink and then brought it in at about the same pace as I would with a dry.

After a few casts with nothing, I slowed down my retrieve and instantly saw results. After I adjusted my speed, I got several hits on every cast.

The biggest problem was setting the hook. I couldn't get a hookup for the life of me. I got lucky a bit later, but here's what the "luck" looked like:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/8-9.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/4-13.jpg

How crazy!!! I couldn't get these fish while they were biting? I think they were just nipping at the tail of my bugger and when I tried to set, the dropper would jam into their sides. Either way, it was a fish in my hand and then back in the water.

I finally managed to get a decent hookset on a fish that was actually biting my dropper:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/7-8.jpg

I thought about trimming the tail, but opted not to this time. I may need that tail for the particularities of another water in the near future.

A little while later, I was happy to see my line pulling out on my minnow rod again and started rolling:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_IMGP1013.jpg

That was a fun fish to catch. Not much of a topwater show, but she pulled really hard while she was under. My drag was buzzing. Another 17" tiger for the stringer.

Still no new luck for the ladies.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/5-10.jpg

I switched my bugger/dropper set up for a black/olive maribou jig and switched my minnow to a weighted worm. I saw my line acting funny some time later and reeled in to find my "luck" carrying over to this method:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/6-10.jpg

:haha:

I've never had so many snags in so little time. Weird. I believe there may have been a couple more snags that I didn't get images of. It seems like it, but I'm not sure.

The ladies were sad and wanted to leave, so they gathered up what they could and went back to the car.

I had more work to do before I could leave, so I threw out a minnow for fun while I cleaned up and pulled in the minnow trap for sorting. About 15 minutes had passed and I shared some words with some others fishing nearby. It was time to go and only one thing remained: Reel in and pack out.

Well, I didn't notice the line moving nor did I expect to have any resistance while reeling in, but sure enough...Fish on.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ucket/3-14.jpg

So for me, this goes into the books as another very productive day at Scofield, but for the gals, it was pretty sad. They still had a good time and would rather have been there than watching television, so we all win.

Happy Fishing, Humans.http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...bucket/GIR.gif

Once again nice work!

Sweet fish and sweet pics man. You were probably getting "short strikes" on your bugger which is what resulted in the copper john foul hooking that tiger. What was the depth you were fishing? Its possible also that the flies were bouncing off the rocks if you had a slow retrieve and full bubble.

So, when you gonna start casting those babies with a fly rod?

I figured that's what was behind the snags. I actually "roped" a brookie up in the Uintas with my dropper, once. I had assumed that the only way that could've happened was if the fish struck the first fly and I set too late which looped the tippet around the tail and the hook acted as a pulley to cinch the loop tight around it. Crazy.

I was fishing pretty close to the top. When the bubble was full, I let it sit for a few seconds after I cast, but it never sank too far down.

I usually got most of my hits when I got my flies over the channel right by where I was.

I'll start using a fly rod as soon as I get one. That will most likely have to wait until tax time. I'm having one built for me when it happens.