Testing out the new gear

[LOAH]

Well, it feels like it's been ages since I last went fishing. My wife and I were blessed with a new baby girl on the 15th of January and I've been staying at home for the past 5 weeks.

During this down time, we were able to get our taxes taken care of and my refund arrived, allowing me to grab some gear I've needed, and some I really didn't but wanted anyway.

I had a deal in the making with a guy from work who frequently goes to China as a purchasing agent for the company I work for (outsourcing...I know, whaddaya do). Anyhow, Dude goes to expos galore over there and has found a couple of rod builders that offer prices at a fraction of domestic costs. He had a guy build several rods modeled after Sage blanks and told me he'd get me one for $110 with a decent reel. I was all for that deal and fancied the idea of having a lighter rod (it was a 3wt) for a floating line setup since my 5wt was loaded with sinking.

First, the guy sold all the reels and I was left with a rod. Fine by me...saves me $50 and allows me to purchase my own reel.

Another guy at work had a Ross Cimarron reel, size 1 (3-5wt) and he said he'd let it go for a hundred even (spooled with 3wt DT floating line from SA). He'd only used it a couple of times and he paid $180 for it, so I took the deal.

Then on the day I brought money to the rod guy, he explained that the rods were sold out (pretty nice tidbit of info, right?). Grrr. Had me all excited and then left me hanging.

So at this point, I'd already purchased a reel and now had nothing to mount it on. I hadn't planned on paying a lot for a fly rod, so I shopped around and found a pretty good deal at Sportsman's Warehouse in Provo. They were liquidating last year's stock of Redington RS4 rods (Usually between $200 and $250) for $130 and I was counseled by a couple of fly guys to go for it.

Done deal.

So there's my coveted, but rather unnecessary purchase. What I actually needed was a new spinning reel. I've got several reels that have had enough abuse and they weren't very good to start with. I'm really not sure how they still work, considering the wear and tear they've received.

I lost an Abu Garcia Cardinal last year within a couple of months of buying it and I really liked it. Problem was, it was a discontinued model and I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the updated design that is currently on the shelves.

I had heard good things about Daiwa Exceller reels and checked in to those, but ultimately, the reel that felt best in my hand was the sturdy Pflueger President. Nice reel. Very solid and smooth, plus the drag feels better than what I'm used to. Paired with my St. Croix Triumph rod, the President felt great and it balanced on my forefinger.

Needless to say, I couldn't wait for the day I got to test my new equipment!

I knew I would have to fish some moving water, but I didn't want to go to the same old stretches of the Provo that I always visit, so I stared at Google Maps to review my options.

After much deliberation, I thought I'd fish the Upper Weber, above Rockport. There were some other tempting streams somewhere along the way and I intended to hit at least one of those, as well.





As promising as it looked, I didn't catch a thing there. Not with the fly rod or the spinners. I didn't use bait, so maybe that would've been the magic that I needed. While wading upstream, I only saw evidence of one fish and that was the swirl of sediment that it stirred up as it spooked. Other than that, the water seemed barren.

After wasting a few hours desperately trying every I could think of in every hole, I finally decided to move on. A little while later, I pulled into the fisherman's parking area near Rockport State Park and worked some holes on the Weber, near the bridge.

Eventually, my trusty old blue fox was what broke the silence and I had a scrappy little brown of about 11 inches to hand.

Near the diversion, just downstream from the bridge, a small leg of the river had a few stepped pools that looked good. I really started lighting them up here and knew I'd get my first fish on the new fly rod.

It only took a couple of strips and I had some tugs.



I ended up catching a bunch of those little tigers and a few brightly colored finless rainbows, as well. One of the bows actually looked wild, but all fish were quite small. All were released this time.

Venturing further upstream or downstream from the diversion area proved useless as I am obviously quite outclassed by this mighty river. Wading upstream was tough since the whole river seemed to be pretty deep and moving around would surely fill my waders.

Even with the spinning rod, the Weeb was too much for me. Either the fish just weren't interested or I have no clue how to fish it. Every hole looked great, but provided nothing.

Too bad, I guess. I can settle for a bunch of small fish over nothing at all. I must admit that my taste buds were hoping for a nice trout dinner though.

It will take some getting used to for my fly casting to improve, since the only things I can cast effectively are chunky buggers and such, but swinging that rod around was a real treat! I can't wait for open water.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

[mtn_trsh]

first of congrats on the new additon to your fam. gotta love new fly gear, good reel choice, i have a few ross reels and have never cursed them. good to see that you cought some fish, i went and fished the p-river at the mouth of the canyon yesterday, stiff trying to wash the skunk off.

[LOAH]

That section of the Provo is where my fishing roots grow deep. What were you using and what specific areas were you fishing?

[mtn_trsh]

i threw every diferent pattern of midge larvae i had at the time, also sank a few sow bugs, had a few half hearted strikes but was not able to hook up. from the parking lot i fished upstream hitting all the areas that looked promising, finnaly called it quits at murdoch diversion. still had a great time, gotta love it when there is no one in site, rare for the p.

[LOAH]

Did you hit the leg to the left of the parking lot? That usually has quite a few willing browns in it. As far as flies go, they'll take a bugger, even now. Black and olive have worked for me.

If you find yourself with spinning gear over there, the blue foxes really spank them (brass # 2).

And if you're really slummin' it, weightless nightcrawlers.

The piggies under the bridge are still a mystery to me though. In all my time fishing the area, I've gotten one bite that I missed.

[mtn_trsh]

i have never hit the leg to the left, thanks for the info, i will have to try it out.
as for the nightcrawlers dynamite suits me better. bridge pigs haunt my dreams forever, seems like it dosnt matter what river, what bridge there always there taunting.