A New Toy And Some White Bass

I sold my boat about a month ago, and bought a new 9' Renegade with a Minn Kota trolling motor. I headed a few miles down to the American Fork boat harbor of Utah Lake and got all set up. The frame less Renegade is light at only 30 lbs, so getting it in and out of the truck was a breeze.  I started off toward the American Fork river inlet to see if the white bass were wanting to play. On my very first cast I had a fish! A silver Meps spinner seemed to be the ticket today. The white bass were there and I fooled around with them for a bit before I moved on to see if I could get into something bigger.

I ended up just cruising around to get used to how the boat handled. I just kept the motor in locked position and controlled the boat with my fins. This approach worked out great. I was out for a few hours before heading in. I'm looking forward to going on some rivers and other waters to see what this boat can do. Until then, tight lines!

 

My new toy; Dave Scadden's Renegade with Minn Kota Endura C2 Motor.

Small white bass. This was the typical size today.

Cr using back to the harbor.

Flyin High On The Weber

I met up with Rob to hit the Weber, but today's trip was going to be different. Today is the first time I have fished the Weber only using a fly rod. You see, I have always been more comfortable and confident with a spinning rod in my hand and I would always take one when I fly fished. I guess you could say it was my crutch. Today was also a chance to try the new fishing rod I finally received from winning the Utah Trout Slam a while back (it's a long story). It didn't hurt that Rob is a fly fishing instructor either. He really helped correct some of my bad habits.

We got set up and started fishing, and Rob had the first fish of the day within five casts which turned out to be a nice rainbow. It didn't really slow down much from there which made for an incredible day. We both caught fish after fish with Rob landing around three to every one that I did. We were using beaded hairs ears with a dropper. We got into a mess of white fish in a few holes. I forgot how fun they are to catch and how hard they fight. They fought harder than any of the trout we caught, which may be why they have the nickname of "Rocky Mountain Bonefish". We even had a few doubles with them today. I don't get into them when I'm throwing big swim baits and plastics with the spinning rod. We also landed a bunch of browns, and a  good sized cutthroat for this river. This turned out to be one of the best fly fishing experiences I have had, and the new rod worked like a champ. The river treated us well today! 

First fish of the day; a rainbow trout.

Biggest white fish landed.

Fish On!

Brown trout.

Rob and I had a double on the white fish.

Who needs a net?

The only cutthroat trout landed.

Rainbow trout

White Fish (AKA Rocky Mountain Bonefish).

Brown trout