Summer Time on the Weber

Brock came down from Washington and wanted to go fishing, so I picked him up and headed for the Weber. I haven't fished the Weber this time of year for several years, and I remember why now. Every summer, the Weber is covered with vegetation, making fishing very difficult. Hole's that are waste deep loo just inches deep from the grasses and other plant life in the river. We still managed a few browns and a single cutthroat, but we saw tons of good sized browns. I messed up the netting of Brock's biggest fish. It was a good 20 inch brown.

 

I also bought a new net about a week ago to test out. We netted one fish before I slipped and fell backwards on the net, snapping it in half! I was not happy to put it nicely! On top of that, I hooked into one of the biggest browns I've ever had on, only to watch it get off! other than that, it was a fun trip to catch up and enjoy the outdoors.

 

Aquatic plants made fishing difficult.

Brock with the only fish this net was used for before I snapped it.

Good looking Brown!

Night fishin' on the River

Roger and I have been hitting the Jordan river hard lately. We have had several trips in hopes of catching a few decent channel cats for another fish fry. We typically head out around 7 p.m. and stay till around midnight.  

 

We've caught a lot of catfish, but it takes patience to get though all the mud cats taking your bait to get a few Channel cats to the net. We've landed several keepers with the two biggest ones pictured below. Catfishin' is a great way to get to know your neighbors. I've really enjoyed hanging out and getting to know Roger better. He's taught me a lot about this river, and it's been great catching fish with him. These catfish will never win any beauty prizes, but they sure are good to eat!

 

I love the river this time of year.

Biggest channel cat of the year so far.

Roger looking on as he awaits the next catfish to bite.

Typical 12 inch mud cat. These guys are hard to keep off your line.

Tied my previous for biggest of the year.

Fish Tacos and More Fishing

After the nice day of catching white bass and catfish, Roger and I decided to have a fish fry. Roger was nice enough to share his batter recipe with me (I'm working on having him let me post it because it's goooood)! We decided to make fish tacos, and I'll tell ya, they were some of the best I've ever eaten! Roger fried up the fish to perfection! We used corn tortillas and put cabbage, chopped cilantro and onions, a touch of tarter sauce, and some green salsa from a local Mexican restaurant called Beto's. We topped it with a splash of lemon juice and then ate til we about popped.

 



Almost time to chow down!

Best fish tacos I've had.

After we had our fill and cleaned up, my Father-in-law called and wanted to go fishing. Since my wife was headed to a concert with her sister, it was game on for another afternoon fishing trip. After eating, I wanted to go catch more white bass. That, with finding out that my Father-in-law had never caught a white bass on the fly, we decided to go back to my honey hole. We launched around 6 p.m. and were lucky enough to get the spot all to ourselves. I kept joking that I'd catch one on the first cast, but it turned out I got one on the first three! The hole was on fire again, and it was great seeing my father-in-law get his first white bass. He couldn't believe how fast the fishing was. We landed 50 in the hour we fished and kept 15 big ones for the fryer. Purple Woolly Buggers were the trick again.

Future fish taco.

All the keepers were about this size.

one of many doubles we had today.

Headed back after a successful trip.

We made it back to my house and started filleting the bass. While we were doing that, Roger came over to see how we did and to shoot the breeze. While we were all talking, it was decided that we needed to end the day with a night fishing trip to add some catfish to the mix, so we finished cleaning the fish, put the boats away and were off again.

 

We went to Pelican Bay Marina, since Roger did well there a week ago. We landed four catfish while we were there, but it was pretty slow going. The bait of choice was a chunk of white bass meat. we called it quites after a few hours. I love the time and stories shared on these fishing trips with family and friends. It really doesn't matter if you catch fish or not when you're with great company.

 

Night fishing at Pelican Point Marina.

Roger with the first catfish of the night.