Fishing Report

So it seems that I am limited to catching only 49 fish per trip. Yesterday I went fishing on the Whiterocks River in Whiterocks Canyon with my brother Clark.

Clark told me Friday night he'd pick me up at 6am. So I got up at 5:20, got dressed, ate some jam and toast and headed outside. I knew I was early but I had to water the grass we planted and my garden. 6:00 came and Clark hasn't shown up yet. So I wait. 6:08 I decide it's time to call. It goes to his voice mail. 6:18 comes and I try again. Voice mail again. But right after I hang up he calls back saying he's on his way. He's only 3-4 blocks away so it wouldn't be long.

We stop for gas at Circle Maverik and head on our way. When we get to the end of the road we park the truck and dawn our gear. First the sunscreen, then the bug spray, then since it's only 7 I put my jacket back on. It was 57 when we shut the truck off. I strap on my .44 mag first, then put on my fanny back pack. It's a fanny pack that has shoulder straps so what else would I call it? Then I put on my fishing vest. All that gear was surprisingly comfortable. I hadn't ever fished with both the fanny back pack and the fishing vest on at the same time.

We made the short hike over to the river (100-200 yards?) and start fishing. Clark immediately waded through the icy cold water to the other side. After restringing my pole because I put my reel on wrong, I was able to make the first cast of the day. FISH ON! First catch was a fine little native (aka cutthroat trout). Natives are beautiful little fish that are fun to catch. Within minutes I had caught a couple more brook trout in just that first little hole.

We fished our way upstream. Clark had to scale a rock cliff face to stay on his side of the river. I on the other hand had to backtrack a bit and go up the side of the canyon to get around a cliff so I could continue fishing. After getting back down to the river, I finally spotted Clark.

I yelled something to him and he yelled "moose!" My comment? "What?" He says, "Bull moose!" I turned around to see some bushes moving and then a small bull moose just yards away. He went up the hill and on his way. This was the only big animal we saw that day. There was always the chance of seeing a bear. Whiterocks canyon has always been well known to have bear in it. On a side note, today I found out my neighbor was camping in the campground there this weekend. They did see a 2 year old bear. That was when his wife decided it was time to go home.

As we fished on I was ahead of Clark on the fish count for a while. I did catch a nice 10 inch native that had a beautiful orange/red belly. Something that can only be appreciated in person. Eventually Clark did surpass me on the number of fish (I'm limited to 49 remember?). I did catch and keep the bigger fish of the day. A nice 12 inch native. Clark had a total of 66 fish. I caught 6-8 natives and the rest were brook trout (a char technically). One of the fish that Clark kept had a minnow in it's mouth. Quite the sight to see considering the brookie was only 9 inches long and the minnow was probably 2-3 inches.

Now you are probably wondering why I'm limited to catching only 49 fish. On the only previous fishing trip of mine this year, I only caught 49 fish. Hopefully next time I will surpass the 50 fish mark.