Went up Hobble Creek Canyon on Saturday expecting to be able to go up and over the pass into Sixth Water and the upper part of Diamond Fork. THE GATE IS STILL CLOSED!!! You can't get over the pass.....man, I was sooooo bummed because I was actually going to fish with a fellow BFTer up there. I went back to the canyon fork past the Golf Course and waited but when we didn't hook up, then I just went and fished Hobble Creek itself. Not too horrible, good fishy looking water but I caught one small brown, one small rainbow and one small planter bow in the catch basin. Thats a very slow day compared to how it used to be up there..... I caught them all on spinners, no takers for plastics. [unimpressed] So then I headed to Fish Creek. What a zoo!!! The parking lot for the river was full and people were having to park on the entry road.... I haven't seen it that way in forever. I guess if you post it, they will come and come they did. Needless to say, since I dinked around until 10 before heading up there, the fish had been absolutely spooked, pounded, hooked and who knows what else when I got there at noon. Gorgeous day and I got some good pics but I think I only caught maybe fifteen fish all day.... It was really slow for Fish Creek. But I did catch one of my more beautiful fish of the year..... I caught a gorgeous rainbow with a bright pink stripe and gill plate and the fish itself was a really pretty olive green.....what a work of art..... the maker knew what he was doing with that one. Anyway, it was a day to enjoy the outdoors and the company of my dog more than the fish...... One side note that may be of interest or concern to anglers here..... On my way out, I talked to a guy that cruised up the tracks on a four wheeler. I may get this wrong but from what he said I got that his dad or uncle owns the access rights on that road and BLM(the agency), is giving his family a hard time about something or other, he wasn't specific and his family was going to shut down the road and post it so that if you fish FC, you will have to stay in the water and you won't be allowed to walk the road to get down to the pools and good water. I stayed and chatted with him and his wife for a bit, I guess got on his good side and he told me to come see him and get a permit since I fish down there all the time and that way I could be on his land. It sounds like trouble is brewing in the high country so some of you that read this may want to check it out and find out whats up. Just thought I'd let you know what I heard with my own two ears, and this guy seemed like a pretty straight shooter but I haven't heard anything else ever about it and so who knows whats really going on.....I've also heard that the water will be shut off coming out of Scofield earlier this year and that never happened, there is more now than ever....so who knows.
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i jsut have to say that this post kind of proves my point i was making earlier. fish creek never had alot of pressure on it unless it was the spillway or the slow water below it for the flyfisherman. what your saying makes me sick to my stomach. i was looking forward to going there in a few weeks. now i could care less if i go. places like this need to be protected not overrun with fisherman. that use to be one of the best places to go around. i guess people will take care of that as usual. what road are you talking about anyway. i only know of a railroad.
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Hey Xman, you should still make the trip. Just get there early so you can get to some uncaught fish. Or go during the week and you will still have a great trip. The thing about fishing pressure is you just have to work around it. Getting there early and going right to the pools might be your best bet if you are fly fishing. Even with all that pressure, i caught a few fish so I wasn't all that unhappy except when I pulled up and the lot was full. Don't let a few people scare you off man.... If there is somebody fishing your hole, just walk to the next one..... There are still fish everywhere in that creek I promise. The road I am talking about is the one that goes from the little walkway bridge and runs along the river....its paved in cinder I think?? Kind of a lava rock type stuff....... I know a lot of people walk the tracks to get down there...... I don't know if that will be an option or not.... I'm sure it will be. I'm sorry the post made you sick, to me its just another challenge to figure out....maybe the pressure there will motivate us both to walk farther and find fresh fish to tempt........ They may just be better fish farther down anyway......
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RR77, I like your attitude. We all must share the wealth when it comes to public waters. I would love to have a private stream all to my self but that isn't going to happen. The next best thing is to do just as you say and avoid the crowds. We all a right to use these public access waters but we must do it with the right attitude. Now cleaning up after the masses is another story! Good luck and tight lines. DKS
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I'm not sure that the pressure results from this board. I have fished this river for many years (I often come up the dirt road entrance off Highway 6 past the Scofield turn-off). Last June I drove to the river on a Saturday and there were 10 times (no exaggeration) the number of people that I had ever seen there before. I talked a lot with my fellow fishermen that day, and a common point was that they had been referred to the river by fly shops that had talked about the great hatches coming off. So the word gets out in different ways. Even though the river was crowded there were still plenty of places to fish, and the hatch was indeed excellent.
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ive hiked 4 miles down those tracks. most people dont agree with me on here but im tired of seeing areas with little pressure being over ran because of fishing tackle shops webforums and new fishing guides in the area. perhaps im a wet blanket but when it makes me mad enough i cant sleep at night and what is happening to the environemnt because of it i dont think i need to change my attittude. mark my words there will be trash footprints and little fish in the river in a year or so, just watch.
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im not sayin its a direct effect from this forum. its the general thing going on anymore. im not going to get into it here anyway. i cant stop it but i want to say when the fishing stinks in these places that we use to love and no one knows why, well ill have to say I hate to say i said so. it comes from magazines etc etc. but it will come from somewhere that i can guarantee. everyone out there has fished some place for many years no matter where you mention with there own personal experiences. what I do know is it wasnt like this 2 years ago even. i have also fished it since i was a kid, not everyday or everyweekend. but i can say i dont have to because evidence of people is not reversable. browns dont hit well after being pressured. yes everyone is going to say oh yeah well i had this happen, but the fact of the matter is big browns dont. second garbage and paved trails come from heavy use. none of that existed there. so i know alot of that river didnt get touched much. it will come that if that many people show up everyweekend what is going to happen? and where did they come from cuz its all new this year and some of last year?
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One of the things that I struggle with is the balance between getting people involved and maintaining a quality experience. For example, if a lot of people fish Fish Creek and the powers that be decide to shut off the water, there will be a lot of people who will be upset. The more people who are upset, the more people who will become involved in trying to stop the water from being shut off. I worry a little bit about the future of fishing and hunting in the state and the country. Fishermen and hunters don't have a lot of political clout, but if there were more of us, we might. Is it better to get more people involved, even if it means more crowding, or to have more quality experiences, even if it means future might be a little less certain? At the same time, if more people are involved, do we end up loving areas to death? I think these are difficult questions. As with many issues, I am sure there will be different opinions about this, but I think it is worth discussing.
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for providing the flipside of the story i couldnt agree with you anymore. both sides are valid to look at and
ly i dont think there really is a good answer or a happy medium. but nature and human interference will run its course. it seems fishing in this state has hit what i call critical mass. its so popular now its a tumblin effect that continues to grow. and as you pointed out this has excellent benefits in certain areas. but from where i sit on the mountain it really really puts a damper on almost everythign i love about fishing and the outdoors. the great thing is i hardly fish utah anymore and havent for about a year and a half. but its happening everywhere i go. thanks for the thoughts on this subject.
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Xman,
I also grew up fishing Lower Fishcreek and like it or not there have always been a lot of people fishing it. I have fished it from the dam all the way down to Colton and I found everything from cans to worm cups all the way through. You state that you don't even fish Utah anymore, how did you figure out how and where to fish all the other states you are fishing in? I hope no one gave you any information! I obviously don't know you, but the image you are portraying of yourself is less than flattering. Rather than complaining about the trash on the river, pick some up.
Good fishing...
Rut
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Xman, I don't fish that stream. I prefer the bigger fish up at the Reservoir, personally. However, to answer your question about why the influx of anglers up there, I remember watching "Sportsbeat Sunday" which is a Sunday evening one hour sports hightlight/interview etc. show on KSL-TV channel 5 at 10:30 following the newscast (in case you are not a sports fan and have never heard of it). Well, from about now through about September or so, Rod Zundel (one of the sports anchors) does a little fishing segmant called "Utah's Best Fishing Holes" and he did a little piece on Fish Creek where it comes out just below Scofield. This piece was either last summer or the one before (I can't remember exactly which), and I'm sure that segment is one of the many reasons why the creek is now becoming more and more popular.
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Hey bro, I never meant to open up a secret spot on here by talking about the fishing. It seemed to me that people enjoy reading a good fishing report, especially on this board. I was just trying to provide a good report and it seems that the more detailed the report, the more people appreciate them. I do have my secret spots that I don't talk too much about but that being said, I will let you know that there was only one other lure fisherman up there and the rest that I saw coming out were bug chuckers like yourself. It is still mostly fly fishermen there so if it being overun by bubba bait pole spin fishermen like myself is an issue to you, I think we are a long way from having anything to worry about. The elitist attitude that I get from the Orvis wearing buggy whip waving crowd doesn't bother me because obviously as the report indicated, I can still catch fish after they finish whipping the water to a class five froth. And that really isn't an issue. The big issue is that more and more people are appreciating the great gift that God gave us by making places like Fish Creek for all of us to get together and bond over a similar interest and we just have to do the best we can to put aside personal, ethical, and whatever other differences we may have in pursuit of the ultimate adrenaline rush....the strike of an
or hungry brown....whatever the case may be. I think this river has a long way to go from being "overrun" but we just have to do our part by spreading the wealth and if its too crowded there, I'm sure somebody else would love to fill your spot and wet a hook in one of the best and unknown fisheries in the state. I'm not trying to antagonize you with these comments, just merely point out that its not a personal affront to you for people to post or talk about fishing reports, its just the natural order of things as more people fish and more people become interested in our state. There have been days when I've gone up on a weekday and seen nobody up there but me. One other hint my friend......fish crappy days. If you become adept at catching fish when the fish "aren't biting", then you will find a lot of days that you can have the water to yourself when the fair weather boys stay in by the fire with a good book. This is actually how I get a lot of my fish. One of my best days was last year when I went fishing Christmas day in a snow storm. Try this and it might solve some of your heartache over having to share the water. Best of luck to you........
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Xman
You should move to Alaska if you hate seeing people in the outdoors. This place(Utah, the enviroment) is all of ours, you will do no good by trying to keep people from it. People have to learn to love the outdoors before they will protect it. And it doesn't look like this post was the down fall of one spot.
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your rigbht you dont know me and im not going to go into who i am. i am very opinionated about a few things in life. this is one of them. im not attempting to be flattering. and yes i figured the damn river out all by myself thank you. and for trash being everywhere i dont believe you because i have been up and down that river and not seen alot of it. what i did say is mark my words there will be trash everywhere with the influx of people going there.
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that is the reason why i fish the creek is the bigger fish. why am i freaking out about this creek being over fished? cuz they are in there and they dont get hit hard. thanks for the info.
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again i understand where your coming from and appreciate you opinion as well. also i am not a fly fisherman and maybe use my fly rod 2 a year at most. i alos have no problem catching fish in areas and i have for the longest time understood the inverse fishing theory of fair weather fishing. thanks for the info.
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have you ever seen alaska and its fishing? that is hardly what i want to do is stand elbow to elbow for a salmon. also what are we protecting the outdoors from anyway? well the answer is ourselves. well the more and more people are out in the outdoors what effect does that have on the environment? yet this is how you protect something. protection is that being left alone.
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Nicely put Xman. Some people just don't get it.
I'll see you the 22nd. Can't wait for some big macs or splake.
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yeah me too going to be fun. see you down there.
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X-man,
Just wondering where you are from? Because if you are not a local you are part of your own problem.
Rut
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