Logan River 8/19

[gstott]

I decided to take a break from the bass and head up Logan Canyon today. I've been curious about the Franklin Basin area, so I headed there first. I got up there around 11. There was some construction going on up there and lots of rather large and noisy dump trucks going up and down the road. Not really my first choice for company while fly fishing a mountain stream, but I gave it a go anyways. The water looked great with tons of good pocket water, but it didn't produce as well as I'd hoped. I fished for about 45 minutes and scored 5 cutts with a number of refusals on a small turks with a hare's ear dropper. Not bad, but I was hoping for faster action considering how fishy the water looked. The rocks were extremely slick, and the trucks were getting on my nerves, so I ran down to just above Red Banks as I'd never tried there either. First cast brought a nice cutthroat on top. I was expecting it to be fast and furious, but it slowed down to a strike here or there. I caught a few more cutts, and the wind started blowing pretty hard making it tough to get a good cast or drift. Well, I wasn't blown away by this upper Logan stuff, so I headed a little lower to one of my favorite stretches. I'm glad I did. I pulled a few nice cutts and a brown out of the first run. I had switched over to a prince for my dropper, and was doing well, but I noticed that some caddis were beginning to come off. So I switched over to a foam bodied rubber legged stimmy caddis sort of thing I recently slapped together and put a caddis emerger below it. That was the ticket. I began catching fish pretty consistently. The fish were being pretty spazzy, so I was missing a bunch, but by 2:30 I was up to 28 fish for the day. I had to tear myself away and run down the canyon to see if work needed me, which they didn't, so back up the canyon I went. I kept taking cutts and some browns as I worked my way up. I pulled the dry out of a really nice browns mouth, but most of the browns were 12" or under. The cutts averaged a bit larger with many in the 12-16" range. The last run I fished had an interesting surprise, an albino. He came out from an undercut and followed my fly but didn't take. So I cast back to him and right when my fly got to him my fly disappeared. I set the hook, and the albino didn't move. A feisty cutt had snatched the fly before he could get it. I kept working him, taking two more cutts (one of which had a Utah State tag on his back) before he finally sucked in my dropper. Catching an albino was really odd as I was quite a ways above the impoundments. I guess he's more ambitious than his buddies. Anyway, I fished until about 6:45 and ended up with 54 fish. Maybe 15 browns, the albino, and the rest were cutts. The weather was just warm enough, and the fishing was great. I just might be tempted to give the bass a rest again soon.
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[trout115]

Sounds like a great day. I have had a few good days on the Logan this summer, but nothing like that. You must have the touch!
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[gstott]

Ha, that's what my family always said. When I was a little kid I used to out fish my friends dad when he'd take us out in his boat. That is a really great river, and September/October is my very favorite time to be up there. I'm getting excited for fall.
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[trout115]

I have heard that about the Logan. I just have been so busy with school that time of year that I have never really gotten a taste of what it is really like. I guess I better make the time this fall.
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[FISHINMA]

AWESOME BLOSSOM! I haven't been on it since last fall maybe I'll give the bass a break too! Great report and photos!
Smiles Always!
MA
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[gstott]

School likes to ruin the good things in life. Definitely try to sneak up there sometime this fall. The fishing is fast and the scenery is gorgeous.

That's a really nice bass FishinMa. How big did she go? I've managed a few 18" bass this year, but I just can't seem to get any larger than that.
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[FISHINMA]

She was close 20" I did not weigh her..my guess around 5-6llb her a fatty! AND fun fun! I'm still after that 32" Eye on the Bear river! Utah record is comin outa there if it kills me!lol Love fishin!LUV IT LUV IT!!
GL Kiddo!
Smiles Always!
MA
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[rockroller]

Awesome report and pics. I grew up in Utah and now live 2,000 miles away in the DC suburbs. You have described what I miss most about the West.

Awesome!
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[gstott]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the report. I went the other way, growing up in Connecticut, and then moving out west. At first I didn't like it because I just didn't know very many places to fish out here, but that only lasted a few weeks. I just love the variety out here. I can fish a beautiful freestone stream like The Logan, or can catch bass, walleye or tiger muskie, all in this little area.

FishinMa, you've got me beat. I've still yet to catch a bass that large. That is my goal though.
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[trout115]

I went up and hit the Logan for just a little bit this morning. Fished average. Story of the day was getting the crap scared out of me by a bull moose. Wish I had a camera with me I could have gotten some awesome shots!
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[FISHINMA]

LMAO! We had a mama & babe get too close for comfort at 3rd dam last year. Funny we were there first and they took over our spot!!
Smiles Always!
MA
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[gstott]

Very cool, I still haven't run into any moose this year. Keep working on The Logan, it's a good healthy stream.
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[kochanut]

and its a great looking one too!
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[gstott]

Yeah that's half the attraction for me when fishing The Logan. I often catch more fish on The Blacksmith, but the scenery is just so rugged and beautiful on The Logan that it keeps me coming back.
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[flygoddess]

Great report and fish. I have only been up that way ONCE of all things. THERE AIN'T NO FISH IN LOGAN!!!![]
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[gstott]

You're absolutely right. My life has been terrible since I moved to Cache Valley []
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[Wells]

Great Post! I really like the Logan River Too. I guess I'll have to apologize for the Dump Trucks. I am one of the Engineers that helped put that project together up there. That road was in very poor shape though and soon we'll all be enjoying it. Just a heads up. The two bridges on the Utah side of the Franklin Basin Road will be replaced this fall. Construction will be starting very soon. The two Bridges on Temple Fork will also be replaced.

Anyway back to fishing, I am going to attempt the self proclaimed "Logan Canyon Grand Slam" That is a Brook, Brown, Cutt, and Rainbow. Has anyone done this? I've heard reports of where some brook trout are up there and I'm going to try and get all four species in the same day if possible.
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[gstott]

I was wondering what was going on up there. That's good to know you guys are fixing it up so guys like me that don't have a truck can access it more easily. Thanks for the heads up too, I'd hate to waste my time going up there only to find a closed road.

I've managed some grand slams on other waters, but I haven't caught any brookies in The Logan, so I haven't pulled it off yet. Don't forget the whitefish for a true grandslam [:p]. It's funny because I keep hearing everyone talk about how the browns are taking over the river, but I catch way more cutthroat than browns. It really is a great little river, I'm lucky to have it close by.
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[kochanut]

i have and it was a complete accident that i caught 2 brookies. iwas way WAY up the canyon when i caught them. was neat, but once i realized i was to far up when it started getting chilly i headed back down to the 3rd dam (my fav) to fish the day.
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