A BEAR at Little Dell!

[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

BFT's Pa picked me up at 7:30am this morning...he gave me the choice of Little Dell or Utah Lake...decided on Little Dell since I love my slimer cutts more than those PCB catfish. Paid the 5 bucks and parked up close. The 1st thing we noticed is how the water level is down for this time of year (but up from the winter low) and the tall weed beds in the water. The once muddy shores were now green bushes and towering sunflower plants. We crossed the inlet and got to the fly fishing. I threw out a few flies with no love. They must have been too focaused on the mayflies. Great these little guys are gonna cost me another $10 at the fly shop tomorrow.


So I switched to an Olive Bunny and as soon as it landed.....my drag started to scream...dam!!!!! no hook up for the late guy. So I threw it back out....stripping fast got some major attension from the cuttys. They would chase and bite...then shake a few times then get off. Every cutt was wearing its best spawning colors...deep red cheecks and brownish/yellowish sides. Eventually a cutty took the bunny and shook around. I got too excited and horsed it around too much....and the nice 15-17 inch cutt broke me off! Go figure it was the fly that I only bought 1 of!


When Pa joined me he said, "did you see that bear run across the inlet....it musta been a little one...only 150 pounds". Well that sure put a damper on my plans to go up that bushy creek. The wind and temps picked up, and the fish took off for the deeps...after all that lake gets almost 150 feet deep during full pool. We took for the day....getting the skunk. On the way out we must have seen over ten 12 inch snakes on the shore.
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[Flyfishinglover]

ya I know how you feel on the fly prices at that shop XD. Went up there to pick up some flies and grubs for today. small box of stuff end uo $10 but it was worth it XD
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[Joe_Dizzy]

Looks like you hit a nice Callibaetis hatch (aka Speckle-winged Dun). Should a be a reliable hatch (same time, same place) and the fish will react well to a fuzzy nymph slowly retrieved on a floating line prior to the hatch.

Denny Rickards came up with a nice pattern to imitate these nymphs... not sure how readily available they are in the fly shops though.

Is this what the floating duns looked like?

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[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

Thanks! I will be sure to pick up plenty of those before I go back...they were everywhere! And the fish just ate em up!
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[Joe_Dizzy]

Callibaetis are a fairly common hatch on Alpine Lakes… usually coming off around 9:00-10:00 am. I would think they hatch earlier in the day on a lower elevation reservoir like Little Dell, but the nymphs should be active from first light up to - and during - the hatch.
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