Weber June 2012

A little solo time on the Weber

This week has sucked a lot of juice, moisture and energy from me. I have been baking out in the sun working on my fence; posts, slats and bags of cement have taken their toll on my hands.  I would love to head to the south slope and explore White Rocks or and The Uintah River, but I really don’t have time for that. I thought of going south and hit American Fork or even a little further and go to Diamond Fork. The only problem would be fighting the traffic down there. Best solution: the waters of the oh so familiar and lovable Weber.

I know a few spots to go that are far enough away from the freeway that you don’t have to hear the sound of semi’s rolling down the road. If I have a complaint about the Weber, it’s the freeway, and the noise it makes.  A good 15 minutes or so of walking I get far enough away from the road that I don’t notice it. 

The water level is wonderful—just the way I like it good flow but low enough to easily wade and you have access to a lot of holes and riffles. It’s the first time this year I have fished without waders. I love it. Lately I have lost interest in nymphing, and I have been throwing dries alone or with a soft hackle dropper. I have also been swinging soft hackle. I start with a good sized Green Drake, with an orange softie. The wind has started to pick up. Wind--The Joker to my Batman, which just goes without saying, all fly fishermen hate wind. I spend about a hour fighting it, then I realize why fight it, walk up river, then swing soft hackle down river—duh.

I say over and over, it’s not about catching; it’s about being on the river. I stick to this comment—really. However, there are days that you just want to catch fish, and catching fish does add something to the day—well it adds fish.

I see a lot of fish feeding off the top, and I just watch for a while. About 20 feet down a small fish snaps off the top about every minute. Because soft hackle replicates an emerger, or a nymph that is almost a dry, I know it will be in the right water column. I pull out what I think is the right amount of line, and just watch for a minute. He surfaces, and I wait about 30 seconds.  I swing right to him, and sure enough, he takes it, and I set. The rest of the afternoon goes like this.