It kind of worked. Except for the slackers who didn’t show. And those who were too lame to stick with the hopper the whole time (ahem—more on that later, and I’m naming names).

Dan and Doug from Canada (BC) were there to fish with us. I met Doug through Angler’s Life List and Native Fish Network forum. They were doing a two week native fish extravaganza through the desert northwest and Rocky Mountains. They were coming through Utah at the time of the event, so they joined us.

And there was Robert and me. It was great finally meeting Robert face-to-face since I’ve been harassing him for a year to fish together. Robert’s a good man, tying and supplying all the hoppers we’d need (he must have brought three dozen or so). But he’s also a nice guy to hang with. Actually, we still haven’t fished together since I spent the whole time fishing with Doug, and Robert fished with Dan. So you’re not off the hook yet, Robert!

I rode the motorcycle through the canyon, enjoying the bracing air and swooping glide of the corners. We met at the Temple Fork parking lot at 9:00 AM, made introductions, warmed up (I think I’m the only one with that need), then headed up the canyon a couple of miles to divide up and fish. Doug drew the short stick and got stuck with me for the day.

I fished the week before, just a half mile below the Temple Fork turnoff, and had no success with the several grasshopper patterns I tried then. And it seemed to be a repeat on the Hoppertunity day. Although I had never fished the stretch Doug and I were on, the river was familiar enough that I knew we should have been into fish after a good 45 minutes or so of trying. So I made a snap calculated decision to ditch the hopper and go with the fly that brought me luck the previous week: the foam-bodied elk hair caddis. Bam, fish on!

So, Robert, my lame excuse scientifically-sound reasoning is that the fish were taking caddis, not hoppers. I believe the experiment was testing the different hopper patterns, not testing whether the hoppers were enticing enough to get them to take those instead of taking something else. That being the case, I decided to wait until a time when the fish were actually taking hoppers to test the three patterns (which I actually did yesterday fishing the Cub River—more later).

It was interesting to talk with Doug who spends a lot of time steelhead fishing. He asked me several questions about small stream, pocket-water fishing, which is very different from steelhead fishing. I mentioned to him that fishing in front of rocks was a good location, which surprised him. Also the speed of the hook set. After I launched a fingerling over my back because of setting the hook, he asked about how quick he should be striking. I said that it depends on how the fish are taking: sometimes they take sow, but other times they take quick. Usually around here they take quick and the second you see the fish touch the fly, strike! He said that with steelheading, you let the fish take the fly and settle down with it, then strike. Those who strike too soon are the ones who lose the fish.

After a couple of hours, and picking up a handful of fish, we moved up to Franklin Basin and picked up a few more. The leaves were just starting to change colors, which is my favorite time to fish, which was a nice bonus. Although we didn’t really get to test Robert’s flies, it was a good day fishing and an excellent time making new friends.