A Long Walk - Forbidden Water

Now back to the previously scheduled blog post....







As many of you know Utah's water is now free!! There are a few stipulations to beware of such as not crossing private property, being respectful, using common sense (if you have it), and obvious things really. This has opened many rivers that I have wanted to fish and finish.... uh, legally. I am an believer that all water is free and none should ever be private. I feel that water, not Oil, is our most precious resource, it's our right and our lifeblood. This summer I have mapped out a few of my local rivers from the beginning to the headwaters. Many trips are long days, with longer walks and its not as easy as I thought it would be. Sure there are a few places that are easily accessed but that's not really appealing to me. I always wonder what lies ahead, it motivates me and this trip was one of those long days with a 12-hour walk.

Yesterday was a long day, 4 hours of diving, fishing till dark, and then coming home to work on the computer, etc. By the time I fell asleep Andy was here, right on time. I was still sleeping when he knocked on the door, I hate when this happens. It's 5am. After my initial panic wore off we were in the truck within 5 minutes...about 5 minutes later it started. I felt a little sick, odd for me but my stomach was killing me. I thought of how tasty last nights breakfast-dinner was, how the eggs and potatoes went well with my burnt toast and strawberry jelly. I thought I was going to loose it, I opened the door and let out a quickie. The light turned green and away we went. On the freeway heading to the rendezvous point, I was feeling it again. "Pull over" I yelled, or whined not sure, it was there I lost my lunch.. er.. dinner, I mean, breakfast-dinner on the side of the freeway, in early morning traffic. Back on the road I felt a bit better.

We met up with Grizz at the store; I pounded some water, a Gatorade and a Red Bull. Ahhh, I feel better now. Its a good thing because we had our work cut out for us.


The morning was cold, the first major frost was on the ground and you could definitely see your breath. This is the first big cold snap of the year... hope the fish don't mind.

The day started out slow and picked up as the sun came out. We all thought it would be best to target the "happy water", the runs. The river is low, many areas area's appear non-flowing (frog water) so hurried though these areas. With time ticking we really needed to keep moving.

Grizz was slaying it, again, and landing some fat little Cutthroats and Browns. Andy did his part to bring the fish to the surface and was rewarded with success. I had a few, lost a few and really wanted to hook a few that I missed.







It was a great adventure. It's nice to explore a stretch of water that was forbidden for so many years. It was better than I had hoped for... it wasn't easy. I hope that the law never changes and that anglers and landowners can meet at common ground. So if you're out there enjoying the freedom, please respect the land... and pick up any trash. It would be a shame to see this overturned due to angler.