busy, crowded and, fun

The last two days have been very busy on the Arkansas Tailwater. My dad brought one of his soldiers with us on saturday. When we got to the river the parking lot was full so we prepared for a day of waiting for water to open up. When we got on the water my favorite run was open so I started fishing and as lucky as ever I hooked up on my second drift. I landed a nice 19 inch rainbow. When I released it I noticed my dads soldier had a fish on. We worked together since he didnt have a net and landed a nice rainbow about 16 inches long and very fat. After releasing the fish I saw my dad up river from us with a fish on. He had an audience of a few anglers passing by so I hurried up and netted his fish. It was a 20 inch rainbow. After those three fish it slowed down. The fish were very picky but we were able to land some more fish through the day. 

Sunday my dad and I got to the river around 12:30. The place was packed but as we rigged up 5 anglers walked back telling us how slow and crowded it was. When we got to the water my favorite run was open again so we fished it. I landed a beautiful 19 inch brown that was still in spawning colors. My dad moved up and fished the top of the run and hooked into a nice 17 inch brown. We took turns in the run and I was able to land a few nice rainbows but my dad didnt catch any thing. We walked up river to his favorite run and on the way up saw NO ANGLERS. It was great sohe went to his run and i stayed lower and fished a dry to some rising trout. Out of the three eats I lost two flies and didnt land any fish. We fished the run for a while and hooked and landed a few. On the way back to the car we fished my favorite run hoping for one more. On my last cast I hooked a 21 inch brown ona streamer. It was a great way to end the day. 

We fished mostly #20 & #22 midges. The fishing is tough but very fun at the same time. I hope anyone else fishing had a great time as well. Thanks for reading tight lines everyone. 

Some warm winter fishing on the Arkansas River

The warm weather brought the fish out and lots of anglers. My dad and I got to the river on Sunday around 1:30 in the afternoon. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing a little but we were going to have fun. The first parking lot was FULL and when we got to the second lot it was FULL. We found a spot to park, threw on our gear and headed straight to the water. We started fishing right past the parking lot because we were sure the crowds were up higher in the more popular runs. I started with a #18 red zebra midge followed by #22 olive midge with a size 4 weight and about 6 feet from my indicator to the shot. I managed to hook a few fish but didn't land any so I moved into a swifter run. My first cast I caught a nice rainbow and landed it. My dad saw so he came up to see if he could catch one. I cast a few more times and hooked another fish and landed it. So I cast one more time and finally got a big fishy. When I landed it I hurried and got a picture and let it swim home. I moved out so my dad could fish and he got some good casting practice. Before we moved on he was able to land a fish. We moved up river to see if a favorite run of ours was open and fished a little bit as we moved up. The run was open so we divided it up and started fishing. I didn't catch a thing not even stick or rock. I pulled out my streamer tip line and tried to fool a fish that way. My dad was able to catch a fish or two. I am not sure what he was using because he changed about every 5 or 6 casts. Since I was not getting any action I decided to head back towards the car. My dad followed me and we walked all the way to the run we started out fishing. I cast a few times and missed one so I moved down river so my dad could have a shot. My flies found their way into the biggest log at the bottom of the river so I cut them off and ended my day. My dad was at the top of the run and hooked a nice fish that ran him down into some boulders and broke him off as well. He tied some more flies on and cast back in the run. Right away he hooked up and we could tell it was a big healthy fish. He worked the fish until we could land it. A beautiful 18 inch rainbow was in the net!!!!! It was a great way to end the day for sure.                                                                                       

 

 

Monday we took a friend with us and we left at 6 in the morning with hopes of beating the crowds. We beat the crowds alright but the cold beat us real bad. It was So cold that it hurt my fingers just walking.

Phil's pig of the day

We got rigged up and headed out  into the cold morning. The weather report said it would get up to 51 degrees and no wind. My dad headed up river to his favorite run while Phil and I stayed low where I caught fish the day before. We saw a giant fish come to the surface and cruise like a submarine for a few seconds. We decided to fish even if it was SUPER cold. I let Phil fish the top of the run and I stayed lower hoping he could catch one first. I surprisingly hooked a fish and fought for a while but he spit my hook. After a few choice words I cast back in hoping to get another. We fished the run with no more strikes and decided to back track into some sun light to warm us up. I let Phil have what I thought was the better part of the run. I cast and hooked into a nice fish finally landing it. I hurried and threw back in and after a few casts I hooked into a nice fish. I didn't know how nice until he took off running me into my backing. I fought him for a while and thought I could land it so I got my net out and reached in for him. Thats when I had a slight heart attack. The fly came out of his mouth right when I reached for him. With a lot of luck my second fly found it's way into him so the fight was back on. When I finally got him to the net I measured him at 21 inches long. Beautiful healthy and very fat! Phil came and took a look at him and took my picture with the hawg. After I released the fish Phil said look at all those people. There was 5 or 6 guys in each run as far as we could see. We gathered our gear and headed up to where my dad was. It was still shaded and cold where my dad was so we kept moving up river.My dad caught a sucker and had no other fish. Phil fished a few runs but couldn't hook up with a fish. After a few runs we decided to head back down. We all went down river hoping to find the run open near the car. My dad told us about finally catching some fish out of his run. The run we wanted was being fished by a guy so we went down river a little more. There was a group of people learning from a guide how to fish so we stayed away from their class. The guy fishing the top of the productive run hadn't caught any fish so he backed out and we gladly took his place. Iwas trying to help Phil get at least one fish so I gave him as much of the run as he wanted. My dad was 20 or 30 yards down river and he was hooked up with a nice fish, when I turned back to Phil he was also hooked up with a nice fish. It was great! My dad had landed a long fat sucker. He was not impressed. Phil fought his fish for a while and landed a nice rainbow. It measured 17.5 inches with a fat belly. I was sure glad he caught a nice fish. We moved down the river and fished a few runs and had a good time. We ended the day a little after 3 but there were more people headed in to start their day. I hope they had as good of a day as we did. 

My 21 incher!!!

This little fishy was  just chillin under the ice.

Bamboo Rod

Tuesday I had to take Sage and Holdan back to their mom. I hoped to make a fishing trip out of it but was not able to. After I dropped them off I went to Dutch John. I made a quick trip to the courthouse in Manila the following morning. Flaming Gorge is looking pretty low and Sheep Creek Bay was frozen over.The wildlife was everywhere on my drive over. A huge golden eagle was eating a road kill deer and fighting with the magpies. In Manila there was 3 mule deer bucks sitting on a front porch.When I got back to Dutch John I called a good friend and we went coyote hunting that afternoon. No luck with coyotes. 

I drove to Heber City to spend some time with Pete and his family the next morning. Pete and I went into Salt Lake City that night to look at a condo and also pick up my newest fly fishing toy. I got a 9ft. bamboo fly rod!!!!! 

 I put it together and put a 5 weight line on it to cast. I really can say I was casting like an amature. Pete was able to cast a little better ...well alot better. I love the rod any way. it looks very old and fragile and has a different smell to it. I can't decide whether to fish with it once before I put it up for decoration. I am leaning towards fishing it! 

On my drive back to Colorado Springs I passed lots of frozen rivers and a little bit of snow. Iam really hoping we have water to fish this summer and fall. Tomorrow I hope to do some casting with different weight lines to see what casts better with the bamboo. Then I will make the decision on actually fishing with it. My dad and I plan to fish the Pueblo tailwater on monday so I will hopefully have some pictures of  it in action as well as a fishing report. Thanks for readin. Tight lines to all!!!

New rod and reel on a VERY cold day!!!

Last weekend after our fishing trip my dad was really itching for a new rod. He did a little trading and selling of some old gear and was able to come up with enough for a rod and reel. We (me,Sage and,Holdan) met my dad at a fly shop in Colorado Springs. The service was alright and could have been better if the guy had some help from the shop owner who was just tying flies behind the counter. The employee helped us and let us take rods out to cast and get a feel for them while juggling the register and other employees at the shop. My dad decided on a rod and we were going to check out. We asked the shop owner if they had a military discount since my dad has been in the army for a long time. The guy chuckled and said no but once or twice a year we give military discounts on a few things in the shop. We then walked out with no rod or reel and I do NOT plan on going there ever again. I may be stubborn and arrogant but I would give American Soldiers a discount ANY day! So I called a great shop in Pueblo and my dad went down to pick up his rod and reel. Thanks to The Drift Fly Shop he got a Sage Approach rod and a Sage 1850 reel. It wasn't the high end set up he picked out at the other shop but he paid half the retail price and had some money left over to get some cool gadgets for himself.

Ok back to the fishing the new rod. We watched the weather for a week hoping it would change. It changed but not for the warmer. The last night I checked the forecast and it called for a high of 22 and breezy. The water flow had stayed the same for about two weeks running at 67cfs. We didn't want to leave early in the morning so we waited until I got out of bed at about 10 and left shortly after. When we got to the river the parking lot there was three vehicles so we knew we would have the river to ourselves. Making things better three guys were walking back to their truck from the river. We hurried and threw our gear on and headed out. I started fishing as soon as I got to water. I fished for a minute with no luck I cleaned the ice off my rod eyes and headed up river. I fished a favorite run for a while averaging 4 or 5 casts until the rod was iced to much to cast. I looked down river and my dad was putting his net back on his pack so I figured he caught a fish. I waited for him a while and when he walked up he had a smile from ear to ear and he said "I landed the first fish on my new rod!!!!!!!!" It was a 14 inch rainbow. He was so excited he had to take all his gear off and water the bushes. I went up river and found a run that I usually find at least a few small fish, trying to catch at least one. I hooked up right away and then he was gone. I hurried to recast and my rod was so iced up that my line came right back into my face. I started doing surgery on my leader and finally got my line in the water. Nothing. I couldn't even snag bottom. I switched to smaller midges and cleaned the ice out of the rod eyes and cast away. I hooked and landed a nice brown trout. I threw back in and caught two more fish, a 16 inch rainbow and a 12 or 13 inch rainbow. I was lucky and super glad. Catching them raised my body temperature and gave me more hope for the rest of the day.

We worked our way up river and were very unsuccessful. Every fish we caught managed to get off. I teased my dad and told him, at least you get to practice casting your new rod. He laughed but I could tell he was frustrated. He managed to catch a real nice rainbow right after my smart mouthing.  Then we sat on a log looking at the run, we noticed the trees on the opposite bank were shining in the light. There was so much fishing line hanging that it looked like a Christmas tree drenched in tinsel. If I was only 7 feet taller i could probably fill a couple fly boxes with all those flies and lures. I was done fshing so we headed back to the car. On the way back I told my dad to fish the run that I caught my 3 fish out of. On his first cast he caught a nice 17 inch rainbow. It was a great way to end the day.

 I fished a #20 red zebra midge followed by a #22 black midge and all of my fish were caught on the red zebra. My dad fished a lot of different things but he landed his first and second fish on a #22 black midge and his last fish on a #18 prince nymph.


 At the car our waders were standing by themselves because of all the ice on them. I didn't take many pictures but we did have a good day. My next fishing trip will be in Utah around the 15 or 16 and who knows where after that. Thanks for reading and tight lines!

    

First Trip on The Arkansas for 2013

Well below freezing is how the day started. It was 12 degrees when we left the house and 16 when we got to the river. The weather channel said it would get to 46 and be sunny all day so I was not worried. The section of river that we fished was below the blue ribbon fishing section so as we were getting waders on and           

rigging up our rods a pickup full of guys pulled in and they all grabbed their spinning rods and worms and took off in a hurry to the river. When we got ready we took off up river in hopes of finding sun light peeking through the trees. My dad couldn't take it anymore and he found a run he liked and started fishing. He hooked in to a nice fish on his 2nd or 3rd cast. After a short battle with the fish and the ice on his rod eyes he was able to net and release a 16 inch rainbow. Now I decided to give up chasing sun light and fish so I picked a deep hole behind some sunken logs and boulders. I cast and drifted what I thought were great drifts    

but no takes. I could get 4 or 5 casts before I had to clean ice off my rod eyes so I decided to wait for the sun. I heard my dad down river so I assumed he was catching fish. As I was waiting for the sun he came walking back up and I could tell he wasn't catching fish like I thought I didn't ask but I am sure he was mad about the ice on his rod. haha I tried to tell him that would happen.

We walked up to a bend where I could see sun on the river. I tried a few casts and was only successful at gathering more ice on my rod so I let my dad fish the run. I changed flies around and when he gave up I cast up stream and was able  to catch and release a nice 15ish inch rainbow. Things were looking up!!!!! We decided to go up river a little more and found a nice run with a boulder structure at the top, trees overhanging 

on the bank and, slow water at the bottom. We were able to consistently catch fish there for a while. My dad even caught two small trout at one time. I got the itch to keep going up river so we did. BIG mistake. Every hole or run was filled with worm drownders We tried a few spots as we walked up but no fish. We decided to sit down and have a snack and drink some pop. I could see fish in the run right in front of us. Big fish too! I threw up river and drifted over them. I added a little split shot and that was the trick, I hooked a monster 17 inch and very fat rainbow. My next drift I caught another big fish except this one looked like a brown when it flashed under water. I got  it close and my dad started laughing because it was a sucker. We both were able to catch a few more sucker before we left that hole. 

On our way back down river we fished a few holes and caught a couple fish nothing to big but they were lots of fun. I found a pod of fish sipping midges just under the surface so I tied on a small grey midge and made a few casts. I was able to land one but that spooked the rest of them. We decided to call it a day and headed to the car. It was a great day I think and the fish were a little harder to catch than last time we went out. I fished with a #18 bead head zebra midge and a #22 black midge as my second fly. My indicator was any where between 4 and 7 feet from my split shot.

 My first fish of the day.

 17 inch rainbow

My dads two at a time LITTLE fishies. 

Into The Future

My name is David Schneider. I have been fly fishing for 15 years and tying flies for roughly 6 years. In 2005 I started guiding on The Green River in Utah. Guiding has been very fun for me. I am not trying to advertise very much on here, I just want to share my thoughts and pictures of this sport with as many people as I can. 

In 2008 I was blessed with twins, a boy and a girl!!!! My daughter is Sage and my son is Holdan. I don't get to see them very often but when I do they are always wanting to fish or hunt or ride bikes. They will probably be talked about and have some pictures on this site also. 

I fish a few waters in Utah,Colorado,New Mexico and, Arizona. Over Christmas and New Years I fished the San Juan River in New Mexico for a few days and fished Lees Ferry in Arizona a few days. I didnt get many pictures but I will say that it was GREAT!!!! I will be going out January 5,2013    to fish The Arkansas River in Pueblo, Colorado so I will make that the start of my adventure blogs. 

When I am not fishing I am either tying flies or shooting my bow. I haven't sold any flies commercially but I have a few patterns I will advertise and do tying instructions. Please feel free to send me a pattern of your own that you would like to advertise. I really hope that I can make a few new angling friends and share some good times with everyone. Thanks for reading and Tight Lines!