Weather: Sunny, no wind, 60’s
Moon Phase: 11% Moon
Location: Bear River
Water Temp: 52 degrees
Bait: Glow Bugs (egg pattern)
Who Went: Rick, Me
My fishing trip this weekend reminds me of the popular phrase, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I started fishing with Rick Everson about a year ago and we have shared ideas, fishing holes, and techniques that would take most fishermen a lifetime to learn. I have gained a lot of fishing knowledge from him including how to fly fish, and how to catch tiger musky through the ice, and I would like to think that he has learned a few things from me in return. Well today was my lucky day because Rick took me to his most sacred of all fishing holes up on the Bear River. I have waited almost a year for this trip because we wanted to make sure it was at the peak of the brown trout spawn, and we nailed it! At first sight the Bear River did not look capable of producing brown trout of any size, but boy was I wrong! We hiked down to the first good stretch of water and instantly saw fish on their spawning beds where they were tail slapping and rolling around in full spawning colors! I was in shock as we got closer and realized that there wasn’t a fish in the group less than 25 inches long!
Rick let me work the first group and it wasn’t long before I worked out the rust on the old fly rod and landed my first fish of the day with this 25 inch, 5 ½ pound female with a belly full of eggs!
I couldn’t believe it and I already thought my day couldn’t get any better, but once again, I was wrong! We worked a lot of good areas and missed a bunch of hook-sets and had fish spit our hooks consistently, but we also worked some more successful areas where we caught a few fish each and all were over the 24 inch mark and in the 5-7 pound range, with the biggest being this bruiser that Rick caught. We didn’t get a tape on him but he was a big hook jawed male that was probably around 27 inches long and around 7 pounds!
I don’t know what my biggest fish of the day was, but it was probably another big male going around 26 inches and probably 6 pounds.
The whole time I was fishing this river I felt like I was in heaven or living out a dream in my head. Fishing doesn’t get any better than what I experienced and I want to thank Rick for letting me in on an unbelievable untouched secret on the Bear River!
Rick let me work the first group and it wasn’t long before I worked out the rust on the old fly rod and landed my first fish of the day with this 25 inch, 5 ½ pound female with a belly full of eggs!I couldn’t believe it and I already thought my day couldn’t get any better, but once again, I was wrong! We worked a lot of good areas and missed a bunch of hook-sets and had fish spit our hooks consistently, but we also worked some more successful areas where we caught a few fish each and all were over the 24 inch mark and in the 5-7 pound range, with the biggest being this bruiser that Rick caught. We didn’t get a tape on him but he was a big hook jawed male that was probably around 27 inches long and around 7 pounds! I don’t know what my biggest fish of the day was, but it was probably another big male going around 26 inches and probably 6 pounds. The whole time I was fishing this river I felt like I was in heaven or living out a dream in my head. Fishing doesn’t get any better than what I experienced and I want to thank Rick for letting me in on an unbelievable untouched secret on the Bear River! 