Welcome to High Country Fly Fishers. We are a conservation-oriented Trout Unlimited chapter located in beautiful Park City, Utah and covering all of Summit and Wasatch counties. Our activities include teaching fly fishing and fly tying, conservation projects in support of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Trout-in-the-Classroom program at local schools and lots of great fishing trips.  We meet once a month and feature fishing guides, fly tyers and fisheries biologists from all over the Western states as speakers.  Check the Calendar page for the exact dates. Old friends and new members are always welcome, so drop by for good conversation, interesting programs and fish tales.

Next Meeting

Prez Sez

Summer is in full swing, and we have some great things coming up, don’t miss any of them.

I know I am busy with trips and trying to get out and fish with everyone, I just completed a trip floating the Middle Fork of the Salmon, this trip was inspired by a speaker last year, David Reisch, Hawgfish.com. He did a fabulous presentation on this trip. Even though he has nothing to do with the company that runs the rafting, he loves it so much that he wanted to share. After taking the trip I can see why he loves it so much, it was a week of camping, good food, Awesome scenery, and excellent guides.

The trip started off by driving to Salmon, Idaho, spending the night, and going to the airport the next morning, they flew us to Indian Point which is 25 miles down the river from the spring starting point, They do this because the flows are lower in Aug and it’s hard to get the boats and clients down that stretch. We launched after a briefing, and we were off with no stopping now, water was crystal clear, and the cutthroat trout were eager to hit surface hoppers.

The first-night camping was incredible, with comfortable temps and a nice view of the river, next morning breakfast and off we go, more fishing and rapids with nice weather until about an hour from our next campsite we were hit with some showers and storms, we settled in and dried off and had a nice meal, there was some conversation about a log jam 1 mile down from the top that could affect their operation on the next float but they went concerned.

Day 3, lots of rapids and fun fishing, they weren’t big but there were a lot of catchable fish. Stopped for lunch at a place where a feeder river comes in, lots of fish up that creek, then we were off to the next campsite.

This one also had a river running into the middle, big fish in this one lots of action. I lost the biggest fish of the trip when he got downstream of me, and I couldn’t get him back up. I later went down to have dinner and looked at the middle, and it was chocolate milk. We fished the feeder stream a little in the morning then we were off, we kept our rods put together but there was no possible way to fish that dirty water, you could smell the dirt. So we were white water rafters at that point so we made the most of it.

The next day water cleared a little, but still with only a few inches of visibility so white water rafting was what we did, saw some cool springs and waterfalls, then guess what happened about an hour from camp we were hit with an epic storm As if we weren’t already wet we were soaked to the bone, arrived at camp for another wet set up, rain quit we had dinner. Off to bed.

The next day water was still unfishable, so the last day’s float was white water only. We were told we could possibly fish the last 2 miles after we left the Middle and were floating the main, but we decided to keep rods put away. We met the main that afternoon, and I have never seen water darker in color than this river was. We landed at casch bar boat ramp, and there was a sign that the river road was closed, We unloaded and waited for more information, DWR showed up and said there were mudslides along the road and that it would be 2-4 days before they were cleared. WOW were stuck, the water too dirty to fish, and food supplies were low, but we had a dry spot to camp, so we started setting up camp as well as the 3 other rafting companies. Spirits were high, and we were determined to make the most of the situation. 4 hours passed and we got word that the busses were on their way and the road was cleared enough to get through, We tore down camp and eagerly awaited the busses, They arrived, and we were off to Salmon, On the ride we were amazed at the carnage from the storm, there were no less than 16 places were the mud had slid onto the road and in a couple of places it had ran into the river and went to the other side. That’s what was making the river muddy.

Back to Salmon that night, grabbed a hotel, and left for home the next day.

Even though the fishing was cut short on a 6-day trip it was a marvelous place to visit with stunning scenery. It is truly one of the last remote places in the Lower 48.

Tight lines,
Kevin