High plains drifting

I'm going where the water tastes like wine.
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time.  - Canned Heat

This week, we visit outer Utah Creek where the ubiquitous wildlife keeps you on your toes. We saw a rattlesnake, two minks, a giant beaver, a garter snake, many deer, five moose, several trout, and a cow that momentarily looked like an African lion (it was hot).

Our herd of turtles floated 5.5 miles over 11 hours, with water temps rising from 55 to 68 throughout the day. There's nothing but bends and every bend has a riffle-tailout-hole. We fished as many as we could until the sunlight tilted, then we pushed through until a moose with a calf halted us.

We caught close to half a century of brooks, cutts, rainbows and browns up to about 18 inches. I had two (what I believe were) double hook-ups - a fish on both of my flies. Neither time did I land both, so  it could've been another fish excited by the hooked fish shadowing, but it seemed heavy. The streamer chase was red hot, but the bite was hit-&-miss. By evening, the small-fish hopper bite was steady.

The dusk bicycle shuttle up a rough gravel road was not ideal, but it's a small tax for days like that.

Proprietary Flies

What's the biggest difference between these patterns: Shanafelt's Mongo Hopper, Yeti Hopper, Grand Hopper, Morrish's Hopper, Hoppindicator, Charlie Boy, Surfboard Hopper, Triple Decker and my favorite, the Harley Hopper? Their names (except the Harley). Each fly company has their proprietary fly pattern/name(s) for the foam hopper. I get it, but it all seems kinda silly.

And of course, some do seem to work better than others, so it's nice to have a memorable name. A few years ago for me, it was Card's Wiggle Worm. When that became hard to find, I dated a few different patterns until last year, I entered a long-term relationship with Morrish's Hopper.

A destroyed Morrish's Hopper. 

Fly patterns, like songs or magazine articles, are someone's intellectual property. I first encountered this when I wrote my first column for the Montana Sporting Journal. Do I need to properly credit the creator of a fly recipe that I'm including? My answer was, just like music or books, and just to be safe, yes.

With flies, unlike music or writings, most creators probably wouldn't care. Most would appreciate the attention regardless of citation. But some might, and then you'd have a potential copyright violation on your record.

It's one more way our beloved sport is not always the simple escape it's advertised to be.

'Tis better to fish alone...

...than wish you were. I have fished with no one but my dog for the past three weeks, and I can't complain.
You get first shot at the water, you choose where to go and when you want to leave, and your day won't be ruined by being out-fished (common occurrence around here).
Fishing buddies are good to have and important, but not just anyone with a fly rod will do. Most of us who fish hard are somewhat selective regarding with whom we will fish. I have an outstanding group of fishing buddies, but when they're busy - that's cool too.
One problem, however, is that you usually don't get the photos you'd like (see below). It's often the fish-on-the rocks-compared-to-the-net or -rod, or just the fish's head, or the fish in your hand as it droops away from the camera.

Incidentally, today I found a nice little spot where hoppers are working like gangbusters, far from the unending pelotons of the major rivers. I've never skittered so much - they would slash at it, then slash again. Then, they'd swipe at it, then slash at it another time or two. Eventually, you'd hook a fish. Makes me wonder if they were keyed on craneflies - I noticed a couple big ones.

Joe's Hopper and Foam Beetle

I might be jumping the gun a little (cuz apparently terrestrials virtually always work well at the West Boulder Meadows) but hopper patterns where catching fish yesterday. The plague has begun.