Utah On The Fly 2004 Fish Challenge

[JayMorr]

With all the ideas presented, cast a vote on what you would like for a 2004 fish challenge.

JayMorr

[stout_trout]

My mind has been racing all month about little challenges for this year.

One thought is to make the challenge into challenges...
What I mean is to add a little spice to the already spicy UTOF fishing days by throwing in FRIENDLY competition. Maybe a couple hours in duration and consisting of things like single fly competitions, Skills competition, and tying/fishing challenges... Opportunities to test new pattern...and have others test them too.. as well as maybe up the stakes a little by finding out where me measure against our peers...I know Cheech and MWSpearo do this all the time, but I'm thinking it could be done without all the name calling...

Just some thoughts...but I'm looking forward to the challenges this year!

stout_trout
Brent

[ezlehappy]

I don't know about you, but I never got to catch all the fish listed on the 2003 challenge. Why not just keep the past challenge and everyone try to improve on their previous score. Or maybe we could have a hybrid challenge (cuttbow, wiper, etc) all in one week. Or we could have a body of water challenge. (ie. catch all the species of game fish in Willard bay or Pineview or bountiful bond or Deer Creek Res. in one week)

[nightfish]

Good idea EZ,

How about keeping the species challenge all year, with monthly challenges, like a cutty slam, bass species, hybrids, dry/nymph/softies & streamers, etc?

[Fred]

I like all of the ideas.

I'm not sure how many people will vote for the "Trash Fish" challenge. lol. Especially since it doesn't include the prized sucker.

I think a 22/22 or 24/24 would be more of a challenge than 20/20.

How about a Green River Grand Slam challenge--cutt, cuttbow, brown, rainbow?

[LandGuppy]

Seems to me that most of these ideas are designed to be accomplished in one day, or on one cast. I liked last year's challenge because you couldn't realistically "finish": There were just too many species to catch. Going along with EZ's idea, maybe we could do a challenge like last year's, but make the point values depend on how you caught the fish. Example: It's usually easier to catch a laker on a streamer than a dry, so make it worth more points to catch it on a dry. This is kind of a "degree of difficulty" type idea.

[Wyoming2utah]

Well, I don't likethe three "Catch and Release" challenges because they aren't as feasible for us down south...we don't have any waters that I can think of where all those species can be caught.
...I like the idea of making the challenge difficult enough that most (if not all) are unable to complete it, yet inclusive enough that everybody would want to attempt it.

[Lonnie]

How about a "new waters" challenge, where you get points for trying out new places. Points could also be scaled by distance you have to travel to get there, in combination with how well you do (# of species caught or something....) Only Utah waters count.

Maybe we can get our down south buddies to visit and vise versa.

Lonnie

[Jason]

We'll definitely keep the original challenge for this year but the point scale may be adjusted. I also like Guppy's idea of adding additional points for certain techniques used to catch certain species. Maybe an extra point is awarded if you catch the fish on a dry fly or something like that.


I think what we'll do is come up with 4-5 mini challenges in addition to the main challenge, and even try to incorporate a few uotfly get togethers around them. A Carp Derby at Utah Lake or Pineview was one idea. Stout also had a good idea of getting a group together, meet at a specific water, each particpant brings a few of their own flies they tied, swap flies with each other, and then go out and see who catches the most fish on those flies. (in a nut-shell) Stuff like that.

I do like the Cutthroat Grand Slam, the Green River Grand Slam, Dry-Nymph-Soft-Streamer One Day Challenge, and even the Tri-Bass One Day Challenge.

[PowerBaitHeppy]

How 'bout a big fish challenge? Only trout caught in Utah count, must be caught on a flyrod(with a fly), and on a public water (sorry, no private ponds!). Go length of fish (on your honor measurements...i hate carrying a tape with me...) Better have a picture of the fish, and fly caught on...

Other than that, I like the cuttslam!

Or, a 5x5? 5 lakes, 5 fish (each lake = 25 fish), same day?

[robinsoj]

How about a progressive point system to "score" each trip such as:

1 species caught - 1 point each
2 species caught - 1 point each and add 10 points
3 species caught - 1 point each and add 20 points
4 species caught - 1 point each and add 30 points
5 species caught - 1 point each and add 40 points

I've caught browns, cutts, brooks, bows, and whitefish all out of one hole before (in two trips, though). This also encourages going for trout, bass, and bluegill for instance instead of focusing only on one.

The same idea could be applied to different methods (dry, nymph, streamer, etc.).

There could be a monthly or weekly contest and you would enter your best trip for that period (without giving out the location).

[cheech]

I have created a challenge and then told MWS that he wouldn't be able to do it. He has accepted. He has to fish snowshoe hare patterns anytime he fishes a dry fly on a river (that's basically every time he fishes). The pattern can't just have a tuft of bunny here or there, it has to be the main floating property. He's trying to create a hopper similar to schroeder's that uses bunny instead of hackle. He's been pretty successful until now, but I can't wait until I'm killing them on stimmies and he can only watch;)

Has anyone ever done anything like this? I know Cary has taken the lifetime para adams challenge, but has anyone seriously fished only a specific pattern in different sizes for a year?

Cheech

[chris]

The midges I sent in for the Winter Top Water Swap, which I did in various wing styles and colors are the only dries I fished for 4 yars straight. I used them on every water I fished which consisted of 6 different states just to see if they worked and by God they did.

[Grizz]

Whatever.............

[cheech]

Chris- Were those the patterns you swapped me at the Orvis get together a few months back? those were pretty sweet.
Grizz- save your rude comments for fishwest!;) j/k. To tell the truth, I looked a little deeper into his flies, and they have some similarities with the PB&J fly. I think I smelled velveeta of some sort.


I also thought of another good challenge. fish with only one type of powerbait for the whole year! I would be torn between the rainbow and the lemon lime. Decisions decisions...

[Fred]

Fishing with just one fly sounds pretty lame. Sorry.

But hey, whatever floats your bug.

I do think that you can use a bunny dun to match any mayfly hatch and catch fish. Simply change the color of the dubbing and hook size. So far, I have used it on PMDs, BWO, and Callibeatis.

Just a floating RS2s as far as I'm concerned.

[chris]

The same ones. They are a last resort fly now and tend to sucker most fish. I like harassing the fish with them and make them think there is a hatch even if there isn't. They tend to get big fish with 1st casts more often.
I already got after Grizz for his reply........he doesn't get any more bugs and I may just have to cut him off from the Barkey Beats for a couple of weeks.

[Jason]

I can vouch for Chris' one fly challenge. I've seen his box. (oops, that didn't sound right) His boxes are full of flies that he's used over and over and over again, and boy do they look thrashed. He still catches fish on them.

That would be the ultimate challenge, fishing fish a single type of fly for the whole year. Maybe something like a parachute adams or elk hair caddis or the pheasant tail nymph or stimulator or a plain ol' black bugger. That would be tough to follow through on. I've heard of guys doing this.

[Grizz]

So does this mean we're off for Kiwi "MEAT" Boy's tommorow?

Truth be known, I keep a little jar of anchoive oil on my tyin' desk........just in case.

Velveeta is oh soooooooooo old school! Cache Valley is the only brand I use. It's adhering properties are far superior to that of the veeta. Livin' velveeta loca.

pea's & cheese please

[cheech]

The same ones. They are a last resort fly now and tend to sucker most fish. I like harassing the fish with them and make them think there is a hatch even if there isn't. They tend to get big fish with 1st casts more often.
I already got after Grizz for his reply........he doesn't get any more bugs and I may just have to cut him off from the Barkey Beats for a couple of weeks.


Good on ya' chrisso. Punish that ol' bear.

Fred- You missed the point like a 6 year old swinging at a Nolan Ryan fastball;) It's not fishing with one fly year round. It's adapting other flies into bunny floaters. I'm going to be doing a fair share of experimenting, but I won't commit to the challenge. Also it doesn't apply to nymphing, streamers, and stillwaters.

[chris]

You'll never be able to lose the Dr., You are stuck with me.
Ferris will track you down anyhow if you try to run and Aspen will hold you there.
I am sure we will be on for tomorrow so keep your phone handy in the morning.
Late

[Grizz]

Ferris? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ohhh Ohhhhhhh OHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[chris]

Next time you see my box, tell er to don't come home.

[Fred]

I think I get it now, Cheech.

That's gonna be a tough one during the Cicada hatch.

It should be fun though. If he can get the caddis, baetis, and midge hatches down, he'll probably cover most of what he needs, I guess.

Where is MRSpeedos these days anyway?

Busy tying I guess.

[cheech]

fred- cicadas... I forgot about that one! I'll definately kill him during that hatch. Thanks for the reminder. I think they set up his office so everyone can see his monitor. He spends a fair bit o' time on the road collecting business cards. Kind of like baseball cards I think.

[raposaNegra]

I can vouch for Chris' one fly challenge. I've seen his box. (oops, that didn't sound right) His boxes are full of flies that he's used over and over and over again, and boy do they look thrashed. He still catches fish on them.

That would be the ultimate challenge, fishing fish a single type of fly for the whole year. Maybe something like a parachute adams or elk hair caddis or the pheasant tail nymph or stimulator or a plain ol' black bugger. That would be tough to follow through on. I've heard of guys doing this.


If I had to stick to one pattern for the entire year it would be a turk's tarantuala. Works as a hopper, cicada, drowned hopper, and streamer. Great pattern.

[Vanilla]

I agree with some others, I can't move on to a new challenge until I finish the old one. I wasn't even half way there. I guess I just have to do a lot more fishing this year!

[Craig]

Why dont you keep the challenge the same as last year but add monthly mini challenges for bonus points.

[jdubya]

Substitute "Catch & Release" with "Hookem and Cookem" Using: Nymph, Emerger, Dry, Streamer, Soft hackle, All In Same Day.

Get in my belly!!