# 3 River Trip



## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Well, I decided to pull a LOAH and do a multi water trip. Left before sunup headed to the first location. Drove to the road up, fearing snow the whole time. The road had snow to start, so I should have figured what I'd find at the top, before the descent to the fishing location. Sure enough, only about halfway up the hill, the road was entirely snowed over and the gate was closed, far too distant from the fishing area so I turned around and went to option #2, Thistle Creek. I didn't want to hassle with landowners, although fishing water through private ground was kinda the reason I took the trip to Thistle but I did manage to find a stretch where one fence ended and there was about a mile or so of unfenced/unposted water so I figured I'd fish the creek in that area just to eliminate the chance of unfriendly drama. I walked down to the water and the first thing I see is a friggin beaver. I'd never seen one that close in the wild before so that was cool. Of course, he ruined the first couple holes by swimming through them to get away but after that, I fished some large pools and blowdown areas and caught fish in pretty much every spot. It was cool to cast a bigger spinner into tight quarters between a bunch of logs and pull out nice fish. Anyway, fished up for a ways and then with the sun high overhead (about 1PM) I decided to bail and hit the third stretch of my trip, Diamond Fork. I have always wanted to check out the section right above HWY 6 so I walked down there, amongst sign of more beavers, and started fishing. The tunnel under the hwy looked pretty cool but I didn't fish in it... Started getting follows on my big silver spinner right away and wound up catching about 6 or 7 fish before the sun started going behind clouds, wind blowing little snowflakes and I thought it was probably time to go. Threw on a plastic minnow to catch the "meat fish" of the day and lost a couple small fish right off, then hooked a medium sized brown that I decided would have to do. Whacked and bagged him and then the dog and I headed for the truck. Here's some pics of the day....

Wildlife and area in the first leg of the trip



























Some big lonely country.... made me wonder if it has changed at all since white folks showed up....









This should have been my first clue...... 









That I'd find this before I got to fishing holes.... (yes, its backwards because I took the picture in my side view mirrow).









Went to Thistle and found some willing players....













































Here was the weapon of choice for the majority of the day.









On to Diamond Fork.... and the tunnels.



























This fish had a weird bend in the body.... but it fought well and was pretty in the hand.


















I let him go and he was kinda chillin right by the bank for a few minutes before swimming off.









These guys buzzed around a couple times and on their return trip, I got some pics.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Good posts there RR. Looks like an excellent little trip. You remind me I need to take my boy out with some spinners. I forget how much fun it is to chuck spinners for some stream fish. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Tight lines!


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

Nice post bud. I love the pic of the brown in the water! Very nice! Thistle looked like it was running more clear too! That is a good sign.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Nice job. Sucks that the gate was shut. Not quite that time of year yet, eh?

That tunnel really does look tempting, doesn't it? I never pulled anything out of it, but I tried. There were several nice ones holding in there at that time.

That's a good trip. Thanks for the report.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

LOAH said:


> Nice job. Sucks that the gate was shut. Not quite that time of year yet, eh?


Thing that sucks is that the road hasn't ever been closed that far down... Normally you can drive up and over the top by the turnoff for Strawberry so that the snowmobilers can get in there and at least there I could have walked to the creek. I don't know... it just bugged me but the other two spots made up for it. DF road is closed way early too, like a mile or more before Red Cliffs and I've never seen it shut that far up either. What the hell is going on up there? :?


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## Flyfishn247 (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice post RR77, Thistle is one of my favorite rivers. It has gone down hill from where it was five years ago. Those beavers have done some serious damage to that little stream. I need to get out there and check it out. Oh, and good job there on DF. That river can be a little tricky at times.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Die hard river fisherman you are.... Glad you had some success and got to get out of the house, thanks for the pics...


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## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

Wow,
You've become quit the pic. taker and story teller, not to mention a great fisherman, Of course, I always knew that.  Good job. :wink:


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

Sounds like you had a good time out fishing. Nice pic. those are some nice browns there.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Leaky said:


> Wow,
> You've become quit the pic. takerand story teller, not to mention a great fisherman, Of course, I always knew that.  Good job. :wink:


Thanks man.... can't hold a candle to some of you, thats for sure, but I'll have fun tryin to measure up. It was a good time and Buddy had fun swimming, runnin around smelling everything and just hangin out. On the ride home, it was hilarious... he curled up on the seat and crashed out. Reminded me of Sparky on our long rides out west or wherever.


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## netresult (Aug 22, 2008)

Nice job on the brownies and some nice pics to boot! Looks like a good trip


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## HighLakesDrifter (Sep 13, 2007)

Good stuff, RR! And having read your other reports, I count you as an experienced, sklled fisherman. I haven't fished that any of those streams in several years (and probably won't this year - every time I think to do it I convince myself to chase bass in my float tube). But they are a lot of fun, that's for sure!


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

I'd just like to know where you got the G-Loomis....Jeez, us bait fishermen guy's can't afford that kind of stuff.... :wink: 

Congrats RR....I miss you're fishing reports !


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

That was ME in the Apache. How dare you educate all those DF fish before I get a chance to hit it? :wink: Great report and pics


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

.45 said:


> I'd just like to know where you got the G-Loomis....Jeez, us bait fishermen guy's can't afford that kind of stuff.... :wink:
> 
> Congrats RR....I miss you're fishing reports !


To be perfectly honest, thats my baby. It only comes out once in a while. I usually have a St. Croix that I beat on during river trips. I've actually had two of the Loomis rods. One I got a few years back because it was a "demo" at Anglers Inn, then something happened... think I busted the tip in a tailgate or something stupid like that. :? I paid for their "Expeditor" service where you pay 50 bucks and they replace the rod, no questions asked. Its a fantastic deal and their customer service is great so that was an easy 50 bucks to pay for a brand new rod. Its the most expensive piece of equipment I own for fishing, but I'd love to get one of their GLX models.... OMG... thats just an orgasm in a fishing rod.  I don't know that I'd ever dare to use it though.

Flyguy, we ought to hit it up someday.... when I was in Provo (man I miss having all that great water so close) DF was my home stretch and I fished the whole thing.... those were some great days.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

HighLakesDrifter said:


> Good stuff, RR! And having read your other reports, I count you as an experienced, sklled fisherman. I haven't fished that any of those streams in several years (and probably won't this year - every time I think to do it I convince myself to chase bass in my float tube). But they are a lot of fun, that's for sure!


Thanks for the compliment.... I appreciate that. Diamond Fork doesn't give up the hogs like it used to but Thistle was a nice surprise and the other streams up that canyon are worth a look too. I can't wait till the Scofield area becomes ice free. Thats one of my absolute favorite areas to fish. I do love fishing for bass and catfish out of the tube though so I understand your dilemma.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Looks like a good day to be out. Nice fish & looks like the pooch got some nice places to play around. Man im gonna have to check out that stream. Your pics make it look pretty tempting


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Nice photos and report, thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a lot of great action.


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