# Blacksmith fork



## Wells (Jan 6, 2008)

Went up to blacksmith Sat. afternoon to try my luck and finally hooked up with a few browns. The last few fishing trips haven't treated me too well, so I was glad to finally hook up with a few fish. The water up there was running a little high and beginning to get a little murky. The flies were sure out, and a few of the trout were rising for them. I'm not an expert, but I would have to say that they looked a lot like a BWO.


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## Guns and Flies (Nov 7, 2007)

Thanks for the report up there, sounds like a good time.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Good to hear the report, this is on my list for early june. Have to love a place where you can ride atv's and get some fly fishing in on the same trip!


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

orvis1 said:


> Good to hear the report, this is on my list for early june. Have to love a place where you can ride atv's and get some fly fishing in on the same trip!


You just might catch the tail end of the salmon fly hatch. It is off the hook. Those bugs are so freakn' big and there are thousands of them. And the fish go nuts for them. Make sure you fill up your window wiper fluid before you go up there. Those things make a mess on the old windshield.


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

yes, be sure not to miss the salmonfly hatch


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Salmon in Blacksmith? Are you sure?


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## dunn_gary (Sep 11, 2007)

Here in Cache Valley, we call them "stoneflies". And yes, when they are hatching, it can be killer fishing! :shock:


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Why do you call them stoneflies in Cache Valley?


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Because they get stoned- duhhhhhhhhh- and the hatch is way over rated. I have tracked that SOB since the early 80's and around the late 90's it just went- well it isn't that great.
Yeah if you hit the right day in the right hour ( which is predictable) it is OK but to go on a weekend or even many week days it's not worth the hassle. There are better hatches in Cache Valley than that one period.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

I agree. There are a ton of stoneflies in that river but they must not be that available to the fish. The fish are stunted and small and there are signs asking anglers to take brown trout home because there are too many fish for the bug population ratio, yet the people who sein the stoneflies for the transplant can get 6000 bugs in a three tenth of a mile stretch of water. So the only conclusion I come to is that brown trout either don't eat very many stoneflies, or the stoneflies just are not that available to them on a regular basis....adult or nymph.

What do you think?


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

My concern with that river is the crash of the sculpins since the 80's. Don't know why but there there isn't 10% of what there used to be. There are still some decent fish in Black Smith Fork Canyon , just have to put in the time to know where to be thru out the year.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Didn't the lower half of that river take some siltation and flooding from a dam release or something a few years back? What effect has this had?

I heard that several of the people seining the stoneflies found 1 1/2 to 2 inch sculpin in many of the samples so maybe they are on the rebound?


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

River did get hit pretty hard when they dredged the dam. That seems to be OK now- the demise of the sculpins happened well before that. When seining that river in the 80's it was 6 to 10 sculpins in your seine not 1 or 2. Hell there were so many that you could use the old fork method. Maybe it was me- I used to sell them :shock: along with rock rollers but they came from another creek not in that drainage. Guess I am going to have to go check a few spots in that canyon this week but I still might have to use the snow shoes.


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

Probably has something do with the over population problems. The fish probably ate all the sculpins.


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## teamroper (Apr 20, 2008)

Nice at least you got some.


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