# Staying Close: Jordanelle



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

This week, I decided that instead of putting tons of miles on my car, I'd stay closer to home and put some miles on my tube.

It's been a long time since I last fished Jordanelle Reservoir and I've never floated it. I live so close, yet I never seem to make it over there. The last time I was there, it was frozen over and I was bound to only a few holes in the ice.

Today would be a day entirely dedicated to exploring the Rock Cliff arm on my tube and to hopefully get some more fly rod practice in.

The alarm sounded at its intended time, so that's always a good sign. :wink: I arrived to a placid early morning scene with a little bit of mist remaining on the surface of the water:










The parking lot is now paved, I noticed. Quite the improvement.










Beating the sun to the water, I kicked myself to the far side near the river channel while dragging an olive sculpin. My spinning setup had a split-shot + soft plastic minnow rig. I was hoping that the trout would be so active on my fly rod that I could get some bass time in as well.

The water was really cold at first and even colder once I made it to the inlet. I couldn't imagine the bass would be too active, so I ditched the rubber minnow and tried a few different lures for trout with no success. The only action I'd gotten from the fly rod so far was a snag that stole my fly.

The full moon excuse started creeping into my brain, but I refused to let it get the best of me. I reverted to the split-shot rig, but I slid a nightcrawler onto the hook and up the line and added a couple more weights. Now I could just troll both my woolly bugger and my worm until something happened.

Well, the worm got hit shortly after I started kicking about 30-40 feet out, parallel to the Southern shoreline, but I was too busy stripping my bugger to grab it fast enough for a hook set. The worm was okay, so I left it on and continued on my way.

I missed a couple more bites and realized that I needed to pay more attention to that rod, so I strapped the fly rod to my tube for the time being. Shortly thereafter, paydirt:










I was glad to finally see a fish after missing 3. About 20 minutes after that, I had another taker that looked basically identical. Great!  Now I could direct my focus back toward the fly rod.

Even though I figured out what the fish were interested in, I still didn't want to take the risk of mortally hooking any more fish until later. I pressed on with the fly rod and tried many different types and colors of flies to no avail. I even lost track of how far I'd traveled:










:shock: That's quite the distance to the boat ramp, especially using leg power. Oh well. It was a nice day and I was having fun examining the area:



















Here's a relentless tree of the past:










The time passed and ultimately, I had kicked from the ramp to the inlet, along the South shoreline to the buoys, back to the ramp, along the North shoreline to the buoys, and back to the South shoreline near the buoys (only getting out of my tube twice for a shoreline pit stop). WHEW!!!

I know I'll hate myself tomorrow, since I can already feel my legs stiffening up as I type. :lol: 
Still nothing on the fly rod, but I managed to hook a couple more "clone" rainbows on my spinning rod.

After checking the time from some guys on a nearby boat, it occurred to me that I'd spent nearly 7 hours in the water. My legs were getting pretty tired, so I trolled the fly rod while making my way back to the ramp.

It figures that all day I wouldn't have any luck with my fly rod, but as soon as I make my final pass (so I thought) I get a good hard hit and an aerial display of acrobatics from a really feisty rainbow.

What a fight! This was not one of the clones of earlier, I could tell. After some impressive surface explosions, it took me down several times and I wondered if I would lose it. Luckily, I was in deep enough water that the fish couldn't wrap my line around anything and break me off. After a satisfying battle and a few hollers on my part, I got it onto my apron and admired the thick, fully finned rainbow of 18 inches.

I let it go.  Yep. It deserved it, plus I already had dinner for the fam on my stringer. I was just glad to hook up on the fly rod. I didn't really have too much opportunity to grab a pic since I was so busy just trying to control it. Once I had the hook out and gotten a good look at my prize, back it went so I could attend to my tangled mess of sinking line. Like I insinuated, it was hard to control, even on my lap. 

Once the line was straightened out, I was free to try out this new afternoon bite again. Sadly, I didn't run into any more fish as I neared the edge of the stump garden by the ramp. I didn't realize that I was getting close to someone else who was fishing and went a little out of my way to avoid getting in theirs. Just as I did that, another hard hit came. This time, it was from the shallows and whatever it was had some horsepower. It didn't break the surface, but it took me from side to side with strong runs. This bulldog didn't fight like a trout and I knew it (besides, the trout were 15-20 feet deep). Once I got it in close enough to get a visual, I saw olive green and knew I had my first smallmouth bass worthy of catching. To top it off, on a woolly bugger (Halloween bugger)!



















Nice. 8) It wasn't huge or anything, but it was way bigger than any of the dink smallies I've handled previously. It felt good to fight a "real" one.

After releasing it, I was glad to finally get onto solid ground and out of my sweaty waders. I spent 8 hours on my tube today and as beat up as I feel right now, it feels great to know that I did. The Rock Cliff arm is a pretty area and I can see myself going there more often from now on.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

*PS:*

When I was loading up all my gear, I saw the park manager and mentioned how nice the new pavement is. I also asked if there were plans in place to keep it plowed throughout the winter and, as a matter-of-fact, there are! That will make for much easier access in the frozen months for everybody.

Also, he mentioned to me that he's trying to start up a "Friends of Jordanelle" volunteer group to help keep the park nice. He gave me his card and permission to post his email address on the web for anyone who is interested in finding out the details. He mentioned organized cleanup parties and barbecues for spring cleanup, trail maintenance, floating debris removal, etc. He also mentioned free admittance to the park for anyone willing to help. I know that there are a lot of people on these forums who are regulars at the 'nelle and if anyone is willing to give a little back, he'd love to hear from you.

His name is Mike Johnson and his email address is: [email protected]


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Holy cow, Ironman! That's a long haul in a tube! Weren't you worried about a wind coming up?


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Looks like quite the day! Wow, thats alot of time and kicking in the tube, hope you dont pay for it too bad. Its good to hear that your getting more and more fish on your fly rod, Ill bet that smallie put up a great fight on the long rod! Thanks for sharing.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Finnegan said:


> Holy cow, Ironman! That's a long haul in a tube! Weren't you worried about a wind coming up?


Yes, I was worried, but the day was absolutely perfect! I couldn't believe that I was seeing flat, calm water at 3:00 in the afternoon, let alone ALL DAY!

However, I was kind of hoping for a gentle breeze to give me a push back to the ramp. :lol:


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Wow, I get tired going that far in a boat, let alone kicking in my tube :lol: . Looks like a awesome day. Glad you finally got into them. Thats a nice smallie there too. For the life of me I cannot get into those on that lake. :x


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

Hey, thanks for the report LOAH! You just inadvertently reminded me that I promised myself I would get up to the Jordanelle this summer so I guess I better hurry it up!  

Those were some nice fish and I really like that first picture of the stump field... looks prime!!!


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Good to see you still gettig out! Enjoy the freedom until the second child comes!


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Hey that's a nice Smallie LOAH! I've heard catching bass on a fly rod is awesome. Congrats on a nice day of float tubin'.


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## firedawg (Dec 20, 2007)

Dude you are not even human I think.....everytime you post something about your fishing trips I read and look at all your pics...I enjoy your posts alot, and like I said before you kick arse!!!!


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## hunterfisher (Sep 14, 2007)

This report makes me really want to go fishing


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