TD Tal with his TD Trout

I take my hat off to my nephew, Talmage Gunther, who braved sub-freezing temps, blowing snow, and up-canyon winds to fish the Lower Provo River with my bro-in-law Bruce and I last Saturday. This was Tal's first full-fledged fly-fishing experience with the "big boys" and he held his own just fine for a 12-year old in tough weather. In fact, he nailed a nice brownie (with just a bit of tactical help from Dad - call it a "team catch") on a size 18 bead-head nymph in a tight ripple.

The real "catch" was the bald eagle we all spotted within 5 minutes of getting out of the car. Usually, baldies are seen soaring hundreds of feet up on the rising therms. This one, however, was clearly in hunting mode, only 20 feet above the river corridor, eyes laser-focused, wings quivering for stability. It was the closest shot I had ever seen of a bald eagle in the wild.

Sweet link to The Green

http://www.sltrib.com/features/ci_14702555

This link really fires me up to get out to the Green, before the summer crowds hit. I agree 100% that the toughest thing about the Green is to balance out focusing on your fly with focusing on the breath-taking scenery in all directions as you float down the canyon toward Little Hole. Kevin, let's hit the Green on 3/30-3/31. What do you say?

Bend this rod

A maiden entry

What I thought would be a harmelss birthday get-together for young Brian Jimmy J Watkee turned out to be hard-core hotboxing on the virtues of social media for Freestone Guides. Granted, I am not the most savvy blogger in the world, so it was probably a well-deserved hotboxing on why Freestone Guides really needs a blog. So this is the maiden blog entry. It is an ideal outlet for my passion for writing and my passion for all things wilderness: fly-fishing, exploring, running, mountaineering, exploring new terrain. The attached picture leads one to the title, which was insisted on by Jimmy J, blogger extradorinaire in the Intermountain West. It might change, but at least justifies a picture of a nice bent rod on the Lower Provo back in November 2009 with Brent, a good fishing buddy of mine.