Fishies and Freshies

So Derek and I headed up for another morning and continued our search of some big guys. Let me just sum up the day: Derek got some sweet sweet lovin'. Like I've mentioned before, Derek has secret ninja skills when it comes to getting big fish. Whether it's big Montana bows or notorious bull trout, he just finds a way to do it. He's my homie so I'm stoked for him, but at the same time I would also like to kick myself in the face/weener.

Today was a little bit slower. Not as many fish as yesterday. We did, however, luck out with a little warmer weather and a little less wind. Maybe mother nature decided to make sure that the blessings were balanced. Anyway, my first fish was a funky looking male with some great colors. Beautiful. I snapped a few shots which actually turned out great.


I didn't get into anything too intense. But still enjoyed the usually gnarly tigers and plump cutties. Man, I love the cutties here. They always seem to be tight-bodied little machines. They must work out.


Ok, so now for the big guys. So like I said, Derek likes to catch big fish - so he does. We were fishing in one of our usual spots and all of a sudden his indicator tanked. He set the hook and the fight was on with what seemed like a good fish. It turned out to be a kyped out male. 25 inches and four and a half pounds. Oh ya, Derek has a digital scale. Dork. Big fish number two came at the very end of our fishing day - about noon. Derek was back to tossing streamers and had waded clear into a shallow bay. He was excited to finally be able to throw a full cast without having to worry about hanging up.


The hit came hard and I could definitely see that it was putting a pretty good bend in his his 8wt. (He had his 6wt rigged up with chironomids, etc.) I actually didn't even realize until now that that fish was brought in on an 8wt. I had also given him some 1x fluero that morning for his streamer rig and so I don't think any fish was going to take advantage of him on that rod. He mentioned that morning that he didn't mind being overgunned so that he could switch back and forth. So anyway it was quite a fight. The fish wanted to take him in the weeds and after he prevented a tangle the fish did a good job running and really didn't want to come in. When he did the fish was sufficiently tired. Now looking back I can only imagine what this fight would have been like if I had hooked him on my 5wt. Dang, he probably would have put good use to my drag. So he got it in and waded over to shore so I could net it just to be safe. It was a thick female. Really solid-bodied. It reminded me of a steelhead. I was only and inch or so longer than his big male, however, weighing it revealed that it was three pounds heavier. This lady was yoked.

The excitement didn't end with the fishing. On the way back there is a part in the dirt road where there is a short shortcut that's a straight shot rather than taking the big bend. The shortcut is a straightaway and it looked pretty smooth, so naturally I bombed it. I was in 4wd and cruising at like 70mph, when I saw a dip in the road coming up quick. Ah shizzler! Slamming on the breaks obviously wouldn't be a good choice so I breaked as much as I could before we hit it. A big DIP and BOUNCE. Yahoooooo! Well sorta. Scared the crap outa me. We hit the dip at about 50 or 55 and caught some serious air. I ski off of big jumps every winter so catching air isn't really new to me. Not really used to doing it in the car though. After hitting the dip there was a solid second before the second smaosh as we stomped the four point landing. Derek was guessing that we got a solid 2ft of air off the ground. After stomping the landing and putting my heart back in my chest I stopped the car immediately to assess the situation. We looked at each other and couldn't believe what just happened. We gathered the items that flew off Derek's lap, put my subwoofer back in it's place, checked the under carriage of my vehicle, and everything seemed to be ok. Toyota makes tough vehicles. That was a relief. Next we ran back to the dip to see exactly how much air we got. After analyzing the tracks we figured it to be about 30ft from the dip to where the back tires hit. Intense.

With Thanksgiving bringing a much needed break from the daily grind, I was able to take some time to go hunt some tigers again. This is always an adventure. On the first morning I met up with Grant and Derek again.

We got to the spot and rigged up. It was freezing. Today, Derek and I were determined to get some morning fish on streamers. I had good follows on about every cast, but the trick seems to be to get them to cross the line and hit. When Grant landed three or four fish in the first half hour I decided that the streamers could wait for another time. Derek, however, did end up getting a fish or two on streamers. The morning was turning out great. Despite freezing my Bobo the clown off, it was great and we were all getting into fish. It wasn't long before Grant and Derek got a double. A nice male and female. The male had some of the biggest shoulders ever. I'm learning not to be suprised by the amounts of big fish that Derek catches. Maybe it's a Montana thing. I dunno but I hope some of it rubs off on me.

My fish of the day came as a big suprise. I hooked what I thought was a decent-sized male tiger, but when we got him in the net Grant said, "It's a brown!" I didn't believe him. I looked in the net and as very suprised to see one of the prettiest browns I'd ever seen. Man, the food sources in this place sure do make for some pretty fish. Sweet.

The fishing continued to be good all morning and then died as usual around noon. Nothing too special happened but it was pretty cool to meet a few guys there that were helping Bryan Gregson with an article on Tigers and mice. They had been fishing mice all day. I couldn't believe it, being this late in the season. I went and talked to them when one of them (forgot his name) landed a really nice male on a mouse. They got into a few in the morning as well. Well, shiz, doesn't take a whole lot to talk me into fishing mice. At about 3:45 or so I through on a mouse and tried my luck. I had some good follows, including a really big male tiger that I'd seen on more than one other occasion. Grant honked from my car signalling he was ready to roll out and I missed the only take. Dangit. Anyway, it turned out to be a decent day with some tigers, chubby cutties, and a nice brown in the net.

It was 4:30ish and I was the last to show up at the meeting place. Grant, Tim, Derek, and I headed out to the spot. I was stoked. When we arrived we had it all to ourselves. We pulled up and after stepping out of the car immediately spotted a couple fish cruising the shallows. It was cold and I really wanted to put my waders on but I wanted to see what they'd do with a mouse. I struggled getting my fingers to function properly as I was shaking with excitement. I finally tied one on and grant tossed it out. We could only get them to nose it. Ok, forget it. I'm getting my waders on cause I'm freezing.


ps....the fishes' colors are 100% unphotoshopped BEAUTY.

So I was fishing the lower LP and came across some schools of white bass in the river that readily took streamers so I decided to take the lady down there to see if I could get her on her first fish on the fly. We'd practices some casting in the backyard and I'm really hoping that through more and more exposure that I'll get her hooked. She loves doing stuff outside and is open to the idea except she doesn't want to have to touch the fish.

We got to the river and she got excited seeing the fish and seeing the difference that polarized glasses make. We found a school and started working them with some buggers. They liked it fast. After a number of cast she hooked one but it got off shortly after. A few casts later she got another. She got it in and didn't want to touch it. I told her they're easy to hold because unlike trout, you can lip em. I snapped a pic of her and how (un) stoked she was. She felt bad for the fish. I took another with her fake smile. So one is showing her real reactions and one is her faking it. Now it's time to get her onto some trout!

It's the Fourth of July and my family doesn't really have any traditions so that left me free to hit the water. My little son is only a month old now so the lady is more than happy to stay home and sleep in. I figure most will be at the parade or similar activities. It was a beautiful morning. I decided to hit a stream that I had passed a million times (many times on the way to fish other waters) and never fished. I had heard many different things about this stream and so I didn't really know what to expect.

Once summer hits I try and fish hoppers as much as possible. I fish them probably more than I should. I don't care I love it. I'd rather catch fewer fish on hoppers than fish another fly. I parked and made my way across a field to the river. It was morning but I was amazed at how many grasshoppers were flying around left and right as I walked through the field. I hoped the fish had been keying into them already this year. I got to the water and it was running slightly off color but the water looked great.

I started fishing likely spots to no avail. I covered about thirty yards or so pretty shallow water with a few decent looking holes hear and there when I spotted a short undercut bank that looked like money. There was a spot on the opposite bank where the water shallowed and sort of eddied out. Where the eddy came back in there was a protruding undercut bank with tall grass growing on it and a branch hanging out over the edge. The water at the undercut was probably a foot or so deep. I placed a cast about a two feet up from the protruding branch where the bank started. My hopper floated down under the bare branch and I saw a form come out from under the bank and come up and sip my big hopper. It was beautiful take! It couldn't have played out any better. It was the type of spot, cast, take that I dream about. It was a nice 18-inch fish. I brought it in and got it in the net. It was a gorgeous, densly-spotted male. It had amazing blue markings on the gillplate. I got it back in the water and proceeded upstream.

Over the next hour or so I became very confused. I fished some great looking holes and got no takers. No hits, no spooked fish, nothing. I din't see anything. I switched flies numerous times. Tried streamers through the deeper undercut bends, some caddis, hopper-dropper, and got nothing. I really couldn't figure it out. Had I not landed that nice fish early on I would have doubted the existance of fish at all. It didn't seem right. How could I not be getting fish in these money holes?

I continued upstream with the same results. After awhile I got a couple little cutties to take. One of them came up while I was talking with my wife on my cell. I missed the take and tricked him into coming up again. Sorry, lady, I gotta go and reel this fish in. A little bit later I came up on a stretch with a long undercut bank. It ran straight for about thirty or forty yards. I thought to myself, "Ok, this is it now." I couldn't imagine fishing this whole bank and not getting a fish to come up. I started working it inch by inch, making sure that I got the drift I wanted over each inch of that bank. Finally, about two-thirds of the way through the bank I finally got a take. Finally! He shot downstream. I chased it. I finally got him in and it was another 18-inch fish. One of the lightest and pretties browns I'd ever caught.

I ended up throwing in downstream from where I started on the way back to the car. I got into another decent fish. A thick very sparsley spotted 16incher. It was a nice fish to end an interesting day. I covered some great water and didn't get into as many fish as I expected but they mostly really good fish considering the size of the water. Another great day of hopper fishing on some new water.

Skiing and fly fishing are my two passions. I decided that after reading all these different blogs I finally wanted to start one of my own. A cool way to record some sweet days on the water- both running and frozen. Well, here goes...

I woke up to a cold and gray Memorial Day. I hoped that it meant a few less people on the water. I got to the stretch that I had planned on fishing to find a couple other cars in the area. No biggie. The nymphing was pretty slow and I've always love chucking streamers anyway so I tied on one of my favorites - a big grey and yellow double bunny.

The stretch I was fishing was pretty deep and I got no love the first few casts. The opposite bank looked pretty good with a more gradual grade into the water. With the fastest current right down the middle I threw a pretty big mend in the line before I started stripping. I finally got the cast I wanted and I watched the end of my fly line as the current carried it and I saw it hang up so I set the hook. I felt a heavy headshake. Ya! He felt pretty good and he definitely put up a good fight. After I got him close I was pleasantly suprised to see that it was a nice rainbow. A fat hen. She came out to 21 inches- my nicest of the day and my biggest fish ever from this water. She was a fatty and had a bum right eye. She wasn't the last.

There were a couple people upstream so I got out and walked downstream. I came up to a slight bend with some slower deeper water on the outside of the bend. The current was fast in the middle so I figured it would be a great spot for some fishies to be chillin' picking up some bugs as the faster current brings them by. My next and last bow of the day came on my second or third cast through this bend. A plump male at probably 14 or 15 inches. He had a beautiful pink gill plate and soft pink lateral line down the side. Stoked.

I worked my way upstream and got into a couple little browns. I couldn't believe how cold it was for mid-may. I was ready to call it a day. A good break from the daily grind for sure.