Fishies and Freshies

Zev is a little wild man. He already loves being outside - just like his dad. Almost from birth, going outside seemed to calm and soothe him. His curious eyes could never seem to get enough as he surveyed the world around him. He often went hiking and on other adventures with his family. And sometimes when mom is away he goes fishing with his dad. He's not old enough to cast a fly or to wade in the water, but there's no doubt this boy was born to fish. Out of all the toys and other items he loves to play with around the house nothing gets him more excited than the site of one of dad's fly rods. When he catches a glimpse of a rod, nothing else matters. He'll throw fits that will melt your face if he doesn't get to lay his little fingers on it. This boy was born to fish.



On this particular day Mom was away and Dad decided to go fish a favorite local stream. With the baby backpack, snacks, and the child Nalgene bottle in tow Zev was ready to hit the water. It was a beautiful day and the fish were willing. Zev gazed at the little slimy creatures in wonder - didn't really know what to think of them. After some good fishing, he was all tuckered out and took a nap on Dad's back. I'm sure he dreamed the same dreams as his dad: dreams of beautiful fish in beautiful places. It's a good thing that this would not be the last of the fishing adventures with Dad.

Zev is my little man. And he's my sprouting fishing buddy.
(Thanks for the pics, Derek!)

So I've naturally wanted to get my lady hooked on flyfishing. She'd had very little exposure to it but I was convinced that she'd get a kick out summertime hopper fishing. We approached the first run. This was the picture perfect spot to catch her first trout on the fly. A shallow undercut bank underneath some long grass hanging into the water. I get jonesin' just thinking about it. We had practiced casting in the yard a few times but she made a few warm up casts into the shallows upstream. Once she felt confident with it she plopped the hopper right up in the money zone. BAM! We had a riser and she set the hook so perfectly I couldn't believe it. "I got one!" she screamed out repeatedly. She was so giddy as I coached her bringing it in. I got it in the net and we celebrated her catch. She was so stoked. Another standard yet great fish for a stream of this size.
















This process repeated itself over the next couple hours. More great casts with perfect hooksets on EVERY fish. Simply put: the woman has hookset skills. I didn't have to tell her to set once, and this was only the third time fishing on the fly. I was impressed and stoked to say the least. The funniest part of it all is that each hookset was paired with the exact same, "I've got one! I got one! I got one!" as the first fish. I cracked up cause each time she screamed it as if I wasn't standing right next to her seeing it all happen. She was soo stoked with each fish.

The next highlight came as we approached a hole I knew all too well. There is certain 16" brownie that I'd been snubbed by twice already. The first day I came across him he swung out to inspect my bug at the end of a drift. It had already begun to drag so he denied it. I was stoked cause he was the biggest fish I'd seen in this stream thus far. I recast and he swung out and slowly chomped in a way reminiscent of videos I'd seen of huge NZ brownies. I set and he ran into the pool below and came unbuttoned. The second time the lady was will me as I showed her brother the stream for the first time. My attempt at redemption ended up in a missed hookset. Man, I suck. So this third time I wanted her to stick the local piggy. I told her where he'd be hanging out. She was nervous. We got ready and she made the cast. He appeared and as he was rising she pulled the fly out too early in anticipation. NO! Her first folly of the day. He didn't seem to spook so we waited a moment for the fish to settle and gave it a few more casts. On the last one it drifted in some shallow water around a rock and the beast emerged from the darker water. He hesitated for a moment before chomping the hopper down. True to form she set the hook and landed the beast like a champ. We discovered that that the trouble hooking up was due to the fact that half of the fishes bottom jaw was missing. In addition, the top half of the tail was also missing. I found it so odd to find two such major injuries on one fish. Other than that it was a gorgeous specimen. She couldn't believe it.























For me it doesn't get any better than this day. Spending time on a beautiful stream with my lady catching some gorgeous fish on hoppers. Sounds about right to me.

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.