Stillwater Fishing

I was invited to do some "Stillwater" fishing - mom its"lake" fishing, fly-fisherman gave it a fancy name : ) I was so excited because I was going to be using a pontoon boat for the first time and I have been hearing how fast the fishing is there. The big bonus was that I get to learn from some of the better Stillwater guys out there.... and... test out my "Blue & Green bugger" creations.

Curtis and Cheech, Doug S and Herb, Blue Bugger


The test went great, could have been better, but they worked - this fall I am going to give it another try. I actually caught two dumb rainbows with the blue one, green a few dozen!! I was so excited. The lake fished great, actually too well. Between the five of us we were able to land hundreds, yes that's right hundreds of fish. I had the least amount and was just trying to keep up; some of the guys were well over a hundred. I was struggling at first, learning how to cast from a sitting position, figuring out how to maneuver and not get blown around, it was all new to me and I enjoyed every second. I was just trying to watch and learn from the guru's and have fun. Everyone was nice enough to give me advice and with that I was able to start picking them up.
Cheech left and Curtis right


One particular moment after traveling to the other side I herd a "splat" on the back of my toon. Looking behind me to see what had happened, I was surprised to see a fish flapping frantically next to my cooler. I took a second to register but I realized that the joke was on me, nothing like a "rainbow" toss from the boat off the starboard side to give you a laugh, perfect shot! I also remember the same guy squirting fish eggs at someone else, great times.

We traveled to another spot and just went to explore, to see what happens. That turned out to be a good call! The fish were just feet if not inches off the shoreline. You would see a rise or a fin, cast just beyond it and then hold on. In a short time I had hooked a dozen really healthy Rainbows. Cheech even started fishing dry and soft hackle flies and picked off a few. All in all it was a great day, I learned a lot and the fishing was superb! Can't wait to return.
This fish was caught just inches from the shore. I was fun sight fishing for cruising fish. At times I found myself crouching down like I was stalking a river fish. For how good the fishing was there was only one other person that was there. Jeez... what a gem!




One of the greatest things is making your own flies and catching a fish with it. I got to use almost all my own creations this trip. I was given a few different flies that also produced fish but wanted to just through my own. That evening I got to fish them and what a riot it was! Here is also a picture of the " Buggers"..... No I did not rub my extra garlic crust with roasted garlic sauce that had garlic encrusted chicken on top, pizza onto the fly... I already did that while I was tying them J/K.... Had to put the pizza down to fight the fish, after I released it I noticed a tad bit of rainbow caviar was kindly left by the fish. Wow, not only are they easy to catch but if you let them go they give you free sushi.

My Green Bugger and my Blue Bugger. Both worked but Green out-fished Blue.... Score Green 1 Blue 0 ..To be continued...