Now Back to the Previously Scheduled… Green River Trip

Guch invited a few of us to their annual "cast and blast" Green River tip. I was in, Grizz too. I was looking forward to the trip and needless to say, it was a much needed one. The past few weeks really sucked and I hadn't been on the water in 2 weeks. I was looking forward to a bit or R&R.

4am came early, Guch crashed on the couch and was up and running when by the time I was wiping the sleep out of my eye. That's about the time Grizz showed up. We packed the car and headed off to I-80, towards 3 days of paradise.

With in 30 minutes of traveling we hit the tail end of the storm…or was it the beginning.. not sure. Anyway, we hadn't driven for more than an hour or so when all hell almost broke loose. It was snowing and we were driving very slowly in the slow lane when we came up on a semi. Grizz did what anyone would have done and signaled over to the fast lane to pass. That's when the semi started to loose it. The oversized truck and trailer began to fish tail. Grizz pumped his breaks (probably driving on ice) and proceed to try and back of. The truck is still swerving from side to side and I sure we were all thinking that this is not going to be good. The ABS breaks were working, you could feel it, but we were still sliding. The truck made a giant fish tail to the left across the entire lane, the trailer was almost horizontal to the truck pulling it. It was crazy. I pictured the truck flipping and us slamming right into the gas tank ;) The guy somehow pulled it off and recovered. Unbelievable! Then he pulled over to the side of the road where I'm certain he changed his shorts. I rolled down the window and gave him a thumbs up, he stared at me with wide eyes. We were all very lucky. Grizz executed the slit second moment with poise. I'm sure a bit nerved but in control the entire time. Whew…. That was a close one.

We arrived at the lodge to get the guys who came in the night before. Hit the shop and headed down to the water. Everyone split up and did their thing - some of the guys headed down for a cast and blast, while some of us headed up stream.

It was only a mater of time before Grizz was tight – a "bottoms up". He stuck a few more Browns out of the same area before moving on. I had some small Rainbows to hand nymphing, but noting of incredible size but fun colorful fish nonetheless.

The guys moved on while I stayed and nymphed. Eventually I was bored and moved on in hopes of finding sippers…. which I did. It was a fun hour of a hatch. I was able to test out a cool pattern that produced on the MP. It was a success. The hatch ended…err… I put the rest of the fish down so I abandoned my hole and headed to fresh water.

Around the corner I saw the guys huddled up… I also saw about a hundred sipping fish – the entire river was feeding. The excitement built up, I anticipated some dry fly action. I started walking faster, thinking that the guys were re-rigging their streamer set-ups to dry's and I wanted some action too. The closer I got the more loudly I could hear them, whispers turned into a loud laughter. By the time I arrived at the huddle I could see what the commotion was all about – peppermint schnapps. The boys were having a good ol' time in the 20 degree, overcast weather ; )

"You gettin' em'?" I asked

"Naw" they laughed.

The fish are going nuts I said

Huh…err…wha? They said

"Look over there" I pointed to an eye full of fish …all feeding.

"WHAT THE #*&^!!! " They said, surprised ; )

Seems they didn't even notice. Troy Watanabe the fearless leader of Guch's riffraff grabbed his rod and ran straight to the water and started casting and screaming like a mad man. We couldn't hear anything but mumbled words. In no time he as into on, then another and another… some landed some bucked him off. (Blank_) went down and started casting too, and hooked into his second fish, ever. Troy was tight as well, a double! The next cast Troy hooked into a brute. The fight was awesome; from my vantage point I could see two crazy Japanese guys screaming like mad men and a fish going nuts. I could tell from the water getting tossed in the air that this was a good fish. I ran down and snapped a few pics. It's safe to say that Karma listens as Troy has been a more than gracious host so far. It also his only time he is able to fish… so this fish is going to be the talk for an entire year, he he he. It was awesome!

For the next three days we stuck fish both underneath and on top. It was peaceful, it was quiet. I really enjoy the reverence and solitude of winter on the Green. It was a great trip, one I'll be doing next year for sure! Troy and Guch, Thanks for everything!