First Bass of the Year

To avoid the almost getting skunked, we hit a small community pond..... surprised to see the fish is smaller than the fly ; )

Ice Off - Corlorful Runts... as usual

MFRW and I traveled once again in search of the elusive good "ice-off" fishing. I am certain that I have an ice-off curse. Everyday that I can go the weather is totally blown out and/or the fishing is slow and most of the fish are teeny-tiny little guys. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy every minute of my adventures but sometimes there is an urge to go catching, of the large variety. Now, I do not post every single trip on here but to give you an idea... I have hit the water 15 out of the last 26 days out of those days only a few fish were over 20" better yet over 16" and most were the 8-12" range and a ton n the 6" and under and only a few of those days it wasn't blowing like a banshee out of hell or snowing thing is a bit early and I am a tad eager to be fishing them, or I just suck at it, or I just am not at the right place at the right time or the stars aren't aligned or I forgot to fill out the spam letter and/or decided against sending it to my closest 700 friends, so I unfortunately didn't receive my wish in five minutes or the added bonus of 7 angles if I completed it in the next two minutes, dam it! The tougher the fishing the more inclined to keep at it, to figure it out. I suppose that I am a bit hard headed... hell side ways or raining. Perhaps the stillwaterMFRW is too ; ) The more we get our asses handed to us the more likely we will return for redemption. Now, on the other hand, by exploring these places so early you have a better understanding of what is going on and where its going to happen or I my case not happen. It is still fun tying flies the night before and testing your skills on 6" planter bows but the need to get some big fish under my belt is screaming louder than ever. Perhaps its the fact that I haven't fished salt water for almost 2 straight years. Perhaps its the fact that I am sucking right now and the weather is taking its toll.




While I was thinking all that this sunny, yes finally sunny, afternoon I couldn't help but admire these colorful feisty rainbows. Then I noticed the fins. I thought that was the coolest thing I had seen in a long time. The fins were perfect little rainbow full of colors. While I was mind-complaining about my "issues" I had almost forgotten why I fish today, because its fun. Its not always for the catching and more often that not its about just living, it always has been and always will be what I do, sometimes you just have of days, err, months. The mountains alone are enough for me, add water and vibrant colored fish and I really shouldn't complain. I thought how selfish I sounded. I was able to walk here, MFRW still has to hobble sometimes due to the broken leg incident. He still charges and more often than not and goes beyond the limitations that the leg was trying to set. I am able to see, well somewhat : ) Although the sun is "burning" my eyes and slowly growing "enter scientific word here" over my pupil (due to years of sun expose and poor if any sunglasses/goggles) ,but I can still see the size #32 dry, sometimes. The old guy next to me can't even see the cane he used to hike down in here. I am healthy and live a good active life and I am complaining about fishing in the wind, rain, snow and whatever else that thrown my way? HUH, interesting .....................I'll go ahead and slap myself...... ah, I feel much better now ; )

Stillwater Tour - Day 3..... Windy, Again!

Alarm goes off, coffee maker turns on, heater turns up... gee we are spoiled hehehe. It’s the last day of the adventure. We packed all of our gear and broke down camp in a hurry. We agreed to hit a spot on the way home; it might be out of the wind and snow. As soon as we finished loading the truck and camper, yep you guessed it… it started to snow. I think a moment of silence was taken to stop the storm… it didn't work though. In no time we were in the thick of it. It was snowing sideways as usual and things weren’t looking good. A quick stop at "Mom's" for breakfast was something that we just couldn't pass up. Nothing like a greasy home cooked meal!

The wind and snow wasn't all that bad at this place. It wasn't picture perfect but it was far better than where we had come from. Although, the fishing was OK for stocked rainbows and we all managed to get a Tiger and a few healthy Cutthroats, it wasn't fishing as well as last week or that we had hoped. It was getting late and cold, we called it quits. A valiant effort for this trip by all, we stayed and fished when most would have gone home, we made the best of a poor situation and nobody complained. We drove here in the snow and now it appears we are driving home in it, figures. Overall is was a great time and I am glad I went even if all the factors are working against you, it was a cool challenge and I learned a ton.

Stillwater Tour - Day 2..... Its Still Windy

Unbelievable…. it's not windy! We gathered a few things and quickly headed to the water. Arriving the lake was calm, glassy and very inviting, woo hoo. A bit of overnight snow could be seen on the ground but the sun was on its way out… the making of a great day? Perhaps…

Rigging up we spotted a few fish rising tight to the shore, heads! Grizz was rigged and headed over to the shore. In no time he had a nice bow! Sick, we all thought that it was going to be a great day! Little did we know what was approaching around the corner. After hours of tryin to throuh my arnm out of its socked I was out of options. I had walked the shoreline pounding water, changing flies, changing lines, changing leader, changing flies again and then repeat. 8,593 casts,319 flies, 4 leaders, 3 lines, 9 1/2 prayers, 4 really great swearing rants, 2 pleas and one bribe later... I hadn't had a bite not even a nibble. I truly suck. Walking back to the guys I had hopes that they found them. Well, each had two fish… what is going on? About that time someone flipped the switch, just like that gale force winds ripped though the area. Temperatures were dropping and it looked like it was going to snow. So we headed to yesterdays spot. It was a picture perfect setting of yesterday's scenario (hell, a cold one) but the wind was a bit stronger today 53 mph instead of 51 mph… I think, its hard to tell ; ) Out of the blue a guy appears, then disappears… A few minutes later he returns with a leashed golden retriever. Two seconds later all hell breaks loose. Grizz's dog sees it and heads over for a friendly pet and sniff, the guy starts to shout "back away" over and over and over, this catches the attention of MFRW's dog, and he heads over. At about this exact moment the guys wife (who's in the car) starts honking the horn, meanwhile he is still yelling and now foolishly attempts to shove the LARGE 160 lb dog's head and now screaming"back away". Then the guy slips and falls on the ground when attempting to shove Ferris (the dog)…LOL…LMAO…I'm still laughing. He finally gathers himself off the pavement , gets in the car and drives away. What just happened? WOW that was neat...The guy never even said one word to any of us, the dogs weren’t barking or acting aggressive by any stretch of the word.... .

Back to fishing... Grizz and I had gotten into a huge pod of 6+" rainbows, a few 12" cuts were caught but nothing to write home about. I was just happy to actually be catching something, finally. Meanwhile MFRW couldn't buy a hit, even fishing the same exact spot. The big difference was that he had on a sink tip? Grizz and I had on floating lines, and I guess it mattered after all. We all were tired of the sideways snow and gale winds so we headed back to camp. After a few minutes of hanging out the skies seemed to clear…. Right... But being bored we drove to check out a small scenic river. To our surprise this small beautiful em was full of garbage. The entire length of the river was filled with trash, the camps were total waste pits, human waste and anything you can think of was tossed about the forest…. It was sickening, it made me very mad, more like it pissed me completely off. Why would anyone do this is beyond me, hope mother nature teaches them a thing or two and soon. We fished for a bit then headed back to camp for…drum roll..... lasagna and garlic bread! Hope tomorrow is better….

Stillwater Tour - Day 1..... The Wind

I woke suddenly to the sound of thunder. At first I wasn't sure what it was, then I heard it again… great it's raining… again. I laid in bed waiting for the alarm to off, guess I am milking the clock this morning not wanting to get soaked just yet. I packed a few last minute items and opened the door…. SNOW? What? Well, I just wasted ten-minutes "mind-complaining" about the rain, oh well I'm still going. The drive to our destination was snowing and the entire time I am certain that everyone was hoping we were driving away from the storm. Arriving at camp it was a" fast turn around". Camper went up, truck was unpacked and we took off for the lake.The lake was windy, not a light breeze either and the gusting bursts of energy turned a once beautiful cone-head bugger into a weapon. From time to time you could hear a loud "whap" that was always followed by an " OU' F*@$!!! The heavy fly would be taken by the wind, pushed of course and if you weren't careful can hit you in the back of the head. Not only was it windy, it was cold and snowing through out the afternoon… might have had something to do with the low fisherman numbers, none. I guess we are the only three idiots that fish in the rain, sleet and snow… and a rare sunny day. After hours of battling the elements only a few fish were caught. It was slowwww, really slow so we decided to take a look at a different location. Well, that wasn't the best fishing either. Although the wind had let up a bit it was still cold and slowwwww. Heading back to the camp after getting your ass kicked is a quiet drive. Thoughts of "shoulda - woulda - coulda" run about my mind, always trying to figure out what went wrong and what your going to do the next time.
We saved the best for last…. Dinner is going to be insane! The Chris's went to the butcher in search of some steak, what they bought was a cow. They walked out of the store with three U.S grade "A" T-ones weighing 4.5 each… and out $90 bucks. They have been marinating for a few days and it's finally almost time to start grilling. It was agreed that these precious steaks deserved an open pit charcoal roast. Grizz chopped the wood and I tended to the fire. In no time we had the coals. For the next 2 hours these bad boys slowly cooked over the coals, we tossed in a few garlic bulbs and added some asparagus to the mix and then sat there salivating waiting to feast. One by one the spears were eaten as we waited for the steaks to do their thing. At this point we are so hungry and like a Christmas miracle a small piece of meat broke off on the 'flip". Yes!! We shared that piece of sacred meat and cherished every chew. Not a good idea though, it was a teaser and we still had to wait a long time. The dogs had found a pile of deer hooves, something like 15 were counted just standing in one place... a few looked old but some looked like last night dinner, we speculated this a local feeding the family. Finally, the steaks are ready! We each had our own few pounds and like animals went separately to our corner to eat. MFRW was on the ground by the fire cutting the steak into bite size pieces, Grizz went over to the camper and I sat on a log by the fire, we all devoured the meal with hoots and hollers as it was delicious to say the least. The bar was set high by MFRW (Chris B), his marinate was top notch… looking forward to tomorrow, hope its not windy.





to be continued......

Winter Fishing - Nymphing Cont..?

I woke up this morning with an urge to go back and fis…h the nymph rig and see if I can get em' again. A solo trip today was something that I needed. Grabbed my gear and headed out. I like early morning drives, the way they feel and the look of the soft morning on the mountains. There was more than fishing on my mind today and it’s a great place for to think undoubtedly. Why am I living in the city is the big question, not really sure but a change would be nice… its been two straight years, first time in 18 years since I have been in one place for longer than 6 months… I miss my pack.

I had tied a few flies last night so they probably won't be needed as usual ; ) But in fact this time I actually used them. It was another great day on the water. I was amazed on how many big birds were out. I was watching a few Bald Eagle's soar around, when I hooked into my first good fish of the morning. It was a cool moment in time, one that I won't soon forget. They flew in and out of view all day. I was hoping to see one fish.

I tried to snap as many shots as I could, they didn't turn out entirely well. It's been fun and challenging to shoot my own fish. Each time I learn something new and try something different. It's tricky sometimes and hard to get angles that I would normally look for, so you have to get creative or at least I attempt to.

The last stretch was the most excellent run of the day… finished with a smile on my face and some good fish to hand. Funny thing though, I forgot what I was whining about in the first 10 minutes of casting. Perhaps its not all that bad…it always works itself out… gotta run to work now, wish I didn't have to.

Browns and Ice ---> Off

If you haven't guessed it by now its… "What if" season. There was a place that MFRW wanted to check out. So Spicy boy and I jumped in the Truck and ventured out to see for our own eyes. The lake was pretty frozen all but 25 feet of shoreline on the far end was open though the first bend ant the inlet

Within the first 15 minutes of getting there two nice browns were taken. Nick (SB) was the first took hook up. I ran down to shoot a few photos of the catch. Upon the release of the fish Chris B (MFRW) was now tight. Hell yeah! So I ran back over the other way to snap a few. This is going to be a great day we thought, key word being thought. After this entire running around thing I am ready to fish. So, cast after cast, after cast… after cast………after cast…. Change fly…. Cast after cast...after cast…after cast….after cast…change fly…cast after cast….You get the idea. Well, it turned out to be a cold, windy day filled with tough fishing. Where did the fish go? I reeled up and walked to the other end to check it out. I fished for a few, picking off a small stocky brown and a feisty small 15" rainbow. Then I was back to the casting part again. So I reeled up and hiked back over to the boys, hoping that they are getting them. Well, MFRW had taken another right after I left and Nick hadn't even had a bite, other than that… nada. We finished the day casting and finally gave up late in the day. We all want to return again soon. Great day, lots of casting ; )