Wednesday Tuggin the lucky way

It was tough fishing but we went and we caught fish!

I say it was tough for at least two reasons. The visibility was the main thing that made it tough for us. Today fish just weren't visible. Forced to "watch an indicator" (for lack of a better term) The fish were holding deep, forcing us to keep up on out length of leader and the amount weight adjusted just to compensate for the speed of the water. Last problem we faced was, the size of the bugs. The naturals are tiny for the most part and with the water off color the fisherman needs to present a slightly larger fly which would only sink to the deep and snag on something nearly every drift. We did pull three fish, all solid fish with a good hook up but they all three seamed, in their own way, lucky! Lucky to hook and land as there were plenty of people fishing today and no reports of anyone taking a fish. When asked by another angler how we were doing, I just said "slow" and left out the part where we walked miles of goat trial and worked our asses off to pull three fish...
Dylan's brown was a head thumpin S.O.B. !!!

The canyon always brings something wild to the table as it is full of almost unreal wild life situations...
Today we seen a massive hatch of little water snakes or garden snakes what ever they are called. Completely harmless but plentiful. We probably seen 50 or so of the little things. We also came around a corner to see a mother and father goose leading 5 baby's across the river while touching feathers the whole way as I am sure that there was a 6th that got munched by a hungry ol brownie or swiped up by an eagle. Also seen a mess of lizards crawling the warm walls of the canyon. Last we heard a big rock falling from above causing us to take cover down hill from a big tree just in case the rock was coming all the way down, it did stop above us a few hundred feet sending little pebbles bouncing in to the river.

Last there was another angler who I can't help but mention, A fellow that I have seen before and always starts his day at the same place. I don't want to take anything away from the guy but I have learned so much from him and have never even been on the same side of the river as the guy.
First off, every time I look up he is tying knots in his rig and and that's fine but one day I began to think of how much time a guy can spend doing that in a day on the water and how much fishing time is lost. Now if this guy is tying because he's so tangled that he has to bite it all apart and start over time and time again then well.... Bummer! Now if he's re rigging because of the fishing situation that he is facing, then that's fine too but a lot of time can be waisted there as well... Its not the re rigging that got me thinking its also the body language of the fellow as you can just plain see the frustration all the way to the way he walks. Always irritated or frustrated in some way. Today I seen him coming down the river shortly before sun rise and not too sure footed for a younger grown man, the terrain isn't all that rough but it sure isn't easy... as the frustration built I seen him take a slip on the other side of the river and I heard that nasty sound of a fly rod hitting the rocks, I clinched my jaw for him and he made his way to his favorite hole where he stood there tying knots the hole time. We pulled two of the three fish that we caught and here he came to fish directly across the river from us in hopes that maybe it was just the spot that we were fishing. Un-effected by somebody fishing straight across the river from me, I continued to fish my little run. Then all of the sudden I see 7 1/2 feet of fly rod go flying into the river, followed by a frustrated and uncoordinated scramble for the broken pieces of rod from the water... Now the frustrated man, is pretty pissed off as he has just broken a fly rod worth 500 bucks. I know the value because as he stomped off he told everybody he passed what had happened. He stomped all the way to his truck where he told the story again to the guy parked next to him... He quickly grabbed another rod from the truck and ran back down the river where he stood there for an hour tying on the bugs and the stomped right through a run to fish a rock!... This dude probably loves to fish as much as the next guy and I respect that! Dude in the red truck: you are my model for not wasting time on the river and fishing instead!

As luck would have it!

Solo trip

 

The Gathering

The gathering of fly fishermen who met on the web...
A truly, one of a kind fly fishing event for me. Great people, Great food and a scenic setting that makes one's eyes gaze for hours...

Day one: I wander around a corner to find a couple, fishing flies to trout on a yellow dot. I was asked to join them and embraced in a spiritual experience that was long time coming. Later, greeted by a triangle of fishermen and a great family of three, a pleasure to watch take trout from a backpack in the rain, a dedicated father and very determined mother who right in front of me jumped in to her waders and caught a fish that she had been watching for a few minutes. Finally another fisher woman joins us for a day of tying knots and talking leaders. She has developed an amazing drift of a fly and has made a leap in her fly fishing carrier in my eyes.

Day Two: More of the same, Rain and fishing with amazing people. This day we fished lower in the canyon and everybody pulled a fish, Midgeman found the runaway brown in the rapids and kindly let the fish avoid being ran down! Emily ripped a fish on her second drift in the riffles, Steph sent a roll cast to mid river on the inside of a bend and nailed one, as it ran for the white water ol Dustin did an eagle dive with the net to save the moment. I managed to tease a fish to my line with a wild technique making for my favorite fish of the trip.
Finished out the evening at the dam where I was able to work with Emily on the finer points of landing a big fish with small tackle.

Day Three: Solitude in its finest form as MidgeMan and I got to spend the whole morning fishing side by side, From first light to lunch time! We found the rest of the gang with Toilet Bowl Fever and not the kind from drinking a bit too much the night before. I mean the kind where the weight of a fish on the line become simi addictive to ones mind keeping them prisoner from the rest of the river. I took off the next day so I do not know how the last two days went.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE via The Midge Manifesto!

Cold and Dry

Here on the west slope the weather is cold and dry, It's been miserable for the creatures of the stream.. As the weather warms I will find the fly shop again and then remember how to fish... I have only been out 5 times this winter and froze my tail off each time.

Ahhh the thought of caddis in my shirt and the sounds of fish jumping into the air will soon arrive and we can search for bigerrfish!

The photo above was taken on a cold morning while the wind was blowing... It was just after a fish that had the hook wedged in the corner of its lip... I had to get my hands wet and they were so cold I had to build a fire while my partner drummed up another brownie. Yep then I didn't enjoy the fire because I had the bright idea of taking pictures of it.

This is my cousin trying not to get his hands wet, they look cold already.... HA!

Thirsty We Are

This is the bottom line... We are Thirsty... The fish the fisherman and the land.

 

This is what thirst means by the definition of the Internet encyclopedia.

 

 

Thirst is the craving for fluids, resulting in the basic instinct of animals to drink. It is an essential mechanism involved in fluid balance. It arises from a lack of fluids and/or an increase in the concentration of certain osmolites, such as salt. If the water volume of the body falls below a certain threshold or the osmolite concentration becomes too high, the brain signals thirst.
Continuous dehydration can cause many problems, but is most often associated with renal problems and neurological problems such as seizures.
Excessive thirst, known as polydipsia, along with excessive urination, known as polyuria, may be an indication of diabetes mellitus or diabetes insipidus.
There are receptors and other systems in the body that detect a decreased volume or an increased osmolite concentration. They signal to the central nervous system, where central processing succeeds. Some sources,^[1] therefore, distinguish "extracellular thirst" from "intracellular thirst", where extracellular thirst is thirst generated by decreased volume and intracellular thirst is thirst generated by increased osmolite concentration. Nevertheless, the craving itself is something generated from central processing in the brain, no matter how it is detected.

Weak post I know maybe its a side effect of dehydration, not to be confused with just plain ol thirsty!

Songs That Get Stuck In Your Head...

While fishing there is always a song that gets stuck in my head. Weather it be something I heard on the radio on the way to the river or just a song with a catchy fishy beat!..
The sticky song is usually prompted by somebody else singing the most annoying part at the perfect time...
Here is a new one for you to call out and make your fishing buddy crazy!

Happy New Year to all who hold a fly rod!

A Fisherman And A Thinker

My father is responsible for showing me the water and I admire the way he thinks!

Check out this video of him in the garage where we get our boats ready, make leaders and tie flies.

Hey Cuz

My cousin and I have been fishing together at least once a month for almost a year...

He and I chucked lures and dunked worms with our parents all of our childhood... He has made the move to a fly fisherman... And it is official!

Brown Town

Spent the day riding my bicycle along the river bank hunting down brown trout. I hooked up with over 20 pounds of brown.. all with a headhunter attitude.. willing to walk till the river ends..
Been trying to post with my smartphone...

Back To The Arkansas River

Its a big of a drive from here, but the fish are a different color and fun as hell to catch...

I hooked up 6 times in just an afternoon of fishing, landing four of the six... The fish in the photo found its self a parking place behind a rock and would spook if it seen my indicator...

I pulled it, and then pulled the fish within three shots...

Sad thing here is the water is warm and the fight nearly killed the ol thing. It took twice as long for it to catch its breath as it did to loose it!..

Father son day in the canyon

Had a great day in the canyon with my dad... lots of fish and tons of fun!

D's Big B

A twelve hour day on the river with my son with every hour producing fish...

D's Big B came in the 11Th hour just as the last spot of sun came though the trees...

If its catch-able... then D usually catches it!

R.I.P. Poudre

Check out this video of fish dying and guys playing!


This is sad... The Poudre Died this weekend due to the elements of nature...

QUESTION:
Do you thing that smokey the bear is to blame in any way?... The bear and man have teamed up to prevent fires from happening on their own, Just as soon as a little lightning strike makes a little smoke, a helicopter drops in and snuffs it out. Keeping every tree alive until a family of beatles moves in to help with the over population of trees... Man has prevented so many fires that when a big one comes along it feasts like a fat kid at the buffet!

Dylans monster

Dylan hooked three fish this day and the one in the photo is the third one... the only one to the net... a MONSTER....

Gunn Show

 A little big for the net and a little hard on the arm... The rest is Big

Fighters! huh Babe?

My Birthday fish!

This is what happens when you stay up all night at a friends house...

Now, this "no fly" thing is....... Quite a problem!!

Kinda hard to sleep when there are so many snakes in the grass!