Friday

kushkokwim mountains to the sea

Fly fisherman, photographer, and all around good guy Danimal went on an unsupported Alaskan float with his brother-in-law this summer just to prove that $5000/week lodges are a waste of time. Dan sent me a slew of fantastic photos of his voyage and I chose several to share with the club. We hung out last week in Colorado and he gave me many details of the trip like how long he went, the name of the river, and how much it cost; those details just slipped my mind as I thought about myself wading among thousands of salmon without anyone within a hundred miles. I propose a club outing one day to the wilds of Alaska, where we can have have Danimal show us the ropes of fishing and keep us from getting mauled. Thanks Dan.....

Dan and Cman were dropped of high in the river system by float plane and spent several days drifting, catching, and no doubt drinking..

He told me that the grizzlies were everywhere but being stuffed on salmon left them to go about their business..

There were lots of fish to catch including sockeye and char. The real quarry however were the wild and native rainbows following the sockeye..

Alaska: the last great place.

Thursday

Largest fly in the world...

I happen to be in Logan, Utah for some meetings and found this right next to the hotel...the largest fly in the world. It was for Roundrocks Fly Shop (unfortunately I went after closing hours). I also found the Logan River flowing behind the hotel and there were some pretty big fish in there. I kicked myself for not brining anything but I will next time.


Tuesday

Make Your Own Cane Fishing Rod.

I found this on Moldy Chum and I love everything about this video. Very Cool Michael Bronco!

Make Your Own Cane Fishing Pole from michael bronco on Vimeo.

Sunday

Fall Run

Visited my favorite wild trout stream today. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of large browns I've caught today. I have always caught more brookies in this stream than any other trout but I guess the browns are occupying the stream to spawn.














Thursday

box full of crap...















Upon returning from my last trip, I was determined to clean out my fly boxes and reorganize with a clean sheet. I found myself standing next to the river with 4 fly boxes full of flies, and still paralized like a zombie, just staring into the box and thinking... shit I don't have the right fly. I took all the flies out of every box I had, put them into the fly storage boxes and now I'm trying to re assemble the fresh fly boxes. Problem is that I was really eager when I started fly tying & I tied on boxes full of flies... the really ugly kind ... that don't looklike they will catch fish. Maybe all fly fishermen go through this once in their fly tying journey...ending up with lots of flies you don't ever use. I should probably throw it all away and start fresh by tying "good" flies that I'll actually use, but the frugal side of me won't allow that. So I was wondering how you guys organize...

- what is your way to organize a fly box? size, type, ?? My aim is efficieny...
- should I keep flies in the storage boxes and assemble the 'carry box' each time I go out?
- how many boxes do you carry on a single day trip?

I am entering a new stage here with fly boxes... it may end up ultra efficient or it might end up me on the river with no fly to catch any fish. Either way, I am determined to trim down on the flies I carry. Thoughts?

Monday

One more from the big C

Thanks for the great words guys and the great time. You came to Colorado during some adverse and highly unusual weather. You still managed to hit the water hard and bring in some fish. I want to invite you and other members of the angling club back for a trip in the future with hopefully a little less challenging fishing. The great thing about what you have created here GF is that it has allowed me to meet and fish with people on the other side of the world and I hope to bring you all to my back yard in the future. Following are some of my favorite images from the trip.....

Hot Dogs and raging river.......

At the South Park kids pond....Those bastards killed Kenny!

Charles getting eaten by a Rainbow....

Dream Stream sunset....

Back at the ranch.....

My wife fished for about three hours, carried our baby through beaver pond willow madness and.....

nailed the biggest fish I've seen in almost a year!

Colorado report 3: Photo Essay















Colorado report 2: Cutthroat Creek

As GF mentioned in the previous post, this trip will be remembered for many things. Since GF did great job describing the trip in overall sense, I will write about one particular trip to a local stream which was not too far from where Mrlee grew up.

One thing you immediately notice about this particular creek is how close it is to the major highway you just got off of. You can hear roaring tires echoing through the valley. Not my idea of fishing in Colorado but, the sheer beauty of the creek eventually takes over and let you block out the noise and help you get lost in fishing.

This is a cutthroat creek with gin clear water running through it. Cutthroat is native species in Colorado. My first encounter with the species! I guess there is certain amount of anticipation and excitement that comes with catching the first of its kind as I found myself jittering with excitement. They are known to be the easiest trout to catch with hook and line and the statement was correct as I met many of them cutts.

The weather wasn’t optimal as rain turned into hail and eventually to snow with nasty wind accompanying the elements. With Mrlee’s help, I was able to catch them with hopper dropper rig in the beginning. As long as you maintained dead drift, they went for your fly without any hesitation. I’ve notices that the cutts’ reaction to flies is similar to brookies I catch back in the Northeast streams which is fast and furious. Especially with dry flies, I’ve noticed them shooting up to take my ausable bomber from their deep bottom comfort zone in a blink of an eye. After a few premature set, I was able to time their takes and eventually had a proper introduction with the kind.

High altitude definitely took a toll with my breathing. I guess aging is also a factor as I’ve been here before to snowboard in younger days and never had a problem with the altitude sickness.

This creek will stay in my heart for a long time not only because it is my first encounter with the cutts but I felt like a real fly fisherman for the first time as all my learning and practices came into hand naturally. Of course, being with right company made it that much more special.

Thanks guys for a great trip to remember, especially Mrlee for awesomely customized trip!!!