Saturday, March 31, 2007

I recently did an interview for the online magazine "The American Carper." Paul Sharman and Sean Manning sent me a list of questions and I answered as well as I could, I just hope I didn't sound too dumb! The article is in this month's issue, and can be found here:

http://www.americancarpsociety.com:8080/ACS/acs_e-magazine.html

Thanks Paul and Sean, it was fun! Let me know if I can do anything else for you guys!

Friday, March 30, 2007

50 lb grass carp on the fly!

Wow...some pretty impressive fish here:

http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=602476

It is illegal to target grass carp in OR and WA, but I landed one in FL while down there on business. I crawled around a pond in front of a grocery store on my hands and knees to avoid spookign the beasts, and still only managed one take. Really tough fish...I'd love to catch some in this size range!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007




Here are some great shots taken by Scott on the way to Spokane. I hooked up briefly with this fish, but couldn't hold him. It won't be long now!

Monday, March 19, 2007


What can you really say about Rock Creek in Montana? I grew up in Whitefish, and while I would not go so far as to call Rock Creek my home waters, I have fished it often enough to have a good idea of what to do, where to go, and what you can expect to see. Still, I often found myself devoid of all thought while fishing the creek Saturday.

Scott, Coleman and I headed to Spokane to catch the first round of the NCAA tournament. All in all, this would be a banner trip. Along with two good fishing friends, I was set to meet my dad and former high school coach Julio Delgado and his wife Benilda in Spokane. The basketball was great, and watching 6 games with Julio and my dad was a real treat for me. It was great to spend time with them both and cheer and jeer for the coaches and players through 6 great games. Did I mention we got to see the great Kevin Durant play twice?

Thursday, while driving to Spokane Scott, Coleman and I scouted a few carp lakes, and did spot and stalk one nice carp in the shallows. I didn't bring the fish to hand, but it was the prototypical summer stalking experience, and Scott got a great picture of the moment, which I'll post later. We also fished a spring creek outside of Spokane with entertaining results, and in general had a great travel day.

But Rock Creek stole the show. We drove all the way to the creek worried about flows. The Clark Fork and every inch of water we saw while driving was big and brown, but we were greeted with clear water, and sunny skies while pulling up to the creek itself. The details of the day are unimportant, but just to get an idea, here is how the first 4 casts went once I got myself into the position I wanted.

Cast 1: Hook and land a 14 inch cutthroat, my first in quite some time.

Cast 2: Hook and land a 17 inch rainbow, a beautiful leaping creature.

Cast 3: Hook and land a 12 inch brown trout, meeting my hope for the day of landing a brown.

Cast 4: Hook a huge brown, 20 + inches that jumped right in front of me, and broke me off in the sticks on the far side of the creek.

After 3 species in 4 casts, I sat on the bank for a few minutes. It was a nice moment to relax, because the rest of the day was spending playing and releasing fish. What a special place, Rock Creek. Before Saturday I hadn't fished the creek in 7 years...I'll be back much sooner this time.