Just waiting on some sun!

For Pete...and because it is a cool fish.

It won't be long now boys and girls! This pretty little 22 lber was the first big fish of 2008, caught in Mid April. My hopes for an early season are waning with each weather report, but any way you look at it...days on the flats are just around the corner! Maybe I can find some slobs like this girl?

For the record, I saw a tailer on Sunday. It won't be long now!

Ward's comment on a previous post prompted me to track down the "Headstand" fly. I found it here:

Headstand

Great looking bug for carp. I tied up a few today, and actually REALLY like this in smaller sizes. I tied some 2x short size 10 hooks and I think they'll be perfect for days when the carp are spooky and you need to downsize. I experimented a bit with the peacock sword on a few...used some crystal flash and flashabou instead to add a little more shine to the fly. I think they'll be deadly! Now if the weather would warm up a bit, I'd go look for some targets.

I like all the different "carpy" elements to this fly. Peacock herl...check. Rubber legs...check. Dumbell eyes...check. Burnt orange color...check. A few more of these and my main flybox will be complete.

The flies from the Rocky Mountain Fly Swap are in! Fantastic job by all involved, especially BigTree who hosted the swap and created these fantastic tins. Really nice swap, some definate winners here!

For details, check out the Rocky Mountain Fly Swap.

My last few Monday evenings have been spent reorganizing flies while my wife and her friend Jen steal the TV away. I pulled all my flies out, moved marginal flies to another box and put some go to flies in my primary carp box for this spring. I'm pretty happy with the results. Here are a few pics, though these are just the reorganized flies...since these were taken I filled in the empty spaces with another dozen Montana Carrots and close to a dozen of the venerable SJWs. In addition, I whipped up not one, but two dozen flies for a fly swap in CO. My first set of flies got lost in the mail(thank you us postal service!) I should have some pictures of the fly swap up soon...can't wait to see the full results as there are some serious carp anglers in CO. They flat out know their stuff down there.

I think the river is still a few weeks away from any serious carping...but I am officially ready to go. I added a 9 ft 6 wt Echo 2 to my collection, primarily as a backup but with as sweet as this rod is, I'll find reasons to fish it!

Today was a case of "should have gone yesterday." My dad and I decided early in the week that if the weather looked decent, we'd make a run at a few trout. Well, the weather looked decent, but in actuality was merely not terrible. The sun hid all day and temperature stayed in the low 30s. Not cold enough to chase you off the water, but cold enough to have you looking for a patch of sunlight. The previous few days had sun and 40s, so the sudden cold spell had an effect on the fish and it was tough to find any real action. Still, I'm glad we went. Alway good to fish with my dad and he had a new fly rod (switch rod) to try out.

We hit a money spot to start and dad lined up in the pocket with his new 11 ft 7 wt TFO switch rod. He bought the rod to chase steelhead on the clearwater, and I think he's happy with the results. Moments into his day he brought this great redside to hand and he rod had that factory stink off of it.

It took me a lot longer to get going. As expected with a LONG layoff with regard to trout...I was pretty rusty. Fortunatley the rust didn't show itself in the usual manner, in other words I wasn't covered in tippet with a fly stuck in the back of my hat and split shot dents in my forehead. Mostly, I had trouble focussing. I told my dad that I never did feel like I was properly "zoned in" to nymping. I went through the motions, flipped, mended, high sticked, naked and with indicators but overall I knew the sixth sense was missing. It didn't help that I fount a massive leak in my waders and basically fished one day with my left foot in the river. That was the only part of the day that ranked as "not pleasant."

After an hour or so I stumbled across a few trout dumb enough to be fooled by imperfect drifts, and hungry enough to make the indicator move like something was chasing it...I landed a few, took some pictures and marveled at their color. I didn't really feel like I deserved the fish, I felt more like they found me. Later in the day I added a venerable whitey to the tally...another gift from the fish gods because at the time I swear I was watching a line of foam float downriver a good 10 feet away from my indicator.

It was a beautiful, cold day. Always great to fish with my dad but I spent most of the time on the river on my own, a few hundred yards away from dad. I fished, but mostly I just enjoyed being on the river waving a stick. That sounds simple and lacks the true poetry of the moment, but its true. Most fly fisherman will tell you they don't care if they catch fish, or how many fish they catch or how big they are...some days they mean it.

So this is the new place:

The purchase of this place is a large part of my complete lack of online activity of late. Typically the winter is spent talking fishing online, tying, fishing, tying, and more talking fishing online. Instead, I've spent this winter arguing with a builder, yelling at a lender, and lifting boxes. We officially moved in last Saturday, and the place is pretty liveable right now...not too many boxes lying around, but many empty rooms at this point. The good news...we now have a "craft" room. That is code for "fly tying room" I don't think my wife is fooled. I actually knocked out 10 montana carrots for a swap on the Rocky Mountain Fly Board last night, and have already chatted with Wendy Berrell about web cam tying sessions involing visual instruction, plenty of BS and a bottle or two of the drink of choice. Should be fun. Actual fishing is still a distant 5th or 6th at this point, but there is an off chance I'll be out after trout this weekend. The Reel John Montana is on his way to PDX to see the Gonzaga game with me Thursday night, and I hear he's bringing a trout rod. We'll see how the weekend goes!

Pictures of the Montana carrot will go up at some point...I just need to find my camera.

Three months without a post...I owe apologies to the three people that read this blog! Bottom line, life has been crazy. The kids are growing (even when they refuse to eat, they keep growing) work has been busy (Oct. was another record month) and life in general has conspired to keep me away from any water...I have not touched a fly rod, reel, vice, etc. since my last post. Ugh. I hope to change that with a trip to the Big D in Feb. to look for some blue winged olives. Chances of fishing before that hypothetical trip = 0.

I took JJ to the fly shop today and we bought some sweet looking carp flies. I'll get some pictures of the flies up here in a week or so. I also intend to hit the vice and tie up an army of SJWs, carp carrots, etc. This year I plan on starting the search for carp even earlier than I normally would. I just can't wait to get on the flats and look for tailers!

These are not the flies I bought today, but I liked the patterns (found them online...can't remember where!)

Salmon trip number one was a success and a failure at the same time. I only hooked two fish, but one made a twisting leap that was pretty spectacular. That leap made it worth losing that fish. The other fish I hooked rolled over down deep and popped off, all I was was the white belly when it rolled. So while I didn't land a salmon today, I really enjoyed the afternoon of fishing. I nymphed current seams, and it didn't take me long to get into the rhythm associated with nymphing. Cast upriver, mend, take in line, high stick, swing it out...water load and start over. It also rained the entire day, which I loved. I was all snug in my gear, rain pounding on my hood while the river went by. Occasionally a salmon would roll or shoot upriver, but not often. The fish were not moving much despite the rain. To top off the enjoyment of the fast moving river and thrill of the rain, I took a swim today. I slipped off of a big rock and landed in the main channel I had been fishing. I was under water for a couple of seconds and spluttered to the surface only to float downriver a few feet. I stood up and despite the fall, the cold water, the slightly bruised ego...I had a big smile on my face. It takes a certain type of person to enjoy standing in the pounding rain, landing no fish and taking an impromptu swim..I guess I fit the bill.