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Went to Chile for a couple weeks.
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who's the guy with the knife?
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Nice work Underoos. Was this the same place you went last year? So nice to see big bugs after a frustrating day at Deckers with tiny flies and too many people (a reminder why I have not been to deckers in 5+ years).
That looks downright epic, underoos!
My first comment to myself was “holy shit, that’s awesome!”
(…about that portrait mode…)
Yeah, same place. Next year's dates are already booked.Quote:
Originally Posted by GiantManta
Looks like a perfect getaway, clear streams, lunker fish. gorgeous surroundings. Makes me feel like going fishing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by romeo tango
Dang, that lamb would cost you about $1000 at a lodge in the Rockies. And, the fishing wouldn't be as good either.
Looks like I need to get back to Chile in non-ski season. Amazing!
Shortly after arriving at the honey hole late this morning, a fellow fisher whom I know, came walking up the bank. He said he'd been fishing all morning and got nothing. I allowed myself a moment of an internal smirk, as I had caught a small trout as he was walking up. He had caught a very large rainbow on one of the days I'd been out and got no bites at all, so I felt a small triumph in my child ego self. Then I told him exactly where I'd caught big fish the week before, on the north channel. He knew the area, and said he was going to try it out. I think it created good fishing karma, as the day went quite well for me, I caught another modest sized trout soon afterwards.
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After I'd tried for a third fish for a while, I decided to head down to the confluence, where my friend had been fishing earlier, and started catching whitefish.
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Bigger whitefish!
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I worked some water up the Bitterroot a bit, but having caught only one whitefish, decided to back track and fish through the places I'd been, on the way back to the truck. The weather was beautiful and constantly changing today.
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While fishing back down through the confluence, my good fishing karma continued......
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.....as it also did, when I got back up to the honey hole, where I caught two more trout. This was the bigger of them (I fumbled the other one):
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All told, I caught six whitefish and five trout, the majority of them with the pink pearl bead head nymph that ISBDs sent me, though I caught fish on other nymphs as well. It was a really good day on the river.
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It was another gloriously pretty day today, and one which did not produce any trout.
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On the other hand, some feisty whitefish bit (all on the legendary Northshore Stonefly nymph), and that wasn't bad.
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I also had a strike from what felt like a quite large fish, but it pulled loose quickly, probably because as is to often the case, my hook set was a frantic explosion of panic action. It happenes especially when the fishing is really slow, and my mind wanders.....DOH, where's that bubble!
SWOOOSHHH :D
Got out for a little over an hour today for the first time since October. Had one bite and landed one fish, which happened to be a really nice 16" rainbow--on the larger side for our local freestone river. Sorta weird to not have any other action, but such is winter fishing.
Also, if you're not using tippet rings during nymphing season, you're doing it wrong. I am always surprised by how helpful they are.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d1b379c85d.jpg
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Well I'm always doing things wrong, fortunately I still catch fish in spite of not using tippet rings. However, if you offer such pronouncements of the wrongness of not using them, perhaps also proffer illumination of the ways they are so helpful, for the stumbling oafs among us that rely on divine intervention to succeed at fly fishing.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reverend Floater
Oh, and, nice fish!
i experimented with tippet rings and micro swivels on bangey and dredge rigs for clients last season. definitely makes adjusting tag lengths easier vs double knots. also lets you interchange pre-rigged stuff super easily. but the larger connection point vs a knot means they accumulate a bunch of shit when there is grass. also more of a bitch to re-configure if the whole rig gets broken off but thats why i would keep a few pre-rigged.
I have a pack of them, but only got them to use it as a terminal off my sinking poly leader, because I saw it in a video by the Orvis guy. I found that tying onto a tippet ring is something my hands have trouble with (don't get me started on 6X tippets!), so I keep it as simple as clinch knots, and a bunch of pre-rigged big/little nymph combo rigs that I keep in my streamer box (and which very rarely get badly tangled in each other).
Tippet ring benefits: easier to adjust your leader/rig
Tippet ring negatives: tangles can be worse and they can collect crap if there is crap around
Sorry, I was kidding. I do like them, I think they can help the angle of the dangle and make rerigging a bit easier but they aren't necessary by any stretch. Per SYF, they do have draw backs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rasputin
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well i didn't get on the fish today but i did spin up a few fake fish. six hours of bucktail blending, schlappen ironing, stacking, brushing, wrapping, and a little bit of tying, produced...two flies.
top is a 13" tbone sucker. hollow tied and body-tubed. 4/0 universalx in back led by 25 and 35mm shanks.
bottom is a 18" mega glider anal probe (working name). 4 brushes of blended bucktail (6 colors), spuimpish, sf, and flash. 4/0 beast hook in back with keel weight, 55mm shank, led by 6/0 beast hook, also with keel weight. the mass of the lead basically cancels out any wind resistance when shes in the air. counter intuitive but weight balancing flies fkn works. also got some foam sandwiched between brush wraps on each section for as near a neutral buoyancy as i could get.
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happy to do toothy critter stuff or otherwise in small (or large for nymph) batches if anyone is interested.
Can anyone recommend guides for vail/basalt area?
I'm heading up for work in early June and would love to float or wade some private water.
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Early June will be runoff for sure....float will be high and muddy anywhere close to there (Fork, Colorado, Eagle) ....Frying Pan worthy on a weekday if you can do it....Chet
I haven't been out since Friday, and life has been troubling since then, various stressors have led me through fits. However, when I go through tribulation, the fish seem to appreciate me, and today I was twice blessed by compassionate fishes which took a strong liking to my #12 DB Prince. At the honey hole I hooked a jumper which took a while to net. I made a very fancy video of the fine rainbow troutfish I caught, it is certainly high art.
https://youtu.be/1LNn9hbEczg
I left the honey hole a few casts after catching the above trout, and headed toward the confluence, stopping to cast a bit in the area where I'd caught a nice one with the big hurkin stonefly nymph, and another beautiful rainbow took it, and fought harder than the first, but to no avail, as I yarded him in and gave thanks for how well the day was going.
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I didn't get anymore takes, and gradually devolved into cursing at the insistently obstructive wind. However, the ensuing meltdown, and the misery of my inner disquietude will surely earn some sympathy from some nice sized fish in the future, so I'll call it a win-win. :smile:
PSA. Grizzly hackle in Missoula is having a weekend sale. 25% off everything 3/1-3/3. Free shipping, no tax. Code works on all rods and reels . Sage, Scott, Nautils, ect
https://shop.grizzlyhackle.com/
Code: CUSTOMERDAY24
JPCM - thanks for posting this reminder. I hit this up last year and it is a good deal with the code working on a number of items which are typically excluded (it looks like some of the Simms stuff is excluded). The code is already live.
Flies, (at least the saltwater ones I tried), the discount doesn’t work
Gotta wait a day, i think…Quote:
Originally Posted by plugboots
Oh hell yeah, those will be deadly on Musky. Send them up here!Quote:
Originally Posted by stealurface831
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The Mrs and I also just got back from a bucket list trip to Chilean Patagonia to celebrate her 40th. We were gone for 16 days, fished 9 bookend by some other travel. We were based out of a lodge in on the Palena River in tbe Aysén region. The variety of water was mind blowing and the fishing was stellar. I’m going to work on a full trip report, but here are some fish pics
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Looks like a hell of a trip!
fknell that looks nice.
Wowee
After underoos and jcpm's posts I'm thinking about emptying out the kids' college accounts. Can I drain a 529 account tax free for a fishing trip in South America?
Holy river of dreams JCPM! That is just crazy, such vividly colored rivers, fish, and surroundings.
However, I do not envy you, because I just had a really good day, and not just because I caught fish, and it was a beautiful mix of weather, I inexplicably found myself in an irrepressible good mood. I started the day by visiting a friend in jail. He's getting stepped on hard because he's an activist for homeless rights. However, it was just a really good visit. He seemed to be in much better condition than I'd seen him in months, and with a very positive outlook.
After the jail, I went to Bob Ward's to get a new fishing license; for some reason, Montana licenses run for a year starting March 1st.
I took while to get myself out the door, but eventually I made it out to the boat ramp around 1pm. The weather was coming in, bands of sun and snow, and sometimes both:
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The honey hole eventually coughed up a whitefish, the water was pretty murky there, the Clark Fork's water has been colored by rain and snow melt.
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I fished my way down to the confluence, enjoying the process but getting no bites, I changed rigs to a #10 Pat's with a hare's ear hanger, which I am amused to call a rabbit's foot, because they seem to be good luck. At the bottom end of the confluence I tossed my rig into a shallow slower current flow, and a fish rose, and struck my indicator. I found this very amusing, but I was not able to catch it.
It wasn't long before a small trout took the hare's ear, but was not worthy of a picture on the same page as JCPM's post.* And after a while longer I caught another whitefish, which is not an unexpected consequence of fishing a hare's ear; apparently hare's ears are a large part of the whitefish diet, and one should never fish with a hare's ear if one has an aversion to catching whitefish.
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Even before catching the second whitefish I started noticing that I was in having a good time, just being in my waders in the river and whipping line around was doing it for me. I uttered much thanks with a loud voice, to the Creator of such feelings. I felt optimistic, and only partially because I had winched in a whole tree branch (I prayed for a fish for every stick I landed, so I knew something good was coming). The clouds were speaking to me.
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I worked up through the soft water along the rapid main current, which often produces, but to no avail. I worked up through large area of eddying soft water behind an effective diversion dam of two logs which got stuck on shallows as the Clark Fork spills into the Bitterroot. I always work through there, as it seems like natural holding water in winter, but haven't caught one there all winter, a fact I was commenting on, aloud to God and the rivers, when my bubble shot away, and my hook set was met with a yank that startled me. He was a strong puller, but the soft water didn't help his cause, and I winched in the beast after a battle, praising the God of fly fishing (Who also created the Universe of Universes). It is actually really humbling for me when I catch one like this, it's dreamlike, and I just feel like the fish is being sent to me. What a Godsend! (The big guy took the hare's ear)
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I felt like somebody up there likes me.
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Another frisky little fella continued the good mooding I was doing.
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I It was getting on in the day and I decided I was pleased with what I'd done, and headed back toward the truck, planning on fishing the honey hole for a while on the way. After much casting there, I took my customary/compulsive picture with the mountain in the distance.
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I changed from a hare's ear to an attacker or some such name, it basically a copper John with a tinsel tail instead of pointy feathers. After a few casts, I attempted to heave it close to the other bank into some soft water, snagged it and broke it off. My Pat's came back solo. I said to myself that it was good enough, I'd adjust the depth on the Pat's and give it three more casts. The second cast got hit hard, and I had a fighter who, after some fun, managed to wrap itself around some sticks which took the fight out of him as I winched him up. The leader was impossibly wrapped multiple times around the stick, which I had to break to get undone. when I pulled the fish out to take a pic, I found that he was bleeding, as he'd been hooked in the tongue. Sorry about that fella. I hope he heals well.
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I was glad to have a day without any meltdowns of impatience or any downward spiraling feelings really, of course I mentioned in my last post that the adversity of experience on Wednesday, could only assure that I would have mercy from of the God of the fishes (and of Heaven and the cosmos), today. I had a good day! It's a miracle! :)
* Actually I tried to take a picture, but fumbled him with my clumsy aging hands.
if you fancy yerself a whitefish guy, grab some whitening bugs. the mo flash the mo betta for whities i've found. goddamn i love them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rasputin
the state record mountain whitefish is .... 5.11 lbs. i'm certain i've caught a handful over that, but not since i found out the number. once you go for them, they disappear. my buddy and i have a pact that if either of us catch a record whitey, once official, the other must buy the winner a beater white van and pay for spray painted caricatures of winner with record fish in hand, both donning wizard hats, on both sides of van. under the image will be a caption proudly proclaiming "XXX XXXX, whitey king of Montana!"
one day man, graham. and i'm gonna daily that shit.
I got off work early today, so of course, I ran down to the fish catching place. It was a beautiful afternoon with sunshine, and bands of snow squalls.
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While it was no threat to the state record for whitefish, I landed my largest yet, almost 18".
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After belly-snagging another, much smaller whitefish, I caught a couple trouts.
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I was unable to convert at the honey hole; I had two takes, which left two startled fish, as I ripped the nymph away from them, and I watched them flash in runs of terror, sigh.
While I have been perfectly content to fish all winter, and not ski, the mountains are looking mighty frosty and inviting.
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Another afternoon out, and other sunset on the river, at least part of my life has been going quite well. :smile:
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Though I didn't work today, I didn't wet a line until 4pm, while later than I would have preferred, it was still enough time to catch some fish and enjoy the river. I caught a couple whitefish and one trout. I also had a fish break the hook of my nymph when I set the hook, I saw him briefly, and was sore disappointed that I missed such a nice fish. However at least I caught this one at the confluence:
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Until next time, may your drifts be dead and your fish lively, and may you find enjoyment in the great outdoors. Oh, and pretty mountain shot.
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It was a CAVU day, just gorgeous!
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I caught nothing but whitefish, a half dozen of 'em, but only took a pic of the first. None were big.
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The end.
Definitely feeling the changing of seasons
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Yes indeed, the temp in Missoula is 53 degrees, and the Clark Fork is approaching 40 degrees above Missoula. There has been a sizable hatch of fly-fisherman, emerging from their winter holds, and appearing at the river where I like to fish, which is making me nostalgic for the cold solitude of winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by swimmy
Today was a "therapy" day for me, which means I had many fits of ill tempered vitriol, howver, I managed to catch a half dozen whitefish, and a lone trout. I also had three fish come unpinned after hooking them. The weather was gray-blah-ness with occasional sprinkles.
A whitefish:
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A trout:
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Was able to put a buddy on his first missed musky today. Should’ve gotten the shot of anguish after he realized he trout set the shit out it. Also shoutout to the smallies that go after flies bigger than themselves.
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To celebrate my FIL's 90th birthday we went fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and caught 44 pounds of vermilion snapper, released many red snapper and tossed back small vermillion and white snapper. While not my style of fishing it was fun and my FIL had fun giving away filets to his neighbors.
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