Saturday, July 27, 2013

Out with the Boy

I hate appointments.  No matter when you schedule them, they're still inconvenient and a pain in the butt.  While it's true that I didn't have anything else to fill out my day (for the first time in two weeks) I really wanted to use that down time to hit some streams I've been neglecting.  Atley was game, and even got the stuff ready to go while I was at the meeting.



We made it to Gooseberry Creek by ten and found the water low and clear.  Quickly we were into fish using a Stone-Flopper with a red Copper-John dropper.  On a nice looking bend pool, Atley was able to get into several hits, eventually hooking his first for the day.




As we moved upstream the fishing got steadily more challenging which definitely didn't fit the bill for the day.  Eager to get my boy into more fish, we decided to hit one of the other small creeks in the area.

It wasn't the fast action that we were hoping for, but we managed to catch a few.  Atley stuck his second fish, a chubby little brown.


After that, it seemed like all he wanted to do was play with the camera.  Oh well, better for him to have a good experience than for me to insist that he fishes the whole time.  I caught some more, a mixed bag of Browns and Cutthroat while Altey manned the camera.  We tried out some underwater shots for the first time.  They're not great, but fun to play with.





Had a great time out today!  Atley covered some serious miles, fished like a pro, and took some great pics.  Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.



Saturday, July 13, 2013

Checking in

After spending the morning helping the wife out with her yard sale there were a couple of free hours to check on a local stream that got hit pretty hard by the fire last year.  At first arrival I was worried, then when I got my feet in the stream I was really worried!  The water felt warm (I was wet wading) took out the stream thermometer and sure enough the water was about 67 degrees.  I fished a couple of the deeper holes and found a few willing trout (cutts and browns).  Not many fish seen, even fewer active fish.  I walked and looked way more than I fished and was disappointed by what I saw.  Sad sight indeed, felt like checking in on a sick friend.

Friday, July 12, 2013

A Sweet Rod!!

This has been in the works for a little bit, but it took me a while to actually sit down and get on it.  Custom burl cork handle, maple reel seat, red wraps on a 8' 4wt 4 piece blank.  Lawn casted it this afternoon and am way excited about the way it turned out.  Best rod yet!
First coat didn't soak in, so I cut it off and did it again.  So glad I didn't settle!

Really love this handle.



Life is about balance



Average?

6:00am is not that early!  Especially when you're heading out to one of your favorite places in the world!  With that in mind I managed to break my dry spell and headed out "early" Monday morning.  After picking up a couple of friends on the way we were greeted with no visible fish in the slightly high stream.  Oh well, I still had confidence that my stream would produce for us.


Started out a little slow, but we managed to pick up a few fish here and there.  Tried different stuff, but the fishing just didn't seem to be what it normally is.  

Matt showin' off his first fish on the fly!
I love teaching people how to do this. 
Then in the afternoon the fishing just got better.  Not like a steady rise in action, but just bam! Now fishing is good!  Wondering if the first section we were in got slammed over the holiday weekend, because from here on out fishing was significantly better!

The old pro was workin' it.
Managed to pick some up on a new fly pattern.  The Stoneflopper.
Dig the big blue spot on his face.
Right about when it was time to head fishing got crazy good for me.  But the action stayed about the same for the other guys which made it hard to stay.  Oh well, great time with great company in a great place.  Kinda makes it hard to call any day average...  Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.
Awesome canyon.