Been On A Bit Of A Bow Kick

Typically I don't get to hung up on rainbows but this has been one crazy couple of weeks. The Bows are all up to spawn out of the reservoir and that has made for some interesting if not retarded fishing. 

It all started out at the beginning of may when I had a client catch a beautiful 17.5" bow out of the river, easily setting the standard for how big and beautiful of a bow I could expect to catch out of the river.

Then a few days later we all decided to go fishing at a little creek called Jones Hole. This turned out to be one of the most enjoyable days of fishing I had partaken of in quite a while. I started the day fishing a small black stimulator which I was able to get quite a few fish to eat, and bring even more to hand.  I then broke off the last of the two Stimi's that I had in my arsenal and began to fish the Cicada (as I had seen quite a few in the area as well as heard them.) This fished very well and I landed a few more. Then as the day wound to a close. I went to the bridge and cast towards a fish that I had fished towards every time I have fished Joners. And after little success on the dry I then tied on a small neon nightmare and sight nymphed. Success!!!

Later on that same week we decided to chase some of the very obscenely large bows coming up out of the reservoir to spawn. We only did this for a very short time. But it was insane. We caught so many big fish.  I felt kind of bad about catching these fish while they were getting prepared to spawn but it made for some intensely good pictures.

PS. The Terrestrials on the Green are coming. I have been hearing more and more reports of good terrestrial days. I can't wait to get out there and verify the rumors. Stay tuned for more updates.

Welcome to the new season; Blue Wings and Midges

The 2008 season is finally swinging into gear. I have put a number of trips on the water in this last week all with fairly productive days. 

The mornings have been fairly slow with a lot of midges on the water, the fish will rise on occasion but the most productive days will be had nymphing. I have been using a deep nymph rig set at anywhere from 6' to 7.5' to the first fly. I have had the most production from using two bead head flies with 2 to 3 split shots above. The most useful flies have been zebra midges in brown, black, and red; sz. 18. But yesterday I found a small gray rs2 worked very well (sz. 20-22).

In the afternoons, we have been seeing a fairly pronounced baetis (Blue Wing Olive) hatch that has brought large amounts of fish to the surface for fairly productive dry fly fishing. The patterns that I have been using the most regularly have been hackle stackers and different variants of cripple patterns. As with most fishing on the Green the fish are more drift selective than pattern selective. I have been fishing with different dun patterns of Blue Wings, trailed by a small hackle stacker or a small cripple. 

Morning dry fly action has been happening for some of the guides up here by fishing really slow back water with some sz. 18-20 highly visible midge pattern followed up by a sz. 24-26 no see um bug. This seems to work well when targeting the so called scummer trout that rises regularly, because these fish have a long amount of time to inspect the proffered bug and likely have seen a little of everything that every passer by could offer. 

There is good news however for the Terre

strial lover. I have fished dry dropper with a large para cricket and have seen a few good eats on the larger dry. Some guides that I have talked to are fishing dry dropper with cicada patterns and are seeing a few eats on the Cicada. I have heard reports of seeing a Cicada on the water.  So this is really good news. Meaning we might not be too far away from the beginning of big bug season on the Green.

Good luck out there, I'll see you soon.

It's been a while pt. 2

I also managed to have my first guide day of the year. It was an interesting day weather and fishing wise. The fishing was definitely spotty with certain spots performing outstandingly well, with others failing dismally. I believe that the fish had fed all night due to a full moon, and due to the cold water and low barometer were not going to feed actively all day. The fish we did catch were for the most part caught deep nymphing black and red zebra midges (sz. 18) and on orange jig-a-glo's. All in all it was a good day, with fun clients.

After spending a day in the shop assisting Denny prepare for the coming season. I joined a couple of friends on a float down B. We had a good day, despite the fishing being abysmally slow. It was however rather exciting for two big reasons. I caught a decent fish on a sz. 12 PMX cricket (dry fly), and missed two others. And while fishing a streamer pattern that I had tied earlier, it was an incredibly hot fly. I had many strikes, but due to lack of mojo, and a long tail on the bug, I was unable to land all but a couple fish. 

My next post should be coming in a few weeks, when I return to the river full time.

It's been a while pt. 1

I have had a couple of busy weekends this month. To start with, I joined a few of my good friends on a trip fishing the Grey Reef section of the North Platte. We met up in Alcova, Wy the night of the 13th, and had the perfunctory kick off for a good weekends vacation. (cocktails, and lots of stories) We then passed out for the night visions of fighting rainbows dancing in our heads.

We then woke up the next morning to gray skies and threatening snow. We didn't let this daunt us (for the moment) and took off to start the day.

The fishing was dismal at best, it seemed that we might have hit the river a little too early in the year, and the weather wasn't doing anything to boost our spirits. So after a couple of fruitless hours a few of us decided to take off and spent that night warm and at the bar with a couple of cocktails. I ended up drawing the short straw and had to row out alone (for the most part) in a raft, not my favorite craft on a river. We then proceeded to have a memorable night that most of us probably don't remember all of. 

Day 3, We awoke to pounding heads and clear skies. It looked like it was going to be a great day compared to the second day. After a tasty deep fried breakfast in Alcova's one restaurant, we headed out to begin the day. I started the day fishing with the girls on the trip (essentially guiding) but it turned out being a good deal, My friend ended up catching a beautiful rainbow that was somewhere around 20 inches. And we didn't have a net on board so my hands got really cold.

After a bit more fishing I switched out and got on a different boat to where I could have a chance to fish a bit more. It was a few of the guys from the trip, and one of the 3 of us had never caught a fish on a fly rod, so Danny (another guide on the Green) and myself made it our mission to make sure he accomplished this feat. After a bit of fishing, a few penalty shots (shots of booze for losing an obvious fish), and one landed bit of driftwood. He finally caught his first fish on the fly (one of, if not the biggest of the trip)

 

I finally managed to catch a small little fish about 17-18 inches, but good and healthy and fought hard. (it was caught on a double when Ben caught his (above)). All day we deep nymphed a black flash woolly bugger, and an orange attractor nymph of some kind below. We then fished for a bit longer with limited success, until the urge to party our way down the rest of the river got too strong. We had a good time floating out, tossing a football between the boats, and just having a good time. 

We then ended the day with another deep fried meal, and passed out early to take off the next day for wherever we called home. I do feel sorry for whoever had to clean the rooms as our partying left a bit of damage.

(and this was after we had cleaned up a bit, let alone the muddy wader boot prints all around the room.)

Coming Soon!

I am heading out to Grey Reef for the weekend, I will be putting updates up upon my return.

Back on job.

Today is a great day. I now have a plan. It is always good when you have a plan. There might be difficulty in achieving the plan, but it is good to have one. 

I have set April 16th as my first day back on the Green River doing what I love to do. I will begin taking trips on the 17th if a booking comes in by then. But if not, I have a three day request trip lined out for the 18th, 19th, and 20th. I have my goals for this year in mind. Not only for how I will continue to improve as a guide. But also in how I will work towards making my situation better. 

As always I look forward to seeing you all out there on the river. And I hope to be fishing with you soon.

Super Sunday

This weekend I was able to go up the hill to Dutch John to watch the Superbowl and enjoy a little time off. While I was up there I decided that I had better go fishing, or else it would be a waste of time. 

With very little cajoling I was able to talk my brother into going with me. We left the house at about 11:30 in the morning and got to the river at about noon. When we got there it was gusting some cold wind and quite overcast. We decided to at least go ahead and check for rising fish. We started to walk downstream from Little hole, after about a quarter of a mile we stopped to watch a few fish rising. My brother proceeded to cast towards these fish while I finished rigging up a small fuzzball. He hooked up and landed a nice healthy little brown. After he had landed his fish I stepped into the hole to try my luck. After trying a few times to see my fly I gave up and changed up to a sz. 20 midge cripple. I made a few casts in and hooked up with another little brown. 

After a little more fishing we separated and started to fish different holes. After landing another 4 or 5 nice little browns my midge cripple was starting to look a little ragged. I then proceeded to change it up for a little Brook Sprout Midge, I fished this fly for a little while longer. And just before we decided to go in for the day I hooked and landed a healthy 16 inch brown. 

All in all a good day of fishing, and a good bit of time spent with my brother.