Stillwater Cutts

Jim invited me to head up to a local stillwater with him and David to meet up with Newman, a generous friend of theirs that took us out in his boat. I brought the fly rod along but my Dad's 11 foot spinning rod was so fun to cast I stuck with it the whole day. I worked the water for a bit with Jim's fly rod but did not manage any hookups. The day was not fast as far as fishing goes but it was a great day and everyone caught fish. The highlight was a 23 inch cutthroat that Newman caught. Jim also managed to land a fish on the fly rod which was fun for him. We spent the majority of the time trolling tube jigs and the infamous red or white rabbit. Once we got caught in a downpour accompanied by some gale force winds which was a lot of fun. It was great to be out on the water and fun to be out in a boat for a change.

Unexpected catch by David

Newman's hog

Freak storm

Jim's fish on the fly

Woolley Buggered trout

Cruising

A fish I caught on a castmaster. I could bomb the lure out a couple hundred feet it seemed with my dad's 11 footer.

Mysterious floating fish

A Few Browns

David and I decided to head up to a popular tailwater that receives a lot of pressure but usually has some good fishing. The morning started out slow but after mixing things up by putting on a bugger and letting it swing I landed a decent brown.


After a few hours some egg laying caddis starting showing and quite a few fish were slashing at them near the surface. David soon had a taker on a caddis dry fly.


Nymphing was proving to be very slow for some reason this day however David eventually got another fish that ate a San Juan worm.


It was a fun time out on the river and it left us thinking about different tactics, time frames, and waters to fish in the near future.

High Country Cutts

For a change of pace David and I headed up to the high country for some feisty cutthroats. When we got to the reservoir fish were rising and we could not resist. We muddied our shoes but got within casting distance and soon I was hooked up with a nice little cutthroat.

Soon after David nailed a nice one which turned out to be the fish of the trip (size wise).





We then headed down to the stream and soon David hooked up with a beautiful cutthroat decorated in a beautiful regalia.

We worked our way down stream and noticed a lot of spooky fish in the calmer water. We resisted the temptation for the most part and headed down to "easier" water to fish. We spent the next several hours hiking downstream and casting to the likely spots which was often rewarded with gorgeous cutthroat trout smacking our flies with reckless abandon. I'll let some pictures tell the rest of the story for the most part.





















After several hours we were beat and ready to head back toward the car. We managed a few more fish on the way back and when we got to the lake some fish were still rising. Again, we could not resist the temptation and David quickly hooked up but the fish ran him down into the weeds and got off. The scenery could not be beat nor the fishing, and the best part of all was that we did not see another fisherman on the stream the whole day. I can't wait to head back up to the high country with a fly rod in hand, heading to some small stream where hungry trout are willing to fight over my fly.

Caddis Patrol

Since I have been so busy I had not yet fished the great caddis hatches on the local rivers. That changed this week when David and I were able to head out and fish for a few hours one evening. The hatch came on fairly strong but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the river. We saw fish rising all over the place on the far bank for at least a half hour. We should have probably moved as soon as we saw the fish rising but we were thinking it would pick up on our side. Once it was prime time we realized it was too late to head downstream to a safe crossing point and work our way all the way back up. It seemed the high water had most of the fish hemmed in against the far bank while the side we were fishing was for the most part poor holding water. Regardless, there were a few fish working our side and David managed to hook into a nice one. Later on we headed to some calm water and tried sight casting to fish we could see under the light of our headlamps. I had a fish chase my mouse pattern for a few seconds which was fun. It was a great time out but left us wanting more. Next time we are heading to the far side of the hole so we can knock em' dead.

Can you spot the natural?