Back to Trouting

I headed back to the Rockies over the holidays and of course was excited to sample a few of the tail waters I had grown accustomed to over the years. In the Midwest I have made the transition to warm water fly fishing, mostly in stillwater. I love the mixed bag you find in warm water fly fishing but I was excited to see if I could dredge up a few trout out in the frozen tundra. David and I headed up to a tailwater that sits in between two reservoirs and found a beautiful looking stretch of river. We had zero hits in the first good looking hole.

We moved down to a fairly deep and uniform stretch just upstream from a small bridge and after several drifts David hooked up with a decent brown which put a nice little bend in his rod.

It was all good water but the fish didn't feel like playing all that much so we headed down to a different section of river.

I must mention I tried borrowing Jim's fly rod, but when I went to open the tube and piece the rod together there was nothing inside except a rod sock. It was not a big deal since David and I usually trade off drifts anyway at the best holes. We did just that and David made a really nice drift on his turn and something munched on his nymph and tore off downstream. We were hoping it was a big brown which are fairly common to the river but it turned out to be a Rocky Mountain bonefish (a.k.a mountain whitefish). David let me show it off to the camera.


Not fast fishing but the inversion resulted in a beautiful day once you got out of the valley.

I made sure I grabbed the right rod tube the next time we headed out. We went to one of my favorite holes that holds large numbers of fish but most are 14 inch cookie cutters. I have seen some large browns porpoise in the hole but most are middle weight and pretty scrappy. If you hit a good hatch at the hole in can be nuts with dozens of fish rising. Despite a few midges the bug activity was fairly minimal. We worked hard and nymphed up a few stubborn browns of the cookie cutter variety.

We tried heading up ice fishing the day after a big storm and we could not make it up to the reservoir because deep snow was covering the road and the plows had not cleared the way in. We should have brought our fly rods but left them at home. We still wanted to get some fishing in so we decided to hit a river with our spinning gear. We had our big white tube jigs on and started getting some good follows right off the bat. I casted into a fairly small side channel and as my jig bounced up into a shallow riffle I saw a fish in hot pursuit. He nailed it and I landed the fish. The fish probably went 13 inches and I was surprised it hit such a large jig. I have heard fish will hit large prey in comparison to their body size but this was the best real life example I had seen. I wish I had taken a picture. While on the river we used some ski style masks we got for Christmas and I had to get a picture of David looking like a river ninja.

A few days later we tried heading up ice fishing and we made it. It turned out to be a perfect afternoon. The best bite is early morning and it proved to be slow. We thought it might turn on as the sun faded in the late afternoon and we were right. There was a burst of activity as the sun started to disappear behind the mountains. In fact, I probably caught the largest trout of my life but it was too cold and my camera would not turn on. It was a beautiful Bear Lake cutthroat that was probably around 23 inches and it had some girth to it for sure. We did get a picture of one of the other fish we caught.


Before the early evening bite turned on David tried hiking up a hill in the deep snow and sledding down it. The snow was too deep so his attempt ended up being more like a belly flop. It was pretty funny. Overall it was great to get out fishing with David again back "home".

Allen Fly Fishing

I ran into Allen Fly Fishing on a Facebook advertisement. Or maybe it was a banner on one of the fly fishing forums. Anyway, I did some research and ran into quite a buzz about the products. There was little if any negative reviews about the reels, lines, and a host of other fly fishing gear. I started following the latest developments with the reels. Once I saw the new Allen "Trout 5/7" I was sold. These were some of the best looking reels out there and at great prices. Then Justin (the owner) came out with a new version of the "Alpha" fly reel which looked equally awesome. I had to decide whether I wanted a new reel for my all purpose 5 weight rod (the Trout 5/7) or the new Alpha 7/8 for my carp rod. So intriguing were these reels that I sold my go-to reel I use on my 5 weight to fund the purchase of the Allen. To even further solidify my confidence in purchasing an Allen reel I found out that my friend Dave (FishnDave) had bought a few of the reels and some other gear and gave me positive feedback about the reels, lines, etc. The light weight (5.37 oz) of the Alpha 7/8 pushed me toward that reel since I only had a heavy clunker for my 8 weight. I had other reels that were adequate to cover my 5 weight needs. I got the Allen in the mail and I am thoroughly pleased and excited about the reel. It feels so light in my hand and Justin did a good job taking out any unnecessary metal.

Not only that but he did it in a way that is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

This is a beautiful reel. The gunmetal finish looks great and glistens when any sunlight hits it. I still need to throw backing and a fly line on the reel but before doing so I wanted to take a few glam shots. If anyone is looking for a nice machined reel at a great price I suggest visiting allenflyfishing.com. Justin has been praised for his excellent customer service as well. If any reel breaks he will fix or replace it for you. Unfortunately I have to wait several months for things to thaw out around here before I can put this beauty to the test against some large cyprinus carpio.

Tribute to Summer

These days I'm longing for the early evening serenade of cicadas in the trees. Here is to warmer times...

I found this guy (or girl) outside my house. They usually are pretty elusive. My 2 year old son does a great cicada imitation.

Crappie Day

The weather was cold and drizzly but after finishing a test in the morning I thought I would head back to a local crappie pond and see what I could find. I basically just circled the pond slowly and the crappies were willing. I was using a white micro jig (fly) with a red collar. I suspended it under an indicator and slowly worked the fly in short strips. They loved the fly and I didn't change it once. I brought my iPod Touch 4g along and decided to shoot video with it. It was awkward but I would bring the fish in so I could shoot with one hand then lift the rod to bring the fish in the rest of the way. Most of the fight was over at that point but it was still fun to capture the fish in the water for a few seconds. Anyway, no pics in this post just this video shot and edited entirely with my iPod. Hopefully I can figure out how to export the video in HD quality in the future.

New Fishing Buddy

A few weeks ago I decided to take my boy fishing to a community pond. It was his first real fishing trip with Dad. Luckily it was a red hot fishing day and I hooked fish after fish. I caught a mixed bag of black crappies, white crappies, and green sunfish. I was using a orange bodied fly with a tail, bead chain eyes and rubber legs. I also tried a micro epoxy bodied minnow that worked well too. After each fish he would say "Catch one more Daddy!" He was more interested in watching me catch fish while he played near the waters edge and poked around in the moss and splashed water. But each time I caught a fish he came in close for inspection. His favorite part was using his stick to nudge the fish back into deeper water. I even offered to take him to the park after catching a couple fish but he was having way too much fun fishing. I even got him to hold up a crappie for a photo...

Just recently I headed back to the pond with my wife and boy. He had a blast again even though the fishing was a quite a bit slower for me. I did catch a nice green sunfish that hammered my fly.

I was using a fly fairly similar to a clouser minnow except it has a sparkly orange dubbed body among other things. I also caught a small crappie. I must have not done a good enough job hauling them in because after a half hour he wanted to head over to the park. It was a great day to get out. The weather was beautiful for November and I really hope we get several more of these warm fall days.

The Bass Constant

During study of the sciences you soon find out that there are lots of constants, numbers in equations that don't change. Ive been three times to a small community pond fairly close to my house. For every time I have been there is one thing has not changed: I have caught one largemouth bass each time. Although I would not mind catching more than one, they are so fun that I have appreciated the bass constant in my fishing equation.

I didn't say other species were not caught...

Pull Cats

Ted and I tried our hand at gar again but we spotted very few fish. I had a few follows and had one on for a second but that was about it. I switched from the rope fly to a standard fly with a hook and started casting for bluegill and cats. I bagged a few small bluegill which were fun.

I was casting close to some structure just off the bank and my line went completely tight and I set the hook. It was a feisty fish that stayed down and was pulling hard. It turned out to be a nice little channel cat.

I think the channel cats always surprise me because I spent many hours when I was younger trying to get channels cats to bite on cut bait, stink bait, and a variety of other smelly concoctions. I never did catch a channel catfish while using bait. The closest I came was about ten years ago when I was fishing for channel cats at Utah Lake using shrimp. I had something take my bait and I set the hook. The fight was on and after a lengthy battle I had the fish near the shore. I saw his big forked tail a few times but he made a last second run and my knot failed and I lost it. Fast forward ten years and now I am here in Iowa catching channel cats on flies, go figure. I'll say it again, they pull hard! I can't imagine catching some of the big cats my friend Scott catches on the fly out in Omaha. While kicking my way in I made a few last casts near shore and nailed another cat that went about 13 inches. Despite no gar I still had a lot of fun with the pull cats.