Mother Nature is a Bitch

We couldn't have timed our annual 'boot' trip any worse. the last 2 weeks the weather was good and the fishing was outstanding, in fact the owner of the cabin we rent came down and was saying that a buddy of his caught 20 in one day. we got similar reports from the game wardens. anyway we got on the road monday morning before light and we got were pulled over within the first hour but after some b.s.ing with the cop we got our verbal warning and were on our way. my step-daughter has been non-stop about this four loco alcoholic energy drink so at some point in idaho i decided to see what all the fuss was about. for the record she has never tried one just talks about it all the time. it was probably the nastiest thing i have ever tried. it tasted like a mixture of alcohol, robitussin and fruit punch, it was brutal. i still decided to choke it down and in fact, for some godly reason, decided 2 pick up a few more of some other flavors. at 12% alcohol i was buzzing after 1 of them. we arrived at the cabin and while unpacking the truck i choked down another and was working on another when everyone, except me, got geared up for the last couple of hours of light (that shit tore me up). i didn't cause i thought i would just shoot some pics as they landed fish. well nothing even hooked and this is how the next fews days went. each morning was cold and snowing and by afternoon it was cold and clear, by evening it was cold with some snow as well. we had talked to a couple of game wardens and they had told us that the last 2 weeks the fishing has been lights out, bigger run then they've had the last few years, but when this cold snap hit a couple of days ago, low's in the single digits and high's in the low 30's, the fish shut down. in fact, one of the wardens said that on our last day there he had checked from the mouth of the south fork up about 25 miles that he had checked almost 100 anglers and only saw 2 fish. i did manage to hook one but it was quickly lost. it was a bummer of a trip that involved way to much eating, drinking games, numb feet, hangovers, a snapped loop rod(mine) and lots of randoms pics. overall i think everyone enjoyed being there anyway even though the fishing was garbage. the morning we left was the coldest morning with lots of snow coming down and big chunks of slush floating down the river. the drive home ws a disaster. i don't know how many vehicles we saw off the road including about 1/2 dozen jackknifed semi's (the one pictured is as we just got on the road), we even went off the road into the median, but we were able to get back out. it was the worst storm i can remember being in. we drove 25 mph all the way from burley, idaho to tremonton, utah. the 9 1/2hr. trip ended up being a 13hr. trip of trecherous roads and weather. mother nature kicked our ass!

An Outing With Grizzly Adams

fell for the provo hooker




brown release

loop/loomis




drink break




golden brown

another finpusher photo

hands of a surgeon

dripping trout - angler finpusher




the beav has seen better days



finpusher's jumping fish

green sun



finpusher's brown




sunset on the way home

I had the pleasure of fishing with collin (aka finpusher) today. he almost vag'd out on me just like jake did put he did come through. we were almost to the river when i got pulled over. i though this cop was going to t-bone me when he did his u-turn. seemed like he made his move before i even drove by him. once the officer got to the window collin used my uncle flies helicopters for you guys........can you just give us a warning instead of a ticket routine. the officer had only been a highway patrolmen for about 2 months. i think collin's ruggedness scared the officer into submission. we made it to the river to find out we had the whole river to ourselves, it's always nice when there isn't another soul around. as is becoming the norm we started by throwing some streamers. collin right away picked a nice little brown off of the boulder strewn shore line. i on the otherhand couldn't even turn a fish. once we got to a certain point on the river we changed to nymphs. i had apparently left my favorite nymph box in another friends jeep so i was scrapping for scraps. i had to scavenge whatever smaller type nymphs i could muster from my spare tire cover and my ceiling before we left my jeep. i had rigged up my nymphs but wasn't overly confident with my selection but i felt it was the best i had. after a couple of casts i told collin that i wish i had my sows and he offered what he had to me. i threw on one of his sows and the 1st cast i hooked into a nice fish but as soon as it went airborne it spit the hook. next cast i landed a nice brown and from there on out it was pretty consistant, one acrobatic fish after another. the temp's were on the chilly side, in the low 30's but the wind was kind to us. it was a really nice spent roping lots of fiesty browns and snapping lots of pics.

Just a Few Hours

I had lots of running around to do today so i was only able to get about 3 hours in on the river. the temp's were almost 60 degrees on the way to the river. i wanted to hit a different section but the time restraints i stayed closer to home. the fish were pretty active. landed 4 lost 2 and had numerous others come and greet my streamer. even though the fish were of the smaller variety i was pleased with the participation.

Stream Access Again? This time in Montana.

Montana HB 309-Limiting Stream Access

Yesterday The Montana House of Representatives pushed forward "the ditch bill," a piece of legislation opponents say would gut the hard-won consensus between landowners and sportsmen over access to streams

This bill would effectively repeal the Mitchell Slough decision that upheld Montanans' rights to float, fish, and enjoy our rivers and streams. HB 309 aims to limit Montanans' right to access the public waters of our streams and rivers by more broadly defining irrigation ditches.

Please Read the following: http://www.montanatu.org/take_action/HB309_alert.htm

The 2008 Montana Supreme Court decision unanimously ruled that Mitchell Slough in the Bitterroot Valley is a natural stream and therefore open to public recreation under the state's stream access law. In other words, Montanans have the right to fish, wade or float the stream so long as they are below the high-water mark, even if it passes through private property. HB 309 seeks to elliminate such access to a number of streams by defining them as private irrigation ditches.

Mark Aagenes, a lobbyist for Montana Trout Unlimited, said that while the bill "purports to clarify what an irrigation ditch is ... it clarifies it to the point that many side channels (of) most streams and lots of rivers would no longer (be applicable) under the stream access law.


"The whole Bitterroot would be considered an irrigation ditch. ... The Sun River would be an irrigation ditch," he said.

Aagenes said the Montana stream access law is "super clear" in not allowing for recreation on irrigation ditches. He added that as far as he knows, no one has argued for or pushed for access to irrigation ditches.

"That is trespass, clear and simple," Aagenes said. "This is a completely unnecessary bill unless you are trying to dramatically erode (the) Montana stream access law. The point was missed on the floor today on just how clear Montana law is on irrigation ditches."

The bill would reopen an issue decided by the state Supreme Court in 2008 declaring that a slough running through the Bitterroot Valley property of 1980s rocker Huey Lewis and others is a public waterway and as such is open to recreational use under the state stream access law.

That ruling followed a 25-year struggle to reach an agreement over landowner rights and the rights of recreationists to access streams.


PLEASE ! Contact your representative and tell them to uphold the Montana Supreme Court decision and maintain public access to the public waters of our streams and rivers. You can find your House member's direct e-mail and phone number by clicking here. Or you can call the Legislative switchboard and leave a message for your representative at (406) 444-4800 . If you don't know who your representative is, clickhere for the Montana Legislature's Find a Legislator page.

New/Old Waters

jakes 1st of the day

jakes smaller fish

my best fish

this is the old river bed

i'm standing where a good run used to be

I got a text from jake this morning bright and early, bright and early for me cause i spent the night at the club drinking, that he was headed to the river in about 45 min. i really wanted to just fall back asleep but couldn't so i texted him back and we arranged to meet at the river at 0830. the weather was supposed to be in the high 40's so of course we rigged up with some meat. the morning started off fairly well with some morning fish on the move. a few missed and a few caught. usually the fishing picks up for us as afternoon time approaches but today, for some reason, the fishing pretty much shut down come afternoon time. as we made our way up into some water that we hadn't fished in months we quickly noticed that a section of the river had completely re-routed itself. it was depressing to see cause some really good holes and runs that i was looking forward to fishing again were almost all dried up. i would say that about a 1/2 mile of the old river was gone. there was a spot higher up where a small trickle left the main river and meandered back along the hillside, but now it has become the river chanel and at that point, where the river used to run is gone.

Wool Lined Booties (report)

After a little over a year of my leaky patagonias sitting in storage waiting for me to stop procrastinating i finally sent them in for repair about 6 weeks ago. once they received my waders they gave me a call to notify me of their arrival. then they called me again a little later once they had determind that the booties needed replaced. they offered to either replace the booties for free or for $45 i could get patagonia's new wool lined booties which they now have in their newest waders. my feet do get cold pretty easy so i opted for the wool lined ones thinking that they would be pretty sweet. welp after 2 outings in them i have determined that they were a waste of $45. my feet were no warmer in them, in fact, today my toes froze. i guess i expected my feet to orgasm with each step with the upgrade. oh well it was worth a try.

Small River Feesh

After some running around this morning i made my way to a small river to get in a little casting. it was probably the coldest i've been all winter. i had to take an extended break to put my hands down my pants and cup my balls to warm my hands/fingers up. they never did fully warm up and i got tired of just standing around so i zipped up and proceeded with the casting. i did pick up a few smaller fish, including 1 decent sized worthless whitefish, on a stone no less.

Getting Warmer

With the temp's continuing to rise this week you'd think the fish would be a bit more active, well they weren't today. tried several different colors and patterns and finally towards the end i hit this fish who was lurking underneath a log in a deep hole.

Robinson's Munchable Minnow

Was farting around some more. this is my rendition of the robinson's munchable minnow.

tail/body-rabbit strip tied in to make tail then the rest wrapped forward 1/2 up the shank

flash-few strands of pearl flashabou

collar-brown schlappen

head-black/olive/sculpin olive laser dub, trimmed

eyes-adhesive eyes cemented with zap-a-gap

Steelhead Bunny Spey

Another pattern that i tied up for a previous steelhead swap.

body-black UV polar chenille

wing/tail-orange bunny tied in behind the head

collar-black marabou tip under a large orange guinea hackle