Over the Hills and Far Away

WOW! What a long day. i got an invite from colling the other day to hit some new water that was a bit of a drive. neither of us had fished it before and were both chomping at the bit to get to it. i had to meet him at 4am so i was up at 2:30 to get ready and on the road and morning sure comes early when you only get 3 hrs of sleep. it was a 5hr. drive to get there and for the most part the roads were good. the roads did get pretty shitty once we got to our peak altitude, still lots of snow and ice on them. once in the parking lot and geared up we hit the trail and headed for the mouth, stopping on occassion to fish a few tempting holes. the 4 mile hike through the canyon was extremely scenic with tall canyon walls, we found a spot that had where there were ancient pictographs on the walls. we finally made it to the mouth at about lunch time and just kind of relaxed for a few. as we got to the mouth we stumbled upon a group of bighorn sheep that were chowing on some grass. i was surprised that they let me get fairly close to snap a few pics. it was 12:30 when we packed our shit up to start fishing our way back up. at this time the stones started popping off, the caddis were buzzing around and shortly after that the mayflies were flying around. it was cool to see all these bugs flying around this early in the season, early to me anyway. with all the aerial action the fish were definately taking notice and some of the fish were reall starting to feed aggressively. colling threw on a golden ston dry and i rigged up a skwala dry, both produced pretty well, although the golden out performed my skwala. we skipped a lot of water on the way up since we still had 4 miles to get back up to the truck and then a 5hr. drive back. we finally made it back to the truck at 7pm and home at 12:30am. although the company was good and it was fun taking browns and rainbows on the surface, the 5hr. drive was not worth it to do as a day trip. if i head back another time i will definately will be staying over, it was just to much with that little of sleep.

Those That Don't Work.....Fish

Actually i had a lot of running around to do today, applying for jobs, errons on base, bank runs, etc., but in-between i made it to the river for a couple of hours. there's no better way to relieve unemployment stress then roping a few fish. i took a few shots of some bugs but could'nt get them as crisp as i wanted. my eyes kept watering so it was hard to see clearly.

Definately Spring

Rained like hell the other day, then yesterday we had sun and today it snowed like a bitch. mother nature sure is goofy this time of year. once it started to snow i actually had the thought to go home and go back to bed, but that's not like me. i pressed on and as i got to the river it started snowing even more. the flows are up a tad but clarity was good. i really wanted the fish to be turned on by the stones i was offering but only the pig sticker seemed to get the fishes interest. it was a short, wet day but i'm glad i went out anyway.

Keeping Both the Beer and the Water Flowing

The complex issues surrounding water rights are only going to get more problematic in the coming decades. While we fight tooth and nail to keep non-native species from invading our precious rivers and streams, those efforts will not do us much good if there are no rivers and streams in the first place.

It's great to see someone with enough courage to stand up and promote a solution, instead of just working to "create awareness". As you can see from the comments section, doing so invariably invites others to pound holes in your theory even when they themselves cannot offer a better or more reasonable course of action.

Keeping both the beer and the rivers flowing are of paramount importance to my existence, so kudos to Rob Harmon for his work to make sure the quality of both remain unspoiled.

News of Big Sky Brewing's involvement in the Water Restoration program HERE.

Meat Chuckers Delight

Here are the submissions for a streamer swap that i just got done hosting on washingtonflyfishing.com. bear with me, i believe i used the wrong lense for these pics but was to lazy to re-take them. the pics are definately not the best but you get the point.

Out With Michelle

I talked michelle into keeping me company on the river today. michelle usually won't come out until late spring when the weather really starts to warm up, but today was supposed to be nice so she did come out. she didn't fish but walked the shoreline with a magazine to read. she also took some pics for me when the opportunity arose. all the rivers are high so we just stayed close to home. the weather was good and i always enjoy when michelle hangs out with me. the fishing wasn't anything to write home about but when i did find some fish, it was a sow that lured them in. i came acrossed a big pile of shotgun shells that either someone collected and piled up in the one spot or someone sat in one spot and shot them all. either way, i see this as another reason land owners don't care to have us water recreationalists on their property. if people don't pack out what they pack in then it just fuels the property owners fires. also stumbled upon some river carcasses and not sure why but someone left their golf hat hanging in a tree.

No Freestone Today

The plan today was to fish some freestone water but when me and scott arrived it was high and muddy which tends to make the fishing a bit of a bitch, especially nymphing. since plan 'A' was shot we changed course to plan 'B'. this was also up a bit but the water clarity looked good. the weather was warm and there was virtually no wind so streamers were again an easy choice for starters. we stayed the course for a bit but when we kept seeing fish and couldn't turn any of them we both switched over to nymphing. even that sucked for most of the day until we found a hole that had some willing participants. scott unfortunately was treated to one lost fish on the entire day while i was able to muster a few respectable fish. i clearly should've packed my 6 weight rod cause throwing the heavy stuff on my 4 weight kicked my ass up and down the river. wind knots, with no wind, tangles, trees, bushes, tons of frustration. it just didn't have the backbone that i desire for the heavier stuff. when we drove in the lower river was nice and clear but when we left it was pretty stained. this is a tough time of year when the lakes are still froze over and the rivers are getting blown out by snow melt. it'll continue to be hit and miss for awhile.