Wow, logged lots of wader time fishing this week with 4 trips and plenty of "mike time" as well. Here's the play by play starting from last Saturday.
A week ago was the Annual Rush River Cleanup day and despite the cold morning temps, turnout was terrific! I'm guessing a hundred or more concerned folks showed up to pitch in and picked up an amazing amount of junk. Thanks to Sara for organizing and Josh for putting together all the grub, bravo.
Sunday it was my pleasure to fish with David and Kathy Cooper of Plymouth MN. David was doing the fishing and Kathy was along to enjoy the stream and catch up on some valuable Oprah reading. We had a good morning, the fishing was a little slow but David did manage to hook up but was kind enough to release him from a distance...
Tuesday I fished with Mr Bob Webb from Chicago area. Bob was getting back into Fly Fishing and since he had just retired, was eager to pick up a few new tricks so he could make the most of his newly found free time. We went to El Paso and were out pretty early, thinking we'd nymph and streamer fish till we had some bug activity. The fish were active all morning and about 10:30 or so the Olives started coming off. Bob landed his first fish on a dry fly, then another, then another.....It was a terrific hour or so of action and he and I had a great time. We broke for lunch and had a few more hours to fish as well. Thanks Bob, what a nice time and I hope to see you soon.
Wed and Thursday I had the great pleasure of fishing with a couple of real characters and outstanding guys, Michael and Bruce Ratner of NYC. Despite their being rooted in the big city, these guys had some serious skills and unending enthusiasm for the game. We fished the Kinni wednesday, but the 80 degree temps and lack of any bug activity made the fishing pretty tough, we did get a number to play along on the BWO emergers but there was no dry fly fishing to speak of, which was really what we were after. Thursday came and brought rain and wind, temps in the 50's. We met up with Mr Steve Born of Madison and the Ratners cousin Mark from Chicago at El Paso, 8:30 or so. Was looking like a potential washout but we gutted out the rain and were rewarded with an late afternoon olive hatch to satisfy the dry fly fiends. Spirits rose with the emerging bugs and everyone got fish, I spent much of the afternoon with Mark, picking off nice fish in a slackwater rock garden area, his delivery was terrific and he was rewarded with several nice fish in a tricky situation...Then there's Bruce, who busted out the spinning rod, spin and fly float and proceeded to catch fish after fish in a big slack flat, on a variety of bobber trailing flies, most notably the propeller bugger. So much for delicate presentation...it was hilarious. Dinner at Huggies followed, steaks ribs and all the good meats and drinks, thanks guys and particularly Steve for putting this trip together, I had an amazing time!
last but not least, the willow is on fire, just in time for a week off it seems. Fished yesterday morning and afternoon with Fred and while we didnt light them up, we did manage a couple nice fish, including a pretty 20" female on a yellow madonna. This morning was a whole 'nother story. I had never experienced a day such as this, fly fishing ANYWHERE. all I can say is I was stunned, here's the final tally....
1 @ 20.5"
1@ 19.5"
3@ 18" (on 3 consecutive drifts!)
2@17"
2@ 16"
3@15"
not to mention, I hooked up and lost another 6 or so and had about 15 other grabs. all told it could have been a 20 fish day, with all big fish. I could not believe it, shitty snowing sideways and they were just committing suicide...Was wrapping up about 10 or so, ran into Whahoo and got him all fired up, he managed a nice solid 18"er as well as a couple other big grabs. I hope these fish make it through the onslaught of the opener next weekend....damn, I'm still shaking. I'll be back on in the am...
BPM
A week ago was the Annual Rush River Cleanup day and despite the cold morning temps, turnout was terrific! I'm guessing a hundred or more concerned folks showed up to pitch in and picked up an amazing amount of junk. Thanks to Sara for organizing and Josh for putting together all the grub, bravo.
Sunday it was my pleasure to fish with David and Kathy Cooper of Plymouth MN. David was doing the fishing and Kathy was along to enjoy the stream and catch up on some valuable Oprah reading. We had a good morning, the fishing was a little slow but David did manage to hook up but was kind enough to release him from a distance...
Tuesday I fished with Mr Bob Webb from Chicago area. Bob was getting back into Fly Fishing and since he had just retired, was eager to pick up a few new tricks so he could make the most of his newly found free time. We went to El Paso and were out pretty early, thinking we'd nymph and streamer fish till we had some bug activity. The fish were active all morning and about 10:30 or so the Olives started coming off. Bob landed his first fish on a dry fly, then another, then another.....It was a terrific hour or so of action and he and I had a great time. We broke for lunch and had a few more hours to fish as well. Thanks Bob, what a nice time and I hope to see you soon.
Wed and Thursday I had the great pleasure of fishing with a couple of real characters and outstanding guys, Michael and Bruce Ratner of NYC. Despite their being rooted in the big city, these guys had some serious skills and unending enthusiasm for the game. We fished the Kinni wednesday, but the 80 degree temps and lack of any bug activity made the fishing pretty tough, we did get a number to play along on the BWO emergers but there was no dry fly fishing to speak of, which was really what we were after. Thursday came and brought rain and wind, temps in the 50's. We met up with Mr Steve Born of Madison and the Ratners cousin Mark from Chicago at El Paso, 8:30 or so. Was looking like a potential washout but we gutted out the rain and were rewarded with an late afternoon olive hatch to satisfy the dry fly fiends. Spirits rose with the emerging bugs and everyone got fish, I spent much of the afternoon with Mark, picking off nice fish in a slackwater rock garden area, his delivery was terrific and he was rewarded with several nice fish in a tricky situation...Then there's Bruce, who busted out the spinning rod, spin and fly float and proceeded to catch fish after fish in a big slack flat, on a variety of bobber trailing flies, most notably the propeller bugger. So much for delicate presentation...it was hilarious. Dinner at Huggies followed, steaks ribs and all the good meats and drinks, thanks guys and particularly Steve for putting this trip together, I had an amazing time!
last but not least, the willow is on fire, just in time for a week off it seems. Fished yesterday morning and afternoon with Fred and while we didnt light them up, we did manage a couple nice fish, including a pretty 20" female on a yellow madonna. This morning was a whole 'nother story. I had never experienced a day such as this, fly fishing ANYWHERE. all I can say is I was stunned, here's the final tally....
1 @ 20.5"
1@ 19.5"
3@ 18" (on 3 consecutive drifts!)
2@17"
2@ 16"
3@15"
not to mention, I hooked up and lost another 6 or so and had about 15 other grabs. all told it could have been a 20 fish day, with all big fish. I could not believe it, shitty snowing sideways and they were just committing suicide...Was wrapping up about 10 or so, ran into Whahoo and got him all fired up, he managed a nice solid 18"er as well as a couple other big grabs. I hope these fish make it through the onslaught of the opener next weekend....damn, I'm still shaking. I'll be back on in the am...
BPM
1 comment:
sweeeeet!
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