Around Thanksgiving I got a polite kick in the pants after whining on a side chat about not knowing where to go and being intimidated by the size of the big river in my area. For a bunch of reasons I'd come to prefer the smaller more intimate, rivers. Maybe they remind me of a lifetime ago when I learned to fly fish on the Blackfoot or Rock Creek....I dunno. If nothing else, it seems to me there are fewer hidey holes in the smaller rivers and they're easier to read.
As the fish gods would have it, my local smaller river closed.....again.....
due to the lack of returning fish....and since I'm often inspired by several other forum members, I decided it was now or never to step outa my comfort zone and learn areas of the big river.
I'm a walk & wader so I sat down with Google maps and a couple other websites to make a list of stretches that looked promising and appeared somewhat accessible for my aging bones. It took me a bit but I figured out how to flag each location on Google so I could be watching for it as I drove up the road. AND while heading to the listed sites, I started marking other spots that looked fishy as I drove past.
I dreamed of being a true fishing bum, leaving my responsibilities behind, and dragging my little travel trailer to the up river campground for a week or two....or a month
but was promptly reminded it might be better remain married so I settled on (hopefully) a couple trips per week. 
The first outing in mid December was great. The pup and I
had these beautiful stretches to ourselves. I didn't get any bull trout love but I did find a fiesty hook nosed coho so it wasn't a skunking and I drove home stoked for the next outing. (shitty screen captures from an earlier post.)
My next outing was the day after New Year and I got on the board with this guy (also previously shared pics) that was hiding in a nice little seam confluence higher up on the river.
I ran out of gravel bar here so I packed up went to the next place on my list that was only 20 minutes away. I've since learned this second stretch is rather popular but luckily I had it to myself that day.
After enjoying a some hot tea and a PB & J in my streamside recliner
I swung thru these runs
No love but it was all good cuz the fish potential was so friggin' high and it was new to me water.
The following week I started my next outing at this same place. Another fisher was at the upper run so I took the lower one....and hoped a couple hundred yards of separation was sufficient to not be considered low holing
I got no love but it was still all good cuz it was such pretty water and the adrenaline was flowing.
I went to another piece of river later that same day but found the sweet water to be out of my reach.....cuz my spey casting sucks.
A couple years ago my son gave me a full sized spey rod. I practiced with it in the park a few times but never got comfortable with it so it just collected dust in the garage and I stuck with my trusty one hander. That said, when starting this quest, I told myself in addition to learning new water, I was gonna get proficient with the big rod.
At first, I brought my single hander along (as a back up) but found I continued to ignore the spey.....so I reviewed a bootleg copy of a Dec Hogan casting video, copied a couple segments of Ed Ward's SpeyMaster instructions to my phone and left the single hander at home. My casting still sucks but now I was forced to figure it out.
A couple days later the dog and I hit another place on my list.
and I finally got a little bit of love...
As you can see from the screen shot, this guy had a significant injury on it's back but it was still quite fiesty....AND it was my first Bull on a full sized spey.
The next week, I re-fished one of the previously visited places but I did it with the spey rod, only. This place gives access to over a mile of river that holds 4 or 5 sexy runs. No love....again....but my casting abilities were slowly improving....kind of....I'd do okay for a while and then it would go to shit...I'd take a break and start all over again. The fish gods were kind to me that day cuz I had the river to myself again even though the parking area was full when I got back to the truck....and this was midweek !
A couple days later ( which was last Friday) my dog decided to stay home and watch RomCom's with the wife since the polar vortex blew in colder temps. I got to the river early and fished a section I had driven past on previous trips. Again the water was uber sexy and I had it to myself. Again I got no love and it was starting to get into my head. I did my usual of fishing through a new to me run where I learn where the truly good water is AFTER I walk through it.
So after ruining this piece, I packed up and headed up river.
The river was definitely busier going into the weekend. It seemed every pull out had a vehicle or two parked AND floaters were at many of the gravel bars....so I went to a place I hadn't fished in years that I was pretty sure I'd have to myself. I was right but it was costly. The hike in was a bugger.
The area had definitely grown over and the game trails just ended in stuff like this
even using a machete I ended up shredding my hands
and perforating my waders
But DAMN.....time and energy had been good to this stretch of river. Some runs fade away over time but this stretch seemed to have gotten better.
After cooling down from the machete swinging hike in, I stepped into the river and quickly learned I'd torn a half inch gash in my lower right wader leg. I was taking on water like the Titanic and it required both duct AND Flex tape just to slow the flow.
Finally, I spent next few hours working through the assorted runs as best I could. The adrenaline was high cuz I just KNEW it was gonna happen at any moment...but still not a friggin bump!
I'd gotten Bulls here in the past and was beginning to believe I was somehow fundamentally flawed. I dang near ended up having a Chevy Chase/Christmas Vacation moment.
After regaining my composure, it was time to go. I semi-successfully retraced my way out. Thankfully a lightbulb came on somewhere in my melon and I dropped 'breadcrumbs' on my Gaia GPS app on the way out. I got back to the truck and realized I'd lost my old man/been to the eye doctors Cocoon sunglasses but thanks to the bread crumbs, I ended up finding them when I returned a couple days ago
Well that's it. Just an old guy getting out of his comfort zone to try something new. I figured if I can do it, so can any of you.
There are 6 days left of the regular season which translates to one maybe two more outings for me to dig a little deeper into my new found waters, hopefully figure out my flaws, and get a little love.
As the fish gods would have it, my local smaller river closed.....again.....
due to the lack of returning fish....and since I'm often inspired by several other forum members, I decided it was now or never to step outa my comfort zone and learn areas of the big river.
I'm a walk & wader so I sat down with Google maps and a couple other websites to make a list of stretches that looked promising and appeared somewhat accessible for my aging bones. It took me a bit but I figured out how to flag each location on Google so I could be watching for it as I drove up the road. AND while heading to the listed sites, I started marking other spots that looked fishy as I drove past.
I dreamed of being a true fishing bum, leaving my responsibilities behind, and dragging my little travel trailer to the up river campground for a week or two....or a month
but was promptly reminded it might be better remain married so I settled on (hopefully) a couple trips per week. The first outing in mid December was great. The pup and I
had these beautiful stretches to ourselves. I didn't get any bull trout love but I did find a fiesty hook nosed coho so it wasn't a skunking and I drove home stoked for the next outing. (shitty screen captures from an earlier post.)
My next outing was the day after New Year and I got on the board with this guy (also previously shared pics) that was hiding in a nice little seam confluence higher up on the river.
I ran out of gravel bar here so I packed up went to the next place on my list that was only 20 minutes away. I've since learned this second stretch is rather popular but luckily I had it to myself that day.
After enjoying a some hot tea and a PB & J in my streamside recliner
I swung thru these runs
No love but it was all good cuz the fish potential was so friggin' high and it was new to me water.
The following week I started my next outing at this same place. Another fisher was at the upper run so I took the lower one....and hoped a couple hundred yards of separation was sufficient to not be considered low holing
I got no love but it was still all good cuz it was such pretty water and the adrenaline was flowing.I went to another piece of river later that same day but found the sweet water to be out of my reach.....cuz my spey casting sucks.
A couple years ago my son gave me a full sized spey rod. I practiced with it in the park a few times but never got comfortable with it so it just collected dust in the garage and I stuck with my trusty one hander. That said, when starting this quest, I told myself in addition to learning new water, I was gonna get proficient with the big rod.
At first, I brought my single hander along (as a back up) but found I continued to ignore the spey.....so I reviewed a bootleg copy of a Dec Hogan casting video, copied a couple segments of Ed Ward's SpeyMaster instructions to my phone and left the single hander at home. My casting still sucks but now I was forced to figure it out.
A couple days later the dog and I hit another place on my list.
and I finally got a little bit of love...
As you can see from the screen shot, this guy had a significant injury on it's back but it was still quite fiesty....AND it was my first Bull on a full sized spey.
The next week, I re-fished one of the previously visited places but I did it with the spey rod, only. This place gives access to over a mile of river that holds 4 or 5 sexy runs. No love....again....but my casting abilities were slowly improving....kind of....I'd do okay for a while and then it would go to shit...I'd take a break and start all over again. The fish gods were kind to me that day cuz I had the river to myself again even though the parking area was full when I got back to the truck....and this was midweek !
A couple days later ( which was last Friday) my dog decided to stay home and watch RomCom's with the wife since the polar vortex blew in colder temps. I got to the river early and fished a section I had driven past on previous trips. Again the water was uber sexy and I had it to myself. Again I got no love and it was starting to get into my head. I did my usual of fishing through a new to me run where I learn where the truly good water is AFTER I walk through it.
So after ruining this piece, I packed up and headed up river.The river was definitely busier going into the weekend. It seemed every pull out had a vehicle or two parked AND floaters were at many of the gravel bars....so I went to a place I hadn't fished in years that I was pretty sure I'd have to myself. I was right but it was costly. The hike in was a bugger.
The area had definitely grown over and the game trails just ended in stuff like this
even using a machete I ended up shredding my hands
and perforating my waders
But DAMN.....time and energy had been good to this stretch of river. Some runs fade away over time but this stretch seemed to have gotten better.
After cooling down from the machete swinging hike in, I stepped into the river and quickly learned I'd torn a half inch gash in my lower right wader leg. I was taking on water like the Titanic and it required both duct AND Flex tape just to slow the flow.
Finally, I spent next few hours working through the assorted runs as best I could. The adrenaline was high cuz I just KNEW it was gonna happen at any moment...but still not a friggin bump!
I'd gotten Bulls here in the past and was beginning to believe I was somehow fundamentally flawed. I dang near ended up having a Chevy Chase/Christmas Vacation moment.After regaining my composure, it was time to go. I semi-successfully retraced my way out. Thankfully a lightbulb came on somewhere in my melon and I dropped 'breadcrumbs' on my Gaia GPS app on the way out. I got back to the truck and realized I'd lost my old man/been to the eye doctors Cocoon sunglasses but thanks to the bread crumbs, I ended up finding them when I returned a couple days ago
Well that's it. Just an old guy getting out of his comfort zone to try something new. I figured if I can do it, so can any of you.
There are 6 days left of the regular season which translates to one maybe two more outings for me to dig a little deeper into my new found waters, hopefully figure out my flaws, and get a little love.
