Marc & Grant!

One of my best buddies, Gary, and I had the fortune of back to back days with the Father and Son Brewen team!

As the saying goes, some days you're the statue, some days you're the pigeon...and we got a little of each! Spent Wednesday in 11 Mile Canyon and pulled on more fish than we cared to count! Both Marc and Grant hooked up on many nice fish. While I was preparing our lunch, the water started to boil with heads...Marc grabbed my 4wt rod and landed a beautiful Rainbow trout on his third cast! Watching the excitement and anticipation reminded me how very, very lucky I am to do this for a living! Grant caught a juvenile and a fun and friendly competition was born! Grant certainly caught more and bigger fish in the morning but I think Marc more than settled the score by the tie the hatch had settled.

Thursday was more statue than pigeon. We fished Deckers and we having a hard time moving fish. We had several good hook-ups, but got spit out or broken off...decided to explore a little more of the canyon (this was one of the goals of the trip...) and moved downstream. Moved a couple more but still...none to hand! Moved even further down and found some amazing water that I had never had a client on. Again...moved a few, hooked a couple...but none to hand!

Thankfully none in our group counts success only by numbers. We had two amazing days, got a first hand reminder that if fly fishing is anything, it is a family sport and being to be a small part of this family, if even for only a couple days, was a reward greater than a repeat fish count from our 11 Mile day.

Thanks guys!

Head Hunters

Jon and Justin are head hunters...bone in the nose, loin cloth wearin', face painted, head hunters! We all use terms and I (as I've mentioned) am as guilty as anyone:

"That guy has a nose for big fish..."
"Dudes a headhunter"
"...strong angler..."

These fellas sharpen the pencil on these phrases.

They were kind enough to take my rookie *ss to the Taylor this week.

3:00 A.M. Am I still a little drunk, or just tired? I know that whatever the ratio, I'm hitting at about 50% on the only cylinder thats still pumping.
4:00 A.M. "pop" Watched a statie shoot a recently hit Elk and drag it off the road.
5:00 A.M. Dropping off the "right" side of Monarch Pass!
6:30 A.M. 1 car in the lot! Cold, windy...PERFECT!

I'd been there before but was put down within about an hour by the crowds and the finicky nature of these goliath trout. I took a swing or two at a fish, spooked em, moved on to another, and finally moved down to more secluded water and threw dries in relative privacy. So...did I actually fish the Taylor? NOPE!

You have to fully geek out on these fish! This is hunting! I suffered a slow start and missed my first seven takes! Both Jon and Justin had brought several to hand and I was getting schooled! I took 5 minutes, watched them fish, and studied their mechanics: approach, line management, drift, hook set, and the way they played them once set. Like with most things, subtle changes produce measurable results.

What you can learn from great anglers is likely endless! I had the fortune of fishing with two of the very best this country has to offer...

They held em down....

EPIC!

How often do we use this language? Epic, awesome, great, amazing...I know I am guilty of using these types of words without really considering what they mean.

Days like today are a great reminder that those words should be reserved for truly mind blowing experiences.

Fished today with the best company money could buy (with the exception of a last minute cancellation...uhhh...hello Mr. Gossage!). Sharon, Kate, and I guide and work at and for Anglers Covey. We're trying to challenge each other to one day a week of fishing "selfishly" through the season. It's all too easy to guide every day and forget that fishing is also fun. We're justifying these as "scouting days". Opportunities to learn new water to take our clients to when our normal haunts are too pressured.

We (Sharon, Kate & I) started above Spinney today. It was blowin and goin and cold as a witches tit. Before we even discussed possible rigs for the day (winds high enough that we were considering 7wt rods!), we decided that we would back track to 11 Mile and scout some of the "bait" water.
Sharon's first cast produced a nice rainbow! Right where you would expect him! Do yourself the favor of fishing lower in the canyon!
I was blanked down low and although my goal was not go fish top runs, I became Henry Kissinger to myself and talked Kate and I into driving to the top and fishing down.... Kate was game and Sharon was easy enough to bend to our will.

An inconspicuous run, punctuated by less fishy but better 'looking' water was open so we decided to take a few drifts.

3 casts, 3 fish! NICE fish! 5th or 6th drift moved a big cuttbow and I broke off. (remember: it takes 30 seconds to retie after a few fish...don't be me! don't be so eager and not tend to your rig!). Kate was pumped! Sharon made her way down and she started moving fish as regularly as I was. I meandered to the far bank so we could better share the run, and we caught and missed several dozen (we think we stopped counting at about 50!) fish! All big, bright, wild trout! A new to the sport angler approached, we offered him the run and a few flies and decided to commit to a few casts downstream before it got too close to beer-thirty.

Moved (and missed!) several more on dries! Picked up a few swinging emergers, and ended on a 20" Rainbow on Neil's BWO that my best girl just had to kiss! (Don't worry...she's still committed to George! In their own weird way they have made peace with kissing fishes!)

Thank you Shea Gunkel, Neil Leuhring, and Steve Gossage (well...only sorta thanks to Steve as he wimped out...)! All your bugs brought many, many trout to hand! Good enough day that even many of my own bugs produced! (Steve...you F'n missed it! Hope Spinney was fun yesterday! :-)

So many days are fun, all days spent on water are a blessing...but some days are truly EPIC