Fishing, Fishing, Fishing!!!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my Blog…been fishing a lot this summer.  Mary Ann and I spent 6 weeks fishing in Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.  In Oregon we fished the Owyhee River, in Idaho we fished the Salmon River, Marsh Creek, and Bear Valley Creek, In Wyoming we fished the New Fork River, Savery Creek, North Platte River, and Encampment River.  In Colorado we fished the Frying Pan River, Yampa River, Service Creek, and the Poudre River.  And, we used a variety of bamboo rods along the whole trip.  Here are a few random photos from our “summer vacation”.

The Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho.

The Salmon River

A beautiful Salmon River Cutthroat.

Marsh Creek, Idaho

A Marsh Creek Cutthroat

The New Fork River, Wyoming with our great guide, Ryan Hudson.

A beautiful New Fork Rainbow

Mary Ann fighting a Savery Creek Rainbow.

Cicadas were the bug-of-choice at Savery Creek

A Savery Creek Rainbow

A Frying Pan River rainbow that took a PMD Comparadun.

The Yampa River in Colorado

A beautiful brown that came to the surface for a dry.

A Yampa River Cutbow

Euronymphing on the Poudre River in Colorado

Service Creek, Colorado

A nice Service Creek Brookie

Fishing Hat Creek, CA

I met up with my fishing buddies from California last week and spent 4 days fishing Hat Creek near Redding.  I’ve been fishing with these guys for over 30 years so it’s always great to get together with them on our “Guys Fishing Trip” once a year.  The creek was in great shape.  It proved to be pretty challenging fishing during the day but much better each evening.  Lots of Salmonflies, Golden Stoneflies, Yellow Sallies, and Caddis were out.  For all my fishing, I used my 9′  0″  4 wt Euronymphing rod.  It did great during the day throwing all sorts of nymphs, and then switching over to a dry line during the evenings for the hatch.  Here are a few photos of my trip.

Hat Creek, CA

Salmon Fly

Salmon Fly

Hat Creek Rainbow that took a Yellow Sally.

This guy took a golden stonefly.

 

 

Browns and Rainbows on the Middle Deschutes River

I finally got out to fly fish yesterday on the Middle Deschutes River here in Central Oregon. The river is pretty spectacular, with a brief hike down into the canyon to the river. It’s small water down there, with some great nymphing opportunities. I took out my 9′ 0″ 3 wt EuroNymphing Bamboo Fly Rod for the day and wasn’t disappointed. The Salmon Fly hatch was over about 2 weeks ago but the fish were happy to take Golden Stonefly Nymphs. For the day, I caught about 15 whitefish, along with 6 rainbows and 9 brown trout. Here are a few photos from my day.

The Beautiful Middle Deschutes River
A nice Brown Trout
A feisty Rainbow
Another 12″ Brown Trout

Bamboo EuroNymphing on the Middle Deschutes River

I finally got back out recently on the Middle Deschutes River about 25 minutes from my house with a couple of good fishing friends. The river is fairly small in this area due to water being pulled off for irrigation…but that makes for some great fly fishing water. The salmon fly hatch from two weeks previous was over so I expected that fish would be holding close to the bottom…sounded like a good opportunity to try some Bamboo EuroNymphying. I took out my 9′ 0″ 3 wt Bamboo EuroNymphing rod for the day and wasn’t disappointed. The rainbows, browns, and whitefish were happy to take small nymphs, but the majority were less than 12″ long. But, I was lucky to pick up one very nice brown on a #20 two-bit hooker pattern. Here are a few photos of my day.

The Middle Deschutes River
Fishing with my buddies Bill, Vince, and Lynn.
A nice little rainbow
A beautiful big brown that took a #20 two bit hooker pattern.

My Bamboo EuroNymphing Rod on the Lower Deschutes River

I got out on the Lower Deschutes River yesterday for a day float with Mary Ann, and our good friends Alice and Mike, who are both guides from West Yellowstone, MT. Mary Ann, Alice, and Mike took out their two hand rods and chased steelhead for the day. But, I was more interested in looking for the larger rainbows in the Deschutes River with my 9′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo EuroNymphing rod. I had some great action with small #18 and #20 mayfly nymphs, with several fish in the 15″ to 19″ range landed. My 4 wt rod managed these larger fish very well, and I never felt I wasn’t in complete control. And the sensitivity of the rod made it easy to detect the light takes on these small flies. I even hooked a nice steelhead momentarily on one of my small nymphs, but after a few head shakes, it easily broke my 4X tippet…not sure how well my 4 wt rod would have handled that fish.! Here are a few photos of my day.

Fighting a nice fish.
First fish of the day.
Another nice one.
Colorful Deschutes River Redside.