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

Fun video of floating the Salmon River in Idaho

When Mary Ann was guiding the Salmon River in Idaho a few years ago, there was one particular stretch of river she called “The Gnarly Zee’s” because of all the rocks in the river. The current flow wasn’t fast, but the rocks required some tricky navigation of the drift boat to get through without hanging up or hitting the rocks. Here is a fun video of Mary Ann rowing us through that section.

Bamboo Switch Rods on the Salmon River, Idaho

I’ve been out on the Salmon River this week with my 10′  6″  5 wt hollow-built switch rod trying to entice some of the larger fish that might be lying to ambush a fly presented in ‘just-the-right-way’ to them.  I’ve been swinging weighted streamers on intermediate leaders through the deeper runs.  I’ve also been trying skating an assortment of large dry flies on the surface with furled switch rod leaders from Cutthroat Leaders through the calmer water.  Here are a couple  of the fish I was able to get to the bank for photos.

A nice Bull Trout that took a #6 Black Wooley Bugger with a weighted gold conehead.

A nice Bull Trout that took a #6 Black Wooley Bugger with a weighted gold conehead.

A beautiful native Cutthroat Trout that took a #12 foam bodied Black Caddis skated across the surface of a shallow run.

A beautiful native Cutthroat Trout that took a #12 foam bodied Black Caddis skated across the surface of a shallow run.

The Pumpkinator – An October Caddis Dry

We’ve started seeing a few October Caddis showing up here in Stanley and I wanted to come up with a new dry fly imitation that would float well and could be easily seen in fast water.  Here is what I came up with that a number of fish have been interested in….The Pumpkinator!

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The Pumpkinator

The Pumpkinator

The Pumpkinator

Hook:  #12 – 2X long

Thread:  Red

Body:  Orange Ice Dub

Rib:  Gold Tinsel

Overbody:  Orange Foam

Underwing:  Orange Crystal Flash

Overwing:  Light Tan Sparkle Yarn

Legs:  Orange and Black Rubber Legs

Hackle:  Brown

Native Cutthroats on the Yankee Fork!

I went hunting for native cutthroats on the Yankee Fork with my good friend, Peter, from Northern California.  Peter is responsible for getting me into bamboo fly rods many years ago.  When he put a Leonard Duracane in my hands and told me to fish it for the day, I was hooked.  Aside from several salmon smolts, hatchery rainbows, and whitefish, I did manage to find a few native cutthroats as well.  Here are some shots from our day.

Peter and I getting ready to hit the Yankee Fork.

Peter and I getting ready to hit the Yankee Fork.

The Yankee Fork.

The Yankee Fork.

A nice 10" native cutthroat that took a #16 black ant pattern.

A nice 10″ native cutthroat that took a #16 black ant pattern.

A beautiful 14" native cutthroat that took a #14 Yellow Sally Nymph.

A beautiful 14″ native cutthroat that took a #14 Yellow Sally Nymph.