Current River 3/7/10

This past Sunday was a perfect day for fishing.  It was a beautiful day, the water conditions were excellent for dries and droppers, and I had good company to fish with - Mr. Joe Scott.  Check out this tight loop:

Being that it was the first weekend of trout season, Joe and I decided we'd float to get away from the crowds.  It was the right call.  We did not see a single fisherman the entire day.  I really couldn't believe it.  It was also nice fishing out of the boat because we were able to haul our cooler, lunch, lots of tackle, and about 6 fly rods.  I love not having to re-rig every time you want to change techniques.  We fished with dries, nymphs, streamers - we even through some sinking lines. 

The morning started out pretty slow.  We caught fish on varrious patterns but couldn't seem to find the magic bug.  The caddis were coming off pretty good and I managed to stick one small wild rainbow on a dry, but the fish did not seem to be into the caddis, or at least not the adult caddis.  We tried caddis worms, soft hackles, pupa, emergers, dries - nothing was consistent. 

I spent a significant amount of time checking to see what was going on under water.  Turning over various rocks revealed caddis worms, several different colors and sizes of mayfly nymphs, stone fly nymphs, sculpin, scuds, etc.  I love the fact that Current is such a clean, healthy stream.  I also saw a lot of crawdads.  This guy was right next to the boat so I decided to snap some underwater shots:

The coolest bug I found, and this is only the second time I've seen one of these on the Current, was an acquatic worm (i.e. the San Juan Worm).  Check this sucker out:

I don't know why, but I've always felt like I'm cheating when I'm fishing San Juans.  Something about throwing a fluorescent worm just screams trout park.  Now I won't feel as bad when I tie one of these on.  If this is actually part of the fish's diet, and not just some powerbait-esque attractor, I'll be down to fish it more often.  I wonder if I could throw it as a dropper.  That would be cool.

Anyway, the further down river we floated, the better the fishing got.  Perhaps it was just a time of day thing beause I know the holes in the upper section can fish well, but the fish started nailing caddis and steamers down river.  I couldn't believe they were hitting streamers on a bright sunny day with clear water!  I was not complaining.  

We stopped and spent the majority of the aftenroon in what I think is my new favorite stretch of river.  No chance I'm sharing the location.  We ended up netting probably 25-30 fish in the afternoon.  Mostly browns but, unfortunately, none were real big.  Our largest was probably around 14 or 15. 

It was a really cool afternoon because it was pretty much all sight casting with dries and droppers.  The fish were going ape-shit over the fly too.  It would hit the water and they would almost fight each other over who got to eat it.  They were very active.  I was really digging it. 

Great day on the water.  It was my first time back to the Current in quite a while.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed it. 


  

White River Feb. 2010 Part II

Friday evening, Stuart and Billy arrived charged and ready to party. Unfortunately, after a long day chucking and ducking, John, Stone, and I needed a little recharge. When the boys arrived, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, had a cocktail or two, and the three of us hit the rack. Actually, I think Stone stayed up for while as he requires no sleep when he's on a fishing trip.  Wouldn't you love to be 25 again?  Immune from hangovers, full of energy, and always ready to put your waders on.  Stone has a way of wearing you down over a long weekend.  He will fish 24 hours a day and force you to have cocktails when there's not a fly rod in your hand.  It's always a marathon with him.  Trust me.  We had a long weekend on the Madison in Montana a few years ago and Stone let me sleep about 9 hours in 5 days.  It was a double threat weekend.  We were duck hunting every morning and evening and fishing in the afternoons.  I had to come home and sleep for week before I felt normal again.  Gotta love it!

With the full crew at the Lodge, things got a little more crowded.  There was a bit of posturing and a few shenanegans surrounding who got the good beds, but we all managed to get some sleep and were ready for day three.  That morning we decided to count on a shad kill. The guides had heard that shad were coming through the dam the previous afternoon so we went for it. Worst case, we would get a quick bend in the rod on nymphs and re-locate for the afternoon if the big browns were not active up by the dam. 

Again, I drew the short straw and fished with Han (Solo) in the morning.  My capatin was Mr. Chris Butts.  We got along famously.  We started on streamers and managed to put a few decent fish in the boat but nothing big or brown was moving.  Too much traffic!!  Finally, after watching the other boys dominate trout on shad, eggs, and worms, Chris and I caved and rigged up with a bobber.  I won't say fish in a barrel, but we caught a bunch once we made the switch.  Check out this nice bow:

 Davis had the big fish of the morning:

Stone, Billy and Stuart stuck some nice fish that morning as well.

 

At noon, we met on the banks of the river just below the dam for lunch. It's somewhat surreal sitting there looking at the huge wall of concrete holding back millions of gallons of water.  You can't help but wonder what the fuck you would do if it started to crack.  Seriously.  There's no way you could out run it or climb fast enough up the hill to get away from it.  I think you'd have to get in a boat, point your bow down stream, and hang on for dear life.  Can you imagine?  Riding giants at BSD. 

With visions of cataclysms dancing in our heads, we wolfed down our sandwiches, made Rouse-style with wasabi mustard, pickled red bell peppers, and banna peppers, we trailored the boats, and headed downstream to get the streamer rods back out.  Teams for the afternoon session were Stuart and I, Davis and Stone, and Billy and Han.  I was happy to get away from the shad-circus.

This was a somewhat difficult decision for the group because Billy and Stuart were new to the streamer game.  It's tough getting into streamer fishing because you don't always have success.  I remember when I first tried it on my own, I thought I was doing something wrong because I wasn't catching as many fish as I would on nymphs or dry flies.  I casted and casted and casted and couldn't produce fish.  Looking back, ripping wooley buggers on low water on a bright sunny day was probably not the best equation for catching fish, but I stuck with it.  Days, weeks, or perhaps even months later, I finally got the hang of it (or just figured out what the best conditions were for streamer fishing).  After that, I fell in love with it and now jump at the opportunity for a good day of ripping streamers.  I was hoping Stuart could break the threashold early so he wouldn't get frustrated and want to change tactics.

Good ol' Stuey stuck with it and sure enough stuck a bunch of fish.  Actually, as the sun fell, Stuart laid into a big brown 22+ that we lost at the boat while trying to net.  With all the excitement of watching a big fish chase and attack his fly, Stu forgot that he had to show a little respect to a larger fish.  It took less than ten seconds for Stuart to have the fish at the boat, but when that big girl decided to run and Stu kept pulling, she popped his 0X leader like it was nothing.  Close enough just to realize what he lost.  Stu took his medicine and kept chucking.  I think he got a good taste of the streamer buzz.  Here's Stu measuring up the fish he lost:

As day three came to a close, Jamie took Stu and I down for one more drift along one of his favorite banks.  As we pulled into position, Jamie said this bank was the primary reason we motored upstream at the end of the day.  I was throwing my 8 weight with a 300 grain sinking line.  My fly mimicked a 6 inch rainbow trout.  After a few casts, I had a good strike but missed.  Two casts later, I caught the fish of the weekend.  A beautiful 24 inch beast. 

While I wish I had been using the 6 weight to prolong the battle, I was pumped to have landed this beauty.    

That evening, feeling lucky, we decided to whip out the poker set.  I must have used up all my luck on the water because I was quickly outed.  Davis held strong for a while and managed to put together a very rare straight flush (almost as rare as a 24 inch brown....):

I think Billy ended up taking the pot.  I did not stay awake for the close of the poker game. 

The last two days on the water, the weather took a turn for the worse.  It was in the low thirties and windchills were in the teens.  Waders and guides were freezing immediately (even with de-icer on the guides), finger tips were burning, and you had to keep moving your feet or your toes would lock up. 

Due to the fairly miserable conditions, we decided to stick around Copper John's in case we needed a quick break from the cold.  We nymphed hard and managed to put some more nice fish in the boat but, surprisingly, nothing huge ever came out of the water near the dam. 

Stuart and Billy hit the road Monday morning as Stone, Davis, and I suited up for the coldest day on the water yet.  We survived with facemasks, hand warmers, and by making a fire on the bank at lunch.  Fishing was decent.  Honestly, it was almost too cold to throw streamers because there's no way to keep your hands dry when your constantly stripping line.  Wet hands, twenty degree weather, and strong wind are not a good combination.  We did, however, catch lots of fish.  We had the best shad kill of the weekend on Monday.  The birds were going crazy and the fish were locked in on the easy meal.  Stone won the day with a 20 inch bow that was fat with shad.  

                                   

After the close of another freezing cold afternoon on Monday, we settled into the seats of the Navajo Cheiftain with a warm whiskey and witnessed a beautiful sunset as we cruized back toward St. Louis. 

The trip to the White this year was as good as it's ever been. As a group, we put upwards of 20 fish in the boat that were in the 20+ inch range. We learned a lot from our guides and managed to avoid any major injuries.  Thanks to Jamie, Matt, and Chris.  We couldn't have asked for a better group of guides. We'll see you again soon. 

For now, it's back to the Current for me.  Streamers???

White River Feb. 2010: Part I

The second trip to Arkansas this year was a complete success. The crew consisted of Davis, Stone, Stuart, Billy, and me. The guides were Jamie Rouse, Matt Millner, and Chris Butts (CLICK HERE for their website). 

Per usual, Davis, Stone and I got the itch bad and headed down early. After the slow weekend we had on the Little Red a few weeks back, we were amped to put a few fish in the boat so we decided to fly which would add an extra day and half on the water (4.5 days total!).  We boarded our Navajo Cheiftain in St. Louis around 11:30 a.m.  The flight was just under an hour so we were able to get a half day in when we arrived.

After a brief in-flight beverage service, the wheels were down and we arrived at Copper John's, just below Bull Shoals Dam on the White River. Jamie and Matt were already at the place with boats in the water and streamer rods rigged. We suited up as quickly as possible and headed for the boats.  I pulled the solo straw and would be fishing with Matt for the first half day.  Stone and Davis had Jamie "Hey Dude" Rouse in control of their boat. 


The game plan, again, was to streamer fish.  I love streamer fishing.  I would rather catch one good fish on a streamer than 50 average fish on nymphs. That was the plan this weekend. We would switch to nymphing if shad started coming through the dam and fish stopped chasing the big stuff, however, our primary plan of attack was to pound the banks and rip streamers, big ones.

Right out of the gates we started hitting fish. My first cast, in fact, I stuck a decent brown that got off. The second cast I had a good chase but no strike. The third cast we netted an aggressive little rainbow:


Davis and Stone enjoyed early success as well and got on the board with these bad boys:

Fortunately for me, my boy Matteo decided to take me a little further away from the boat traffic.  The heavily bearded 25 year old at the helm gambled and showed up his boss on day 1.  We netted these two good browns literally on back to back drifts--one 21.5 inch and one 20 inch.  Nice call Mr. Millner!!




Our home away from home was The "Lodge" at Copper John's. The place was pretty nice, although slightly small compared to the two story accomodations we had the previous year at Rim Shoals. We had a nice full kitchen, fireplace, sitting area, and three bedrooms--two equipped with queens, and one with a twin and bunk bed.

Ryan, one of the proprieters, kindly offered free firewood, ice, and propane for our grill. Copper John's runs a solid operation and I would recommend it for smaller groups.

Day 2 was still the power trio--Davis, Stone and I.  After the previous day's success with the larger browns coming away from the boat traffic, we decided to head down river in the trucks for a full day of streamer fishing several miles down river. We chucked and ducked all day and managed to net several more quality fish.  A handful of these suckers were in the 20+ range.

You may notice the point of view cameras ("POVs") in some of the shots.  When I figure out how to upload video, I'll post some clips of fish eating and the ridiculous commentary that goes on in the boat.  If you're lucky, you'll hear an authentic "hey dude....here's the deal."  Fish with Jamie or Matt and you'll understand what I'm talking about. 

Each day on the water proved more successful than the last.  Many big fish were still to be caught by the group including one 24 inch hog.  That's it for now.  I need to get everyone else's pictures and start editing some video.  There's more to come in Part II.  Stay tuned.

Heading South....

Today is the day. We're headed to the White for trip # 2. I'm currently in the office but obviously can't concentrate. Have to get through work. Will be hard. But have to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. Hello?? Echo....
For those of you that have seen Airplane, that will make a little more sense.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. It's not white, however, it's gold and brown with black spots! STICK!!!

Catching up....

It's been a while since I've posted. It's definitely not for a lack of things to say. I been fishing quite a bit. I caught my first bonefish (and almost a permit) on my honeymoon in Belize. I fished the Little Red River in Arkansas for the first time. I had a great second half of the '09 duck season, and spent numerous hours in a deer stand with both a rifle and bow.

I'm not real sure why I haven't felt the urge to write. I think once I get behind on posting, I get intimidated by the thought of having to catch up. I'm still embarrassed that it's been a year and a half since I got back from Alaska and haven't written about it (although, I did manage to post the pictures on Facebook). I haven't even written about the fishing I did in Jackson during my wedding week. I need to catch up!

What follows is my attempt to get up to speed (minus Alaska). This is the abridged version of what's been going on. I'll try to be better about keeping this more current.

Jackson, WY

I got married on July 11, 2009 in Jackson, Wyoming. Sara and I were out there for almost two full weeks so there was NO WAY I was not going to wet a line.

The most memorable fishing day was our guided trip on the South Fork. We fished with Worldcast Anglers and I would recommend them to anyone headed that way. Salmon flies were the bug of choice and we ended up boating several nice fish on dries before the day was over.

The highlight of the day was landing a 19 inch tagged cutthroat. I was in the boat with Davis and we were both very excited and surprised when we got a glimpse of the tag. We basically equated the tagged trout to shooting a banded duck. After netting, photos, and release, I could tell Big John was a little jealous as this was something he had never done.

It did not last long. John, who is basically the luckiest person I know, hooked another tagged fish just 10 minutes after I got mine. It was an amazing turn of events. Seriously, imagine shooting two banded ducks with your best friend within ten minutes of each other. Not bad. Our guide later told us that he had not seen a tagged fish in his boat in the past five years. It was pretty cool. JD and I plan to get a dual mount with both fish and their tags attached. Yes, we kept the tags.

I would have posted some pictures of these fish but, unfortunately, shortly after returning from Jackson, my hard drive decided to fry itself and I lost all of my pictures. The official diagnosis for the 8 month old desktop was "defective hard drive." Thanks Dell!!

Deer Season '09

Let me give you a quick breakdown of deer season:

Rifle Hunting: Ryan sits in the stand and doesn't see a deer. Ryan climbs down and drinks with the Holtsman boys.

Ryan gets back in the stand and sees a non-legal buck. Ryan gets down and drinks with the Holtsman boys.

Ryan gets up in the stand, takes a bathroom break and misses a chance to shoot a doe. Chris shoots a real nice 8 pointer. Ryan gets down, drinks with the Holtsman boys and talks about Chris' deer.

Ryan sits in Chris' stand, doesn't see a deer. It starts to pour down rain, Ryan goes duck hunting.

Bow Hunting: Ryan sits in a stand at Eddie's farm and sees 50 deer at about 200 yards. Ryan gets burned by a doe while watching the other deer. Ryan watches Davis kill a deer through his binoculars.

Ryan sits in a stand at Henry's farm and doesn't see any deer. Davis kills another deer in his fucking yard while sitting on his patio with a beer.

Ryan sits in a stand at Sara's dad's house, has 4 doe trot under his stand, draws his bow and the arrow falls off the string.

I don't know if I just suck at deer hunting or what. Hopefully I'm saving all my karma for turkey season.

Duck Season '09

While it started off relatively slow, I would say the '09 Duck Season ended with a bang (no pun intended). I had some of the best duck hunting days I've ever experienced and one day that I will never forget. The day of the year (and my hunting career thus far) came just days after a pretty slow hunt that I had at Raccoon Ranch with Stone. The reason I remember that, and the reason I will never forget the slow hunt, is because I managed to go for a swim submerging my entire body, gun, shells, and camera. My Barretta was on the bottom of the slough, twice (I fell a second time while trying to recover from the first fall). When I got home that night, I was very meticulous about taking my gun apart, cleaning every moving part, and letting it air dry.

Just days later, a front moved in. A big front. We had 20-40 mph Northwest winds gusting up to 60 mph. Snow, rain, sleet, and a shit ton of ducks came with it. JD and I geared up and headed out to Duck's Rest. We climbed into D-3 (name of the blind) just in time for first shot. Sure enough, right as we loaded our guns, a dozen mallards dove in. With the wind howling like it was, these ducks were basically stationary in the air as they tried to land, hovering about 20 yards from our blind. Davis quickly tripled. I aimed, squeezed the trigger, and all I heard was "click." I cycled my shell and pulled again---"click." The third shell finally fired and I dropped a mallard.

I thought it was a fluke but this continued to happen. Pack after pack of ducks dropped in like they were on strings but my fucking gun would not fire. Davis tripled again and had his limit plus two bonus ducks in about 30 minutes. Eventually, I gave up on my Barretta and used his Winchester to get my remaining mallards. We went back to the "Duk Bus" and I soaked my gun in Gun Scrubber. I guess I didn't use enough solvent the first time because after dousing everything a second time, I didn't have any more problems. What a day in the blind! I learned the hard way how to properly clean my gun.

Belize

My duck season was cut short when Sara and I left for Belize. I was fine with trading cammo and waders for swimsuits, sunscreen, and salt water fly rods. The trip to Belize in December was our delayed honeymoon and, like the wedding, it had to involve a little bit of fishing. Sara's blog really details the trip well. I strongly recommend checking out the pictures and stories:

CLICK HERE

Scroll down to the Belize posts. I promise you'll enjoy them.

At the risk of avoiding redundancy, I will defer to Sara's post for the pictures and most of the details. I do have two comments however. First, I need to talk about my shots at permit. My first guided day, we had perfect conditions and saw a ton of permit. Unfortunately, things were not going my way. The last section of my rod kept falling off when I was casting--I needed wax for that ferrule. My fly line kept getting knotted at my feet--I should have changed it out prior to leaving. Twice I hooked bonefish out of the middle of a school of permit--good cast, bad luck. One permit, a good 15 pounder, actually struck and missed my fly altogether--I hope he starves. Literally dozens of fish chased and chased and chased and chased but they did not eat. I guess the elusive permit won the day. Conditions on the second day of guided fishing were terrible for permit. We ended up seeing one or two but nothing like the day before.

The second comment I have, and no this is not just ass kissing, is that I have a pretty amazing wife. She really supports my fishing addiction, as evidenced by the fact that I fished at my wedding and on my honeymoon. She's a wonderful companion and I'm really lucky to have found her. Seriously, I fished almost everyday of our honeymoon. Even if it was on the beach in the morning while she was asleep, I got out just about everyday. Trust me when I say that my best catch was back at the room in bed.

Little Red River, AR

JD, Stone, Joe Scott and I threw together an impromptu trip to the Little Red to fish with Jamie Rouse. This was the first of two trips to AR this year and I am already jonesing for # 2. For the second trip, we are headed to the White over Valentine's Day weekend. Again, evidence that wife = awesome.

Fishing on the Little Red was pretty slow but the trip itself was nothing short of spectacular. First off, we flew to Heber Springs on a twin engine Navajo Chieftain. The flight was bad ass and enabled us to get a full day on the river on Monday. Jack Jackson, our pilot, was great and got us to and fro safely.

In Heber Springs, we stayed at a place called Fat Possum Hollow. This is a 250 acre farm on the banks of the river that is normally reserved for timeshare holders. Thanks to Eddie P. and his buddy Paul, they let us rent a place for the weekend that was perfect. The lodging was great. We had three bedrooms, a nice fireplace with unlimited firewood, a flat screen with DirectTV for the football games, computer and Internet, full kitchen, grill, etc. The place even loaned us their Mule (the ATV, not the animal) for the weekend so we could cruise around and get to the river for night fishing. They also had a little BYOB bar on the property with a pool table / ping pong table, poker table, and another great fireplace. I gave the crew a lesson in ping pong until Stone finally took a match off me. Once he found his stroke, he was tough to beat. Thanks to Eddie, Paul, and Maurice for letting us crash at the Fat Possum for the weekend. The place was great.

Our guides for the weekend were Jamie Rouse and Matt Milner. They did an excellent job and I learned a few new tricks that I will have to implement locally. Unfortunately, the fish did not cooperate. Due to all the rain that's hit the area, we had three days of full generation. Jamie warned us prior to coming down that the Little Red is the hardest of the tailwaters to fish on high water. He was right. Normally, one would think the high water would be perfect for streamers but the fish were just not moving. We fished hard for three days and caught some fish but nothing picture worthy. Hopefully, we're just paying our dues for the White. Can you say Walter II?

Upcoming Events

I've got a lot to look forward to in the near future. This Sunday I'm quail hunting with Diamond Joe and Davis. We did this two years ago and it's a great way to spend the day. The quail meat is great and I use the feathers for tying flies. Two weeks after that we go to the White. This is our classic, annual trip with Stu, Billy, Stone, and Davis. We're trying a new lodge this year closer to the dam and have Jamie, Matt, and a third guide, Chris, taking care of us for the weekend. Hopefully, we'll see some low water and get a chance to do some night fishing. In April, I turn 30 and there's talk of going to Vegas. May brings turkey season and Location X. Summer is somewhat up in the air but Sara and I are already discussing plans to return to Jackson for our one year anniversary. It's only fitting that we float the South Fork several times.

I love my life....

Ducks....

So far the duck season has been pretty darn slow. The word on the street is that not many clubs are killing large numbers of ducks and that certainly holds true for the few times I've been able to get out. I have bagged a couple, but it's been nothing like years past.

One reason is the weather. Aside from one large rain storm that moved through last week, it's been bright, sunny, and calm. Although I am definitely a rookie when it comes to duck hunting, I think most would agree that 65 degrees with a light East wind is not ideal for moving birds around.

The hunting did pick up a little during the storm that moved through. John, Peter and I took advantage of this and managed to have a great hunt where the group got 13 birds. The ducks were decoying very well with a little help from the calls of JD and Peter. In fact, one pair of Gadwall dropped in while a vehicle was on the access road right near the blind. They didn't seem to mind the mini truck or the three guys standing there on levee. We killed the first bird and the second one circled around and locked up again on our spread. Needless to say, he didn't survive the second pass. Not a very smart bird.

Actually, there were very few passing shots that night. I think every bird killed was cupped and coming down to our decoys. Such a cool thing to see birds locked up and diving down toward you. It's also pretty cool when the guy standing next to you in the blind has been hunting for over 70 years and he smokes a bird before you have a chance to pull the trigger. Nice work Pete! He still doesn't miss a beat.

JD got very lucky that evening and managed to drop a black mallard which, I'm told, is very rare for the Missouri flyway. It was awesome being there for this. Apparently, the first duck John ever shot was a black duck with his dad when he was 6 or 7 years old. John has been an avid hunter ever since and this is only the second black duck he's killed since he was out there that day with his father. A great story, great bird, and great evening in the marsh:



There's some weather coming in this week: 15 - 20 mph Northwest wind, rain, and colder temperatures. Wednesday and Thursday are looking ideal. Stay tuned.

Duck Season is Here!

Duck season opens Saturday--I can't wait! Of course we have had a miserably rainy and cold October and now that it's time to hunt, we've got 65 degree days with no clouds or wind. Oh well. I am still pumped to get in the blind again. All reports suggest that the duck numbers are up this year and many local hunters have told me that the birds are here. The old Baretta is cleaned and ready. I've got my calls in my truck and have been wailing away for the last few weeks. I can't wait to gear up this weekend.

Hopefully, I'll have some feather-filled posts in the near future.