I headed up to fish with mreyns and the rest of the PA crew for the weekend. Saturday morning me and Mark met Brad, Tbird and one if his buddies and headed out to Forks. We bummed around town for a while and finally made it over to LoweDown's place to wake him up, it was time to fish. We kicked around a few ideas with Bret and decided to take the boats for an afternoon float. We pushed off around 12:30. Me and brad fished with Bret and Tbird rowed his boat with Mark in the bow.



Fishin was slow, but the fish were quality. We missed a fish or two but I eventually tied into a toad buck in a boulder garden. It was an epic battle, one I will never forget. Bret maxed himself out to get back up to an eddy so that we could free the line that was hung on the corner of a large rock, all the while the fish was tearin upstream. He ran us all over the place, after giving chase upstream we had to follow him down. Everything really had to work out perfectly for us to get him in the bag, which Brad did perfectly. He taped out at an honest 39"x20", my first true 20.



I gotta give some major props to Bret for busting his ass for that fish, in most boats that fish would have been long gone. Thanks Bret

We fished for a few more hours with no more hookups, but eventually Brad found one. Brad stuck the big'ol hen and after rolling around a few times she scorched off a solid 100' of line going completely airborn 2 times I believe. Tom and Mark were at the top of the hole, the fish cleared the water right off their bow. They estimated the fish to be in the upper 30" range, a high teen chrome girl. We got the best part of the fight out of her before she was able to find some debry to get wrapped up in. All we're missing is a picture. Here's one of her splashing around on the surface.



We had to burn a lot of water to make it to the take out before dark. After dropping the boats and gear at Bret's place we went and had mexican food with Bob, Corey, RoRo, Pat Graham, Sol and his GF Sherry. Food was good as was the company. Our group went back to Bret's for an after dinner get together with Sol and Sherry, which of course was fun.

We slept in and got back on the river around noon again. Mark hit the only fish of the afternoon right off the bat, a pretty 35" hen...






That was a damn fun weekend, got to meet a couple more board members which is always cool and we got some quality fishin in. Props to Bret for fishin with and hosting friends on his days off, totally cool of him. We probably could have caught a few more fish if we had been on the water early, but the time we spent off the water was just as fun and entertaining as the time spent fishing. Wouldn't have had it any other way. Here's LoweDown, the coolest guy around Thanks bro.




Bret, I have your bottle of hot sauce. I found it in my pocket while I was driving home And I Mark, you left your gloves in my car. You'll have to get them when you come down for Springers in a bit, or I can send em to ya if needed. Lookin forward to fishin with everyone again, look out Springers....Later


Jake

Oh to be young, foot-loose, and care-free again.

You guys make me S-O-O-O-O envious!

I keep tellin' myself.... just payin' your dues, man... just payin' your dues.

Nice job, young-gunners!

Someday, Bret... someday....

Great report jake, what a crew to hang with !!!.

Very cool Jake. Quite the picture essay you have there..

Thanks for sharing man..

Uhhh.... yeah. I was awake before you guys got here. No, really.

That was fun, but I shouldn't have let you guys talk me into "springer fishing" on March 2.

Fun trip fo sho...we'll do it up again soon.

Sounds like a good trip.

Now that would have been a fun trip even without any fish....

insanity rules.

Those are some very nice pic`s Abu, good job.

Abu,
Thanks for sharing a good report and Congrats on a beautiful trophy!

Bret,
WTG my man!
Look forward to seeing you in a few days.

So Bret was able to get that monkey off Jake's back? Wow, that's a monumental task.

Cool story, great pics.

I heard from a reliable source you flossed that fish...

fun trip guys...definately can't wait for the kalama to do it again

bretsky- you seemed kinda stoked to get a springer too hombre, thanks for tying me into that nice hen

glad to see you guys went mega on um!
Dan- I think that just shows either how good bret is or how bad jake is

Great report, good people and awesome fish. It sounds like you had a very intense battle with that toad buck. Peace Dustin

Nice job man.

That really was a heck of a fun, slacker type weekend...

Bret, Thanks again for lettin me follow ya through, and showin the way... And for walkin back up and rowin me through the first half of double drop... I woulda been on edge for that one... For the rest of the fabtastic maneuvering, I thank myself

Nice fish, Fabu! Nice work on the oars Bretsky.. I've never seen a boat FLY upstream in that kind of current before while chasing that fish... Jesus...

Cool report guys. I'm jealous! Have not fished in over a month, and no relief in sight.....
Ugh
Neal

Very nice,well done.............

Sounds like an awesome weekend. Were you guys on the HOH by chance. If you were, I was the guy standing on the bank.

T-bird, you gotta give me buzz next time you do something like that and have the room for a guy.

sweet pic report. Those ones are the best.

Cool story & pics.Looks like a fun time.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Nope, not the Hoh.





Yeah it was!!! I can't wait for everyone to come down and slay some Springers, that will be a blast...Later


Jake

Congrats on the 20# fish Abu.

Looks like you guys had a great weekend. I hope to get up there sometime soon.

Thanks, you gonna come up for some springers Mr. Trumbone? You and Robert need to get up here at some point...Later


Jake

Going to try.

I just took on a huge job for another company. They want a bunch of items, and they want it yesterday. My fishing time is going to be limited for several weeks.

On the bright side, I might get a new drifter out of this project.

I can't wait for everyone to come down and slay some Springers,

Jake [/quote]

Oh you KNOW everyone WILL be down... Almost time for the Zoo...

Yeah, no kidding. A zoo it is...Later


Jake

Sweet pics Jake!

Feels good to get a 20# doesn't it?

Looks like you guys had a good time.

Streamer...you bailed before picking up some LBD's the other night...I think they're still in the pocket of my sport coat...you snooze, you loooze.

Fish on...

Todd

Yeah I forgot about them. I just wanted to see exactly what they were. Stam showed me on the way out the door.

Feel free to leave a couple for me at my work... but I'm pretty sure I have a few similar to them laying around here somewhere.

Right on dudes, wish I would have been over there too. Oh well, Atlanta was treating me find. Nice job on the fish and love the pics.

Cool fish, Jake!

great report and beautiful fish.

Congrats on your first 20 Abu.
Way Kooooollll.
Sharing it with friends...the best.

Big fish.

Congrats!

Rudy

It was good to see old faces and put a face to Jake and Brad.

I rowed Sherry down the Bear Creek stretch of the Duc on Sunday. Nada fish....nary a bite, albeit I only pulled plugs in the prime holes and left all the pocket water unprobed, that and JD was in there pitching pink worms in front of me. Nonetheless, it was cool to see my old stomping grounds again and get Sherry "wet" in the bow.

Nice job!!!!

Why did I think JD was a fly guide?????

yah i've never seen JD with gear rods

Depends who he's fishing with. He's a fly guy at heart with common sense enough to know to make a living as a guide you've got to be open to fishing anglers with other methods.

Fly guy? Common sense?

What???

I saw them on anchor under the 101 bridge above the hatchery, dropping pink worms under floats downstream right above a crapload of logs and lumber in the river. When I went by I said, "If you hook a fish there you KNOW where he's going, don't you?" JD replied, "We just found that out."

I was thinking WTF? Might as well stay there and lose another one, ehh.