I had a chance to get out over the Turkey Fest holiday and use my new CPS rod on the Sky with a couple buds. Working out the kinks with a new rod is always fun eh? We started out high up and hit a couple spots on both forks first, looking for late summer steel. Nada. I even tried skating some dries but nothing wanted to play, so we went to a couple spots lower on the mainstem.



First up was a silly little bull that wanted to maim, torture and execute my purple woolly bugger



Then after a celebratory corn dog and Foster's Bitter, the weather cleared and we were off to scout new spots.

A couple days later we were back at it, hitting some of my old haunts on the middle river. I got this feisty little silver on the ugliest damn scraggly brown bugger you ever saw in your life, this fly had been through the ringer and looked like it was crapped out the hind end of a goat!



A couple fishless hours later, I hooked up an indicator on a floating line and put on a pink bunny leech, dead drifting it on the current seams. After about 15 casts, the 'cator zipped under and rocketed out to midriver at lightning speed. I woke my sluggish arse up from a post-lunch "Guinness Waking Nap" to set the hook. He hit it hard! You can see he took it pretty deep in his piehole. Pretty rugged stuff for a late summer hatchery fish......some nice jumps too.



Then I had a surprise about two hours later. The day was winding down, I was swinging a huge black bugger on a 15' Rio type 6 head looped off my floater, and THWACK the rod buries while I'm yapping to my buds about having a cold brew back at my rig. Big, fat, mean and aggressive.....this old boy was obviously protecting his 'hood, so I landed him as quickly as I could, my already-buzzed pal snapped this quick, crappy, hazy shot and I let him go make more babies.



Not a bad way to spend a few days. Weird thing is......not ONE of us hooked any chum either day or even saw one caught!

The top picture looks like a spot on the N/F Sky that I know about.

Jim

Mingo,

Keep your back cast up, and for criminy sakes, get some chest waders. . . . just funnin' ya'.

I went out the day after Thanksgiving, but wore my rain jacket the entire day. Obviously we were experiencing different weather systems.

When you toss the floating line, are you using a weighted bugger, or do you put split shot on your leader? I keep trying this off and on, but can't make myself stick with it, when swinging a sink tip is so much more pleasant. Some good spots just ain't made to swing, however.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

OLG MAN

You don't know any place that you can't drive too

You should see the ugly barbell eyed beast I was flinging at the time.....I call it the Tiger Shark, it weighs about the same as an adult dachsund. Gives nice "backcast saggage". Casting those is more like swinging a pick than casting a flyrod...THWACK! THWACK! like a pendulum

The jackets were on and off all day the first day and fleece city the 2nd day. I use weighted buggers with a floater and indicator a lot, personally I prefer to have the weight in the fly and not on the leader. My exception is egg patterns, then I'll use shot. But a lot of times I tie a dropper off a fairly heavy barbell bunny leech and put an egg pattern on that......kind of like serving up two desserts, it's fun to see which one they like. I also love swinging sink tips with unweighted flies. Casting is a lot more fun that way eh?

It's funny, I used to wear only chest waders. Now I absolutely hate them and haven't worn them in about three years. I have breathable waist-hi waders but I just don't like the feeling of being bound into a pair of fishing overalls all day long. Pain in the butt when you need to pee. I wear fleece lined snowboard pants over capilene thermals in the winter, and a lot of times I just stick with hip boots. Maybe it's a carryover from when I was a wee lad, or maybe I'm just a big dork.

Jim, I'm sure you've fished that spot but have you been in there lately? the nasty flood last year brought in HUGE logs that block the trail so it's a rail pain going around the logjam and over the giant boulders to get in there now. Be careful if you try it, I slipped and smacked an elbow on a rock.

Well I guess that it is a different spot. I only go to places that are easy to reach. Bad knees.

Jim

If it is that hard to cast, why fish it?