scouting some water

spent a few hours rock flipping to look for bug activity in a local stream and to scout some spots for the opener in 12 short days..cant wait to start slaying the trout! here are some pictures i took

slow day

things haven't been going the best lately, tried to get away and fish yet the bad luck followed us, i barely got to use the float tube and half the spots we went had no fish, i knew where we could have gone to fish but for a stupid reason we didn't go there. anyways on to the fishing, i didn't get the footage i wanted of course because nothing went right really.. caught about a dozen fish, 6 pike minnow (commonly called chubs or squaw) and 6 bluegill. all the gills were in coves under a very thick mat of cotton wood, and it was a challenge catching them. i managed a few fish and missed a few bites at our last stop of the day but that cottonwood is just so nasty it was near impossible, and the fish were nowhere else to be found. Tuesday im hitting on of the local small streams for trout again hopefully my luck will change

update of a long week and conservation

Well, almost the weekend now, we are approaching  85 degree weather..cant wait i have been bored out of my mind lately just waiting to fish. my box is stocked for a trip for warmwater species this weekend, i will be taking the float tube out for the first time this year. alot of stress floating around in my household right now,sick people stressed parents and all. it isn't very fun.. im just trying to hold on until may 26th when the local stream opens so i can have somewhere to fish without worrying about gas... gas prices have really affected fishing. this weekends trip should be an epic one look out for pics/video saturday and sunday.


 

                              Conservation /misc  

    Lately there has been an ongoing effort so slow the goose logging project on the McKenzie bridge area of the upper McKenzie river,  This area of old growth forest is beautiful and and is also important to many animals that call the Upper McKenzie  basin home But loggers threaten to cut it down. i Wont write up too many details,because more info can be provided in the below links.

 

Upper McKenzie river (could you imagine the banks without trees?)

Please go to these links and read up on the goose project and see what you can do to save McKenzie bridge and help protect the fish that live in this section of river,and the animals that roam in the woods. thank you for your support,please pass this on and make sure everyone is aware of this project



http://savemckenziebridge.com/

http://www.facebook.com/SaveMcKenzieBridge


http://signon.org/sign/save-mckenzie-bridge.fb8?source=s.fb&r_by=4289376












                           

a quick warmwater report

went out with the old man for a few hours,this was te first time ive  ever targeted  bluegill whe the weather is rather chilly, but i managed to entice a few fish.slowly dragging a nymph in 3-6 ft of water seemed to work well.   i ended up with a dozen bluegill ,1 crappie and a bunch of small perch not bad for 3-4 hours on a chilly day no big scrappy gills but two really surprised me by taking m fly right at the bank then taking off. this gets me excited for warm weather. Another plus, i didnt lose anything on this trip for some reason  usually im getting caught in trees and getting tangled left and right.

Tough start to the season

yesterday me and a few friends took a day trip to a small stream int he coast range for opening day,we ended up doing alot of hiking to scout out new water,it was brutal but we did find some cool new spots. The water was moving pretty fast still and the fish were not very willing but i managed to catch two pretty little cutties and i hooked two others that didn't stay hooked and also missed a few bites and one of my buddies  caught one fish and hooked another.  It was a rough trip for me. my hat cam failed witch ruined my short film,a drop of water  screwed up my only fish pic of the day i managed to take before said camera failure and i lost almost all of my nymphs and indicators somehow plus my tippet..also lost my net. despite all of the screw ups it was still a fun day hanging out and catching a few trout also watched a huge march brown hatch come off in several stretches. here are the very few pics i managed to take before the cam failure

Andrew trying to entice fish to bite his nymphs

andrew re-rigging

upstream view

failure of a fish pic

the water has warmed

The weather has been excellent in the valley lately so i hit a local pond hoping for some warm water species on the fly. Only fished for 3 hours and ended up with 50+ bluegill  All very aggressive,hard fighting and most were very fat and quite large. I was also surprised with a half dozen crappie nice and a perch. I saw fish moving around in shallow water, eating damselfly nymphs and such. Most effective areas were shaded spots, coves and weed lines i would just cast the fly and use slow long strips or simply pull my rod towards my side and the fish would smash my fly. Fly of the day was a #12 possie  bugger,also caught 2 fish on a peacock soft hackle, They were not very willing to take dries But man it was a blast.  I want to say that The  Pictures do not do most of these fish justice..  They were a handful on my little 4wt it was bent in half with every fish! i got so bored with taking pictures so eventually i turned the camera,But here are a few decent ones and some of the smaller fish  this will keep me held over for the trout opener next saturday..atleast i hope

stocking the box

Ive been tying like a mad man lately- Lots of  nymphs for fish stuck to the bottom of the river. One of my favorite smaller streams opens on the 28th and i already have a trip lined up.. The tying is also keeping me busy so i don't go insane waiting for that day for the most part. I haven't Really fished since march and im dying to get out. Here are some pics of a few of my recent ties

 

Pheasant tail nymph size 14

possie bugger size 12

bass fly

summer steelhead fly