Spring Newsletter

May 2007

06/20/2007

Wednesday May 2 Anthony Aguirre and his dad, John, came fishing for a day. John was in town for a family get together and Anthony wanted to introduce him to fly fishing. I don't think John knew what he was in for.

The conditions were poor to say the least. All our rivers were in run off. There was a full moon. Thunderstorms were predicted and it drizzled most of the day. It was windy at times. Not the perfect scenario for your first day of fly fishing.

We began on one of our private ponds. Anthony caught a fish on his first cast! The fish were up on callibaetis and were willing. It wasn't long before John had one as well. We practiced casting, trying to work the bugs out of his cast. The fish went down. Both guys picked off a few sub surface for a while. They came back up on big midges so we tried some dries. Anthony and John both got a couple more. Then they went down again... It started raining... Up they came on tiny midges and so it went. Challenging fishing to say the least.

John got his forward cast going and did real well with the roll cast and we broke for lunch. After a nice meal and both guys managing a few more fish we headed for another pond with bigger more challenging fish. That turned out to be an understatement! The pond was dead and a big black cloud was approaching. We tried this and that and rowed back and forth with no avail. Finally Anthony got a bite. Just as the rain subsided he hooked a nice 22" rainbow under a double rainbow! This rejuvenated us all. We kept at it and right at sun down we started getting a few bites. The guys had a double with a couple smaller fish. Then Anthony hooked a real screamer that got off on a blistering run.

After a couple more missed hits. he landed another beautiful rainbow just as it got dark. Both guys fished hard to the end and it paid off. They weathered some real tough conditions while maintaining a good positive attitude and I commend them both! When it comes to being hard core, "like father like son!" We got off the water at 10 P.M. Thanks for a great day!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Eldon and Terry Hongo and their new 7 month old baby Sun. I hadn't fished with them since they got married in 2005 and it was great to see them. Eldon trains German shorthairs and just finished winning the national championship again! Congratulations on another one!

 This was my first trip floating on a rainy day with a baby and as it turned out, Sun was the coolest baby I had ever seen! Not one minute of crying for 9 hours of fishing. Every time we caught a fish, Sun was fired up and laughing. I think he loved the floating.

 The fishing was tough with an incoming front. There was a lot of salad from the increased flows. This made nymphing all but impossible so we threw streamers at the banks all day and managed some nice fish despite the bad conditions. We did not see any fish rising.

Sun was the highlight of the day! We would hold a fish for him to see and when it splashed him he would start laughing. It was great! It was a pleasure to meet him and fish with his parents again. Thanks for a great time!

May 27th and 28th.

Keith Richardson has turned more people on to fly fishing than anyone else I know. When his brother Kirk from San Jose mentioned he wanted to start fly fishing, Keith immediately flew him out to Cody and set him up with all the equipment  and two days of guided trips to help get him started. There is probably no greater joy for a fishing guide than being with someone when they catch there first fish on a fly rod! A once in a lifetime opportunity! We decided to hit a very beautiful freestone stream in search of native Yellowstone cutthroats, hopefully on dries.

The water was high and fast and crystal clear. This can make for some tough conditions for your first day. Kirk was all over it! After a quick casting lesson we began by having a couple of fish come take a look! We went over a couple more things and Bam! The first fish on a fly! Check this beautiful Yellowstone cutthroat. Mean while Keith was working a few over himself as you can see at left. Kirk worked the edges and seams of the plunge pools and it wasn't long before we had a fish come up and eat the big dry. What a great way to get started. We also found this fresh track, left the night before, by mister wolfie. Wyoming is truly a great place to be!

The clouds subsided putting the fish in the deeper runs so we put on a dropper rig and continued to pick up fish for the rest of the afternoon. A dinner engagement with the wives brought our day to a close much to soon. A fantastic introduction to fly fishing for Kirk on his first day!

On day two we decided to stay off some of the more popular rivers to avoid the masses as it was Memorial day weekend. Our motto has always been, when word gets out that a certain river is fishing well, go somewhere else where the fishing is really good! We wanted to expose Kirk to as many different techniques as possible. We started in the canyon where there are many different kinds of water to deal with and many eager fish. Kirk caught fish on a dry, a dry dropper, and a nymph rig.

After catching fish from all angles we headed to a private area of river to go after some bigger fish on streamers. It wasn't long before Kirk had the "bugger chunking" working for him and fish slashing at his fly. Keith immediately started hooking up. At one point he had a 20"+ brown follow his fly 4 or 5 time but could not get it to take. The big boys are in there! Kirk practiced different retrieves and landed several very nice fish. Towards the end of the day he landed this nice rainbow and jumped another very nice fish. Again, we had a dinner engagement, and as the responsible husbands we are, had to leave just as the big guys were coming out to play. Kirk did a fantastic job both days and I look forward to hearing of his many successes in his fishing future. Thanks for a fun Memorial day weekend!

Keith set up a trip for another first time fly fisherman Gary Kercher on May 30th. Gary is an experienced walleye fisherman and had actually fished with us two years ago but hadn't fly fished since so he was pretty much starting over. We headed up the North Fork, and even though the water was quite high, it was crystal clear. The river was loaded with fish! Any place the fish could get out of the current there was a fish or three!

 We were fishing a big heavily weighted wooley bugger with an egg or a prince as a trailer. After a short lesson on the steelhead swing Gary proceeded to murder them! Here he is with a couple of North Fork slabs! Keith, mean while, was down stream having the same type of luck.

 Some of the fish were spawned out but most were pre spawn females on their way to deposit thousands of eggs of future generations of trout. The heavy silver fish fought and jumped hard in the fast water. It was a lot of fun!

Gary and I worked on some basic casting and then went over some little tricks to get the fly down quicker and cast in tight to the bank . We then proceeded to the all critical mend and how we could slow the fly down on the swing and put it in front of as many fish as possible by shortening and lengthening the amount of line on each cast.

Gary was a fast learner and it shows as you can see by the pictures. Keith and Gary both caught so many fish that  by lunch we were ready to head somewhere else and try some more challenging fishing.

The kiss of death is leaving fish but we decided to take a chance and try for some big ones anyway. Keith and I had scouted some water on several days prior and the big guys were there with a good possibility of getting one to bite. This was not to be the day . Around 2 o'clock a front came in bringing thunderstorms and the fish just would not cooperate. We got a lot of short strikes and smaller fish but the big boys just shut down. Gary and I made the best of the time by going over different streamer techniques catching a few smaller fish in the process but this was not the day for a true giant. We had a great time anyway. Gary fished hard all day I  could see by the improvements in his casting that he learned a lot as well. I look forward to our next trip when we will continue our search for the great white whale!

Tight Lines!