Fall Steelies

Epic day fishing steelies on a new river that will remain nameless, with Tommy Lynch. I can't remember another steelhead trip with more hookups... I think combined we had 17-18 fish on, with 6-7 landed. Half swinging, half nymphing. No giants, and all landed were in the 6-9 LB range... a few in the 10-12 LB lost at the net. All in all an awesome day on the water. We timed it perfectly... one day after big rain and one day before a deep freeze. Fall Steelhead fishing in Michigan at its best!

K3 smallies in the rain

Played Hookie yesterday to chase fish... weather / baro was crap, rained for 8+hours, and stopped the very minute we pulled up to the boat ramp. In spite of the difficult weather we all landed some nice healthy K3 smallies. Grant's fish was the highlight of the day. He was fishing a waterlogged black diver and was fishing it a few feet deep... all three of us happened to be looking when the fish gulped, best fish of the day fat nice tiger stripes 18".

K3 Smallie and Will's new river wheels

Will sent me two pix: a 19inch Kankakee river smallie and a his new boulderworks drift boat. Awesome on both fronts. The fish validates what Will's been claiming for years, that their are some big boys in the K3 system. And the boat... wow... the boat is pretty much the 911 turbo convertible of drift boats, and sits at the top of the drift boat totem.... I've only been lusting after this exact boat for 4+ years. Needless to say I've moved Will into my "favorites" on my phone, and will be harassing him non stop indefinitely.

North West Florida Tarpon

Eric and I spent 2 days chasing Tarpon this past week... day one was ON: we saw 150+ fish, had 20+ legitimate shots, 5 eats/hook-ups, and 1 landed fish, a 90lber (pictured in the jump shots below). Day 2 was brutal... wind, waves, glare, churned up water... all the things you don't want. We saw a few fish first thing, and a few more throughout the day... and we were lucky to land 1 tarpon (pictured below in the next to the boat shots) that was caught on a blind cast toward nervous water (or what Doug called "reloading the bucket"). It was a blind eat... and fish ran under the boat. I'd like to think the hook up was a result of good streamer fishing instincts but in reality it was just pure dumb luck. All in all a great trip that validates the rumor that North west Florida tarpon like to eat the fly. Doug Henderson was a blast to hang with... and he really knows his stuff. We'll be back for more.

spring smallies

Ben getting dirty with the carp

cape cod stripers on the fly

Steve, "Got about 20 of these this morning". GS Replies, "Nice!!" and Bart, "That is awesomely awesome! You've got a "cat that caught the canary" grin going on... Enjoy your "work" trip! Wish we could be there...

Steveo & Bart Crushing superior Steel

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Driftless April 2013

2 killer days spent in the driftless this past weekend with Bart and Will.  Epic fishing.  We lost count by noon on Saturday.  The fish were pounding streamers... inhaling nymphs...  even a few were caught on drys.  One of those rare epic trips when the stars aligned... and everything was perfect: a bad weather report scared away crowds, ideal temps and cloud cover + (and most importantly) super hungry fish.  We were spoiled.  A few fish in the 15"-16" range and countless in the 12"-14".    By far the best trip I've ever had going out to the driftless area.

Pics from the MN Bahamian Bums

FOALT hunting

This past Feb Steve, Eric and I spent three days streamer fishing/mousing for "fish of a life time" browns on the white river.   We all caught browns in the 20-22" range and a bunch shy of 20" but the monsters evaded us.  We each were "teased" once or twice... either in the dark with a splash that sounded evil... or by a high speed rejection when you see a giant shadow or a jaw behind your streamer (I had one that looked like a king salmon that will haunt for a while).  No question there are giants in the system (to see an example of a ridiculous epic "FOALT" unicorn giant toad donkey pig hog brown go to click here: Tommy's Fish or Alex's fish not sure if this will open unless you're logged into Facebook).  I was reminded day 3 of the trip... of the golf analogy when FOALT fishing - that like getting a hole in one, or an eagle in golf... you can do absolutely everything right and the odds are still very long.  I guess that's why fly fishing is a life long obsession... and also why we'll be back down there chasing fish in 2014.   Tommy, Alex and Chad where awesome hosts!  I'd recommend the trip but we don't want more competition on "white river in MICHIGAN".    

Gidzo's 1st fishing trip

Hawaii Jan 2012. We went Marlin hunting and the only action of the day was a short bill spearfish - rare and only caught in Hawaii and a few places in Asia.

Frenchouse Redfishing

Five of Nine "frenchousers" met up for a college reunion in Charleston this past november to play some golf and do some redfishing.  The conditions could not have been better.  Zero wind.  Countless fish... most more than willing to eat.   Which allowed us to sight fish to reds all day, that were either schooled up like bone fish in groups of 25+ or cruising in pods of 2-5... either scenario meant they were competing for the fly.  Everyone in our group caught fish.  Of course... given the perfect conditions I thought it would be fun to make myself nearly go insane by accidentally fishing a 9wt rod with 7wt line.  Wait... what?!?   It took me three quarters of the day to figure it out.  Moral of the story... always... always... always... blame it on the gear.  

All in all, a great time... we even caught a few in the 15lb+ range.  It was my first time on the water with McCabe - who both cast his first salt water fly rod and caught his first red fish all on the same day.   Not bad.  A great reunion that we'll definitely do again in future years!  I definitely recommend Chris Wilson for red fishing in Charleston.