|
Author
|
Topic: Cabin Fever Cure
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 21, 2014 06:39 AM
I've been cooped up for a month with a nasty flu bug. Finally this week I started feeling semi-human again. Combine that with a tougher than usual winter, and I have Cabin Fever something terrible. So I did the only thing I could do. I went fishing. It's still winter time here, but Wednesday was a pretty nice day, and the only day snow wasn't predicted. Fishing conditions weren't ideal, but I just had to get out. I'm glad I did as it was suprisingly decent fishing. In and hour and a half after work I was able to hook 10 fish, of which, I landed 8. I only caught one rainbow and the rest were browns. Even though it's not a real big creek I like the fact the fish are fairly good sized. Most of them averaged between 15"-18". To me that's real solid fish from a small creek. Anyway, I thought I'd share a pic or three. Oh, and while none of my problems went away, I sure didn't think about them for an hour and a half. Funny how that works. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
The lonely rainbow.
Ah heck, one more just for fun.
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lone Howl
Free Trial Platinum Member & part-time language police
Member # 29
|
posted March 21, 2014 06:44 AM
NIce!
--------------------
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.
Posts: 2083 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 21, 2014 07:12 AM
As far as I can see, Troy. You have a trout fishing paradise equivalent to those exotic locations like New Zealand or Patagonia.
I see you like my son's favorite, Panther Martin's? It sure don't get any better, I truly envy you! Thanks for sharing.
Good hunting. El Bee
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31478 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 21, 2014 07:44 AM
Leonard, in a lot of ways I have to agree with you. The trout fishing often borders on the unreal around here. I'm spoiled but I sure don't take it for granted. Within 20-30 minutes of my front door I have 5-6 really good trout streams. Only one of them is open to fishing year round and that is where the fish in the recent pics came from. The others are only open for fishing from the 3rd week in May to the last day of November. So basically they sit around with zero fishing pressure for 6 months of the year. That equates to exceptionally good fishing when the season is open. The 3rd week in May can't get here quick enough!
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
TundraWookie
Knows what it's all about
Member # 1044
|
posted March 21, 2014 08:25 AM
Looks like a great way to beat those cabin blues Troy. Panther's are a good spinner. Do you ever use the Vibrax #3's? The Gold color used to slay trout for me in most of the lower 48. That #3 is heavy and can be slow trolled through deep holes if needed. Silver works better up here, but Gold was a real meat hauling piece of hardware in Montana when I fished down there eons ago. Nice photos.
Posts: 857 | From: Alaska | Registered: Dec 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 21, 2014 08:59 AM
In the Sierra's, Thomas Buoyant rules. Gold/Blood Red. Hard to go wrong with just about any Mepps spinner. Kast Masters, etc. The Vibrax spinners seem to run too deep in most streams, lose a lot of them; better for impounds and lakes.
I'm getting the itch, myself!
Good hunting. El Bee
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31478 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
TundraWookie
Knows what it's all about
Member # 1044
|
posted March 21, 2014 09:13 AM
I'm always a fan of being able to run the heavier spinners a bit faster over a lighter spinner that limits my casting distance (and accuracy). My other favorite was the small Rapala's with a couple splitshot 24 inches up. Toss those into a hole and start chugging the line...then hold on, because it's usually the big boy of a hole that comes out first for that meal. Of course if we're just talking about catching....go with a crawler.
Posts: 857 | From: Alaska | Registered: Dec 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
|
posted March 21, 2014 10:13 AM
Beautiful, dude!!!
Trout season opens April 1st, here. My lure of choice for nailing the resident browns is a 1/8oz. gold Phoebe spoon, tossedfrom a 4lb. test spinning rig. Always have a couple Rooster tails & Pathers in the box, too. Not quite fly fishing, but close!
Some of the best sections of the Ostelic River in my AO have steep/eroded banks, making flycasting an impossibility. But a buttslide down the bank and some underhanded flipping into the deeper pools can result in some good action. My trusty trout netter...
Doggie paddling does put a damper on the action, though!
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 21, 2014 10:18 AM
Tundra Wookie...
Great minds must think alike. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
A Rapala is my other favorite trout lure for around here.
[ March 21, 2014, 10:21 AM: Message edited by: ursus21 ]
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 21, 2014 10:22 AM
Knockemdown, LOVE the dog pics! I've never heard of a gold Phoebe spoon. I might have to look it up on the net and see what I'm missing.
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
|
posted March 21, 2014 11:07 AM
Thanks!
This is an older pic, Phoebe in the face!!!
The dog is a pisser at the river, can't get too mad at him...
I only started trying to fly fish a couple years ago, this was my first one on a junker combo I got from Dick's.
Need to add that, these are likely stockers, you can see they lack the brilliant pigment of naturally spawned browns. Every now & then, we'll catch a wild brown or brookie though, they are gorgeous!!!
Thanks for the pics, I'm now motivated to get up to the river next month!
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 21, 2014 11:59 AM
Knockemdown, I just ordered my first fly combo last weekend from LL Bean. It hasn't arrived yet. I'm hoping it will be here today or tomorrow at the latest. I'm determined to figure that fly fishing bidness out. I've got the spinning thing down pretty good so another option would be fun to try.
In regards to natural spawning, none of the streams around here are stocked. Everything is natural reproduction now. At one time they had to have been stocked. I don't know excatly how many years ago they quit, but it's been a long time. It's really nice catching fish with all their fins and vibrant colors.
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
TundraWookie
Knows what it's all about
Member # 1044
|
posted March 21, 2014 12:58 PM
Troy,
I flyfished Montana quite a bit and absolutely loved it. I had great luck tossing big leechy flies when they weren't hitting on the surface. Conehead Zuddler's in black or brown worked especially good. If you need some, shoot me an email, I think I have a bunch.
Posts: 857 | From: Alaska | Registered: Dec 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 21, 2014 01:51 PM
quote:
Everything is natural reproduction now. At one time they had to have been stocked.
Troy, that is a sound theory.
However, consider this. There are very remote lakes, some fed by glacier, some just by melting snow. We know Rainbows aren't native but a big portion of those alpine lakes have trout and assuredly, they weren't planted. I don't know for sure, but some have goldens and brook trout, as well?
Then, how did they get there? One theory is fish eggs stuck to either the feathers or legs of ducks or other migratory waterfowl. It seems like every remote pond above the treeline has stunted fish in it that will bite a piece of wax paper on a hook.
So, it's more than likely that some of those streams where you are were stocked, especially since they are browns, but it's also possible that the water birds had something to do with it.
It's also how you get frogs and fresh water clams colonizing these remote areas. Then, the aquatic plants come from seeds defecated by same host/vector; the birds.
Good hunting. LB
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31478 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 21, 2014 02:25 PM
Brook, brown, and rainbow trout are not native to Montana. Cutthroat, bull trout, red band, grayling, and lake trout are native to Montana. Walleye and bass are not native to Montana either, but we sure have a bunch of them. Sauger are native as are northern pike. About the only trout we don't have that I wish we did is tiger trout. I'm going fishing for them specifically this summer in Utah. I think they are one of the coolest looking trout I've ever seen.
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
|
posted March 21, 2014 03:31 PM
The Beaverkill and East Branch of the Delaware River are both renowned wild trout fisheries in the southern Catskills here in NY that I drive right next to, on the way up to the farm.
Fly fishing is a huge tourist attraction to that area, some purists come from all over the world to get in on the never ending hatches from spring thru fall. Should get my head outta my as and give it a go this spring, but haven't found a float boat to fit a dog in, lol...
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 21, 2014 04:03 PM
Give that kid floaties, Fred.
Good hunting. El Bee
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31478 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
ursus21
2nd place, John Denver lookalike Contest
Member # 3556
|
posted March 22, 2014 04:08 PM
Knockemdown, while in town today I picked up a couple of those phoebe spoons you mention. I suspect they will work well on our local creeks.
Posts: 780 | From: Montana | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Rick Howard
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4481
|
posted March 23, 2014 04:32 AM
Very cool. The meps in the second photo, at first glance, looks like a light bulb screwed into the fish's mouth.
Posts: 12 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Oct 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
|
posted March 23, 2014 07:51 AM
quote:
However, consider this. There are very remote lakes, some fed by glacier, some just by melting snow. We know Rainbows aren't native but a big portion of those alpine lakes have trout and assuredly, they weren't planted. I don't know for sure, but some have goldens and brook trout, as well?
I don't know about California, but in Utah those remote alpine lakes have been getting planted since who flung the chunk. Used to be done on horseback, way back in the day. Now a days they drop them into the lakes from airplanes.
- DAA
--------------------
"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 23, 2014 09:07 AM
I should have mentioned that, Dave. I know that (for instance) every fall, they use aircraft to drop something like a half a million fingerlings in Lake Crowley. I think there are something like four strains of rainbows in that lake, plus browns and Sacramento perch. The most numerous, the ones dropped from airplanes, are kind of unique. They look a lot like a steelhead and have bright orange flesh. Opening day on Crowley is a major event, they shoot a flare to announce the official 30 minutes before sunrise start time. There is some kind of contest to see who's first back to the dock with a limit, usually within 20 minutes, or so?
However, in my defense, I don't think they plant frogs by horseback, maybe they do? Some have this cute little frog, the damned things are about the size of a nickel, speckled and easy to overlook. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there could be accidental plantings by birds.
Good hunting. El Bee
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31478 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
|
posted March 23, 2014 09:46 AM
The alpine lakes of the eastern Sierra in Calif. that I have fished held only brookies. At least that's all I ever pulled out using flies or casting equip.
--------------------
Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 23, 2014 10:22 AM
That's kind of interesting, Paul. I promise, I have snagged rainbow, goldens and some browns, although they try to keep the browns out of the higher reaches of the Kern River tributaries where most of the Golden trout are. Come to think of it, those are probably the Tehachapees, not Sierra's. And, no I can't figure out how to spell that? Lake Sabrina and Intake Two, which I have fished many times is supposed to be loaded with Brook trout, but I have never caught one?
Good hunting. El Bee
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31478 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
|
posted March 23, 2014 11:53 AM
North lake ,South lake, Sabrina And intake two I can pick my fish by the tackle I use, pisses my wife off whn I say hey I got another brown and she says how can you tell and I just laugh. I have hauled browns, rainbows by the dozens when I refer to alpine lakes I mean hike in only very remote and most above 10,000 ft. I can fish all day and see no one , just the way I like it.Most people wont hike 3 to 5 miles just to fish when they can drive in.
--------------------
Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
|
posted March 26, 2014 06:29 PM
Leonard, you mentioning the frogs... You would not believe some of the desert places I have seen them. How they originally got there? Beats me!
This is a good example:
Just a rain water puddle on solid rock. Probably not wet like that more than three weeks out of the year. Nothing even resembling permanent water anywhere for miles around. Very dry environment. What the kids are pointing at and I am explaining to them are the tad poles it was loaded with.
I've seen the adult frogs in similar situations too.
Saw one when I scouted out this pothole for drinking water:
Again, that's just rain water, filled a pocket in the rock and I'm sure it's dry 49 weeks of the year. But I saw a pretty good sized frog, near as big as my hand, when I first walked up to it.
From what I read, the frogs burrow into mud and lay dormant, for as much as a couple years at a time. Wait until the time is right, come out, complete their life cycle and start it all over.
But, again, how did they get there? I dunno...
Along similar lines... I have seen flowing springs in the desert. Water seeping out from between layers of sandstone, collecting in a pothole directly underneath - no inlet, no outlet. And undoubtedly dry some years. That have thousands of minnows in them! Fish! Now, how the hell??
And, about those minnows, in those desert springs, I wouldn't want the wrong people to find out about them. Would not be surprised to find out it's a species that only exists right there in that one puddle and next thing you know a thousand square miles is blocked off from public access to "protect" them.
- DAA
--------------------
"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
