I've been on a wicked dry spell recently. I landed a nice rainbow back in April not long after ice out, but since then it's been goose eggs and gutter balls. I spent two days chasing steelhead in Southeast--skunked. A couple trips up north for early rainbow--nothing but short strikes and mosquito bites. A couple trips south--casting practice. I've caught fish in the salt, including a nice Chinook this past week, but I might as well have left my fly rod at home for the past several river trips. It's a good thing it's not just about catching fish...
...or so I keep telling myself.
The Wife and I met up with one of my coworkers, Jason, and got the drift boat out for just its second voyage yesterday. We didn't catch tons of fish, but it was a great day to work on your tan line and for me to remind myself what it's like to land a fish.
Of course, The Wife (looking very pregnant these days) set the pace by catching this guy right away:
Me getting in on the action, and keeping the rod tip up:
Jason caught the first really nice fish of the day:
At least someone (Karta) was keeping an eye on the line and indicator:
We each got into a handful of fish throughout the day, but the real action came later on. While in the middle of saying how nondescript the river looked in this stretch, a nice fish slammed my dead drifting FMF and immediately started jumping up river. She jumped five or six times before charging straight at me. Me, gaining the upper hand and delusional enough to think the fish might fit in the net:
No longer thinking the fish will fit in the net:
Toad!
Things were a little chaotic for a bit. I needed three or four tries to get enough of the fish in the net to remove the hook, and at one point the net started swimming off with the fish still half in. We never managed a full-fish picture since I wasn't willing to prolong the release after my landing debauchery, but it was a hell of a time and she swam off without delay. I'm not sure where this ranks against other rainbow I've caught, but it's up there. Oh, and needless to say, I've already up-sized my net.
8 comments:
What a great day on the river! Sun shining, a new boat, a lunker of a fish for The Husband...maybe now he'll not ban me to the oars the rest of the summer:)
Nicely done! Love to see that boat in action, and you with a hell of a fish on the sharp end. Keep on 'em!
Nicely played all. Great weather, fish cooperating, and one very content looking pup. Glad to see you all get out and took advantage. Looking forward to the next post and fishing tails. I am officially back to living vicariously through you guys!
Here fishy fishy fishy...
Josh
And i forgot to tell The Wife she should start charging for the guiding services if she is going to be getting you all into such nice fish.
Josh
Russ...it brings back good memories of last fall:) Hopefully we'll have things really dialed in by you and Kel visit next:) Josh -- hmmm, I think you are on to something....:)
Schnitzer - You might recognize where I caught the large rainbow as also holding large Chinook.
Josh - Yes, it is ALL The Wife's doing.
Holy moly...that is quite the fish! Great way to spend some time.
Cindy
P.S. Looks like the net wasn't the only thing undersized...Nelli's waders look a bit small, too! Very cool!
Ha! Yep, the waders are getting snug...although I can surprisingly still wear them(provided I don't have too many layers on:)) We'll have to send another photo for proof...
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