The way it should be

2100 miles and 3 days later I have arrived back in central Pennsylvania. After spending the last 2 days catching up on sleep, I felt it was time to go hit a mountain stream close to home with the hopes of catching some wild Brookies.

This is exactly what I needed to relax. This past semester has been a stressful one, I have been trying to figure out what my career goals really are, trying to put some money away for a rainy day, and my classes were on the tough side. I honestly do not think that there is a better way to relax than watching a beautiful 8 inch brookie take your dry fly off the surface. Well here are a few of the better pictures from today.

The wild trout ranged from 3 inches up to 9"

I also picked up a few stockies in the 9-11 inch range left over from the spring stockings. I really wish that this stream would be taken off the stocking list so that it can be protected a little better. This would without a doubt be a Class A stream if it was not stocked.

Another great part of the day came while I was working a little riffle. I knew there would be a fish holding in this little pocket. the first drift produced a take and after the short little battle, I brought this little gem to hand.

In the 10+ years that I have fished this little freestone stream, I have Never caught a wild brown. Not only did I catch this guy, but a few holes later I caught another a few inches larger. Sadly I dropped him while unhooking him and didnt get any photos. Either way, this was pretty special to me, because I love brown trout. Some would be furious about this and say that the fishery is ruined but I feel differently.

On a side note, I was trying to achieve my goal of catching a few toothy fish on the fly rod this morning on a local lake but the stars didn't align. I had one really nice chain pickerel about 19 inches or so on a for a few few and that was it. It hammered my streamer, and I have no idea how I lost him.
Hopefully I can make it happen next time I am out.

Streamers!!!!!!!

They have become my go to fly. Even on small creeks they seem to catch better fish. Shane and I fished a small Idaho freestone creek and managed some great fish. I pulled out one bow, a cutt, and a BEAUTIFUL brookie.

 We were told that this creek held some good fish. This nice bow was a confirmation of that when he annihilated his articulated streamer.

This is probably the best wild brook trout that I have landed in Idaho. I have caught a few tht were longer, but the colors and the shoulders on this guy were superb.

The past 3 weeks

Well It has been a while since I have had time to do a new write up on the fishing trips. Sorry for the long drought, hopefully I can make up for it with some good stories and pictures.

Typically, This is the time of year that I am fishing my 5 wt. The Drakes are here along with PMD, caddis, flavs, and a whole lot more topwater action which makes for some amazing days on the Henrys Fork. Salmon flies are going strong on the South fork of the Snake, and all the small streams that I love to fish are open and fishable now that runofff has come and for the most part gone.

This rainbow was one of the few trout I have taken on a dry in the past 3 or 4 weeks. It also was trout number 1200 for the year, which has me right on track for my 2500 trout goal.

Like I said, Typically this is dry fly time, well this has not been my typical fly fishing year in any way, shape or form. The past 3 weeks has been nothing but BIG fish on streamers. I fished my 5 wt with a dry a few days ago for about 5 minutes and put it down and busted my 8 wt back out and went hunting for big fish again. The 5 just felt wierd in my hands. I never thought I would say those words, but the 8 wt feels at home currently. Right now you are probably asking, Why on earth is he fishing an 8 wt for trout? Well the simple answer is its alot easier to chuck 2 articulated streamers on an 8 wt and when you are hooking up with many fish in the 20-24 inch range, its a little easier to control them. Here are some of the fish from the last few weeks that shane, Chris, and myself have brought to hand.

This isnt even remotely close to the amount of fish that we have got into lately. I kinda got away from taking photos for a while because it was getting boring. I would hook into a good fish and think in my mind, "man not another 20 inch cutt, I have enough pictures of them." I guess looking back on it now, its a great problem to have.

I have learned so much over the past 3 weeks about streamer fishing. The thing I have learned I feel is most important, is the speed you are stripping corresponding to depth. I notice the deeper the water the slower the fish want it. Another thing is you need to find the "Streamer water" in a given river. Not all holding water is alike when fished with a streamer. We have been doing great where there are sharp ledges that drop a foot or two in depth. Also any kind of pocket water going back under willows or brush consistantly produced fish for us.

Over all I guess I cannot complain about the fishing the last few weeks. It has been nothing but EPIC!!!!!! The takes were amazing, most fish would hit the streamer like a torpedo, sometimes coming from 4 or 5 feet away to take it. It really doesnt get much better than that.

On a side note, I will be headed back to Pennsylvania the last week of July through the first week in September, and will be home chasing Carp, Muskie, Bass, and of course trout. I will be sure to post some reports and photos while I am home. My number 1 goal while home is to get a muskie on the fly so stay tuned.

I am so grateful for the time that I am able to fish. Its funny, I am known everywhere on campus as the fisherman. Its all I do when not doing school related stuff. This year has been stellar in so many ways. I landed a job helping to teach the fly fishing class on campus. What an awesome job! its extremely rewarding to teach others to fly fish and pass my knowledge on to them, but also frustrating. Its really hard trying to get students to make their casts count and to fish effectively. It was really good to see their progression over time though.

 One of the perks to the job!!!!!! I get access to these!!! I am really enjoying getting to learn whole river systems over just the sections you can wade.

Here are some of the students from this semesters class and some of the fish they caught. Their faces show it all if you ask me.

 Me (second from right) and half of the students for the spring semester class

 Students on this trip got to experience salmon flies!!!! how awesome is that?

I love my Job!!!!!

A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!!!!!

I am in a photo contest currently and could use all the votes I can get. Please follow this link if you have Facebook and like my photo. You guys are the best and thank you in advance.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=352321854837865&set=a.348896558513728.71235.101549669915086&type=1&theater

Right out my backdoor

Well I had the evening to fish today and planned on hitting the Henrys fork for the evening hatches with the hopes of hooking up with some big rainbows. Around 2 oclock, I couldnt wait any longer so I decided to swing by a local river and take a couple of casts till it was time to head to Henrys. Upon arrival I saw my good friend Will fishing and we decided to head down river a piece and do some streamer fishing. After the first hour, Will left I was joined by Chris and we started smashing fish. The cutts attacked with a ferocity I havent experienced before. They were crushing the streamers on a fast strip. Before today my personal best cutt was 22 inches. The first fish of the day for me happened to be a solid 24 inch Cutt. After that first fish I lost all interest in Henrys fork and decided to stay and fish this river till dark.

 This Big boy is currently my largest cutty to date. I hope to add a few inches still this year if I am lucky.

 Will got this monster. I am pretty sure its a cutbow but its honestly so hard to tell. Either way its a beast. Its also Wills largest Idaho trout so far.

 This was one of the smaller fish for the day but it made the memory book for the fact that it took chris' lead streamer and also took the bugger that he was trailing.

This was the average sized fish for the day.

Today was just one of those days where the stars aligned and we were able to consistantly larger than average fish. I have to give a shout out to my good friend chris, he is responsible for my addiction to streamers. Last fall we had a blast catching tons of solid trout on streamers and I haven't stopped fishing them since. The rewards speak for themselves.

The next time we fish this stretch we decided to fish strictly mouse patterns and try to get some of these beasts to take one. Hopefully there will be a report to follow here in the near future.

A little Thank You to my best friend

With today being fathers day I felt that I should write up a quick post expressing my gratitude to my father. Today was full of memories of our countless trips to the Mountains around our home in search of trout. It was my father that taught me alot of my fishing skills. To this day I dont think I could out fish him if he had his darn threaded minnow rig again my flies. I Love you dad and your the greatest friend a son could ever have. Happy fathers Day.

A picture from my favorite memory. This was my first buck taken with a bow. My father and I scouted alot prior to the season and this is the buck I wanted. I took it on the last week of the 1st bow season. It was the last day I was able to hunt before I left for Arizona for the next two years and I hadnt seen him all month. That morning Dad left for work and I left for my stand. He later told me that he prayed I would get the buck and lucky for me it all worked out.

A little Dry carpin

Well my good friend Shane and I had the urge to get out and do some carping. We decided to head to the old standby area to fish. After the 1.5 hour drive we parked the truck and started searching for carp. Sadly we couldnt find one single carp in the entire bay. Frustrated at this spot being dead for the second time in a row, we climbed back into the truck and decided to head about 75 miles the opposite way to fish a river that holds alot of carp. Upon arrival at the river, we noticed that it was slightly cloudier than normal, but still found a few tailing carp. Sadly they werent even the least bit interested in taking what we were throwing. I did manage to bring to hand a 22+ inch brown on one of my carp bugs. Sorry guys, no pics of it.

Well plan B was a bust also, so we dicided to try plan C. We got back in the truck and took off towards a reservior that was producing earlier in the week for Shane. As we were passing a small res on the way, we saw thousands of carp that appeared to be tailing.Shane jammed on the brakes, pulled off to the side of the highway, and with 5 min we were geared up and running down the bank headed toward the carp. When we got into position, we realized the carp werent tailing, they were taking midges on the surface. There were multiple hundreds of cruising schools of 20 or so carp just swiiming on the surface with their mouths open taking in midges. Well for the next 2 hours, I hooked into just under a dozen carp on dries. WHAT A RUSH!!!! The takes were EPIC. If you haven't ever experienced this words could never do the experience justice. There is a good possibility that I might never stumble onto an evening like this the rest of my life, (I hope that isnt true) but I am glad that I was able to experience it.

Now for the Eye candy :)

 Sadly Shane was only able to hook up with this lone carp. He had alot of take on the dry but just couldnt get the stars to align. I am super appreciative for all the knowldege I have gained about carping from this guy. He has showed me alot of awesome techniques.

 About the run of the mill size for the day. Somewher in the 7-10lb range

 A face only a mother could love.

 Royal Humpy caught most of my fish today.

 For my eastern friends and followers (maybe some westerners also) you should recognize this fly. Anyone that knows me knows that this fly is and always will be my go to fly. It was just icing on the cake to take yet another species on it. I might have to start a patriot grand slam or something.

In summary, this was probably one mf my most memorable trips that I have ever been on. I feel so blessed to be able to make so many fishing trips and to fish so many areas of the country. We put over 400 miles on the odometer, while ivestigating 3 bodies of water. Thanks Shane, Your the man!

Also check out Shanes Blog..... www.thefishhunterchronicles.wordpress.com.