End of School Fish-A-Thon; Day Three

After another great day at the shop helping customers, I just had to push my luck. Had to work every drop of awesome into my day. Also, had to test out a new reel. As I pulled up to the spot, things were looking good. My first four casts yielded follows or strikes. After that, not much action. I moved over, saw a BIG shadow, and sent a yummy little morsel his way. Boy, did he pounce on that fly hard. And after quite a battle, and the first 20 yards of my backing touching water, I managed to land the fish.

Now, seeing your backing sounds like fun. Let me tell you, it is scary as well. Any fish that is taking you over 100 feet away is not your Average Joe. If the fish makes a turn at 100+ feet away, it can put a belly in your line. That belly is slack line, so the fish has wiggle room to escape with. All I'm trying to say is, next time you see that White Dacron, keep tight on whatever is out on the business end of your line. Good luck out there!

Big Ass Ugly Fish

Man, for Tiger Muskie, these fish sure are picky. As I had been throwing a small streamer for trout, something big swam up behind one of them. The fish swam away, scared for it's life. And that's when I started to see them. Big fish, Muskie, everywhere. I re-rigged my rod as fast as I could with heavy duty tippet and some big flies. I must have given these stupid fish 200 casts, with no result. Finally bored with picky fish, I threw a fly right next to one's belly and set the hook. My 5 weight started buzzing as the fish swam away. I battled for quite a while, only to come up with one big ass, ugly fish. They weren't picky Muskie, they were stupid Suckers! I quickly let the fish go and tied on the only thing I could think of, a Girdle Bug to a Leech to an Egg. A little split shot was added to get the flies down into the deep, slow run, and the first cast was made. After a few more casts, I saw a mouth open and close. Fish on! I battled the ugly beast for a minute, and finally brought it to my net. And now, my net smells like Suckerfish Poop. So do my hands. But I got the best photo, me trying to smile as I look down at the poop on my feet:

I managed to catch two more fish that day, and drove home a very stinky but still happy camper. For anyone hoping to catch a Sucker, I would be glad to take you on a.... well, just find someone else to do it. I have to go clean off my net and myself. Again, happy Father's Day!

In A Room Filled With Fish

People tell me I'm crazy, obsessed. Maybe I am. Hell, I'm sure I am. How else could I post so much on here? How else could I have just pumped so much money into gear? Why else would my room be covered in fish? Wait, covered in fish? Yes, covered. When I moved into my new house a few years back, my grandma did a paint job on it for me. Instead of the blue or yellow walls, my rooms is the Saltwater flats of Belize. I have two tarpon, three redfish, two permit, an extremely large baitfish, three puffers, one sea trout,  one jack, one snook, two bonefish, one ladyfish, and one flounder. Lots of fish. Not to mention that the background of the room is very realistic, with tall grass and crabs and so on. So here, take a look. This is just one section of my room, which includes the permit and the giant baitfish. I'll add little pieces here and there around my blog every so often, and explain what it tells a story of. Cross their eyes out there!

Hey, It Really Can Catch Fish!

How strange. I tied a fly, just made one up, that actually does catch fish. Cool! I got off to a very late start today, sleeping in until ten while my parents were out. I woke up, turned the TV on, and started throwing something together for Pella. It was originally planned that we go to Boulder Creek, but as it turns out the Dam starts spilling today. So we changed our destination to Pella, and I needed some flies. After tying a few complete failures, I finally put together something I could use. It's that cute little green thing above. I tied a few more, and got my rods al rigged up and ready to go. An hour later, we were ready to hit the water. I walked down my favorite bank, looking for signs of fish. I saw a  good indicator that a fish was here, which is a nice 14 inch largemouth right on the bank. I put my fist cast in and what-do-ya-know? Fish on. I brought the nice fish in, took this picture, and released him:

I kept walking the banks and finding fish, all hungry for my little fly. I only fished for about 45 minutes, and managed to release five nice fish, including an 18 incher that was only willing to pose for a picture in the water. But I guess that's what you get for laying the rod down to get cool pictures. Tight lines and bent rods to ya!

School's Off, Fish On (And A Question for Everyone)

The "Rust Buster," With Legs Attached. This is the Fall Colors Of The Pattern

School's out for Summer! School's out forever! Goodbye to teachers! We all remember that song, and that's all that played on my car ride home today. School is officially over! Time for fishing. But first, I had some questions about how finals went. They went very well. My grades are as follows: English, 98. Spanish, 95. Science, 96. Math, 87. History, 94. Sweet! What this translates into is that I got good grades, and have a Summer ahead with no worries. Out of the 90 days of it, well I plan to spend 80 on the water. I'm sure I'll have some more great stories from that. I'm going to start fishing tomorrow, and I won't be posting anything due to the fact that I'm staying at a friend's house. I will have the story posted on Friday though. The question I have for anyone who's interested today is this: Which one? This refers to the recipe I will be posting in a few days. I am either going to do a demo on the "Alien Shit" or the "Rust Buster." Both are creations of my own, and both work very well. The "Alien Shit" is more of a trout fly, while the "Rust Buster" catches mainly carp. Keep in mind the "Rust Buster" catches some trout as well. So, which one will it be? Whichever wins, I'll post the needed materials a couple of days before I do the recipe. This will be a step by step fly design with photos attached. 

The Alien Shit, Shown In Red

When Will Fractions Catch My Fish?

As I sat in math class today, that's what ran through my mind. We were learning about something called "absolute value inequalities", which was beyond me. I was totally zoned out, thinking about the fact that ten days from now I would be standing in the middle of the Colorado river, catching brown trout dawn 'till dusk. Summer break is almost here, and I'm excited! Fishing, fishing, and more fishing for 90 days! We might even take a trip to Hawaii to catch Marlin. As I forced my mind to drift back to math, I thought again, "When will fractions catch my fish?"


Me: Hey, where's the nearest bass pond from here?
Farmer Joe: Well, you take this old dirt road down about 40 meters. Then, you'll get to two roads that are perpendicular on around a 30 degree plane. Take the 75 degree split, than travel another 4 kilometers and you're at the pond.


Hmm, I guess fractions will actually catch my fish