Headin' Out

I'll do a post a little later, but for now I'm headed out. There will also probably be another recipe up in the next few days. Maybe the Alien Shit?????

Bonefish Like Sunfish

First off, sorry I haven't posted in a day and a half. I got a call that there was lots of golden bonefish at a lake on a golf course, an I was headed away. It turned into a sleepover, and there was no time to type. The previous words that there were lots of Carp, well that was an understatement. First thirty seconds of casting into the pond, the carp had been hooked up on. There would have been even more hookups, but the third hook stuck and I had to fight the fish for five or so minutes. There he is above. I let the fish go and moved on to some more spots, dropping my line in the water as I went. Suddenly the line went tight. Not carp tight, but Crappie tight. I brought the little guy in and let him go. Walking down the bank, I spotted a large tail. There was a big fish mudding around the bottom. First cast, the tail turned and went under. One, two, three, Set! Fish on! He ran straight out into the middle of the lake and battled me out there for a while before bulldogging his way back toward shore. Another few minutes of fighting, some very improvised netting, and the fish was in. What a piggy!

I caught a few more fish in the other pond, and then decided to head on back. One thing was bugging me though, that we could only fish one side of the lake. The other was golf course property. So when we arrived home, the first thing I did was call the Golf Shop.

Hey, what's your final tee-time?

7:00.

Thanks.

And back we went, at 8:00, to fish the other side. I caught four more carp, two of which who were just released without picture. The two bigger fish though, were photographed for any blogging that needed to be done. The first one was caught 15 minutes after we arrived, and the second one right as the sun was going down. Attached is the picture of the second one. Once we couldn't see the carp any more, we went on hame and watched a movie.

Waking up early that morning, we went out and fished Bear Creek. Not much to be said except I caught six, the biggest right around 11 inches. My mom picked me up soon after that. Since I knew she had never seen a carp out of water before, I asked her if we could make a quick stop. 30 seconds after the arrival, Bam! This big boy was brought to the net.

I moved onto the second pond, only to see a school of about thirty carp swimming around. I picked out the biggest tail in the group and cast. What-do-ya-know? After a super huge and intense battle and some very skilled netting by my mom, the big boy of the trip was brought in. 10 pounds baby! And don't believe me? The carp above looks about the same size. But look how outstretched my arm is in the first picture, and how little it is in the second. Bang.

River X

Guard Your River X Like A Dragon

It's not some crazy river in a far away country with giant fish and 16 weight fly rods required. Well, it could be. It depends who you are. River X is a state of mind, a happy place as most people would call it. River X is that river, lake, pond, or stream that you love most. The place that just makes you happy thinking about it, no matter what else is going on in your life. When you get there, it's the best thing in the world. You won't ever want to stop fishing, you'll forget about time and problems and everything else. And when you finally have to leave, well you'll dream about it until you get back. Thanks to Randy for explaining this to me, and giving me something to post about when I had nothing else to say. I went home and thought about it for awhile, and I know what my River X is (for now). But to anyone reading this, do you know yours? You don't have to know it yet, you may have not been yet. But we've all had this: You go to bed, you dream about a fishing place. A few weeks later, same place. It happens every now and then. And when you wake up and have to go to school or work or whatever, you're happy. Because you've already been fishing in your favorite hole. That's all it takes. So now think about it:




What's your River X?


And Garrison, I you're reading this, I tied a sweet fly with the hot pink Dubbing, I win the bet!!!

Buried Treasure

It can be found under a sandy beach on an uncharted island, in a sunken pirate ship, in a fish's mouth... wait, a fish's mouth? Yes, treasure can be buried in a fish's mouth. All sorts of things, different sizes, shapes, and colors. I was lucky enough to find some buried treasure in a fish's mouth the other day. My rig had been drifting along nice and peacefully, and was suddenly attacked by a fish. I fought the fish for a little while, trying to find a slow spot to land him in. As I lifted my rod to bring the fish out of the water, I felt a quick pop. Hmm, that's strange. When I finally landed the fish, I found the source of the pop. The Girdle Bug that the fish ate had popped out of his mouth, but immediately latched onto another Girdle Bug that the fish had previously eaten. Attached to the other Girdle Bug was also a Blue Poison Tung. We pulled the flies out of the fish's mouth and let him go. The Blue Poison was too beaten up for more use, but the Girdle from the fish's mouth was in good condition. After awhile, this got me thinking two things. One, What if we hadn't caught the fish, and the other fly hooked a stick or something along those lines? How would the fish survive? And two, I wonder how often this happens? Has anyone else found buried treasure? If so, tell us about it below.

Adding On To Others

For those of you who didn't get to read it, Howard over at Wind Knots And Tangled Lines told all about the rare, exotic, ugly, and sometimes even scary fish that he think should be added to the fish dictionary. After I laughed about it for awhile, it got me thinking. Are there any other new fish out there? Here are my additions.

1. Popeye Fish

This fish seems to use deception and trickery to catch it's prey, as the Popeye fish plays scenes and sometimes even whole episodes of the show "Popeye" out of it's eyes. Many think that the Popeye got it's name that way. They are wrong. The fish actually gets it's name from it's extremely large popped out eyes, which play the show scenes. This fish is starting to become a danger as people are actually trying to swim down and watch the show, but getting attacked by the fish when they arrive. He is pictured below.

2. Super Geniusfish

This next fish has a mind so big, it's brain is popping out of it's head... literally. The Super Geniusfish has such a large mind at this point, that prey are just telepathically placed into the fish's mouth. For now all is safe with these fish, but people worry if one day a much larger strain will appear, hungry for humans. In the mean time, these fish just spend their days swimming... and walking. Yes the Super Geniusfishhas developed enough to where it can spend days or even weeks on land, catching birds and rabbits and so on.

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!

A Tale From The Vale

Loch Vale, that is. It's probably one of the prettiest lakes I've seen, and the fishing can be amazing. All Greenbacks, and occasionally a big one. During spawning, they turn bright orange and red. I got a chance to fish up at the Loch a year ago for my birthday. The weather was nice, there was no wind, and my backpack only weighed a ton. But we still made it up, gear and all, after an hour and forty five minute hike.  Waders were put on and we started casting. My friend and I suddenly yelled in unison, "Got one!" Both of the fish came to the net, beetle in their mouths. We worked our way around the whole lake, picking up a few fish as we went. When we arrived at the small creek that feeds into the Loch, things really started to pick up. We first fished the inlet of the lake, catching five fish each before heading up to the stream. At the first hole in the stream, fish were stacked like a big pancake breakfast. We had to lay down and cast to the fish without spooking them, but the hole must have delivered ten fish for me and my friend that round. We fished out way up the creek, catching more and more fish. Once we made it a ways up the creek, we would come back to the first hole and work a few more fish. By the end of the day, me and my friend both had fish counts in the high twenties. What a cool birthday! We hiked down quickly and caught the last bus of the day, saving us another three mile hike back to our car. We stopped for ice cream on the way home, which ended up being a bad idea (my friend threw up in the car). Other than that small thing, the day was super cool. Here's the fish, for anyone who actually read this far:

South Platte Success (In Memoriam)

I'm home! I managed to survive the high water conditions of the South Platte near Deckers, and find some really good fish! I was at a different section than last week, one known to have smaller (but still big) fish. It was a cool challenge to try and find fish at all, let alone find one of the bigger fish and manage to catch it. There was a special feel in the air, as I was on a mission. To catch a big fish, and give it a kiss for my grandpa. He passed away a few days ago. Knowing the fish were smaller, I put it upon myself to try and find that fish for him. We arrived a little after eight, rigged and ready to roll. It only took about 10 casts before my indicator dipped, and soon a fish was brought to the net. Like I said, smaller, but still big:

We kept fishing and caught more fish, all around the same size. My indicator dipped once again, and I set the hook into a nice fish. Sadly, it popped off after a few head throws. I was quite upset as I thought that was my big fish, and I wasn't going to finish my mission. More fish were caught, and we decided to move downstream. I got in front of a nice rock, casted, and watched my indicator dip. I set the hook on another good fish, fought it for a long time, and got it to the net. All the pressure was relieved, I had the big one. I took the picture down below, gave the fish a big kiss (no tongue, I swear), and let him go. 

The rest of the day was spent fishing and shooting the proverbial shit, tying on new flies and catching fish. I didn't care if I caught any more big fish. My day was complete. Lots more fish were caught, and the total went into the mid twenties. I went home completely satisfied, and ready for a rest. Just for kicks though, here's a cool brown and the final fish of the day. 

Grandpa Bob

In Loving Memory

When In Doubt, Tie

Is it gonna rain? Is everything too high and off color? Will the fish be deep? I wasn't sure if I was going to fish because of all these reasons. But there was one thing I could do no matter what. I could be prepared. That means I could tie flies. Hmmmm, flies. What a novel idea. So I went ahead and tied some flies. I tied flies of all different colors, sizes, and types. I tied one that looked like the fly above. After hours of that, it was do or die time. Should I go fishing, or stay home? Wow, stupid goddamn question. To fishing! Flies were cast, once again at Pella. Fish were around, but sort of spread out. I only fished for half an hour, but managed to find two decent fish. I did see two very cool and unusual things though. Catfish were everywhere, grouped up and swimming around. I probably saw more catfish then I've ever seen before. There was also one that was in the 25 pound class, and a bunch in the 20 pound range. The other very cool thing was another grouping of fish. I've only ever seen three or four Smallmouth in Pella, but they were all out today. Hanging near a rock wall, I saw tons of Smallmouth, including one that was pushing 20 inches. Cool! Fish are out there, both in lakes and streams. Boulder creek is tough, but there are still hungry fish to be caught. Rip 'em up!

Eating The Pink (Or Letting Tail Escape?)

Hey guys, this is saving the environment we're talking about. Salmon populations are down, there's plenty of other food for us.... wait, why am I talking about this? To get into a story, of course! See, I made a trip up to Vancouver for a summer vacation last year. It is a really nice place, and I really hope to get back there soon. My first order of business when we arrived was to book a fishing trip. It was scheduled, and after walking around the town for a few days, we were headed to the docks. After standing there for around ten minutes, we were greeted by an old man and told where we would be fishing. We hopped in, got everything together, and started the boat. We drove for a short time before arriving at the salmon grounds, and then popped out the rods. First cast, bam! Fish on. I fought the fish for a while before we finally brought it to the boat. It was a Sockeye! The man explained that Sockeye populations were very depleted the past few years, but did we want to keep it. Hell no! We took a picture and let the fish go. We kept fishing for the entire day, and kept putting the hammer on Sockeye. It was very cool to add a new species of fish to my list, but even cooler to know that we were helping the fish survive as a whole, just by putting a few fish back. We came back with the docks with nothing to show, and people asked us if we didn't catch any. "No, we did. We just let them all go." So remember, "Salmon, the other pink meat." NOT THE ORIGINAL. 

Lol, Dad Hooked Up In The Background