reevesr1

To me, at least on the US Gulf Coast, there are so many better food options why would anyone want to eat a bonefish, permit, or tarpon? Add that to the fact that the fish that are good to eat are so much easier to catch. If you think of the fish as an economic resource, then keeping makes even less sense. Closing for spawning is an interesting topic. Far as I know, there is no sport fish on the gulf coast that is closed specifically for spawning. They do close the snapper season in federal waters (or maybe it's state, I forget), but I think that is just a method of reducing total catch, not to protect spawning fish. I could be wrong. But other than that, I can think of no spawning closures. Nor do I personally know anyone I've ever fished with down there who avoid fishing for spawning fish (Texas and La. gulf coasts). The big redfish runs every year in September/October is targeting fish coming in to the bay systems to spawn. We used to night fish for speckled trout in the summer on full moons because they were spawning. Problem with trout is they spawn all summer long. Though I would not imagine that is the case for tarpon, being so migratory, I would not be surprised to learn bonefish or permit are season long spawners. Many saltwater fish are, again, from what I've been told as opposed to scientific knowledge. Bycatch- Tough subject for me since I spent a big hunk of my life shrimping. I will say we rarely ever caught gamefish in the net. But I know that isn't the case everywhere, with all species.

Strange to me that Tarpon, bonefish, or permit would be considered anything other than catch and release. They are useless as table fare. I guess people are just keeping them for mounts? Since most of the people targeting these fish are doing so pretty much just for sport, you would think it wouldn't be hard to implement a 0 bag limit. But I'm sure if it was easy, it would have already been done.

The tarpon one was ok, if you like that sort of thing. But the Louisiana marsh one made me very happy. Nice to see they are still alive and well post BP.

Can't this weekend. Will be stalking cutts in BC!

Ok, Here are a few more: Fish is screaming out into the river and you see your line just about to wrap behind you reel seat, hooked on your lanyard, whatever. You know how the story ends and you are powerless to stop it. That moment seems to stretch. You have been fighting a big fish for a awhile and can feel it tiring. Then you feel the abrasion of your line around a rock, or stump, or whatever big fish has found at the bottom of the river. Again, you know how the story will end, it just seems to take a long time to actually happen. Fighting really fast fish coming right at you. You strip as fast as possible, but can't keep up. The prayer filled moment when you think you've caught up and hope you feel the line tighten again, knowing you probably won't. And my personal favorite, thought it has only happened once: The time it takes your line to break once you have hit the knot at the end of your backing. That takes hours.

Crap. Note to self: Stop writing like a gay guy. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

A fish worth waiting for:

That's what I thought. Do they get that big? It ain't a trout!

He probably already does, just keeps those stories to himself! Great story as always! 800m, hey? Oh well, you know there are fish in it!!

Sounds like a great deal. FYI, I have some Filsons that I absolutely love. They are new to the game, but sure make quality gear. The great fallacy in the whole wader game is that "if you buy cheap you will have to buy waders every year." I claim that if you buy inexpensive and smart, that statement is incorrect. I have a pair of $80.00 breathables I bought for my son 4 or 5 yrs ago. My other son is using them now.

Friend of mine caught this in a BC lake. Anyone know what it is?

It's all about passion. Positive outcomes elicit more poetic responses. Conversely, negative outcomes elicit more earthy, monosyllabic responses. And while we are being earthy, where are my *#&$in pictures?

I was fortunate enough on Friday to be able to tag along with hawgstoppah in a couple of bodies of water that were new to me. Many things happened that made this trip memorable, among them the biggest dry fly rainbow I've caught to date. But one moment struck me more than others..... Brian and I had been hard at it for 6 hours or so. The fishing had been fairly tough as we mostly were looking for snouts and not really finding many. We were having a bit of success nymphing, but that's not really what we were there for. We started working our way up the river, with Brian a bit in the lead when I noticed he had stopped and was sitting on the bank. Finally! I thought, and worked my way up. When I reach him, he points out a couple of nice fish rising, and he says "go get them", but I tell him that I need to change flies and he should go. Well, long story short, he works the fish for awhile (they were not being all that cooperative) before he finally hooks and lands a screaming hot 20" rainbow. The next fish is mine and I work it for a bit and finally hook....a 13" rainbow. Not exactly the fish I was looking for, but fun nonetheless. Brian starts working the next couple, and they are being very picky. After about 15 minutes I decide to skip up a bit to see if I can find some far enough away not to bother Brian. I don't see any fish actively working, but I do see the prettiest little run that screams "fish here!!" So I throw a cast into the choppy run and struggle to see my fly, when I see a big swirl and silver flash. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but for me time does some pretty strange things between the time you see a fish strike and the time you set the hook. A million thoughts run through your head in that seemingly endless second or so. Was that on my fly? Does he have it? Geez, he looked huge! Take your time! It's only 5x, don't slam it home! And foremost, when the rod is coming back "PLEASE, OH PLEASE LET HIM BE ON" and then that exquisite moment when the rod bends WAY back, and you know you are in for some real fun. And I was, as the big girl gave me one of the greatest fights I've had on a fly rod (on my 3wt!). Several minutes later I was releasing a beautiful 22" slab of a rainbow. I sort of have a mental list of my 5 or so favorite fish, which now has a new member. But I really think I'll remember that endless moment more than the fish. Who would have thought so much can be packed into such a short period of time.

Yeah, that Brian can sure talk your ear off.

Wait, don't you already know all of mine? Seems the information has been traveling one way! I promise I won't bonk any fish if you tell me your spots.

Dammit man, you are risking the entire fishery by your selfish actions!

Very nice job guys.

There have been countless posts on this forum on how to fish different types of flies. Given by numerous posters. What exactly is your point? That people are not as helpful as they say?

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Perfect. I'll never forget my first fish on a fly rod, and how much I loved it (I told the guide "this fish is going to cost me a lot of money!") This is after a lifetime of catching fish using more traditional techniques. If I can pass that feeling on to others, I'll do it in a heartbeat.

I have absolutely no problem showing what I am using. And I personally reject (and this is my personal opinion) the notion of that telling them may help them learn the river and pick up the sport is a negative. I think one of our goals should be to introduce other fishermen to the sport and help them to love it as we do. If that means more fishermen, so be it. Nothing would make me happier to know I helped create a few myself. The satisfaction one would receive from that knowledge far outweighs any increase in the number of fishermen. All that said, I'm not as free with the places I fish. Probably makes me a bit of a hypocrite.

Ok, I am almost certainly not the best person to ask this because my sucking at dry fly fishing is well documented. But I am improving, and here is what I think I know: When this fish came up, he didn't come up from behind the fly, he came up from in front. So the fish was facing Ben when he took. He needed to give the fish time to take, go back down and turn so that he was setting the hook against the fish as opposed to fish facing to improve the chance of a hookup. I've heard people say to say "God Save the Queen" before setting. While I agree with this in slow water on the nice slow rises. But when the rise is sudden, or in faster water, I don't give them as much time. I do try to delay a bit, but mostly I use the slow lift of the rod to be the delay, if that makes sense. What I do find is while I still miss fish, I don't miss as many nice fish using these methods. I think it is because I "see" the rise of the nice fish better and am less surprised by them, and can more often give that little pause. I hope that helps. Others are far better at it than I.

My oldest son starts University in a couple of weeks. We decided we needed to do an all day fishing trip before he left. I spent a lot of time figuring out where we should go. We wanted to try some new water to us, to make it a bit of an adventure. After a bit of research, I decided I had the perfect place. It was going to be a long drive south, drive until the road was supposed to end, and mountain bike up to the fishing. Turns out the road was way better than we thought. I was led to believe you needed a good 4wd (and I don't, hence the mountain bike idea). Obviously they do not understand the power of the 2000 Grand Caravan. After a pretty easy creek crossing we drove right to the creek. And in the first pool our dreams seemed like they were answered. Big cutts hanging out, and better yet 3 big bulls. After several different streamer changes we decided the Bulls were not interested. Really, neither were the cutties (it was about 11 am and nothing really seemed interested yet). Ben did get a couple of refusals, made a fly change, then the biggest cutt in the pool comes up from bottom in a leisurely fashion, stops below the fly (a VERY slow pool) then rises the last few inches and sucks the fly in. Ben sets the hook instantly, which results in missed fish. I told him he needed to wait and he said "I know, I couldn't." The rest of the day goes pretty much the same for him. Some really good opportunities and nothing landed. We did find the fish very, very picky. Both of us fished 7X for a bit, and both broke off big fish. I landed a couple of really nice fish, and I will probably post some pics later. But the fishing wasn't as good as I had hoped, though I will absolutely be back at some point. Perfect water and big cutties. But I'll never forget the day. Though my son struggled, he never stopped fishing and was great company all day. I felt really bad that I had not put him on more fish. He said "meh, I've caught 'em before and I'll catch 'em again." We walked about 11 KM (I LOVE my GPS) without a word of complaint from him, but I will say I wore him out. It would be nice to be 17 again and be able to sleep all the way home. But the real take away for me from this day is my son is a great fishing partner. I couldn't ask for more (except maybe for more university scholarships).

Your foul hooking ratio will go down the longer you fish, I think. And I gotta admit that I don't have 16-18" btwn flies. More like 8". Just an ease thing, I don't really know if it makes my foul hook rate go up or not. Possibly, but I think it keeps my tanglings to a minimum. And I learned from Hawg second hand. Nymphing hooksets via Maxwell, with an assist from years on the gulf coast. You should have seen my 15 yr old's hooksets with dry flies this weekend. He said, "it's not like saltwater fishing". No kidding. I do remember fishing with Maxwell on the Liv one day. I was having a rough go, hooking many fish and loosing most of them. Max climbs up on a cliff to watch. A cuttie comes up and I set the hook, fight the fish for 2 seconds and it is off. Max says "I think I see the problem. Did you see how after you hooked him he came right to the surface? Yeah, he didn't want to do that. You need to cool it on the saltwater hooksets dude."

Is the coolest thing ever. Planning a fishing trip with it. Awesome.