Hawgstoppah

Bow - to accompant TM in the team landing of the "locomotive" (probably easily a 30+ brown) Mountain streams - to make some time to fish my favorite rewaches of the Oldman again this year.. Stillwaters - would like to chase some Lakers on the fly rod... looks like early spring 2008 will be my first shot at it. I'm addicted to Lakers lately. Other - Gonna do it this fall. My dream is to fish the steelie runs in BC. I'll be on the Skeena / Bulkley / Babine in early Oct!

congrats on the new fishing partner. he needs no rattle - just put a 2wt in those hands of his!

and i like the hat and t-shirt for sure.

Rofl... I don't know you, but you've abvoiusly fished with some of the same crowd as I have if you have to put that comment in at the end... We're a bunch of pigs

Thanks guys... the big laker was a ton of fun. 20+ minutes of pumping and reeling to surface that tank TM... maybe end of week. Leaving on a california run Monday.. gotta pay the bills for this danged vacation somehow.. and save up for our upcoming steelie trip I'll be in calgary area either friday / sat - or monday'ish. Cya then

Went out with my boss on Flathead Lake (montana, by Kalispell). We chartered a boat for lakers, and I ended up with a 17lb, 37 inch trophy... released to fight another day. We then got a couple smaller ones, which we kept for the BBQ.. and wow they are delicious! The ones we kept were 8 and 7 pounders. Those were sitting at 50-60ft, while the big one was taken from 120ft. We did go after some lake whites, and for the one hour we spent on those, I think I had the best non-stop fishing action of my life. They were at a spot in 50ft of water, and we jigged for them. As soon as you got your hook to the bottom and gave it a jig, you had a take. Insane. One hour = 50 fish landed. We did keep some lake whites too, and there also very tasty (much to my suprise). The at the dock at Blaine Lake, the kids actually (finally) caught there first fish... ain't sunfish great? There like perch but more numerous (and MUCH easier to catch).. Kailey... and Megan... and we had a riot catching those sunfish. There must have been schools of 200-300 under the dock. All under 6 inches, but who cares

'nuff said

That's just wrong. The "odd" 20 incher? That place just 2 years ago was full of 23+ inchers. Too many stocked or too many bonked? whatddya think?

Sweeeeeeeeeet

Darn good looking fish Ben

That's not an indicator I see is it? On a mountain stream? SHAME ON YOU!!! Nice pics............

about 20 years with fly rod. 30+ with all methods I started when I was about 3 with a mickey mouse bait rod I'm sure *gasp*

Fishing for fish you can see (bull or otherwise) is usually a tough game. Especially when they have seen you first. You just can't stand anywhere near a crystal clear stream... they know your there... they won't touch a thing. For bulls, fish the dark shady areas in a pool, the little caves they hide in to ambush prey. Dark drop offs, ledges, rock piles, etc. Usually if you know where bull trout like and strip a fuzzy fly agressively by a spot like that, you can entice a take no matter WHAT color, size, etc your fishing. But you gotta think like a bull trout. Where would YOU hide in this river to NOT BE SEEN, and ambush prey. That's the key.. So in my opinion I would think that 1) these bull trout saw you for sure and 2) they sure didn't seem like they were in a feeding position or ambush position. Maybe they were fished or just not interested in eating

I'll join the set it hard bandwagon. As a matter of fact, I am in the process (hopefully) of getting a 10 weight for my big bull trout fishing. They have extremely hard bony mouths. Keep those hooks sharp..

Yep. I love fishing caddis on a skate. Works good in a long slow flat run, cast out long about 45 degrees downstream, hold rod tip up as high as you can (helps an EHC stay on top instead of sink) and when one takes resist the urge to set the hook as he will almost always turn and hook himself anyways.

MmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMM [homer voice] Froooosty

A day or two on the Crowsnest river is never a bad idea as well. Also (god forbid me saying this) the Elk and Michel in BC aren't far either and are worth checking out if you can afford the licenses.

That made me laugh...

and on that note, I'm guessing you obviously aren't married and therefore might actually be getting some every now and then

Ummm.... I think the last TWO are a bit of a reach, no? LOL

Nice one weedy... lol... in that regard I'd take morning , evening, WHENEVER really...!!! As far as FISHING is concerned, I prefer evenings, but if the right bugs are on the water, you'll see me getting up at 4am to get out.

Try this right now guys, from about 6-10am or so, should be trico hatches and spinner falls. Tie on a #20 adams (your indicator) on 5x... then go with about 18 inches of tippet, and tie on a #22 - 24 trico spinner (wings flat on the water). Watch your #20 dry... if there's a rise within 2 feet, set hook. This is how I became part of the 24/24 club

Ha.... They'd have to pay me for my bear story

LMAO.... what is he squeezing off... like apple juice or something? That was funny.

Rofl.. legendary. That's alifetime record. Let's say a career mark. Someone will take it down someday! Some big steroid using flyfisherman will break that mark soon...