birchy

Is it common knowledge WHY they're taking out the weir? Cause I have no idea... Can someone enlighten me?

Awesome!

Right. Dimestore Fisherman. I remembered hearing the guy say the website name when they were filming, but for the life of me I couldn't remember it when I was posting.

Got back at 1am this morning. Thanks everybody for the great comments!

WOOHOO!! Got out to the D Bar D early this morning on the Columbia.. it was a beautiful day. Starting fishing around 6:30am and the Pros were out again filming. LOTS of fish rising but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what they were rising for. I had a fly on that looked similar to the ones that were landing on me but it didn't seem to be working. After about an hour and a half or so the pros left empty handed.. so I didn't feel so bad. If you look close.. you can see one boat is fishing.. the other is filming. Decided to stay and keep trying.. tried streamers and nymphs too.. but nothing was working. Finally at around 8:15am another boat showed up with a couple guys.. asked me how it was going and I said "pretty good.. well, tonnes of fish rising here but I can't figure out what they're taking." The guys says "try a sedge pupae (which means nothing to me at this point) .. dark body, hackle, maybe even purple.." so I'm like "okay" and tie on a fly I was using earlier that didn't work.. but it was as close to that description as I had. Well.. finally got the casting somewhat figured out.. a few times the fish were rising close to my fly which led to a few tense moments.. but then finally I managed a good cast.. in front of a rising trout.. he starts to come up towards it (I'm thinking.. PLEASE be looking at MY fly this time) and he takes it. At this point I'm SO excited but I remember all you guys saying you have to wait a second before setting the hook with dry flies.. so it takes every ounce of patience in me but I wait until he starts to go under again and set the hook... BAM.. FISH ON!!! Fought pretty good.. finally landed him.. a beautiful 22" rainbow. Picture isn't that great.. (hard by yourself) but you'll notice he takes up the entire bottom of my net.. which I measured at 22". The guys that gave me the tip happened to be close by and heard me reel buzzing and were like "YEEAAAH!" and when I landed him "Oh man.. great fish, congrats!!" and I was like "THANK YOU!" haha.. So awesome. Moral of the story.. 3 hours fishing.. only one hit.. but the pros went home empty handed today while the Fly Fish Calgary Joe stuck it out and landed a hawg rainbow!!

You pretty much nailed it thefisherking.. the spot is called "D Bar D" and is just south of Castlegar in Ooteshenia. Very cool. Found it tonight and there was a couple drift boats out actually filming a fly fishing show! One guy nailed a 23" rainbow about 2 minutes after I arrived.. very cool! LOTS of fish rising here and the hatch was insane.. I think I took it like a man though.. pretty crazy standing in the middle of literally thousands of bugs with probably 15-20 on you at any given time. Bottom line.. I suck at casting dries. Didn't even get a hit.. (although there was a couple other dudes around me that didn't get anything either). And I'm pretty sure it's because I don't have a proper tapered leader.. AND was too lazy to tie one up while standing there watching everyone else fish. I'll have to start tying up some tapered leaders while I'm sitting around home.. guess I should get a leader wallet too.

That bully looks like he's been around the block a few times.. looks like he has some war wounds around his mouth!

Thanks for the comments everyone. As CDock said, my rod, reel, and line are all balanced properly. I think it's the fact that - like a few of you said - I learned casting with nymphs first, then streamers.. so I'm used to having that extra weight on there. I'll keep practicing. C - I only got out once so far.. last night for about an hour and a half. Couldn't cast to the rising fish so switched to a streamer and had one on.. couldn't get the line tight fast enough so he got off. I'll probably get out again tonight. My mouth feels pretty good except for the lower left where they had trouble with that one tooth. It's been aching pretty bad the last couple days!

Tried casting dries for the first time today with my 6 weight.. boy was that interesting.. I could only cast like 25 feet in front of me. Any farther than that and the line just all piled up in the same spot with the fly somewhere in the middle! Part of the learning process?

Went out tonight for about an hour and a half. Man it gets dark quick here in the middle of the mountains!! Tried the dry flies at first because there were some fish rising.. but I couldn't cast out to them. Put my waders on but I was already up to my belly like 20 feet out! Couldn't cast to the fish without getting hooked in the trees behind me. Pretty frustrating. Switched to a streamer and had one on my third cast.. but he came directly at me and I couldn't get the line tight quick enough and he got off. Felt like he was a decent size. I'll be back for sure.

Talked to Rod at the Fly Shop today and he said it's all Caddis right now. So he set me up with a couple of each style that have been working. Also told me that I shouldn't have any problem at all fishing from shore on the Columbia right in front of my mom's place. Just find some fish that are rising and try to cast in front of them. When I first went in I told him I was visiting and wanted to get in to some Steelhead.. he proceeds to tell me "there are no steelhead around here" because the river is all dammed up in different places. Kind of weird since I was reading an article about Steelhead in the Columbia. But then he said, but there's lots of rainbows around.. so that was a relief. I asked him what the "average" size was and he was like "ohh.. probably 4-6 pounds".. Oh yeh boys and girls.. I'll be on the river in like T minus 10 minutes!

Whacked myself in the back of the neck for the first time ever the other night! LOL.. Fortunately it was with a 2 nymph rig and not a big streamer! Still stung pretty good though!

What's funny with me is that I NEVER catch fish on the swing when I'm doing it intentionally. Swing my rod tip towards the shore.. pause, a couple or three little strips.. nothing. BUT.. if I'm not paying attention, or I'm not pausing at the end.. I will always catch a fish or two then! haha. The other day I was crossing the stream and focusing on not drowing.. holding my rod out to one side and the flies were dangling in the current and WHAM.. fish on!

Step #1 - Punch him in his big stupid head.

I'll make sure to ask about the sand bar. Don't worry.. I'll have a really good answer to my own question to share with y'all (that's my rickr impersonation) when I get back.

I think I'll have to get CDock to take a pic of me bushwhacking with the Echo.. a sight to be seen let me tell ya!

One thing I saw wrong in that video.. he didn't punch the buck in his big stupid head. That's always "Step #1" in my books.

You're all crazy I tell ya! I'll report in with some big steelhead in the next couple days.

And your reward?

The Columbia is right in front of my mom's place but it makes the Bow look like a little brook! I'm going to stop in the fly shop tomorrow and ask for directions.. but thought you guys might have some insight as well??

I got the whole week off dude!! We're heading out to the mother-in-law's in Castlegar and I'll be trying the Columbia for Steelhead...

I can't even find them on Outcast's website.. just the Fish Cat 9, 10, and 13. I'm assuming they've been discontinued and the Fish Cat 9 is probably pretty close to what the 8 was.

They tell me they had trouble with one of the 4.. so that side of my face is a bit more sore than the other side and I seem to have something that resembles a shoe print on my cheek.. not sure what's up with that! So no fishing for me for at least 48 hours I guess! Fortunately Clive's book arrived in the mail today.. so I can still have my "fix".

What a beauty! ... ... And the fish is pretty sweet too!

Anyone know anything about them? Good quality 'toon? Can't find much with Google.