Most Memorable Fish Of 09?

[acurrie]

My FIRST BULL!

 

[bigbowtrout]

My 09 started off with a dream trip to NZ. I never had the chance to hit the South Island but I did get in a couple great days on the North Island.

I fished the Tongariro River for two days unguided and did rather well then on the last day we hit a small hidden gem that produced some sweet Rainbows.

 

Here is a pic of my most Memorable fish from that trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[acurrie]

Wow, That river looks amazing! Looks like you had fun.

[darrinhurst]

My most memorable fish of '09 was from the morning of July 30th. It is currently my avatar. I called it the "perfect catch". Copied and pasted from my Bow River Report of that morning......ah memories.....

 

Had the morning off again, so I decided to hit the river. Again. Went to a stretch that I had fished once before on a recommendation by a board member, but this time I went down stream as opposed to up.

 

River was down, and really clear. Walked a fair ways down stream as I was planning on working my way back up stream hitting all the runs on my way back. Walked down a good ways from the bank as to not spook the fish (Thanks Jim McLeannan) which, I admit, as simple as it is, wasn't something I really gave much consideration to before. Rookie mistakes I guess.

 

Anyway, I see a spot that I want to get to and work my way down. I had already rigged myself up with a nymph rigging and was going to work some runs in shallow water. As I was getting out my strike indicator I hear a distinct "sploosh". My ears perked up like a deer's and I immedately look to the river. I was only about four feet from the bank at this point, but there was some tall grass along it that hid me pretty good. I look around for what made the noise and didn't see anything. I thought it might have been another family of ducks I spooked walking to the river, but nothing there. My next thought was "Fish?". I crept up to the bank and leaned over slowly to have a peek. Sure enough there was a lovely trout just sitting tight to the bank in water less than a foot deep and about 8-12" from the bank itself. I sneak back from the bank and start to think, "What's he eating?" No sooner than the words enter my mind, I see a Caddis flying just above the surface of the water I was looking down at. It didn't take much convicing to cut off my nymph set up and tie on a size 16 EHC. I didn't even want to waste time by changing my leader either, so I just kept on my 9' length of 10lb mono, tied on the EHC and slipped into the water.

 

I moved as quietly as I could so as to not make him aware of my presence and walked out from the bank, staying behind him for about 20 feet. I put some floatant on the fly, greased up the leader and started casting. I was making some good loops and cast the line out where I remember him being. I haven't seen him come up for anything since his initial rise that made me aware of him. I cast out again, getting as close to the bank as I can. After about four or five efforts, I made a perfect cast, that landed in the perfect spot. Becase just seconds after the line touched down......bloop. Got him. At that moment, it confirmed that he was still there, in his lie waiting for his meal. And I gave it to him. It was this moment that made me experience what fly fishing is all about and why I love it. Hunting for Trout. See it, find out what its eating, and feed it.

 

Awesome. If I wasn't hooked enough before, I sure as hell am now!

 

Putting up a fight.......

 

Gorgeous colors on this Brown. No mistaking this time. First time I caught a Brown that was the beautiful yellow.

 

I have resigned myself to the realization that I really do need a new net........

 

Beautiful fish.

 

[jksnijders]

Mine was a fish Lorne got. Didn't get out much this year thanks to work, but did manage a bit of exploring in places outside the usual. Hit a few places where guys carrying flyrods are a rarity to say the least. Tried some different things at different times, lost (and found) some gear, drank a few beers, and had one interesting encounter on the water with probably the most unique vessel I've ever seen. Tried a few new ways to get into previously hard to access water,(having a few landowner friends helped a little..) This one was a result, 44", and just nice looking. I've seen and caught a good number over 40, and this is one of the prettiest. Saw Lorne hook up, and after about 10 seconds and a nod, I spooled up and grabbed the cradle. After she surfaced, seeing the distance between the line and the tailfin, and then the considerable amount of real estate she occupied in the cradle, Lorne didn't shake the grin for a good while. Hopefully I'll run into her around this time next year... (The half-chicken streamer found a watery grave a good ways west of Longview, if anyone finds it some day.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flyfishen]

With out a doubt, my "Monsters come out at night" Post. What an experience fishing the Highwood Canyon section at night. Here's the post:

 

Have you ever tried walking out of the Highwood Canyon section late evening? It's rather eerie with the wind causing all kinds of noises around every corner which kind of makes you think, Is it a bear, wolf, mountain Lion; No!!! its just the trees.

 

Moving through the forest my hat light only allowed me to see 6 feet in front of me and it was getting darker almost every step. It was pretty freaky walking out of there alone, but then I would remember, "Man I just caught a monster 30 inch Bull" after only an hour of fishing. On the way back from a friends I decided to stop and see how the river was fishing. Well, it turns out it's fishing pretty well.

 

Have a look at this Monster:

 

It sure gets the senses going. My blood pressure was already pretty high after catching that massive Bull, and the adrenaline was pumping pretty good too.

 

I didn't see any bears on the way in but I did see a pretty scary looking squirrel; does that count? He looked like he was from the Hood and could have been pack-in.

 

Seriously though, Night fishen really does "Rock", the crowds are nil, the fish are huge and there are usually more feeding...along with the wolves and mountain lions.

 

[Rainbowhunter]

hi all looks like everyone had a really good summer, spring , and fall of 09, i did also have a great time , i fished alot of water and really expeirienced the beauty of fly fishing and how it will now ruin my life. LOL I belive my most memorable catch this year was a huge cutt that i fought for 5 minutes until he ran me down a couple sets of rapids and bent the hook staright. I do not have any pictures of him but i think of that fish everytime i seee water and it keeps me coming back to all the rivers wanting to catch a fish of his size again. Anyways here are a couple of my other memorable fish.

 

Enjoy, Matt

 

P.S. Thanks Dutchie for showing me the ropes of fly fishing and taking so much of your preciuos time to take me fishing all over Alberta. Always willing to fish with you at any time.

 

[Rainbowhunter]

hi all looks like everyone had a really good summer, spring , and fall of 09, i did also have a great time , i fished alot of water and really expeirienced the beauty of fly fishing and how it will now ruin my life. LOL I belive my most memorable catch this year was a huge cutt that i fought for 5 minutes until he ran me down a couple sets of rapids and bent the hook staright. I do not have any pictures of him but i think of that fish everytime i seee water and it keeps me coming back to all the rivers wanting to catch a fish of his size again. Anyways here are a couple of my other memorable fish.

 

Enjoy, Matt

 

P.S. Thanks Dutchie for showing me the ropes of fly fishing and taking so much of your preciuos time to take me fishing all over Alberta. Always willing to fish with you at any time.

 

[Rainbowhunter]

here is my biggest brown to date . 23"

[flyfishing]

Caught my first ever brown on the bow in the northwest on the last day before it closed! Caught it on a backswimmer. bad pic from my cellphone but it was at least 22 inches.

[ÜberFly]

That's considered a monster in the NW section! Nice work!

 

P

 

Caught my first ever brown on the bow in the northwest on the last day before it closed! Caught it on a backswimmer. bad pic from my cellphone but it was at least 22 inches.

 

[flyfishing]

That's considered a monster in the NW section! Nice work!

 

P

 

Yeah I was pretty surprised when I set the hook! I'd done down there a few days before that because i live close to the river and all I caught were 7-12 inch rainbows until then!

[snuffy]

Yeah I was pretty surprised when I set the hook! I'd done down there a few days before that because i live close to the river and all I caught were 7-12 inch rainbows until then!

 

It was a while back, when this was annoying rather than illegal, but I once ran into a old bait fisher at the corner pool below Home Rd who had a 3 nice browns on a stringer. It wouldn't surprise me if he cleaned that pool out on his own, since he said he tried to make it down most mornings. Late this summer too, I watched some big browns rising just off the western tip of Prince's Island - too bad I was on my bike and not fishing.

[snuffy]

Not my favorite fish of '09, but definitely the most memorable:

 

I was having a so-so day fishing for cutts and bows on the Wigwam (I know that that's not why people go there, but I just don't like streamers much). Anyway, late in the evening what risers there were keyed in on Sallys, for which I had no decent imitations. So I started nymphing and was immediately rewarded with a 12ish" cutt. Naturally, I was still using my 4wt and didn't bother to switch off my 5X tippet.

 

The bull that grabed him was a stubborn sort and proceeded to wander around the pool ignoring me. Several minutes later, I felt the hook slip, but to my surprise, the bull was still on. It turns out that the cutt had got off (and probably eaten), but the bull had been foul hooked near the mouth. It took a long time and a near ankle breaking run downstream when he remembered that tactic, but I eventually got him to shore. To my surprise after such a long fight, he took off pretty quickly. Ecology in action.

[beedhead]

Great pics and stories guys...I had a few memorable fish this season...After catching a few Bows out of this pool way way up from Lumbreck Falls (Close to Coleman) this Brown totally caught me off guard, I can remember my heart pounding as I realized it was a beefy little Brown...My oldest daughter was with me, she was pretty pumped as well...

 

Cheers...Jeff..

 

 

 

This scrappy brown was Kind of a shocker as well, Caught on the upper reaches of the K river While casting to a monster Cutt I could see Cruising the pool...Never did see the Cutt again after I got the Brown to hand...

 

[jononfire]

These are two of my most memorable fish of the year. The Grayling was one of the first fish i caught this summer \ spring. The cuttie was on a tough day in the mountains i took 3 about this size from the same hole. Some of the best cuts i have ever caught.

[leachman]

22 inch smallmouth in a stream behind a house I just bought in nb. Best day of fishing of the year caught about 30 bass. I saw the big one when I was fighting another. The bass come out and try to steal the fly out of the the others mouth or just to see what's up . Landed her on a 5 wt with a strong leader. Took awhile and it was my first big fish on the fly. The fish had one eye and was beat all to *hit. Took my dad for a float the next weekend and the dam got opined as soon as we got there and the water rose a foot in anhour and we caught 1 all day. We saw the big mother but dad couldn't catch her, I think he was putting the fly on her blind side.

[dude1125]

It's a toss up between two fish. The first fish was rainbow caught on the bow in early oct. I was taking my wife's nephew down the river for the first time so I wanted him to catch fish as well as me to show him how it was done. I was nymphing with a chromie. I'm still learning how to nymph fish and don't have a lot of confidence in my abilities. It seemed to be the right thing to do that day because everyone nymphing was catching lots of fish. I don't remember the strike indicator going down to tell me that there is a fish on. It was just a slight reflex action from me to see what’s at the other end. The line start to pull away upstream and I thought it must be bigger than 12 inches. The fish then jumped straight clear out of the water and in unison we both went holy fff....... I thought there is no way I’m landing this one but a few minutes later the biggest fish I even caught on the bow was in the net.

 

I think the second fish was the best fish of the year because it was on a trip to the Duck Lake area. We were camping and having very little luck at Duck Lake. I brought some tying stuff along and during a break in the afternoon we drank some beers and tied some flies. I tried a couple ugly over the top olive leaches. Next day we were at Kip lake and the wind was howling (a light breeze to the locals) and the viz at the lake was at most 18 inches. We rigged up and I tried not to get blown into the middle of the lake. I can’t remember how long it was before I had a fish on. Its first run was amazing. It went off screaming to the middle of the lake and took me well into my backing for the first time ever. I landed with the help of Todd and he couldn’t believe I caught it on the gaudy leach I tied the day before. It was the only fish we caught that day and still can’t get over how lucky I was that day.

 

[Gil]

 

One of my best 2009 fish caught on my best float on the Bow of 2009. It was a perfect day with 20+ fish many a good size,

[headscan]

This summer was the first year that I was really determined to do a lot of dry fly fishing to the point that I only carried a box of dry flies with me and no nymphs. Was out one evening with Al and Pete fishing to some risers. Once we figured out what they were taking it was only a matter of getting the fly over the fish. We each got into some nice fish and were having a great time. There was one snout coming up a good way out in the pool that was rising regularly. Since it was far and I could easily make out the snout I figured it was a pretty nice sized fish. The light was getting low and we were fishing small mayflies that were hard enough to see a few feet away. I started casting out to the snout, but kept falling short or getting snagged in the grass on the high bank behind me. I finally managed to get a cast that looked like it had enough distance to be in his feeding lane. A few seconds later (though it seemed like forever) the snout came up and I figured my fly was in the area. Waited a second then lifted my rod tip and the line went tight. I had him. For about one whole second before he gave a good head shake and broke my fly off. Most memorable fish of the year for me.

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

my most memorable fish was one i lost! Out in my belly boad on a traveling sedge hatch. I cast out and my BIG caddis nymph his the water and before i could react i was in a fight! This fish blew me off faster then most girl did in highschool. Yet that is why i come back to the rivers and lakes every weekend.

 

but 3 24"+ fish got back to back (in about 7 or 8 minutes total) and pick pocketed out of Jayhads hands made me happy too

[seby]

My most memorable fish of the year has to be my biggest brown i have caught to date. It also happens to be the first time I tried night fishing on the bow. It was in late July and it had been pritty slow afternoon even with tonz of caddis swarming water untill the sun when down. That first hour after sundown was magical, the river suddenly came alive and there were fish rising everywhere and right close to the bank. For anyone who has never tried night fishing it is so intense, your sence of hearing becomes sharp and you are blind casting to hungry trout in the dark. Well anyway I caught this 24" brute on a #16 elk haired caddis around 10:30pm, along with around 14 others that night it was an unforgetable night.

[maxwell]

the most memorable fish for me this year wasnt one i caught but hooked! i was out on a camping trip with dub d and my baby sister katieloohoo fishing for cutties and bulls. we had all hooked some good fish over the trip and on the last day i wanted too get a gooder or two on teh line for my lil sister too reel in.. mid way through the day i felt a good grab and hooked something solid so i dished the rod off too katieloohoo.. when th fish took the first run she had too take a step forward too keep her balance.. after a few mintues she looked up at me taking pics and said "my arms hurt" i encouraged her she was doing great and keep on fighting! we got a good look at the fish and i laughed (realizing it wasnt a little bull and her 11yr old arms should hurt!) a minute or two later we landed a bull that almost broke 30"! totally capped the trip and my year! cant waite for nextyears trip!!

[lorney]

Great stuff Max. That's what it is all about right there. Looking forward to taking the daughter fishing in the future, going to be a few years though. Great when you can share days like that with friends and family.

[dube]

Good job Max, best big brother EVER!