reevesr1 Posted September 29, 2014 Posted September 29, 2014 I had to opportunity to do something pretty special this weekend: fish a river that I am very familiar with that has been essentially untouched for two years due to no access caused by bridges still out since the floods of last year. I don't doubt that some quads have made it back, but the river showed very, very little evidence of anglers. Lots of big hoofed animal footprints though! Anyway, it was a chance to see if the behavior of the fish had changed with the absence of us. I realize the evidence is highly subjective, but here it is anyway. 1. The fish were super fat and healthy. Now, they are always pretty fat there, but seemed more so. That said, the hatches when we were there, even this late in september, were pretty amazing. So they ain't lacking for food. 2. Size was not that different than what I remembered, though the fished seemed to fight harder. That could be imagination. 3. They didn't get as stupid as I'd hoped. The first day was cloudy and the fish were as a buddy of mine likes to say "cooperative." Certainly more cooperative than I remembered in general. But the second day was sunny and the fish most certainly went back to what I remembered on that river. You better give them what they are eating, or they will ignore you. No change there. I bet I changed flies 100 times. (I tended to cycle thru the same 4 or 5 flies in every run. There were multiple hatches going on, and I think that different fish were hitting different things. Catch one or two on one fly then nothing. Change and catch another, etc. etc.). So what did that tell me? Not sure really. They certainly did not get all that 'uneducated' in the time anglers were away, which is a good thing. Same picky little suckers they were before. Makes it fun when you are not swearing at them. There was certainly evidence to suggest that lack of pressure let them get healthier both in size and energy, but that could just be coincidental to an awesome food year. Anyway, thanks to bobloblaw for the assist in the experiment! 3 Quote
ÜberFly Posted September 29, 2014 Posted September 29, 2014 Damn it Rick! Rub it in why don't ya! Please invite me again! I'll go next time, I swear!! Glad you guys had an awesome trip! 1 Quote
SteveM Posted September 30, 2014 Posted September 30, 2014 'Twas a fantastic couple of days, Tex! Too bad you couldn't make it, Pete. Hell, the Texan was catching fish without even trying! Thanks for the invite, Rick; that's cutty heaven, dude! I may have a pic or two to post, iffen my 'puter will cooperate; it ain't playing nice right now...aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!! Quote
SteveM Posted September 30, 2014 Posted September 30, 2014 Too bad those cutties were so damned skinny & undernourished... Hardly any fun at all... 4 Quote
ÜberFly Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 Damn it Steve! You rubbing it in too, eh!! Sheesh! P 1 Quote
Flyfisher Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 It's an amazing stream and one of my favorites. Was up there for the last week and didn't see another angler. Mahogany duns (?) were going off in droves. Fishing was excellent and yup matching the hatch made all the difference between a good day and a great day (can't imagine a bad day up there as it's so beautiful). Amazes me to see how resilient our native cutthroat are after the great flood of 2012 and how quickly invertebrates will colonize after a major flood event. 1 Quote
BigFoamy Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 Too bad those cutties were so damned skinny & undernourished... Hardly any fun at all... Nice vest! Glad to see its finally getting used. Ive wondered periodically man what a fish!!!! if your ever cold and lonely and need a friend to go back there with…. 1 Quote
BigFoamy Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 I can keep a secret, just sayin. I haven't been out to any cutty water really ever, #$%&!!!!! i think thats the biggest cutty I've ever seen. Did i tell you that I'm a good secret keeper. Quote
reevesr1 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Posted October 1, 2014 Ah, the "tying my boots" fish. Nice. Here is how that fish worked. Rick finds several very nice fish rising near some deadfall and catches two of them. Steve arrives and Rick says "have at 'em." Steve catches nice fish and says "your turn". I decide that it's a good time to tie my boots and say, "nah, you go ahead. I have to tie my boots." The result is pictured above. Which is now quite possibly the last time I'll tie my boots when fish are rising. I did get one fish (actually the first fish of the trip) that may have been that big, Maybe that big. That fish Steve holding was a beast, and had to be drug away from deadfall. Really cool. 2 Quote
BigFoamy Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 lol, we never stop learning, boot laces can wait!! That is a hog!! Quote
SteveM Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 Ah, the "tying my boots" fish. Nice. Here is how that fish worked. Rick finds several very nice fish rising near some deadfall and catches two of them. Steve arrives and Rick says "have at 'em; there's a couple rising along that submerged log on the far side." Steve strips out some line & makes the usual 10 false casts he requires to get 30 feet of line out; just as he's about to drop his fly at the top of the log, I yell, "Stop!!! One just rose 6 feet in from the log, halfway down." Since it's 6 feet closer, he only needs 8 false casts; Steve catches nice fish and says "your turn". I decide that it's a good time to tie my boots and say, "nah, you go ahead. I have to tie my boots." The result is pictured above. Which is now quite possibly the last time I'll tie my boots when fish are rising. I did get one fish (actually the first fish of the trip) that may have been that big, Maybe that big. That fish Steve holding was a beast, and had to be drug away from deadfall. Really cool. ^I added in a part that you left out, Tex; right after "Rick says "have at 'em..." ^ Sure glad I was attached to that fish with 3x tippet; that bugger tried real hard to get into the wood!!! Quote
SteveM Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 Nice vest! Glad to see its finally getting used. Ive wondered periodically man what a fish!!!! if your ever cold and lonely and need a friend to go back there with…. It's actually been used a crapload, Todd. It's been on a bunch of Southern Alberta creeks & rivers, & has made 3 trips to SE BC. I love that vest, dude!!! Quote
BigFoamy Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 It's actually been used a crapload, Todd. It's been on a bunch of Southern Alberta creeks & rivers, & has made 3 trips to SE BC. I love that vest, dude!!! Sweet!!!!! Quote
reevesr1 Posted October 3, 2014 Author Posted October 3, 2014 Oh crap, I totally forgot my favorite part. In Steve's edited version, he never did see the fish he was casting to. He just layed the fly out where I said to cast and let it drift. As it neared the fish I said " should be ......now" and perfectly on cue the fis rose and ate. It was really cool. 1 Quote
SteveM Posted November 6, 2014 Posted November 6, 2014 . I did get one fish (actually the first fish of the trip) that may have been that big, Maybe that big. That fish Steve holding was a beast, and had to be drug away from deadfall. Really cool. I was looking at pics from that day & realized that your fish was exactly the same size as the one I caught. In fact, it was the exact same fish! Never suspected that, 'cuz they were caught in different pools a few hundred feet apart. See for yourself... 1 Quote
Heimdallr Posted November 6, 2014 Posted November 6, 2014 God those cutties are snakey! Gross! ...not jealous at all... 1 Quote
reevesr1 Posted November 6, 2014 Author Posted November 6, 2014 My fish was caught pretty early, before anything was on surface. So I might have been fishing down deep. On a cutty stream. Whatever, sue me. Steve's was on a dry fly, late in the day. So since dry fly fish are at least 1" bigger than nymph caught fish, his is bigger. And he ate all day. So Steve caught the biggest fish of the trip. All kidding aside, that's pretty awesome. In the morning he was in deep holding water as you would expect. In the afternoon up toward the head of a shallow run near some deadfall maybe 50 yards up from where I got him. If i hadn't stopped to tie my shoes I'd of caught him twice. 2 Quote
SteveM Posted November 7, 2014 Posted November 7, 2014 I actually caught another cutty twice on our second day. Ate a chenille worm in the morning in a nice little pool on a side channel. Got him to eat a dry in the evening on the shallow flat below the pool... 1 Quote
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