thefisherking Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 I've been pretty busy with work the last little while and I haven't been able to fish as much as I would like, so I decided to take a week off work. I bought a new truck and camper last month and I haven't had the chance to use it. I'm not one to battle the long weekend crowd, so I got everything ready and headed out Tuesday afternoon. First stop lower-k. After reading missing the bows thread with all those monster rainbows and cuttys I thought it would be a good place to start. I got camp set up and headed out fishing by 4:30. Since I was camped at the inter lakes, I headed to the inlet. The dam wasn't flowing but I fished anyways. Stayed till 7:00 with only 2 suckers to show for my efforts. Man they seem allot slimier in that lake. I headed back to camp, made myself some grub and got to bed pretty early. Next morning, got up and was fishing by 6:30. This time I was on the pontoon which gave me a little more freedom to move around. Started trolling around various streamers and bunny flies on a full sink line for a couple hours with no takers. Switched to nymphing hoping to hook into the monster bows, 2 hours later and not even a hit. This was no good, 6 1/2 hours of fishing and no fish. Time for a change in venue. On the way out to k-county, a friend of mine had left me a message about a lake he fished on the weekend and the fishing was incredible right now with the caddis hatch. So I packed up camp and headed off. My route took me over the pass and along the highwood. The water was much lower and clearer since I was here last. And since it was only 1:00 I thought I would hit a few of my favorite holes. Coznuts and I fished this section 2 weeks ago with only a couple of small rainbows landed, so I was hoping today the river would treat me a little better. I got my gear together and headed down to the river. The water looked perfect. Tied on foam stonefly with a bhpt as a dropper and caught a fish my third cast. My first cutty of the year! I fished till about 5:30 with 12 fish to hand. 7 rainbows and 5 cuttys. I was Glad to see the river is back to summer form and the fish were slamming the drys. Now its time to get back on the road and head to the lake. I got up early next morning, and after a quick bite to eat I pumped up the pontoon and headed out fishing. Action was pretty slow. At about 10:00 the caddis started coming off and the fish started rising. I quickly switched from my nymph set up to caddis and for the next 3 hrs I had a blast hitting big fat cuttys on the surface. The only problem was that there is allot of weed growth in this lake and when you hook the fish it dove straight into the weeds causing you to break off or lose fish. It reminded me of bass fishing. I started with 4lb, switched to 6lb and in the end I wish I had some 8lb. I ended up with 14 fish caught and probably broke off or lost at least that many. Cleaned out my supply of floatant and wiped out my entire caddis collection so I headed into Coleman and hit that new fly shop by the FTR turn off. Really nice store I recommend it to anyone. Now that I was freshly restocked, I headed to my next destination the gap. Oh heres a few pics. I love how fat these fish are. Lots of food in that lake. Biggest of the day It was now 3:00 and I made my way up the trunk road. I couldn't help but get excited. The oldman is one of my favorite places to fish. It has some deep pools, nice long runs and lots boulder gardens to play around with. Not to mention that the river is full of beautiful cuttys and monster bulls. I found nice spot to park the truck and quickly set up camp. I took this pic from my campsite. Now that camp was set up, it was time to fish. I grabbed the rod and decided to hit the section you see in the picture. I had 6 cutts to hand largest being 15 inches in a couple hours fishing. I figured not to bad considering this section was located below the camp ground and gets hit pretty hard. All this fishing can make a guy awfull hungry, so back to camp I went to load up on some food, a few beverages, and a good night sleep. Woke up the next morning to a beautiful day. No wind and clear blue sky everywhere you looked. I ate a big breakfast, packed a lunch, and headed down the road to a stretch I was more familiar with. I parked the truck, grabbed my gear, and made my way down to the first hole. I was happy to see fish rising as I was tying on a big fury turks tarantula. First float through I had a strike, but missed him. Second pass wham fish on and it felt pretty good. A couple minutes later I reeled in this beauty. I had a feeling it was gonna be a pretty good day. I quickly regressed the fly and started fishing again. Five or six casts later another good hit. After another good battle I landed this guy. I pulled 6 fish out of that hole, the smallest one being 16 inches. I moved on to the next spot. This is probably my favorite hole on the river. It has a small set of falls that run into a deep hole and usually holds a fair number of fish. As I walked up to the first seam closest to the bank, I could see a school of about 10-15 fish. I made my first drift through and caught a small 13 inch cutt. Third cast threw another fish on. This time it was 8 inches. I'm amazed such small fish can take such big furry flies. After catching 4 or 5 of these little guys I waded in hit the middle seam along the edge of a deep pool. Its a tough spot to fish because the falls make the water so choppy and its hard to get a good drift. I probably get one good drift in for or five casts. On my third good float threw a nice fish sipped my fly from the surface and i set the hook. This fish takes off down stream and the chase was on. He took me down river 50 yards before I was able to land him, a nice 18 inch cutbow. I thought it was a rainbow until I saw a the orange slashes. They were barely visible. I went back and fished that hole for about 2 hours and pulled 15 - 20 fish out. The smallest one being eight inches and the largest being a 21 inch cutty a personal best for me. It took me down river and put up good battle. I went on to fish the rest of the day catching fish, but nothing larger than 16 inches. By 4:00 I was beat, temp was probably at least 36 degrees. So I packed in and headed back to camp. That night I was sitting by the fire planning my next days fishing. It was getting late and I grabbed my nice new fire poker stick I found by camp. It was a little to long so I jabbed one end into the ground and was hoping to break the end off, but it broke right by my hand and I felt something jab into my finger. I quickly grabbed my finger and felt something large protruding and even worse I couldn't bend my finger. I ran into the camper and turned on the light and was shocked to see a huge piece of wood stuck in my finger. It entered my finger just below my knuckle and wrapped around like a ring on the inside of my skin with only an entrance wound. Now I started to panic a little. I grabbed the forceps off my fly vest and tried to pull it out. It was no use I had nothing to grab. And when that didn't work I tried the old stick the finger in my mouth and pull it out with my teeth method but that didn't work either. The only option left was to pack up camp and head to the hospital. Not allot fun to do in the dark with a big ass sliver in your finger. And trying to drive out of the wilderness campsite at night with a big camper was pretty tricky as well. I think the worst part was driving the 45 k to Coleman and trying to keep the truck on the road. But I made it and after a few needles and 45 minutes of poking around the doctor had most of it cleaned out. He figures it was an 1 1/2 long and almost 1/4 inch round at the base. For some strange reason I took a picture of it before I went in the hospital. I know the pic is a little blurry but if you look that bright white ridge below my knuckle, thats the sliver wrapped around my finger. This a few of the larger pieces he took out. All in all I had an amazing 4 days of fishing. I fished a variety of places and broke a personal best. And since I wont be able to cast a rod for a couple of weeks, I'll be able to restock my fly box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownstone Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 sounds like a decent trip .. ouchers...great report.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonefisher Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Great report man sounds like a blast right until the end. That sliver is pretty narly though shame that cut the trip a bit short Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Great report. Nasty finger...Ouch! Nice photo's and trout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chidders Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 You sure made up for lost time. Good on ya! Nice report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonefisher Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Just outta curiousity did you consider slicing the skin alongside the sliver and peeling the skin back to remove it? Also I am sure the doc would have mentioned it but that is likely a pretty high risk wound for infection. Looks like its poplar which isn't as bad as say douglas fir but I'd keep that sucker clean non the less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Nice report, I can't wait for my trip now!! sucks about your finger man, hope ity wasn't the casting hand! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grannyknot Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Great report man, sorry bout the finger but what the hell, you're a tough guy. You might have to show me where those fat cutties are if I ever get a tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchy Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Great report!! I hope to do something like that this year too! Minus the sliver in the finger part of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisher26 Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 What a great trip ... Except for the finger part, Ouch! So just a quick question when fish’s eyes are pointing downward that means they are really stressed right? I noticed this on some pictures here and others of mine. Since I learnt that I have been very careful to reduce the amount of stress on fish since it is in fact measurable. Is it normal for some fish you catch (say 10%) to have their eye's pointing downward? And if a fish's eyes are pointing downward what are it's chances of survival? Again great trip, I hope to get out soon too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esleech Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 What beautiful cutties. They are porkers! Hmmmm....where is this lake exactly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherking Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 After I couldn't grab it with the forceps I did consider cutting it, but just enough to grab onto the sliver. But you know how you head out on your first trip of the year and you always seem to for get something, I forgot my first aid kit. I didn't even have a band aid and the only sterilization I had was the box of rickards in the fridge. Since it was my casting hand, I wouldn't have been able to fish anyway. I'm considering going lefty for the next couple of weeks so i don't get go mental for lack of fishing. And who knows might be handy to be able to fish with both hands. Hey esleech I'll show you mine if you show me one of yours. And Jones your always welcome anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreLastCast Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Great report and Pics. You'll forget about the finger soon enough, but the trip will stay in your memory for awhile I'm sure. Sorry to hear the K Lakes didn't go too well. I was thinking of heading out there this week, but maybe the heat turned the fish off, so Maybe I'll reconsider. BTW, fisher26, you want the fish to be looking at the water in your pictures when they are out of the water. If their eyes are straight ahead, those are "Dead Eyes". If they aren't dead already, they will very likely not make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisher26 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 I heard (maybe wrong) that if a fish isn’t stressed it’s eyes will be pointing center ways. Now that could be either dead or alive and calm… I have landed plenty of fish without their pupils looking straight that swam away perfectly fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreLastCast Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 If they are looking straight ahead out of the water, they are stressed. There are exceptions to every rule of course, but rather than write it out again, I'll just copy/paste link to what I found out at a seminar awhile back and have found since that it is true for the most part. http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?...20&start=20 Later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisher26 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Interesting MTB I will keep that in mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherking Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 I never knew that you could tell if a fish was stressed out by the eyes. Good thing to know. I'm gonna have to start looking when I land the fish. Thanks MTB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonefisher Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Yeah i'm stressed out and my eyes aren't looking down at the water....... but maybe thats cause I'm stuck at work and there is no water in sight...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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