First Trip Of 2012

Even as woefully behind on the blog as I am (expect some coming historical post to catch up on the fall season), the draw of a new trip in the new year was too much to resist.  I was out the door and scouting water on a day that felt down right balmy for January.

I managed to nab the sometimes elusive first fish on the fly for the 2012 season.  A nice brown trout.... hopefully a good omen for the new year.

First fish of 2012

The first two fish hookups on the day I managed to LDR.  They were nicer browns and hot dancers on the three weight.  It was just an all around beautiful day to be out and about - sunny, windless and 50 degrees.  I missed a few other strikes and of course spooked out a few fish here and there.  It felt like April and all I could think about was the coming of spring.  There will be more winter to come, but a few days like this sprinkled in amongst the storms will help me bide my time until the inevitable blossoms of spring.

Another pretty brown trout on the hot head leech

Slow Start To The Ice Season

I slipped out in the early morning the day after Christmas intending to meet up with George and chase some trout on the ice.  I was finally going to get a bit of time to take that first ice fishing trip of the winter now that work and life responsibilities had let up enough to sneak away and drill a few holes.

Arriving at the lake we were supposed to meet on and fish was a bit of a shock.  I was in a full strength ground blizzard and couldn't even see the two track in the darkness and snow that I was supposed to head down to find George.  Looking at the road there seemed to be no disturbance at all in the deep snow, so I figured they had moved on to a different lake.  Heading back out of the blizzard the rest of the valley was in fine shape and had perfect visibility.  It was amazing how localized that severe weather ended up being.

I set up elsewhere on the plains lakes and drilled my first holes of the season.  The system for the day consisted of an active marabou jig on one set up with a pair of flies deadsticked on the other rod.  I couldn't even muster a strike.  I sat out on the ice and had a nice lunch and a microbrew and watched the clouds go by until the obvious time came to call it a day.

My modest ice setup for the day

Talking to George later in the day, I found out they had arrived right as the storm came in and were just out on the ice setting up in the ground blizzard.  They were questioning their sanity but did manage to hunker down and ride out the storm and fish the morning. They had a couple bites at least but it sounded equally slow all over the valley.

Fall Brown Trout On The Fly

I finally sat down in November and finished up a short video of some North Park action from October.  I wish I had shot more video while there.  We had some epic days this fall chasing browns on streamers.  If you click through to the vimeo site you can watch in HD as well.

A Curious Spectator

I had a successful evening offering the wooly bugger to brown trout as late afternoon crept into the valley and turned to dusk.  As I made my way upstream, a flash of white and a muffled rustle from the heavy grass along the bank produced a curious ermine who followed me for a short time as I worked the water.

A tiny gem to start the evening on the first cast

The ermine peering from a well concealed tunnel

The last brown of the night was a good one

Last Open Stillwater Trip

The outer reaches of the lake are iced - this is the end

A couple quick shots from Thanksgiving Eve. Eric and I decided to meet up and try for some trout in the afternoon and evening before the holiday consumed us on Thursday. We got a couple decent fish on the buggers.  He has been a big brown magnet this year.

A nice cutthroat to end my lake fishing in 2011

23.5 inch brown trout made Eric's evening

Sunset paints the clouds behind Jelm Mountian