Thursday, September 3, 2015

Another Dove Opener skunk.

I wish I could say different, but another skunk this year. Went to different places, and only saw four birds. Fired at two of them. Missed badly.

The boy did however show us all up, with his vast Bullfrog hunting prowess. I'm pretty sure he killed the Nevada state record!

Umpqua River Smallmouths

After about twelve years of waiting, I was finally able to make it to the Umpqua for my 40th birthday.  We booked a whole day float trip with Todd Harrington from the Big K Guest Ranch.

Todd was professional, knowledgeable, and an all around great guy to spend the day with. We left early from his back yard, and were into fish immediately. I started off with a fire tiger type popper, and landed a few. It was slow according to Todd so I switched to a girdle bug nymph. This was the go to fly, we caught them everywhere. Some from casting blind and stripping, some from a straight shot down to a sighted fish. It was a blast. My biggest fish came from NOT setting the hook on a small fish. As soon as the little guy spit out the fly a much bigger one came and nailed it. This kept up the whole float, one fish after the other. I was most impressed with average size of the fish. At least a14" average!

This was truly a dream trip. I was dealing with a case of tennis elbow, and was truly sore and tired from fighting fish constantly.

Headed out.
Beautiful markings.
Nice one.
A chewed up girdle bug.
Killer lunch.
Another pretty one.
My best Smallie.