Fishing Addiction Group

[Wheels]

Taneycomo Mo.

Not all mine. We just took turns holding the stringer so it would look more impressive

 

[AimSmall]

 

[Rem280]

Taneycomo Mo.

Not all mine. We just took turns holding the stringer so it would look more impressive
View attachment 564596

I see your trout and raise you a Spotted Sea Trout off the beach in NE Florida . Plus some Black Drum from the week before. And the end result, took a once healthy meat and made much tastier.

 

[Wheels]

You definitely won on tonnage!

Looks great.

 

[fourfive8]

Given the state of MSM and TDS afflicted populations, I would rather be swinging a #2 articulated flesh fly on a 7-8 weight for C&R rainbows more than anything I can think of right now.

 

[fourfive8]

Or almost as good. Drifting a bead for char with a 5-6 weight behind sockeyes in a small headwater river while watching for booboo and yogi

 

[Firebird]

Those pix belong on a magazine cover!

 

[Firebird]

Probably the last trip of the year-one thick rainbow to eat and a bunch of cutthroats that we released. Beautiful fall evening.

 

[fourfive8]

Sometimes, when the conditions are right with sockeyes dumping eggs... the rainbow, dolly and char fishing can be fast and furious even in small streams. 7-8 mm bead above a #4 or 6 short shank hook dead-drifted just behind sockeyes with a small split shot can yield spectacular results. Pics of bead rig and hefty char. That particular morning, fishing a bead with a 5 weight rod on a small spawning stream that empties into Lake Becharof, I quit counting at 50 C&R char.

 

[fourfive8]

For sheer fight and fast runs hard to beat fresh run sockeye on a light to medium fly rod. Fresh run sockeyes are great eating- one of the best. But.... they require somewhat of an acknowledged faux fishing technique once they get into freshwater. Adding a "Russian River Special" fly to the end of your line is simply covering the truth about how they are actually caught... adding the fly simply makes it "legal"... if the hook ends up inside the fish's mouth Truth and reality?.... it is simply called "lining" Find a shallow stretch with sockeyes running up. Cast fly line above and across running fish. Tie on a "fly", matters not a whit what kind, on short heavy leader, weighted fairly well to get line down to fish level. Draw line across fish and toward you. An unlucky sockeye will get the line/ leader into its mouth. As the the fly is drawn to you, the fish is snagged... and if in the mouth, it is considered a legal catch. Jerking the line as used in snagging salmon is not legal for this "fishing" and wardens have seen it all and heard all the excuses. Amazing the subtleties and deceptions illegal snaggers use in trying to hide the jerks of the line and rod required for snagging Anyway that is the reality of sockeye fishing

In contrast, cohos (silvers) can be quite aggressive in taking lures. Sometimes if they get crowded into small pocket water they will hit anything dropped in on top of them, even the ubiquitous, darned near obligatory Pixie spoon My favorite lures for cohos are jigs or spinners. Just depends upon the mood of the fish. Twitching a jig is usually a great technique for fresh running cohos just in out of the salt water. Once in a while, I'll use a fly rod for cohos and tie on a big weighed leech fly of some sort. If they are holding at the head of a big hole, it's kind of fun aggravating them into a strike. But in big water wrestling cohos on a fly rod becomes not fun and, for me, not the best equipment. I like a medium weight spinning rod with 20 lb braided line.

Pics of favorite lures and some cohos. Fresh run salmon usually still have sea lice attached for a couple of days into fresh water for up to maybe a couple of weeks. Sea lice are a good indicator of how fresh the run is. Cohos are excellent eating, grilled. Of course some days there's just as much enjoyment watching the river, the bears and enjoying a Grouse.

 

[fourfive8]

Looking back on it, I was truly blessed and fortunate to have the parents I had and to grow up where I did. I learned to fish in high mountain streams as a toddler. To this day it is where I feel best when fishing. Still my favorite style fishing, even compared to catching 50 lb kings in the famous Kenai, winding Copper or the wild and roily Klutina. My dad's favorite was fishing high mountain streams and lakes with a fly rod. His dad had the same passion in the same areas in the 1920s and 30s. IIRC, I graduated from garden hackles to gray hackles and artificial lures at about age 10-11. I feel privileged to have had those parents and to still live in an area that is so familiar. Nothing like catching a 2 lb cutthroat on a size 14 Rio Grande King or Gray Hackle Peacock in a high mountain lake or stream. I can still occasionally catch all four common trout species in a single day on one stretch of stream- brook trout, cutthroat, rainbow and brown. Most of these small water, high mountain fish are not large, averaging from fingering sized up to maybe 12-14". Occasionally, some live long enough in high mountain cirque basin lakes to reach sizes approaching 25-30". Sheer luck to live that long, avoiding other anglers and the occasional ice/snow blanket winter kill that affects such waters every few years.

A few pics of the fish, area and streams, the last couple years, in the mountains here.

 

[fourfive8]

As an aside, I C&R (catch and release) all my trout, but may keep two or three browns or brookies each year for eating. C&R by yourself is simple with needle nose- just leave them in the water and pop out the hook. C&R for larger fish... use a net, keep in water and pop out the hook. CPR (catch, photo and release) fish by yourself is a different can of worms, usually a fumbling mess and almost impossible for decent pics - trust me on that. Two years ago I was doing CPR using my phone's camera on a particularly colorful char in AK and dropped my iphone into the water. It was dead, down for the count. Miraculously it came back to life three days later! Don't ask me how- occasionally I guess luck favors the foolish.

 

[Warren Knudsen]

263kg Broardbill, a couple of years ago. Newzealand.

 

[fourfive8]

CPR grayling, Kvichak River

 

[fourfive8]

Even tilapia deserve some recognition.
Zimbabwe

 

[fourfive8]

Lessons of humility
Probably 1984 or 85, I was on stripers at about 35 feet. They were working shad on a hump. I was vertical jigging with a fairly heavy casting outfit and an Abu Garcia level wind. I hooked a fish straight down and really put some muscle into trying to keep it out of submerged brush. Most of the fish I was catching were in the 20 lb range. But stripers do know how to pull hard. I knew better but nonetheless grabbed the rod in front of the forward grip to get better leverage. Hah! snap! Broke the rod near where I was gripping. I swore to myself, lesson learned and yelled something like, "You stupid!"

Fast forward 36 years. A couple of years ago a friend and I were drifting beads for rainbows and dollies in a small salmon stream between Anc and Talkeetna AK. There were a ton of pinks, reds and chums. That meant trying with every cast to avoid them. But as always happens occasionally a chum or other non-target salmon grabs the lure or is foul hooked. Hooked a chum. It felt like it took the bead and in any case it was hooked in the mouth. The chum took off doggin it up and down the run. I handed my phone to my friend and said, "Might as well do a short video of the fight." Actually, I should have known better. Dang chums are real brutish type fighters. I should have just grabbed the line and broken it off but oh no, got to get some fishing video for friends back home Up and down the run we went for quite a while. I decided enough was enough and started to horse the fish a little grabbing my favorite 7 weight fly rod above the handle for a little extra leverage. Then that sickening feeling I had not felt for 36 years, snap! Yell to self, "You dummy!" Ordinarily no big deal but I build all my fly rods and this was my favorite!! We were done and I was heading home in a couple of days and there were plenty or rods around if needed so that wasn't an issue, but dang! I had built this rod quite a few years earlier and was afraid no way would the company have any of those blank sections left!! A couple of days later I called the company and to my amazement got right to the warehouse manager and he had a few of those specific parts even though that model had been out of production for years. He sent me the blank section that broke at no cost. It fit. I re-wrapped it and I got my favorite rod back BTW, I have built a few other rods using Batson blanks. They now have a loyal customer for as long as they are in business!

Humility is a good teacher. But lessons can be forgotten. I have since fished streams for dollies, char and rainbows. Late summer and early fall always means lots salmon which means unintentionally hooking a few. No more "Hi Mom" pics or videos just for show for me. Pinks can usually be landed fairly easily but chums and reds on 7 weight tackle- nope! Just grab the line and pop! simple...

Pics are frames of show off video nonsense lesson re-learned!

 

[fourfive8]

And no I’m not snagged on a “rock bass” in the pic above There IS a large chum on the line. Really a stupid thing to do for no reason other than a silly video. I’ll spend some time trying to retrieve expensive lures… up to a point but a hook and bead is so very few pennies- dumb!

Pic of size 6 short shank hook and pegged plastic bead used for salmon egg eating rainbows and char.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Anyone down chasing Tarpon yet

 

[AustinL]

Well with hunting season winding down for the most part it’s time to knock the cobwebs off the boat.

As always had a few minor repairs before the first outing last week ended up with a nice mixed bag of spotted seatrout, bull reds and sheepshead

 

[Hunt anything]

I went this past Saturday and caught a bunch of sheepshead as well. Well done!