# Best FF/fishing moments of '05...???



## brookid (Aug 25, 2004)

I saw this question on another board this morning. I enjoyed the half hour escape over lunch browsing through the responses. Though the season is not completely over, especially those chasing steelhead, i thought i'd post the same question here for those interested in sharing...if you don't have a fishing story feel free to open it up to any outdoor moment...

okay i'll start...:lol: ...i have a couple that come to mind...all fly fishing...


This years trip to Ontario and one particular day on a beautiful river when everything went right...many big brook trout to dry flys...





















This guy on a small Wisconsin stream...he rolled and rejected my caddis but took the dropper...him and i had quite a battle...and on the one day i didn't have a net... 













This one came after a long day of spooking fish on a small NE MI stream. I took an arse whipping that day. I was nearing my take out just before dark and saw him working the surface...it took a while but right at dark i finally got him to take a small white wulff...technically my first night fish...not huge by any means but he single handly salvaged a very slow and frustrating day...i should look to night fishing more often...











And last but certainly not least probably my most rewarding day on a stream. This one back up in Wisconsin in mid summer. I spent the better part of a day trying to figure out what these ultra finicky trout were rising to...i literally threw everything in my box...twice...and got nothing but splashy refusals...my last ditch effort of a small grhe nymph dabbed with flotant and fished in the film was the ticket...i then spent the next few hours putting a whipping on a whole bunch of beautiful browns...to bad it took 5 hours to figure out... 











every year i learn a little more and maybe one day i'll figure it all out...but i wouldn't bet on it. I had a great '05 in the water...



anybody else???


Brookid


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## Shupac (Apr 17, 2005)

I was thinking about some of these moments yesterday. 

One would be the last day of my spring steelhead trip: saturday, peak of the run, a popular river, reports of shoulder to shoulder conditions at my usual morning spot. I got on the river before dawn and with little strategic wading, got to a nice spot which i had completely to myself for two hours. Landed three steelies, lost a few others. Left when others started arriving.

May Day: fishing Hendrickson duns in falling snow, landing 17" and 19" browns, along with some smaller ones. 

Fishing the headwaters of a popular river during an afternoon in hex season. With an adams, steady action from brooks and browns all day.

Brookies on a UP river nailing an EHC on almost every cast. 

The upper Connecticut last month with an old buddy. Hungry rainbows under the waterfalls, blazing maples on the mountainsides, and moose wandering in the road.


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## Molson (Apr 18, 2003)

Fishin' the hex, in the dark (normal)... drifting in the tube with ears glued to an area where I landed a 22" the year before... heard the slurp... made my way to the shore downstream of the fish... put the stalk on to get within easy casting distance from the downstream side... squat low to the water to get a better view and look up and across the stream... see the fish come up, feel I need to get a few more feet closer to the fish... quieltly make the move with the tube still around my legs... wait, wait, wait... splooosshhh... what the ???... the fish is now feeding "literally" two feet off the edge of my tube... and he stays there to feed... have you ever tried to drift a fly off the end of a 9' rod, by a fish three feet or less from you ??? ... couldn't do it... the fish actually splashed me a couple times !!! ... had to make a move and back up... took three steps back and did it clean... the fish is still feeding... second drift, more of a "dap" with more leader than fly-line hanging off the end of the rod, and he's on... land the fish after a good tug-of-war... obviously not the same one as last year... this one goes 21"

during the tug-of-war, had a person come floating by who I had "heard" upstream... now this individual either had a flamboyant personality (I could hear him talking to someone else in the dark) or he had some flamboyant liquid in his system... I had my mini-mag in my mouth pointed at the fish where the line entered the water... I politely asked him to move out away as I am into a fish... his response was "if you turn off your light you will have better luck"... LOL... "friend", I say, "I have the fish on and he's near your feet"... his response, "ohh, good luck"... my response, "thanks"

this was my 2005 biggest "hoot" on the river


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## Shupac (Apr 17, 2005)

The hex always brings on some interesting encounters. People walking by on the bank have stopped to cast to a fish I was fighting that churned on the surface for a moment.

A few years ago on the South Branch AS, I got completely turned around in the woods leaving the river. Head some voices coming, which turned out to be two guys picking their way along a trail with a near dead flashlight. I had a good flashlight so I joined them, but then we lost the trail after a bit. We crashed about in thick brush for several minutes until a vehicle passed by on the road...about 10 feet away!


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## brookid (Aug 25, 2004)

Molson, great story!...i've never fished the Hex...maybe this year...


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

It's getting to be that time of year isn't it? Time to tell stories of season past and to start dreaming of the season to come. I sat at the tying bench for the first time in awhile and ripped off 14 zugbugs while watching the Lions. They no longer deserve my full attention. I've got two bucks in the bag already so now comes the time to tie, tell stories, and do the things around the house that have been on hold since the first break of weather back in the spring.

ONe hoot that really got me was at the PM early in the season. We make an annual trip to the barothy with a group of about 30 friends. Only a few of us fish. On one paticular day I got the organizer of the trip to float down with me on the pontoons. It was only about a 2 hour float. We saw no fish and caught no fish. Very dissapointing. It was on a stretch I was unfamialiar and did not prove to show much the first time thru. 

Next day I asked him if he would like to go to a section that I knew we would get into some fish. He declined. My girlfriend and I went instead. Immediatly we both started actching fish. After about an hour we had brought probably 20 some to hand with a 21" and an 16" and several other healthy ones. I was was absolutly laughing at...what a difference a day can make.....why didn't the organizer come?..... :lol: :lol: 


But the biggest hoot may have came when we were up north ready for possible Hex but were excited about the Drakes and Isonichia. I sat alot on the bank just wainting and relaxing. Saw a couple of rises and decided it was time to fish. First cast landed a 18" Brown trout. After a few more minuits I decided to cast again. Boom. Two cast, two fish. This one was a tiger trout. Never seen but heard much abou them. A nice 14" tiger. I let him go and stopped fishing for the night. Two casts, two fish, then went and watched my girlfriend downstream. That was a hoot!


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Thanks for sharing the stories and the pictures. Keep them coming.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Without a doubt the highlight of the season was handing the 8 wt to my just turned 8 year old son while it had a ticked off 18# king on the end.


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## back2spool (May 7, 2005)

No particular order...

#1--South Dakota. Two nice browns in a nothing creek I managed to sneak away to on a cross-country road trip.

#2--Finding a honey hole in the Clinton River. Yup, it's true. Nailed several sizable rainbows and browns this past summer. A great place to go when I cannot get Up North.

#3--Fished the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe. One tiny brown. Prettiest stretch of water I ever fished.

#4--Fished famed Putah Creek (again a sneak-away for an hour) in Nothern CA. One nice rainbow, one decent smallie.

#5--Watching the cutthroats rise from "Fishing Brindge" in Yellowstone.

Wow, I didn't realize what a great year I truly had until Ijust thought about it.

Here's to more memories in '06 and treat fellow anglers as if they are your brother. Unless they wade right through your hole.

Thanks for some great stories.


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## drifter31 (Feb 27, 2003)

Great stories so far. 

1. The night in April I talked my wife into taking the camper up to Tippy. It was 20 Degrees and the heater in the camper didn't work. She was a good sport and said go fishing, her and my one year old bundled up in the camper with blankets and had fun. My brother, buddy and I fished at the dam and each of us caught steel (and lost many more). Thanks to her for being a good sport (next time I'll check the heat before we leave).

2. Salmon camp at Tippy in mid October with all the family and friends. We caught lot's of fish and had a good time. Several funny moments. My buddy slipped on the stairs below the coffer with his pole in one hand and a 30 pack of Nat Ice in the other hand. The box exploded and cans went everywhere. You can probably still find a can or two around there today. Later that night my brother ate a "hamburger" that was laying on the bank for who knows how long. My buddy told him he had put it there and help yourself. The next thing I heard was my buddy yelling at my brother "don't eat that I was joking". 

3. Catching 10 lb. suckers at Suicide Bend on a 3 wt fly rod in May. We went there for the trout and had a blast with the "bugle mouths".

As I get older I have started learning it is not all about how big or how many fish you catch. I won't always remember the fish caught, but will always remember things like "the hamburger". 

All I am saying is get out with your friends or family and enjoy the outdoors. It doesn't matter if you don't catch fish. You'll still have a good time.

Thanks to everyone for making 05 a fun year. Let's make 06 just as good.


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