2024 Fish Pic Thread

[lifelinksplit]

No fish but went to see how a certain stretch was shaping up for floating. Gonna go hit the most popular spot in Montana 2moro, we'll see how that goes.

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[Rasputin]

It was a beautiful and strangely quiet, evening on the river, no other fishermen, no bites, very few rising fish (though there was a variety of bugs flying). Also strangely, I felt very much at peace in spite of no action. It was nice.

[lindenle]

4th and 5th fishys of the spring season. Both top water, which was a surprise. What did we learn?

My fish pictures are as bad as my skiing ones.

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[Rasputin]

Nice fish man!

And, be kind to yourself, there is nothing wrong with those pics.

I went fishing for a while this afternoon (a bright and sunny one), the fish were rising occasionally, but the one fish that bit for me took a #12 flashback prince nymph I had dragging behind a brown skwalla. There were various bugs on the water, but couldn't tempt any fish to surface. I forgot my camera, or I would have taken a shot of the healthy, 11" Westslope Cutthroat that took my nymph. Of course, with the current state of the TGR up-loader, any such pic would be sitting on my hard drive, in limbo.

[The Reverend Floater]

Not exactly a fish but you get the idea. I love springtime in the Rockies and I seem more likely to pack the camera. And the fishing was great!

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[I've seen black diamonds!]

I think I fixed Tapatalk so I can post pics?

Today started slowly. Then I saw an otter and knew why. Moved up stream a quarter mile and had a good time.

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[tgapp]

nice to see some more action, feels like spring now

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[tgapp]

@lindenle and @The Reverend Floater, amazing pics

great stoke in this thread, keep it coming

and come hang out on the green next weekend

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[Rasputin]

Nice one tgapp!

Good to see folks following the melting snow to the trout streams.

[lifelinksplit]

Went to the most crowded river in Montana. Never seen so many people who have no clue how to row a boat or have any shred of river etiquette. Still had great flip flop weather(even though there was so much down and waders?!) and Walter had fun chasing beavers. Buddy has all the fish pics.

Love seeing everybody getting after it and bummed I can't make it down to the green.

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[skinipenem]

Went to the most crowded river in Montana. Never seen so many people who have no clue how to row a boat or have any shred of river etiquette. Still had great flip flop weather(even though there was so much down and waders?!) and Walter had fun chasing beavers. Buddy has all the fish pics.

Love seeing everybody getting after it and bummed I can't make it down to the green.

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You oar so cool.

Sorry I couldn't myself. Nice oars

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[lifelinksplit]

Lol. Those are my buddies that he just picked up. Reminded me I really want a set of square tops with shoal cuts when I find an extra g laying around...

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[I've seen black diamonds!]

We're doing a boat trip from Sitka to Juneau with my wife's family in the middle of July. I should have time to fish a day or two on either end of the trip. Where should I fish? What species should I go after with a fly rod (with my brother in law who sort of knows what he's doing). Recommended guide services? Books to read? I'll be doing plenty of research, but I'm betting some of you can't help me get started.

Thanks

[neckdeep]

Mid-July the kings are winding down and the silvers aren't in yet. If you really want to get a king, probably should try at the beginning of the trip. That leaves you with the "lesser" salmon sport fishery. What can I say....the first few times you fight a chum on a fly rod its thrilling but by the 10th time the thrill is gone. Sockeye and pinks aren't that thrilling to begin with.

Stream fishing is usually great that time of year. Trout and dollies are keyed onto eggs and are putting on weight.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

^^^^ thanks

Managed to leave work early today and get over to a creek. The air was warmer and the water more clear than I expected. Couldn't move anybody with a dry, but the streamer action was great. Fish are starting to spread out. Pretty much every time I drifted my fly up against deep heavy cover it would get wacked. Lost a bunch of flies this way. Will tie more tonight after my kid's little league game.

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[romeo tango]

back from 3 days fishing the Quincy Lake WLR, Columbia River Gorge
windy AF. No hook-ups ....

identified 30+ bird species,
hiking to the hanging lakes above the gorge more than made up for the fishing ....

still can't post pics, is it me or the box fan?
.

[romeo tango]

.

.... Trout and dollies are keyed onto eggs ....

if egg patterns and beads aren't working, try throwing flesh flies ....

.

[Rasputin]

It was a dazzlingly beautiful day out, which allowed me to endure the wickedly bitter wind, out the Northeast, which seemed to have a mind to cause me torment, timing gusts while I was casting, and only resting once I gave up for the day.

The fishing was not good, though there were many bugs on the water, the bright sun kept most of the fish from rising, and the nymphing yielded no bites for most of the day. After the finally started rising sporadically, I switched to drys. I did get one to rise on a march brown, but it wasn't more than a fingerling who refused at the last second. Eventually I gave up on a double dry rig, and hanged an olive nymph off of a chubby, and caught a feisty smaller sized trout.

The wind eventually won, and I headed home, stopping to jaw with, and show pics (from other, better days) to another fisherman I'd met there before. It was certainly worthwhile, but I'm plumb tuckered out.

[lifelinksplit]

Maybe this summer I'll get some fish pics but I'm lazy. Camped out on the river for 4 days fishing and letting the dogs run and bring back elk parts. Great weather beside the W and the old lady pulled a few nice cutties on dries which is a nice change of pace. Bears have been moving around too as we had one around camp.

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[Rasputin]

Yesterday I went to the river, and found something interesting, that the flow, at the upper confluence I often fish, from the Bitterroot was greater than the flow from the Clark Fork. I hadn't seen this since last spring, but it did nothing for the fishing. I was unable to get any of the periodically rising fish to bite for most of the evening, until I had developed a painfully sour mood. It was at the peak of this mood, that a crafty troutfish grabbed the Griffith's gnat I was trailing behind a big ass Renegade. It was indeed a crafty move, and I only discovered the take when I tried to lift my line up to cast again, and in a flash the fish was gone. Nooooooo! said I, before I quit fishing in disgust with myself.

Today after waking up late, and returning the phone call from the love of my life, She Of All Surpassing Beauty, as I like to call her (my mom who is not known for her gushing appraisals of people, nor even very kind ones, told me after meeting SOASB "Well you certainly didn't exaggerate about her looks."), I felt lucky to be alive, and decided that it was a good time to go fishing.

Instead of my usual haunts, I felt nudged to wet my line at the "Little fish catching spot" in downtown Missoula. It's closer than my usual fishing access spot, which was desireable, as I discovered before heading out, that my truck had a fully flat tire, so I would have to use pedal power to get where I was going (I just didn't feel up to changing the tire, it would have cut into my fishing time).

I tried out a purple chubby with a #12 prince nymph hanger, which produced several refusals of the chubby, so I decided to switch to a brown skwalla, which eventually got grabbed fiercely, when I wasn't looking, by a self hooking, strong pulling, high jumping brown trout, who rudely broke off my skwalla in an attempt to ruin the good mood instilled by SOASB! I prayed fervent prayers to the God of flyfishing (and of Heaven and Earth) to send me another fish, and tied on another brown skwalla.

Time passed by, and I teetered on the edge of losing my good mood, when I saw another brown troutfish rise and grab my bug, which did not break off, and I landed a slim 15 incher. I burst into song, and praised the God of flyfishing (and of the dayspring of all life), and looked up into the sky to see an Osprey circling high above the river, before hovering, folding back its wings, and diving into the river with a large splash! It emerged without a fish, then made a bigger circle before repeating the action, and emerging a second time, this time with a fish! It just goes to show, that just because a crafty trout tricks you when you're in a bad mood, and just because a burly brown trout steals your brown skwalla, you can still succeed with a little help from the God of flyfishing (and of all else everywhere) if you have another brown skwalla in the box, or if you happen to be a high flying osprey. The end.

[romeo tango]

spent the day fishing the Columbia at the mouth of the Colville River from shore,
usually a productive zone.

Wind was picking up as the barometer dropped, no fish for me ....

on the other hand, the balsamroot is in full bloom and a large murder of crows
kept me entertained

.

[swimmy]

Good to be back on home water. Spent the last three days gettin' after it.





Bite was solid. Mix of rubber legs, worms, dips, and baetis nymphs.



Also grabbed this cool shot of the predator



And prey

[Rasputin]

Great Owl shot swimmy! Good to see you back on the river, I envy your ability to post pics.

I went fishing in downtown Missoula again where i caught the brown the other day, and it was raining steadily when I got there. The BWOs and skwallas were all over the water, and fish were rising everywhere, sometimes within five feet of me. I caught five fish on various olive drys (the rain was sinking flies at times so I kept swapping out) before the hatch ended and they stopped rising.

I swapped to a purple chubby with a pink worm dropper. I had a fish rise on the chubby, and snagged him behind the pectoral fin, with the worm, which spurred a furious fight from a fat foot long cutthroat. I later had a string take on the worm, which was probably the largest fish of the day, but it came off the hook after a couple seconds. None of the fish I landed were much more than a foot long, but they all were girthy for their length, and felt strong. A fun day on the river.

Once (or if) the up-loader gets fixed, I'll let loose with a photo dump.