2024 Fish Pic Thread

[Rasputin]

When I arrived at the river today, I saw another fisherman who I'd met a couple times before. I walked toward him and told him I intended to go downstream where he had come from, and he showed me the nymph he was having luck with, and as we talked he caught a fish on said nymph. It had a "hot head", a fluorescent orange beadhead, he suggested they might be feeding on eggs.

Among the array of nymphs ISBD sent me last winter, was one with a fluorescent pink bead head and a flashy body, which proved out as a great pattern for the day. It caught this beast:





Having already made my day with a big fish, I felt free to swap out to a baetis emerger, when I saw fish sipping flies downstream in glassy slow water. I was pleased to get a rise, and land a more modest sized trout.





I switched back to the nymph rig, and caught three more fish on the pink head (two smaller trout and one whitefish), it was a another good outing in the land of the big sky.

[halliday]

The Pumpkin Head Midge is a killer. Nice fish BTW.


https://midcurrent.com/videos/how-to...in-head-midge/

[romeo tango]

the Kettle is a pretty little river and gets very little love
as far as I know, only wild fish that are tough to find
spent the last two days flogging the water,
landed one nice whitefish on Rasputin's favorite

EDIT: I did a little dive and found conflicting information on stocking. The locals say it isn't stocked
.

.

[Rasputin]

Yesterday I went to the nearby sporting good's store and bought some "flies". After the great results with the hot head nymph, I decided I should pick up a few hot head power worms (I also bought rainbow warrior nymphs, olive CDC emergers, and from the clearance rack, black Pat's with blue legs), and give them a go. Fishing yesterday yielded no big fish, but three out of four of the new lures caught fish, though they were little trout and whitefish.

At the end of the day I got a strong take on the worm and, due to my overly manly hook-set, snapped off the worm. So I tied on another, and after a short bit, hooked a decent fish and after a short fight, this worm broke off also! So, today I began the day with only one hot head worm, which immediately went to work, hooking up on the second cast, but it came off the hook. This was repeated a while later with a bigger stronger fish.

I didn't let it get me down, and patiently plied the water where I'd caught a big one the day before yesterday, but all was silent there. It had been snowing for a while, and my hands were cold, so I decided to put on gloves and hike way down stream to Long Pool, and get myself all warmed up in the process. Long Pool produced four fish, two cut]bows, and two rainbows, and only one them was small! (not pictured)








Quite pleased with the catching of trouts, I made my way upstream to an area, I dubbed "Wagon Beach", so named because it runs past a beach with a steel Gorilla cart which washed up there at some point during runoff. The water along Wagon Beach is fed by Wagon Beach riffle, and is a deep run which looks VERY fishy, but I've only caught a couple little trout there before, at the bottom of the riffle. Today, armed with my trusty hot head worm, it produced a very stocky, smaller troutfish.





Continuing back upstream, I wanted to fish a place where two channels combined and the water of a riffle slid along slow water of the entering channel. I dropped my rig in the water intending to strip out line to cast, but before I could, a feisty brown trout grabbed the very popular hot head worm (which had lost much of its paint by this time).





My first cast toward the seam I was aiming for fell short, but yielded a hookup from a small fish, which came off the hook. So I waded closer to the seam, and on the first cast, I hooked up on anther big fish, which after jumping for me, came off the hook. I headed back up-stream and caught another small one where I had started the day, again on the worm. The black Pat's was ignored all day, as if the fish were telling me it was "so two weeks ago". Happy Halloween, or as I will remember it, "The Day of the Hot Head Power worm".

[stealurface831]

rest in peace to legend bob popovics. the greatest to ever put thread to hook.

https://www.millhousepodcast.com/bob-popovics

[BobMc]

It’s getting cold, I need to bring a heater if we go out again. Even the dog was shivering.

[jpcm]

Weekend trip to our favorite run down RV Park. Cold, cloudy, and solid fishing. Wifey stuck her PB brown





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[Rasputin]

Grats to Wifey, nice fish!

My day got off to a pretty good start, once again the hot head worm produced.





The very next cast in the same area, I hooked into another nice one, but sadly, after getting it close, my line came back without my worm.





Shortly afterwards, I lost the worm I'd just tied on. I made my way downstream to the confluence of two channels and caught a couple smalls.





I trudged all the way down to Long Pool, hoping to repeat my Halloween performance, but only catching a couple little ones, and sadly having a heavy fish come off the hook close up. Wagon beach produced nothing, so I ate lunch and headed back toward my starting point. A cast-length downstream from where I'd caught my first one of the day, I got another nice one.

[romeo tango]

your local fishery is exciting and excellent!

[Rasputin]

your local fishery is exciting and excellent!

Not to mention, high in dioxins! The maintenance of good sized fishes is aided by FWPS's advisory that Clark Fork fish are unsafe for human consumption. I don't know what effects on the fish the toxins have, but they don't keep the fish from getting big and heavy.

[Rasputin]

Um........wow.









What more can I say?

[Rasputin]

Today when I got to the New Place (I really need a better name for it, now that I've been going there for a while), there was a guy jamming out in his car. After I got geared up, he opened his window, and wished me luck. I told him that I liked his music, which he informed me was Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and we had a conversation for quite a while. While I wanted to go fishing, I knew that investing in a good hearted exchange would insure that I would catch big fish today, and I was right. This fatso was the same fish I caught a month and a half ago, back when I first fished "Black Pat's Hole":





I went downstream to try my luck at Long Pool, but only managed to catch a little trout, and a pretty view of Snowbowl off in the distance, looking frosty.





After catching a whitefish and another little trout at Wagon Beach, I headed back to where I started. Just a stone's throw before I got to where I caught the fatboy, I caught a 13 incher, just before the sun set.





Then I saw Mitt (not his real name) who I've met there a few times. We talked, and I showed him pics of my best fish today, and yesterday, and he told me of an easier way to hike in. As he forded the river, I hooked into another nice fish. Being friendly is usually really good luck for me, and tonight confirmed my bias in believing so.





I haven't watched the news since the night before the election, and frankly it's felt really good, I don't know who won anything, except I have been been winning friends and enjoying God's creation. Good night.

[Rasputin]

Well I still haven't checked the election results, but I bumped into a friend in the store who ominously suggested the election had not gone well (he expected I shared his views, and I probably do), before I cut him off.

Having completed my chores for the day, I went fishing, of course. I went to my old standby place where I didn't expect much, except that I would catch mostly whitefish, especially since I rigged a rainbow warrior trailing a worm, and whitefish love rainbow warriors almost as much as hare's ears. Long and skinny, the biggest whitefish came first.





After a few more whitees, I finally landed a trout, and interestingly it was not a rainbow, nor in a place where I expected a little brown to be feeding.





While the fishing was pretty good, I was still troubled by what my friend had said, and spent some of my time on the river letting my emotional depths erupt. There was no one around, and I strongly believe that vibrating my being according to how I feel inside is a healing thing which often brings about what i really want. Along with the roaring, I had some choice words for God about what sort of outcome I'd like to see, as well as strong complaints about the rather large trout I'd lost earlier. God responded, at the moment I was saying something about losing the one big trout that I'd hooked, with another big trout. Hush my mouth. It just goes to confirm my bias that God listens to me and wants me to be happy, as long as I am painfully open and honest. My bias confirmed again! To wit:

[swimmy]

Beautiful Fall day on the water. Might be the last float of the year?

[Rasputin]

Last float? Say it ain't so!

BTW, the lumpy blaze orange touqe is a must for fishing this time of year. I'm not a deer, don't shoot!

[swimmy]

I’d like to get in another float or two but my schedule gets tight the next few weeks.

But I’m pretty good at blowing off responsibilities so we’ll see...

[BobMc]

Could be one of our last Saturdays of the season. It was pretty cold out there today. I’d hoped the heater would’ve kept us warm, but the wind kept blowing it out.

We managed to get 16 to the boat, kept one early on while our hands were still functional.





One more for the freezer.

[criscam]

My youngest has recently taken a keen interest in fishing lately. Pretty psyched to get back out after a little hiatus!



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[Rasputin]

[BobMc]

My youngest has recently taken a keen interest in fishing lately. Pretty psyched to get back out after a little hiatus!



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?? That was a heart emoji, but the board is kinda fucked up. You should come fish with us.

[Rasputin]

On my back cast, I hooked a stick down the shore a piece, so when I got it unhooked, I just threw from where I was standing. I caught two fish on my next two casts! I love coincidences when they work for me.

[criscam]

?? That was a heart emoji, but the board is kinda fucked up. You should come fish with us.

definitely!

[Rasputin]

Aside from periods of cold wind that was brutal on wet hands, it was a great day on the river. I caught decent fish on both the hot head worm, and the flash back pheasant tail I used as a trailer. It has been great fishing this fall, and today was one of the best days out. It ended by hooking and landing a nice one (bottom) while I was talking to a hunter across the river. You gotta love it when someone's there to see you succeed!

[bad dancer]

Last of the Coho runs on my local river

[Rasputin]

Strong work!