Fishing Megathread: Looking For Big Girls Who swallow

[fattyflattie 4640]

Killing it up there @troph

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

I can confirm @troph screams like a girl when she comes tight on a fish 😝

[Deej 77848]

Dinks this morning, but it was fun. Crushing wacky-rigged Senkos. 

 

[Mac8111 2136]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuYOTQoAnZI/?igshid=YmM0MjE2YWMzOA==

Truth

[troph 25232]

26 landed so far I think 5 nights out. Remember when I was asking what the fuck is wrong with me? Uh, fishing the wrong state, that’s what’s wrong with me, haha. Tonight was a 3 wt for the hell of it. Nice action, all under 12 inches. I did hook and work to release two larger ones didn’t want to break my rod. Easy dusk fishing and a lot of fun. 

[MalibuSheriff 1095]

Tiny brookies were willing Saturday outside of Estes for camp pickup.  Unfortunately, no long Colorado high country cutthroat trip in the cards this year. 
 

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

When I see brookies, I always think of Morbo the news anchor from Futurama discussing his children:

[troph 25232]

I'm gonna get me a cut throat in the high country even if I have to schedule that hike on our drive back to Texas on August 1.

[MalibuSheriff 1095]

1 hour ago, troph said:

I'm gonna get me a cut throat in the high country even if I have to schedule that hike on our drive back to Texas on August 1.

The most beautiful fish that swims in freshwater.  Rio Grande cutthroat from last year’s trip caught in a southern Colorado alpine lake:

Edited July 12, 2023 by MalibuSheriff

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Evening drake session on the Fork. Still so much water it’s tough to find spots from the bank.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Someone say high country cutties?

 

[Chewbacca 7830]

I'm gonna get me a cut throat in the high country even if I have to schedule that hike on our drive back to Texas on August 1.

If you want to cheat, there is a lake in RMNP that is shocked solely with greenback cutts.

Evening drake session on the Fork. Still so much water it’s tough to find spots from the bank.

Yeah, this runoff doesn't want to end.

[Deej 77848]

17 hours ago, troph said:

I'm gonna get me a cut throat in the high country even if I have to schedule that hike on our drive back to Texas on August 1.

Go to New Zealand

 

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

Can't speak to the video itself, but that's a brown, for starters.

[troph 25232]

13 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Evening drake session on the Fork. Still so much water it’s tough to find spots from the bank.

Always welcome to head over here whether I’m fishing or not …

 

 

33 fish caught and counting …. No run off issues here. 🙂 

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by troph

[Brisketexan 106923]

Heading in from an offshore trip out of Newport Beach - we got into barracuda, it was plenty fun. But highlight was this detour on the way in: a pair of freaking blue whales:

[Kennythetiger 9632]

On 7/10/2023 at 10:54 PM, troph said:

26 landed so far I think 5 nights out. Remember when I was asking what the fuck is wrong with me? Uh, fishing the wrong state, that’s what’s wrong with me, haha. Tonight was a 3 wt for the hell of it. Nice action, all under 12 inches. I did hook and work to release two larger ones didn’t want to break my rod. Easy dusk fishing and a lot of fun. 

If I remember correctly you’re around the Hanging Lake area. Ate lunch here one time, and it was absolutely delicious:  https://www.whitehousepizza.com/

[troph 25232]

3 hours ago, Kennythetiger said:

If I remember correctly you’re around the Hanging Lake area. Ate lunch here one time, and it was absolutely delicious:  https://www.whitehousepizza.com/

funny you should say, we've been in this area twice now - covid and now this month. my wife has only eaten at white house pizza. granted we don't go out often, we are cooking a lot - there's a whole foods here and the basic grocery store is pretty solid.  in any event, we are going out tonight and I said like hell we are going for pizza.  all of that said, their pizza is really, really good.  like it would make it in austin easily good.

[troph 25232]

For those that haven’t see trout rise in a hatch watch this video, it’s not even indicative of the full experience and there are fish rising just outside this video on the left and right (you can hear them if you turn up the volume).  Easily 30 a minute. 
 

 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

8 hours ago, troph said:

For those that haven’t see trout rise in a hatch watch this video, it’s not even indicative of the full experience and there are fish rising just outside this video on the left and right (you can hear them if you turn up the volume).  Easily 30 a minute. 
 

 

To wit, your friendly neighbor from Phoenix said there weren’t fish in that stretch! 😉

This brookie pic just popped up on my phone. I love brookies.

 

[troph 25232]

2 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

To wit, your friendly neighbor from Phoenix said there weren’t fish in that stretch! 😉

This brookie pic just popped up on my phone. I love brookies.

 

Wait who said fish were not in there ?  
 

for those following along - that’s the stretch that @DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt came over to fish and said just wait, and we waited and waited and then BAM we caught 14 in like 20 mins. I was completely unprepared for that. Shaking and anxious and a complete mess. I’ve since learned how to roll through this scene with more grace. 

the fish are starting to rise earlier but that night it was just right before dusk. we had maybe 30 mins before it was pitch black. head lamps and all, a fish in the net at all times, two on the line at once three times. it was unreal for me,

just another day in the valley for hollywood. man thinks like a trout I tell ya. probably eats a bowl of frosted drakes for breakfast like tony the tiger eats frosted flakes.
 

Edited July 14, 2023 by troph

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

I have eaten lots of bugs, but only because I usually forget my buff.

I do make it a point to eat the first salmon fly that lands on my face when fishing that hatch.

[Braff Zacklin 13676]

That's hard core, my man. Salmonfly's big. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not small. No, no, no.

[Johnny Chimpo 489]

Yea, that sounds foul ha. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

They are very crunchy and earthy.

[troph 25232]

Had cricket tacos once in Mexico - I’ll let my kids deal with the protein shortage when it comes. Me?  no thanks. 

[Jerry Callo 8960]

Tied some Llanolopes this afternoon. It's been a minute since I've done any hair spinning. Ugly flies catch fish, though.

[Armybrat 41416]

SIAP

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19590]

Caught a few chunky rainbows on the San Juan on Saturday. 

[troph 25232]

2 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Caught a few chunky rainbows on the San Juan on Saturday. 

I mean that's a big girl that swallows if there ever was one.

[tequila 321]

Advice needed.  

I'm heading to fish the Green outside of Flaming Gorge from a drift boat in a few weeks.  Any recommendations for a fly rod/reel/line set up? I've never fished from a drift boat before, and am a relative newcomer to fly fishing in general.

Thanks in advance.

[Johnny Chimpo 489]

Hardy shadow 5 wt and a $200ish reel would keep you in business for a long time as you grow your skills. 
 

I always liked these guys for gear reviews. 
 

https://www.yellowstoneangler.com/gear-review/

[The Royal We 3100]

8 hours ago, tequila said:

Advice needed.  

I'm heading to fish the Green outside of Flaming Gorge from a drift boat in a few weeks.  Any recommendations for a fly rod/reel/line set up? I've never fished from a drift boat before, and am a relative newcomer to fly fishing in general.

Thanks in advance.

You should be good with any decent 5 wt setup IMO. I haven't had to make too many long casts while fishing from a drift boat, just a lot of roll casting and flipping from one bank over to the other when fishing water like the Green.

TFO is hard to beat for someone still pretty new to fly fishing.

Edited July 18, 2023 by The Royal We

[Chewbacca 7830]

20 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Caught a few chunky rainbows on the San Juan on Saturday. 

Nice fish, but in the future please don't wrap things around trout to get a better grip (and don't pick them up with dry hands).  They have a protective slime coat on them that helps protect them from disease.  When this slime gets removed it leaves them more likely to contract disease and die.

[Pescado_Rojo 19590]

10 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Nice fish, but in the future please don't wrap things around trout to get a better grip (and don't pick them up with dry hands).  They have a protective slime coat on them that helps protect them from disease.  When this slime gets removed it leaves them more likely to contract disease and die.

Yea, so I did wet both my hands. The guide kind of insisted I use his glove to hold  the tail and I wanted to get the fish back in the water as fast as possible so I didn't want to stand there and argue with him while he was holding the fish out of water in the net. Point taken, though. 

[tequila 321]

You should be good with any decent 5 wt setup IMO. I haven't had to make too many long casts while fishing from a drift boat, just a lot of roll casting and flipping from one bank over to the other when fishing water like the Green.
TFO is hard to beat for someone still pretty new to fly fishing.

Thanks for the input. Question on gear… I have mostly saltwater based fly gear - my 5 wt setup is a hatch 5 and TFO axiom II (sw rod). Any reason that wouldn’t work?

We need to catch up sometime soon, it’s been a few years since you were in my office in Midland.

[Pescado_Rojo 19590]

2 minutes ago, tequila said:

Thanks for the input. Question on gear… I have mostly saltwater based fly gear - my 5 wt setup is a hatch 5 and TFO axiom II (sw rod). Any reason that wouldn’t work?

We need to catch up sometime soon, it’s been a few years since you were in my office in Midland.

No reason at all. That's a great setup for fresh or salt. 

ETA: I'd maybe think about putting on a trout/cold water specific fly line. My saltwater 6wt lines are too tip heavy to float all the way to the leader. I'd put fresh trout leaders on them (probably something like a 5x, but ask your guide if you have a way to get in touch with him/her). Your guide should provide tippet and flies. They will have pretty specific tippet/fly rigs to cover the water column, and they've probably have several pre-rigged.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Pescado_Rojo

[tequila 321]

No reason at all. That's a great setup for fresh or salt. 
ETA: I'd maybe think about putting on a trout/cold water specific fly line. My saltwater 6wt lines are too tip heavy to float all the way to the leader. I'd put fresh trout leaders on them (probably something like a 5x, but ask your guide if you have a way to get in touch with him/her). Your guide should provide tippet and flies. They will have pretty specific tippet/fly rigs to cover the water column, and they've probably have several pre-rigged.

Good thoughts here. Thanks!

[troph 25232]

After fishing with not Hollywood I think I may upgrade my 5 wt TFO. I’ve been a proponent and still am, I really likE my 3 wt TFO but before next season I’ll move on. 4-5 years, not bad.

[hookemATL 12294]

So I have a call today @ 10am then I am going to fly fishing a creek/stream.  Anyone ever fished bull creek around the St. Edwards Greenbelt?  i love the skinny water and it looks like it holds fish but just curious if anyone has any experience.

[Johnny Chimpo 489]

I’ve used some higher end rods and some cheaper rods and the lesser rods feel super clunky and rigid when I borrow someone’s, like I’m casting with a log. 

[texastough 1142]

PSA to all rod shoppers -- the fly line pairing with your rod can make a huge difference to how the rod feels and performs. A lot of fly lines now are made 1/2 size or a full size heavy, to help load all the modern rods that have skewed toward fast action. Because a lot of rods and lines have together crept upward toward the next line weight, a lot of times when someone chooses a rod and randomly puts a line on it, the pairing will work. But, some rods are still built specifically for an AFTMA standard weight line, and they hate the newer heavy lines. Works the other way too (fast/stiffer rods not working well with AFTMA standard weight lines. 

For faster action saltwater, I love the Scientific Anglers "Infinity" line.  For my saltwater rods built to AFTMA standard (e.g. Scott rods and a lot of Winston) I go with the Sci Anglers "Bonefish" which is AFTMA standard.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

On 7/18/2023 at 8:31 AM, tequila said:

Advice needed.  

I'm heading to fish the Green outside of Flaming Gorge from a drift boat in a few weeks.  Any recommendations for a fly rod/reel/line set up? I've never fished from a drift boat before, and am a relative newcomer to fly fishing in general.

Thanks in advance.

Are you fishing with a guide? Why not just fish his gear? No need to buy a bunch of shit IMO.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

1 hour ago, Johnny Chimpo said:

I’ve used some higher end rods and some cheaper rods and the lesser rods feel super clunky and rigid when I borrow someone’s, like I’m casting with a log. 

On that recent Green trip I did, we were all eddied out eating lunch and I saw some fish and grabbed someone’s rod. It wouldn’t roll cast. Like literally couldn’t pick up the line and get it out there. It was some Chinese knockoff POS.*

*that dude caught more fish with that rod than anyone else on the trip.

**fishing sucked and the bobbers were on so I ended up eating fungus most of the trip.

***I caught two fish the whole trip, 1 on boomers. In the boat, buddy hands me the net and I promptly drop it in the water.

****There is a video of the entire pathetic scene and none of you will ever see it.

[The Royal We 3100]

14 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Are you fishing with a guide? Why not just fish his gear? No need to buy a bunch of shit IMO.

@tequila

Yea, this too. I have annoyed a couple of guides by asking to use my own gear. By the time you meet them at the put-in spot, the good guides tend to have them all rigged up with hopper/dropper setups or whatever they think is going to work that day.

I need to pay more attention to the line I'm throwing. My best gear I bought from a friend who had a tackle fetish and needed to downsize his collection. I have no clue what line is on 2 or 3 of my reels.

[The Royal We 3100]

Now I'm running down the rabbit hole on fly lines.

I've got a Loomis NRX 9' 5wt LP - which is probably 5 or 6 years old. I bought it from a friend and he gave me a Ross reel with unknown line on it as well. The line does have a sinking tip on it so I assume he had it set up for streamers and it really loads the rod up easily - maybe too much. I've got an extra spool for the reel and am thinking about setting this one up for dry flies. After a little googling for a good line match for this rod I found quite a few recommendations for SA Amplitude Smooth line:

https://www.finandfire.com/collections/freshwater-fly-lines/products/scientific-anglers-amplitude-smooth-trout-fly-line?variant=31661615841335

The Rio Premier Gold has some fans too.

https://www.finandfire.com/collections/freshwater-fly-lines/products/premier-rio-gold-fly-line?variant=32199034241079

I'm probably not really proficient enough to be able to tell the difference, but I need all the help I can get to make good casts. Any opinions?

[tequila 321]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Are you fishing with a guide? Why not just fish his gear? No need to buy a bunch of shit IMO.

Self confessed gear whore.  

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

12 minutes ago, tequila said:

Self confessed gear whore.  

Well then, you’ll want to buy an H3 to pair with that hatch.

[Pescado_Rojo 19590]

14 minutes ago, The Royal We said:

Now I'm running down the rabbit hole on fly lines.

I've got a Loomis NRX 9' 5wt LP - which is probably 5 or 6 years old. I bought it from a friend and he gave me a Ross reel with unknown line on it as well. The line does have a sinking tip on it so I assume he had it set up for streamers and it really loads the rod up easily - maybe too much. I've got an extra spool for the reel and am thinking about setting this one up for dry flies. After a little googling for a good line match for this rod I found quite a few recommendations for SA Amplitude Smooth line:

https://www.finandfire.com/collections/freshwater-fly-lines/products/scientific-anglers-amplitude-smooth-trout-fly-line?variant=31661615841335

The Rio Premier Gold has some fans too.

https://www.finandfire.com/collections/freshwater-fly-lines/products/premier-rio-gold-fly-line?variant=32199034241079

I'm probably not really proficient enough to be able to tell the difference, but I need all the help I can get to make good casts. Any opinions?

Every Rio line I've ever owned sucked. I'm a big Scientific Anglers fan, so I'd go with the Amplitude. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Fuck Rio. Garbage. Absolute fucking garbage.