Mid Summer Update

My last update left off with a family camping trip in a beautiful area.  Since then, I ended up going back to that general area the next two weeks in a row, due to a little obsession I developed.  Nothing of note has come from that so far, but I'll update if that changes.

Still, it was good to do some more exploring in that area and see some new water.  Most of the fish I caught were small, but I had a good time finding them.

I even got in another camping trip, this time a bit more focused on fishing.  That could have turned out a little better, but I ended up getting pretty sick in the morning, which is rare. 

Holdsworth also got sick a little while after I did, so we determined that the culprit was the cold brewed coffee we bought the day before.  That seal popped off pretty easily.

That part was miserable.



The next week was a solo trip spent exploring, mostly.  No big fish were caught, but I still bent my rod and saw some new places.



When the valleys are blazing hot, it's good to get to the high country.



Not all my exploration was fruitless.  This beautiful little pond holds some serious surprises.



Here's a small one:



Another little pond nearby looked much fishier, but actually didn't appear to have anything in it.  Crazy how that works out sometimes.



I did quite a bit of hiking to get around.




Cross another off the list.







Neat little lake.





I even got in some small stream time.




That was an interesting couple of weeks and I've had a lot of fun.  Much of that time was spent trying to accomplish an old goal of mine, but it'll have to wait for the planets to align just right, I guess.  Sorry, but I have to keep it vague for now.

This past weekend, I needed a break from my obsession so I just went out and had some fun.  Big tigers were the main attraction and I got to play with a few of them.

First up was this big guy that hit my fly, but ended up getting hooked on its pelvic fin.  At that size, a backwards battle was pretty grueling.  My forearm is pretty stiff today, holding my rod in that arc for so long.



This thing was all sorts of special.  Nearly 6lbs with a tall body and a big split kype.



What a beast!



Here's a video of the release:



Next up on the fly rod was a hefty female:



And then another beastly male showed up on a jig:



Chunky.



Here's a video of that release:



A couple of others teased me but were afraid to commit.  One was another big male.   That's okay, I was happy with my day and decided to leave that spot.

I drove to a wet hillside dotted with ponds and poked around for a bit in hopes of finding some "unknown" fish in relatively untouched waters.



This pond was actually pretty deep in the middle, but all I found were salamanders.



If I were a brookie...



No dice.  It's too bad there didn't seem to be any fish, but crossing those off my list of hunches is great.



Time to go.




On my way off the mountain, I had to stop and fish the gorgeous little stream.







The upper reaches looked great, but I didn't see any fish.  Farther downstream, some wild cutthroat and some rainbows were holding in obvious places.











Great little stream.




A small tributary was followed for a bit and that led to a few holes loaded with willing fish.



It was a great note to end the day on.    The previous weeks were a bit nerve-wracking at times, but they also provided some great scenery and solace.

This week was meant to blow off steam and that, I surely did.

Happy Fishing, Humans.