Oh I'm sure you've already nabbed a pile of "fat hogs".

Giggidy.

I'm a married man and my wife is addicted to running.

And college was a long time ago

Isn’t that the same guy who also posts a lot about his fish tank critters, he’ll catch them, bring them home and study their eating habits etc?

Pretty sure that’s him, watched a bunch of his stuff

Loved seeing how he rigs crawdads with a pre-weighted hook on the backside, still have a half full bag of them that I didn’t catch anything on last year... because my rigging sucked :shake:

All kinds of opportunities just read up on an area and go. I’ve never done a guided service but I think they would put you on fish quicker then on your own.
Anytime I fish new waters I stop at visitor centers 1st and fly shops 2nd.
Visitor Centers are staffed by local volunteers and if they don’t know info they will call their Uncle to find out or their Uncle will come to talk with you.
Big Waters often do require drift boats or limited wading.
Part of the big adventure for me is the unknown, hence why I don’t do guides.
When you fished RMNP were you in the park or in Estes fishing the Big Thompson? Park fishing is subpar IMO.

On smaller water, I usually just wing it.

Some of those places were big waters, so I fished with a guide for at least the first or second day. Getting a guide just literally saves time figuring out where to go, what the fish like, etc. On bigger rivers it can cut down immensely on the hunting around trying to figure the fish out thing. A big river can be as puzzling as a big lake.

Maybe the fish are hugging the banks, maybe they're hanging among the rocks 15 feet down in the main channel. I decided a long time ago i wasn't going to waste a lot of time trying to figure out where the fish were after driving 10+ hours, spending all that money, etc. I wanted to at least have some clues as to where and what to fish.

After a day with a guide I have all the info I need for the rest of my time there. Although on occasion I've retained the same guide twice on a trip. Or every time I visit that area. I've had guides that are just founts of information. Some where great instructors on everything from casting technique and mechanics to fly selection. And a couple have been just great story-tellers. A few have become great friends. And what's $300-$600 between friends?

But if you're not going to get a guide, you should talk to the local fly shop guys. Walk in, buy a few flies, maybe a net or some tippets/leaders, chat them up about the water conditions, etc. Sometimes you get lucky and some local customer will offer to show you around, or at least point you in the right direction about places to check out and/or flies that are probably working that week.

So I've been doing a little fishing here in Anthem at the community ponds. There are supposedly some 8-lbers or bigger, but I haven't seen one yet. I did get a couple 3-4 lbers today though. They're starting to sit on their beds and pair up, so I probably won't be fishing these ponds for awhile. But it was fun while it lasted.

https://scontent.fphx1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...ea&oe=5EC43396

If the weather will cooperate and I can get my work done we are going to jump on the crappy here shortly. I live on one of the best crappie lakes in se Ks , generally to busy to take advantage of it.

Good luck finding a spot, seems like every person in Kansas has a rod and reel in their hands.

Right ,this lake doesn’t get terrible pressure

You are a Jedi Master

Spring seems to finally be in full swing around here as well, let’s open things up with some heat and dry winds

1. I only fly fish (unless I’m fishing for salmon to fill the freezer, in which case I use a net)
2. My lakes and streams are still fast frozen. I don’t think i would walk on anything right yet, but no way to fish right now. And there’s still enough snow on the lawn that I can’t really practice casting.

So, enjoy fishing and think of those of us in the frozen North.

Breakup in Alaska, it’s just such a different thing... it could be 50 degrees tops, but with the right conditions you’re wearing shorts in it

Yep. We lived in the Alaska Bush Right where Lake Aleknagik emptied into the Wood river for several years. Large chunks of ice would break off and drift down the river. It was fun to ride those chunks for a bit. The ice would recede and recede and recede until around Memorial Day, there was roughly 20-30’ of water from the shore to the remaining ice. And then the remaining ice would break up and flow out. Frequently there would be a large jam of ice for 18-24 hours before the pieces ground up enough to flow out. I heard the breakup one year - really loud crack, almost like a rifle, but deeper. And then the ice jam would grind together as the water underneath the ice flowed out. That grinding was a really odd sound. Standing on the shore, you could feel it coming through your feet as well as hearing it.

And whether you wear shorts really depends upon the preceding weeks. If it’s been -20 for 3-4 weeks and suddenly warms up to 20, it was quite frequent to see people in shorts. For comparison, imagine that it’s 10 degrees for 3 weeks and suddenly warms up to 50. That 50 would feel a lot warmer than if it was 65-70 for a week or so in the spring and then suddenly dropped to 50.

Breakup is messy. It’s a good time of year to get out of the state. But at the same time, you can see the days getting longer. We get almost 6 minutes of extra daylight per day. So the difference from April 1 and April 30 is about 3 extra hours of daylight. And this is the time of year when the sun sets after 9:00 and you can just feel summer coming.

But right now.... no fishing. Which really sucks.

This year, I aim to get a whole grayling setup. While not as large as rainbows or char, grayling are a great fish on a fly and they are gorgeous. Iridescent colors of turquoise, purple and gold against a tan background. A uniquely shaped dorsal fin. A truly aristocratic fish. So, this year requires that I get a grayling setup. I’m thinking a 3 weight rod. I’m partial to Winston but I might go Loomis. Hatch reel with a spare spool for a sinking line because grayling sometimes hole up in deep pools and need some streamers to entice them to bite. So mid June I will aim for some lake trout and grayling and I’ll post an update.

I loved breakup, definitely messy but it meant summer was on the way, and summers in Fairbanks were great... it routinely got into the 80s up there

Walking out of a dark bar at 3am into sunshine took some getting used to, but yeah summers up there were awesome

I was digging around and Winston doesn't sell Boron III rods (of any type) any more. They were great rods. Only the AIR is available and it's almost $1K. I don't mind spending that on a fly rod but not on something so specialized or where the cost is not needed. Maybe on a 12wt if I were going after GTs in the Seychelles, but not a grayling rod.

But today I saw a Boron IIIx 8.5 foot, 3 weight on a local classified page (alaskaslist.com - great place to buy guns as well). Looks like a lodge had ordered it and never used it. Got it for $350. So now I need a reel and I'm good to go.

I am truly needing a day on the water, though. Lakes are starting to thaw and some rivers are opening and I am just itching to go. I talked to a buddy of mine and he suggested we look at floating the Kenai in a week or two. If we do, I will post pictures. In the interim, I'm reduced to watching fly fishing videos on YouTube instead of working. I came across the following video, which was shot on the Copper River. I've fished the Copper on several occasions and this is a pretty accurate depiction: flying in; inflating catarafts; trying to keep your fish from tangling in the trees; lots of dead salmon. It just doesn't show the bears.

Anyway, this is fish porn and I cannot wait until September.

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