Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Rodney on August 15, 2006, 01:40:27 AM
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Every summer, while most are caught up in the Fraser salmon hype, we choose to spend a bit of down time by heading to the Thompson River instead of elevating our blood pressure on the big flow. :) The Thompson River is more well known for its steelhead and salmon fisheries, but between May and December, it provides a rainbow trout fishery that many flyfishermen dream about. Despite of the threats of riverside train derailments, water usage by farms, pollution from mines and other industries, We are extremely blessed to still have a relatively clean natural river that holds a pretty healthy population of wild trout.
It's a catch and release fishery, well, at least that has always been our objective. Regulations allow anglers to retain two trout per day, but it seems to be a pity to kill two lovely trout up to 18 inches in length after a total of eight hours driving time. For Nina and I, who are still pretty new to flyfishing, it is a learning step that is full of challenges and surprises. The killing part can wait until next month when those silver ones arrive in the Vedder. ;)
After hearing Shane and Carlo's stories from the T in the past two months, I was eager to get out there and try it agian this year. Some of the photographs that they have taken from the last few outings have been amazing. We decided to meet up with them last weekend, to seek out some secrets and capture some of the action on film. ;D Carlo's plan was to go solo on Saturday by leaving early, and meet up with us later on that day. Shane had to work on Saturday, so his fishing did not start until Sunday. Nina and I took it easy, we left Richmond at 11:30am after a slow crawl out of the bed. ;D
Our first stop was lunch at Tim Horton's at the Whatcom Road exit, followed by a visit to Reaction Fly and Tackle (http://www.reactionbaits.com), located convenient next to our lunch stop. ;) As usual, I wanted to pick out a selection of Thompson River flies so I would be well equipped. :) Luckily, Daryl was at the store, which means I could pick his brain apart on what I should be getting or doing on the flow. The store was awfully busy, most who came in were requesting a licence and a sockeye setup. Daryl and I talked about the dilemma of this trend. On one hand, it's welcoming business to any tacklestore, but at the same time no one can be sure whether this is good for the industry and sport in the long run.
After the shopping was done, we were off to Kamloops. Going to the Thompson/Okanagan is always a treat. I enjoy seeing the vegetation and climate changes as we leave the coastal mountain range. I love the interior dry heat as it is very similar to what I was used to back in Australia.
Last weekend was definitely rough. ;D We arrived in Kamloops to our accommodation for the weekend, A room at the Sandman Inn. ;D It was fully equipped with a kitchen, cable TV, SHOWER... Very rough indeed... ;D
After a quick early dinner, it was time to hit the flow. :)
Second part of Day One will come after I get some sleep. ;)
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Saturday August 12th (cont.)
At 7:00pm, we arrived at Juniper Beach, which is around 40 minutes west of Kamloops. Carlo's truck was already in the lot, he had been working his way up from Spences Bridge since that morning. :o The evening hours were still hot, but the cool breeze made it rather comfortable.
Last year we camped at Juniper Beach without realizing that trains run on both sides of the river on day and night. The first night was rather interesting, there wasn't much shut eyes going on in the tent. ::) This year, the hotel package was the only way to lure Nina along to the trip. ;)
We hiked to the river with our rods, to check out how the river was. After 30 minutes or so, Carlo made his way downstream and met up with us. He reported fair fishing throughout the day, with the odd large ones being caught. Our day by the river finished around dusk with only a couple of gentle taps at the end of the fly rods to show.
Saturday August 13th
Our second day started pretty late. ;) Early morning is simply not our thing. We woke up at 8:00am, took our time with the breakfast while watching Global's morning news hour. ;) We eventually reached the river at 10:30am. Our (late) morning stop was the Rock and River Rustic Retreat (http://www.rockandriverretreat.com), where anglers can park and fish for $10/day. Although paying to fish is so rare and almost unacceptable in BC, I find this is a small price to pay to have my car parked at a secured camp where washrooms are available.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_01.jpg)
My day started out rather, wet. ::) As usual, we decided to leave the wading shoes at home and stick with sandals. ;) While Nina was casting away just upstream from me, I took a fast plunge just several steps out from the river bank. ::) Not knowing what had just happened, Nina turned and was surprised to see me sitting in the water. I attempted to stand up, only to find myself falling on the butt again. ;D Oh well, air temperature was already above 30C, a pair of wet pants was not going to ruin the day. ;)
We proceeded to work our way to several spots further upstream, where the water was slightly more turbulent. Because the Thompson is so grand, each run takes a few hours to cover properly. The runs are usually broken up into smaller runs. Finding these trout is often like steelheading, walking is part of the prerequisites.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_02.jpg)
After a couple of hours, with the odd misses, we were still fishless. It wasn't surprising, as this game was still very new to us, but it sure was frustrating after waving that stick constantly under the scorching sun.
Nina eventually went further upstream from me to check out a spot where she thought was promising. I stayed behind to cover a run that looked rather interesting to me. Ten minutes later, I heard a scream "FISH ON!" from 300+ meters above me. I looked up, only to see Nina hanging onto the bent fly rod by the edge of a deep run. Armed with my backpack, cameras and rod, I began sprinting and hopping from one round boulder to the next.
"Hurry!", she yelled again.
Hurry? I wasn't about to kill myself on the rocks!
Immediately after that thought crossed my mind, I tripped and took a tumble over some boulders. ::) Wanting to get a shot of this fish, I quickly got up again and carry on with the hopping. :P I reached her a minute or so later, panting and almost crawling. "Hurry!", she said again. ::) It was a beautiful rainbow trout, sitting just below the surface. Although it had been on the line for several minutes, it was still very energetic and a mistake could easily pop the fish off. Nina guided it towards me as I held the landing net by the water. It darted straight out as soon as it approached the net. Second try only resulted in the same reaction. Third try brought the fish straight into the mesh. ;)
Relieved and joyful, Nina was all smile after a few hours of hunting. I just couldn't believe that she landed the first fish of the day, on the fly! ::) >:( Nevertheless, it was fantastic to see. I brought the camera out, captured a couple of photos of the fish and Nina. :)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_03.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_03) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_04.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_04)
After releasing the fish, Nina said that fish went for the fly during the first drift and came back again on the second. She was sure that more were around and determined to find another one. I gave the tailout of that run a shot but came up empty. It was less than a dozen casts later, Nina was into yet another fish! :o This time it was a much smaller trout, which grabbed the fly as it was being stripped in.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_05.jpg)
Absolutely stunned and disgusted by my own performance, I was now very determined to find a fish. I decided that I should go with a strike indicator while nymphing, because Carlo has been successful with this technique this year. We decided to work our way back down the river so we could have our lunch at the camp. As I fished along each run, I was finally having some good hits with one good sized fish that was briefly connected. ::)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_06.jpg)
We eventually reached the campsite, it was time for lunch. I was still fishless. :-\
Part three will come tonight. :)
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good job rodney. next time you should give martel a shot. never any preasure lots of room. lots of rainbows and salmon. salmon will take flies to as i found out last year when i hooked a chinook on a elk hair caddis. tight lines
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Great report and some awesome shots in there as well. I have to apologise now though, I found myself chuckling a bit to much as I was reading it. I feel your pain though, I have gone down many a time as well!! ;D ;D ;D
Looking forward to part 3!! ;)
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I'm going up there for the salmon and trout in a couple of weeks mabey i'll see u there i fish just above spences bridge some good runs in there with good sized fish! I find nymphing to be the best way to hook up on the big boys! While nymphing last year i hooked a nice jack that had his way with me and my 6wt untill i got pissed off and just forced him in! I was surprised my rod could handle that much stress!
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I'm going up there for the salmon and trout in a couple of weeks mabey i'll see u there i fish just above spences bridge some good runs in there with good sized fish! I find nymphing to be the best way to hook up on the big boys! While nymphing last year i hooked a nice jack that had his way with me and my 6wt untill i got pissed off and just forced him in! I was surprised my rod could handle that much stress!
could someone explain how and what you use when nymphing please? I've done some limited with egg patterns on the nooky and caught some dollies but wonder if on the T. you'd use different patterns an how you set up your stick..Thanks.
Oh and P.S. Rodney...maybe your not catching any fish cause your staring at nina's legs too much :D ;) :D Nice fish 2 :o
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Rod next trip stop in at the Bighorn Trading Post and I'll point you in the right direction and set you up with the right flies. I sold a guy (from Alberta) 5 of my Stimulators Sunday morning (the 14th). He came back that afternoon to tell me that he thought they were to big but had tried them anyway and landed two Bow over 50cm. By the way you could have done Bed & Breakfast at the Inn At The Bridge and had all the fish you wanted within 10K. I'm serious "Next time come see me!"
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Well as Rodney said, I also ventured up to the Thompson on the weekend. Sunday made for a long day as my Dad, Carlo and I headed down to the Spences Bridge area to look around and get acquainted with the various runs. The area has a lot of water to cover and we had decided that we wanted to fish various points upstream, therefore, we only fished the small side channel downstream from the Cal Woods park. The area has so much water that it would take all day just to fish all of the various runs. Pulled out a few fish from the area we fished and we ended heading up stream stopping and fishing at Martel and Juniper Beach where we met up with Rodney and Nina. Some pics from Sunday.
Carlo at Spences Bridge
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/Thompson/P1020212.sized.jpg)
Close up
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/Thompson/P1020217.jpg)
I need a nicer reel for pics!! ;D ;D
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/Thompson/P1020230.sized.jpg)
Another Carlo hero shot
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/Thompson/P1020237.jpg)
Fishing was good with both dries and nymphs as I wound up with double digit numbers of fish on Sunday all on the dry and if Carlo could actually land fish that he had hooked he would also be pretty close to a double digit count on nymphs!! :o :o
Monday was a short day as we needed to head back to Vancouver. We only fished Wallachin and Juniper Beach but to be honest, I think we were VERY tired from the previous day, and we didn't fish as hard as we usually do. I ended up only landing one fish around 12" and missed a few others. All in all, it was once again an enjoyable weekend but fishing was definitely not as fast and furious as it was 2 weeks ago.
Shane
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Those are some beauty pics. I think that Rod should put that close up one from itosh in next months fishy shot. That has got to be one of the best pics of a fish I have seen. Great job by all and it sounds like everyone had a great time. I am so jealous.
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thanks for the report, those are some great pics, definatley fishyshot material
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Rod, where's part III? ::)
The Thompson is an amazing river with its desert like climate and plateau topography. The fishing was not as fast and furious as it was a couple of weeks ago, but we Itosh and I managed to find some nice trout in some new water. I learned a few things this trip too, such as the Thompson fish love foam and rubber legged creations, and short nymphing in super deep water is productive too ;D It was sure exciting watching rainbows go airborne to snatch a foam hopper off the surface ;) Yeah, I'm not quite sure why I lost so many fish and missed so many aswell :-[
gt and THE ROE KID, are my pics worthy of fishy shot of the month too? ;)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album57/Stoner.jpg)
Here's a hero shot of Itosh
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album57/Shane01.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album57/Bridge.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album57/Bigeefuzz.jpg)
Golfman65, nymphing is fairly new to me, but I have been very successful with it. I use a strike indicator 100% of the time along with weighed flies and sometimes extra split shot aswell. The key is to get a nice drag free drift, just imagine the strike indicator as a dry fly :D If there is drag on your indicator than your fly will be dragged aswell, thereby making an unatural presentation. I usually adjust my depth from about the same depth in water to about 1.5 times the depth of the water. However, fish tend to look up, so in many situations its does not matter that your fly is several feet off the bottom 8) My leader is usually about 8-12ft long in total, I also like to use fluorocarbon tippet too.
Carlo
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Part III is coming, Nina is making me cooking her dinner right now. :P
Golfman: I have some pix of the flies that we used, will show them later on in the reports. ;)
Newsman: I'll take that offer for sure next time. ;)
CM and itosh: You're supposed to hide those photos. ;D
Both CM and itosh have been excellent with their trout photography this year, I am amazed. :) I'll be putting up a pictorial of their work in the fishing photos section very soon. :)
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Those are some great pics guys, good to see u guys are hooking fish! I hope i can do the same when i head up there! Any signs of the springs! I'm going up for both! Trout on the fly springs on the drift! So both dry flies and nymphs work thats good to here! Keep the reports coming boys!
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Hey chrome mykiss, I definatly love the pic where the water is coming off of the fish. Great timeing on that one. And yes that one should also be a fishy shot of the month. I do not know how Rodney would make that call though. Maybe you guys should consider sending them to a fly fishing magazine. I bet they would definatly be interested, it sure shows how beautiful some of our fish are here in B.C .
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Incredible pics CM!! :o Some of the best I have evr seen!!! :) :)
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beautiful photos, man those rainbows are heavenly!
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Part Three
Saturday August 12th (cont.)
Lunch was more like a break. Both of us were rather tired from the heat and the long walk among big boulders. A couple of meat balls and a slice of bread were enough to fill us up. The cold can of coke was so tasty and refueling for the body. :) We sat in the shade for awhile, trying to cool our body down. I was eager to get back on the flow to see if I could finally connect with a fish.
Thirty minutes later, we made our way down to the nearby run again. This time I decided to fish some flatter, deeper water where the current wasn't as turbulent. After a couple of casts, the strike indicator just nudged slightly on the surface. Since we just had our break, I was quite focused so the hook set was pretty precise. Immediately the line peeled off the Islander IR2, a good indication that this was a good sized fish. Suddenly that sun didn't seem so hot anymore, all attention was now on what was darting around at the end of my line. :) Nina rushed over to grab the camera, snapped a few shots during the fight. The fish was eventually landed, a pretty rainbow trout indeed. This fish had a rosy cheek, as well as a light pink colouration across its body. Every rainbow trout that we have caught has its own unique body features, every fish is special.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_07.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_07) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_08.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_08) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_09.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_09) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_10.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_10)
Seeing my immediate success, Nina wanted to fish the same run too. ;) Because the deeper water was slightly further out, she was limited to her spinning gear with a some spoons and spinners that I have made up. ;) The 1/8 green or blue striped spoons have worked well in the past, so I tied one of those on for her. It only took a few minutes for the Shimano Stradic to start singing. :o
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_11.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_11) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_12.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_12) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_13.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_13) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_14.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_14)
A couple of misses later, I was into another fish. This time it looked like a smaller rainbow, except it was fighting just as hard as the previous fish. :o The amount of jumps these fish perform is amazing, sometimes it feels as if they spend more time in the air than water. :o
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_15.jpg)
Seeing what had been happening during this short period of time, some of the nearby campers decided to come down to take a peek. The parents brought the kids down to see, but also ended up swiming just downstream from us. :P Not to worry though, the fish didn't seem to be disturbed by all the activities. We were able to get a few more hits that were all missed unfortunately. :)
By five o'clock, we decided to take another break. We drove to Juniper Beach and cooked up a light dinner while waiting for Shane and Carlo to arrive.
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wow those are some great pics frome everybody... and Rodney thanx for rubbing in the fact that you get to eat meat balls :(:(
sounds like a good time..
Rick
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Looks like beautiful country up there.
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rodney i'm goin up next week end what patterns work!
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Part Four
Sunday August 13th (cont.)
We arrived at Juniper Beach, hoping to cook up a warm meal as the sun sets on the horizon. The heat was still in the air, but the cool breeze from the west was very welcoming. As I started pulling out the stove and pots from the car, I realized, "Matches...!", they were left back at home. ::) Good thing the friendly caretakers at the campground were well equipped and we were saved. ;)
Not long after our meal, Carlo and Shane arrived. We started heading to the runs where we planned to fish for the evening. Shane was hopping from one rock to the next, before we knew it he was way ahead of us. It was almost as if he knew where the fish were going to be. ::) Carlo and I fished a bit downstream, while Nina stood by with the video camera, ready to catch the action on the tape. With the odd small hookups, no large fish were found. Shane later reported landing two 16 inchers on the dry. Near the end of the outing, I managed to connect with a good sized fish briefly just several feet from shore. There were not a whole lot of fish at the end of the day, but still a very enjoyable one.
Here are two more photos taken on that day.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_17.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_17) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_18.thumb.jpg) (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album34/060814_18)
Monday August 14th
It was a late start on our last day. :P After a lengthy breakfast at White Spot, and checking out from the hotel, we arrived back at last evening's spot at around 11:30am. I first gave the dry fly a go, only to have two rises that nudged the fly gently. We then moved to a deeper, slower pool, where Nina could spin with my spoons and spinners again. This time, I sat back with the video camera and waited. The first fish grabbed the blue striped spoon just several feet from the rock where Nina was standing. It was unexpected as the water was only a couple of feet deep. It was a big fish, which leaped straight out in front of her, so close that she could almost grab it, but proceeded to fall off the hook as it dove back into the drink.
The next fish grabbed the spoon as it was retrieved from upstream. This one fought quite differently. It turned out to be a fat northern pikeminnow. Check out the maximal fin extension of this fish when the photo was taken, very pretty in my opinion. It was rather dark, the interior fish look quite different to the ones that we catch in the tidal Fraser River, which are usually silver.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_19.jpg)
We then moved further down to the end of the pool, where it looked very promising for a spoon or spinner. It only took two or three casts before Nina hooked another one, which peeled the line off the reel extremely fast. I thought it maybe a jack chinook for a second. The entire fighting scene was caught on film, a chrome looking trout around 16 inches was released at the end. Nina proceeded to hook and lose a couple more fish, they seemed to fall off quite easily if the hook set wasn't hard enough. The Thompson rainbow trout lived up to their fame, by darting all over the pool, very powerful for fish that are only 16 to 20 inches long. The spinning outfit performed fantastic. Nina then wanted to switch to a spinner. I tied on a 1/8oz spinner with a green blade that we have been using for northern pikeminnow. It only took one cast for her to get into another fish! :o
After manning the camera for awhile and watching her getting into half a dozen fish, I was eager to get back on the fly rod. I wanted to move to a new run, where it would be more suitable for flyfishing. Nina insisted that I should cast into the pool where she had been getting the fish. I thought, what the heck, let's give that a go. The first cast brought the fly to the middle of the hook, within seconds the strike indicator was gone! I set the hook, only to find the line peeling off my hand really fast. I thought, "What a nice trout this is!" The run lasted for about ten seconds as the fish made its way to the main channel, then it stopped. ::) I began reeling in the line, making my way to Nina who had the camera rolling. The fish popped its head up right in front of us, it was a gigantic northern pikeminnow. ::) While trying to reach the hook, the fish popped off and went back to its merry way. A video of this will be shown later. ;D
Carlo and Shane showed up soon after the northern pikeminnow, they made their way up as we continued to fish the pool. Nina casted the spinner again, this time into the more turbulent run where I thought spinners would never do well. I was wrong. It only took about three winds on the spinning reel before the spool started screaming! Jack spring, no hope I thought! Wrong again, it was another nice rainbow trout. :P
We finished the day at 3:30pm, exhausted by the heat and walk, but fairly satisfied with the result. Well, Nina was satisfied, I only landed two trout during the whole trip. ::)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/060814_16.jpg)
Our Thompson River outfit was pretty simple. We were equipped with a couple of Islander IR2 reels and 9'6" Stryker Rainshadow fly rods. The rods were either 4 or 5 weight, light enough to cast all day, with enough strength to handle all the trout in the river. The fly line was connected with a 9 feet leader, I used 6lb test Maxima Ultragreen line, followed by either a dry or wet fly. For the dry fly, Daryl at Reaction Fly and Tackle recommended California Blonde, while Nina and I had good success with Kaufman stoneflies for nymphing. The strike indicator was a great asset for me, just about all my fish hooked were with a strike indicator. I had the depth adjusted between 3 to 5 feet, depending on the time of the day.
For a change of scenary and pace, some of you maybe interested in giving the Thompson rainbow trout fishery a try in the future. :)
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Again Great report Rodney!! Awesome pics and sounds like you guys had an awesome time up there. :) ;D
OK so everybody now, YEAH!!! Rodney caught some fish!!! ;D ;D Was looking kinda bleak there for a bit!! ;D
Don't mind me, just kinda jealous as I have never been able to make it out to that fabulous river!! :P ;D
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indeed, awsome report once again, Those are some great photos
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Rodney thanks for that excellent report, well atleast i'll know that the fish are hitting the fly when i go up next week! Great pics, how light spinning gear was nina using she should have been able to handle a jack! But atleast u got to go out to such a beautiful place! I'll be up there soon enough! Big Steel u sure are missing out, that river is full with springs right now,(thats why i'm going up next week, and for the trout) good luck to u where ever ur fishing!
Once again rodney great reports!