Grinning and Bearing it '21

[fishskibum]

First day ive felt good enough to git out n fish in a while
fisherpeeps at the 2nd and 3rd canals ,latter fishing the river
Decided to take the hog n dog

waters maybe up a little definately not down
ramps slicker than snots
in at 7ish and oa temp 60
way to early for the sun to penetrate the hazy smoke to the point of goood vis
but a nice cool morning to make oar strokes

Had a few shots but fired blank on em
the boat draws at least twice the water of the sup and the longer oars displace more water
sends a lot of shallow water tailers and lurkers exiting stage wake
least i know where they were and possibly will still be on the trip back down
made it up to the gun club fore i managed to put one in the zone


winds died down and stuck another nice fish

and a couple more on the way out


another boat had launched at duckworth; first ive seen all season.
headed up stream  past them but didnt see many additional targets
If i come up with $350 in donations, i think im gonna take my poopy junk show on the road, go to denver and compete in trout unlimited's denver carp slam on the south platte in oct.
if nothin else maybe ill find out the difference tween a carp am and a carp pro and raise a few bucks for trout in the classroom and help secure more river access
best case 30"ers git cha a grand
Dome headed rubber lipped cheers

[fishskibum]

got a bit of a later start
bout 65 @ 9am
waters up again bout a foot
but clarity down
didnt see any other fisher peeps, but i put in at the boundary and paddled up

scored some new bobbles and trinkets from the nervous water tyer of such

wasnt long before a flux capacitor ended up stuck in the lips

most of what i like to throw has hollow or no weight in the head, but these have enough body to overcome the small barbell eyes
land pretty soft and git down and git eaten

Aside from a few single cruisers and tailers the majority of the fish were bank orientated and podded up clomping in the shallow flooded cat tails and shore grass.

switched over to a lighter fly to drag n drop in the shallow vegetation free pockets and the wakame salad fly got em


definitely starting to dial this waterway in and figure out some pooper patterns in different flows and seasons

cept winter thats ski season and there's work to be done

wanted to head downstream git one with the hipster dufus but the nice people from my dads new independent living place we moved him into this week called and said hed gotten lost and the slc po po had gotten him home, but i needed to retrieve his truck
Props to them for helpin out the golden years olds
thread needs some ziggy stardust
golden bones

 whop whop whop

[joshomaru]

Excellent pics as always!
I'm a space invader, and I'll be a rock n rollin ***** for you...

[fishskibum]

havent spent as much time as id like on the river this season
Did finally manage to finally fish the lake for the first time back in july when the wife had a couple day work/play retreat on her bosses family spread
got there early put in at 1st point
my guide had a bit of tough time in the wind and her dude couldnt find an offering the poopers wanted to eat that afternoon

She drove back and i tried for a bit before rowing back over to just down from rendezvous
managed a couple nice cutts trolling back

set up camp and hung out with the kids/familys beachside


next day got up and out early and rowed back to first point
carp were in spawn mode and after downsizing tippet and a few different offerings found some willing players

[fishskibum]

Managed to git a following the spawning carp sucker to eat

a few more 1st point poopers


and a cutt or 2 on the trip back
while i was able to launch and retrieve the drifty from shore
the chopped raised front end farmall tractor method the locals use to git their bigger boats on the water from the beach is pretty damn cool

as are the spreads along that shore
next morning fished the spawners in the beach shallows off the sup and got a few



let the wife paddle a bit

and the god do newf stuff

nice to check another place ive wanted to fish off the list and really want to get back up there

---

Stopped and checked out cutler and the upper bear access points


ended up at Newton cause its been a few years

where i added a few more casts to the thousands its evidently gonna take me  to check the muskellunge box

A nice bucketmouth devouring 6'' of hair, fur and feathers and a couple hooks saved me from the skunk the next day


and evidently "wakeless" has a different meaning to me than most of the boaters launching


as the launch and run fullspeed to the far end of the lake seemed to be at least 1/2 operators mo despite the well designated signage and regulations
if anyone would care to share the ramps current status or link to it id be grateful
pretty low back then and way below the wakeless line

and of couse after pounding the water and dam wall all morning without seeing any water wolfs
i drive out stopp to snap a pic and look down to 3'-4' of esox cassually cruising the surface munching on a dead fish

i need to git back there too

[Panchodog]

Next time you are in my hood stop by and say howdy!

[fishskibum]

headed up to the refuge sunday
havent been since mid july
figured it might be a bit high and off colored with the rain
was right almost bailed for willard
threw in hopin for the best bout 9
seems pretty high for aug
and the reeder canal isnt outflowing and drying up fast

the poopers were staged up in whats normally islands in a foot or 2 of water with just enough vis to distinguish heads from tails

had a black booger lookin with a dangling red worm tail carp maul on as it worked pretty good at echo
but after a couple exit stage left refusals switch over to a dark brown raineys cap bitters thats my go 2 and puts it where it needs to be to place bends in the whip sticks

and the 1st +30''er of the day

paddled up to the next beach blew a shot one another nice one i thought for sure had eaten the straight on 12oclock coming at ya hookups are the hardest for me
Headed back downstream a few smaller fish clomping the deep water banks and bigger fish on the flats seemed to be the pattern for the conditions

found another beach cruising tanker


yup a bigger net helps

seems if i can git em in the net on the 1st time i git their heads up close enough it shortens the fight a good 5 minutes as once the feel that net after that they want to turn
but puttin em in the net hot on the sups not easy ive come to sit on the cooler or kneel and i did have one go ballistic and leave the net and manage to put the net and rod in the water and almost the paddle
paddled up to the islands across from the second outlet
and stuck a few more





on the way back tossed a few in front of a culvert that sends water from the marsh back into the bear and i think connected with a nice cat
different tugs from carp and ive gotten kittys in that spot before but came unglued before i could git it close enough to see
managed 1 more big domer on the way back and split about 2 pm

need to get back one of the better big fish bear days ive had
they seem to still be moving some water downstream
didnt go up to check the other outflow canals

[bpete]

Nice job. I am very impressed with your pics. personally I think what's not to love about Carp

[joshomaru]

Nice golden bones!

[fishskibum]

went back tuesday
waters down a good foot vis just slightly better
decided to cover some water vrs. paddling back upstream
put the mountain bike a few miles down to facilitate a shuttle
targets o plenty both clompin the deeper cut banks
and beach cruising the flats in both pods and singles
only shared the waters with bovines

managed bout 3 an hour from 9-2

confirmed my the kittys stack up where the fresh water comin in from the slough culverts with a couple and lost another


couldnt find as many big fish this trip most were in pods which makes it tougher as lining or spookin any of em in skinny water sends all of em
but got one +30 and had another come unstuck


may try and put the boat in tomorrow

[fishskibum]

sunday had about the same water level, worse vis, and very few poopfish targets
i manned the oars most of the day cause i felt bad about about telling my bro it was game on
  He had a couple shots foulhooked a few and quite a few shad
was surprised and stoked for him to manage a 1/2 dozen kittys
nothing huge but the put a good bend in the echo glass stick

pulled most of them off the deeper cutbanks



im gonna have to try a sink tip and bigger flies one of these trips

[joshomaru]

The whiskers on that cat in the second pic are epic.
I have never caught a cat on a fly; I imagine it is a great fight, though!
Was he stripping those flies right on the bottom or swinging them and drifting them along the cutbank??

[sliverslinger]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!

[fishskibum]

The whiskers on that cat in the second pic are epic.
I have never caught a cat on a fly; I imagine it is a great fight, though!
Was he stripping those flies right on the bottom or swinging them and drifting them along the cutbank??

more jus swingin with a floating line
Havent been poopfish much
looks like the weather patterns gonna change
took a day to get 1 more sup trip in case its really gonna winter up
Surprised there was still as much water as there was
Reeder overflow actually was flowing again

took a bit to warm up and find the usual targets in the usual places


managed to find a big mirror and convince him to eat


Kitty culvert was outflowing pretty good and produced

ended up with 7 or 8 poopers and the cat
not sure ill git back or fish the sup again

[MrShane]

havent spent as much time as id like on the river this season
Did finally manage to finally fish the lake for the first time back in july when the wife had a couple day work/play retreat on her bosses family spread
got there early put in at 1st point
my guide had a bit of tough time in the wind and her dude couldnt find an offering the poopers wanted to eat that afternoon

She drove back and i tried for a bit before rowing back over to just down from rendezvous
managed a couple nice cutts trolling back

set up camp and hung out with the kids/familys beachside


next day got up and out early and rowed back to first point
carp were in spawn mode and after downsizing tippet and a few different offerings found some willing players

I did not know motorized equipment was allowed on that beach.
Will have to run the atv’s up there for some fishin’ and cruzin’!

[fishskibum]

im pretty sure you would need someone with property rights on that beach to give you access to their property
but feel free to try it without and let us know how it works out