GeoBass

I'm finally all caught up with the Geo Bass series, and I just gotta say, WOW. I am extremely envious that these guys get to go all over the world and fish for these crazy big bass!! Like the Motiv Fishing team, I have never heard of these species, until I watched their series. I would love to some day share the water with these guys. They seem like a fun bunch!

One day, I will be able to take an adventure like these guys do. ..

Rainbow Trout Dinner

Brought home my first stocker rainbow trout.

Gutted it.

Decapitated it.

Garlic stuffed it.

Soy sauce bathed it.

Lemon juice spritzed it.

Tinfoil wrapped it.

Baked it.

Ate it.

DELICIOUS.

Stocker Trout

I've been fairly busy these days. This past Saturday was the Fall trout opener here in Illinois. They stocked the lake down the street from me after they stocked it with a bunch of rainbow trout. The lakes been closed for 2 weeks, and now it's finally open. With the sun going down around 6:30 PM, it's only logical to fish this lake after work during the week, and now that it's stocked with trout, for as long as they last....Bonus!

That bucket has only seen a handful of fish in it's life.

Made it out on a dreary Monday evening just as the sun was starting to set. There were a ton of guys, but I was lucky and was able to get my favorite spot on the lake. I am usually 95% catch and release, but I paid for the inland trout stamp this year, because, I wanted to give these stockers a go in the kitchen. I didn't feel all too bad about it, because, it was either me or someone else taking these trout home. So, why the heck not, right!

Next stop for this rainbow...my dinner plate.

Winter Sucks

This winter definitely sucks.
The snow keeps falling.
It gets colder and colder.
My cabin fever rises
I am beginning to lose patients.
That groundhog better see it's shadow.
Fin.

I've been tying some small stuff lately. Any advise is appreciated.




Bead head brassie size 14

 

Steelhead Blue Prince Nymph Size 14
 

Olive Prince Nymph size 14

A bunch of size 10 green grublins.

Size 22 zebra midge.

 

The Current River 2013

Let me start off by saying...I forgot something. haha I forgot my trout net, but we managed to land every fish hooked, so, there were no worries.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was in the 90's all 4 days, with a little rain on the 3rd day. That didn't bother us, too much, because, the sun was still fighting to shine through the clouds. We ended up floating Baptist Camp to Round Spring (We rented the canoe from Carr's Canoe Rental. IMO They are the best down there in service, and price.)

My friend HH was using a light baitcasting set up, and managed to break off the first 3 guides of his rod. He was still able to fish, but couldn't feel the lure in the water, and any hits. That didn't matter....He was catching fish. He caught all kinds. Smallmouth, rainbow, gar, a sucker fish, and a surprise brown. That brown was a 17" beefy beauty! He doesn't think too much of trout, but was very impressed with that fish.

I had a difficult time fishing. Just when I thought I figured out what the fish were looking for...I was wrong. They had me guessing the entire time. I still caught some fish, but the fishing was just not the same for me as it has been in previous years. None the less, I had an awesome time.

Every year this river shows us something different. This year we saw a water moccasin swimming to the shore. I had some mink's start emptying out a hollowed out log I was standing next to, thinking I was going to steal their stockpile of crayfish and food. Seen a Red Headed Wood Pecker. The icing on the cake had to be the Bald Eagle who flew towards us, and perched itself in a tree about 30 yards away from us, and took off back up river after I snapped a few pictures of it. What a beautiful thing!

All in all it was a great trip. Next year, I think we are going to venture out and explore some new waters. Possibly some other rivers in Missouri or maybe the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Here's a short video I made of clips and still pictures from the trip.
(It might not work if trying to view it from a mobile device or tablet.)

Note: Maximize the video for best viewing results. You'll see the bald eagle better, and the rest of the video better :)

My First Trout

I started fly fishing about 4 years ago. Living here in the Chicago suburbs, I primarily fish for bass. It wasn't until this past summer that I hooked into my first trout. 

For the past 4 years I've been doing a 4 day - 40 mile canoe float trip on the Current River in Southern Missouri. The river is full of small mouth bass, rainbow trout, brown trout, pickerel, needle nose gar, carp, etc. The first 3 years of the trip I was focused on enjoying the beautiful float, camping, and fishing for smallies. (The smallie fishing is amazing here!)

This past July (2012) I decided that it was time, that I finally catch a trout. I mean I am fly fisherman, and trout is usually the fish of choice for most.

I started off using flies I've never used before...such as prince nymphs, hares ears, and elk hair caddis. I probably wasn't using the proper technique with these flies, but I'm sure with practice, and time I will get better. I wasn't attracting anything, and probably scaring all of the fish away with the horror that was me trying to fish these flies. 

So, after playing around with those flies, I decided to go to my old faithful...a wooly bugger. I tied on a white wooly bugger, and the fish started hitting. Large mouth, small mouth, and I finally caught my first rainbow trout! It was very exciting. At first I didn't know what I had hooked in to, as it got closer, I saw that it was a trout. I immediately jumped out of the canoe and landed it. As I held it in my had, I admired the beauty of it's color and markings. They really are beautiful fish.

I ended up catching 3 rainbow's the entire trip, and I also, think I caught a little case of trout fever. (Another blog to follow - The Driftless Area of Wisconsin)

Orvis kindly reposted this picture on their page. Pretty cool of them!

All fish were caught, and happily released.