Big Trout Opener Wash-out or Clean-up?

    Well it's the end of April already which means Trout Opener Saturday!YEA!


    Too bad my local rivers have been blown out repeatedly in the past two or three weeks and are now well above easy wading. The suckers are in on a few rivers which means stealhead and other trout will be hard to hook-up on, well that's my opinion anyway. Hopefully it will all be good fishin' now that sunshine is back in the forecast and warm days. Maybe the water will go down quickly or at least clear up enough to spot beds. The good news is morels and leaks should be popping in a few days with the warm temps and wet ground.

In the background is the river well over its
banks and into someone's yard



This was a field next to a river until it rained

    If you plan to head out for the big trout weekend be careful and have some fun even if the river is empty of hungry fish. I hope to see out there, tight lines.

                      (Let me know how ya did this weekend in the comments below)

                                 Coyote Luke

Picture This

[All photo's are courtesy of Quinn Sherman]





Spring Robins





 

 





 While I was enjoying the warmth of the sunshine one day last week my daughter, Quinn, asked if she could use the camera for her "bird watching club." I usually tell her the camera is off limits because it is an expensive piece of equipment and not a toy for children to play with. But, with the sun shining and the birds out singing, I just couldn't help be easily swayed in my opinion. I let her take the camera out and use it. I was definitely surprised to find out that for a nine year old, she has pretty steady hands and a sharp eye.

  After I found out she had such an interest in photographing wildlife, I suggested we head out fishing the next morning so that she could exercise her skill, and photograph her dad having a little fun in the river. I was astonished when she actually said that she would love to go fishing with me in the morning. She usually finds a long list of things she would rather do or places she would rather go. So after dropping her mom off in the morning for work, we headed out on a little field trip.











After a few hours of playing around on the river bank Quinn got a little bored and really cold so I decided we would call it a day. Even though the steelies were very active that morning I was satisfied with just one fish, seems how I don't usually get to fish if I can't find someone for her to stay with while I go out. Quinn had so much fun that day that all she wants to do now is go out for a little while and photograph her dad trying to catch a big river rocket.

 

The male is the only one I could catch before we had to go







Thanks for the pictures Quinn

Love from

       Coyote Luke

The Redington Review





The soft sleeve for my new Redington 4 piece

  
I finally broke down and actually spent money on a new rod. I started out last year fly fishing with an old Eagle Claw 5/6 weight that was 8'6". This rod served its purpose just fine for the time being and I was quite happy with it. ..However, I had not yet gotten into any sizable fish with it. When I broke my hand-me-down Eagle Claw last week I almost cried - worst time to break your only rod is during a nice two or three day warm-up. So, after some smooth talking with my Secretary  wife, I was able to jump online and order a new rod.

I asked a few friends for a recommendation on a decent rod that would be inexpensive and of good quality. I was told that Redington makes good rods for good prices so I started looking around. I had some Cabela's points saved up so that's where I started. They had just what I was looking for...fly rods on sale. I looked over the reviews of all that were in my price range, $100 or less, and found that the majority rule was on the Redington fly rods. So after picking the size I wanted and double checking my "needs over wants list" I went ahead and clicked the send A.S.A.P. button. (come to find out they charge extra for overnight delivery - insert comment from wife "$40 dollars? Are you insane??" - so I had to wait a few days).

So it finally arrived and I was as excited as a three headed cat in a creamery. The day I picked it up of course was cold and very windy, but I had no choice to put it to work right away. The wind was whipping at around 20 knots or so? O.K. I admit I don't read knots, but it was a stiff wind anyway - the kind that grabs your float line and turns it into a sail dragging your wet fly with sinkers down stream at a pace that only a warm river trout could catch, or see for that matter. But here comes the good part.... wait for it.....


Pretty cold and just pretty



The down side of fishing in the cold is cleaning your eyelets every five minutes



My new rod and a Martin reel



The very next week I found a slight warm spell and was able to really test out my new rod. Even though it was cold and windy the river had slowed back down a little and the water was lower and really clear. The steelies were good and active that evening. The Redington 9' 8 weight was amazing. In the wind using the chuck and duck rigging with three small split shot I was able to toss my line almost effortlessly into the wind and across the river some fifty feet +/- . The Crosswater rod has a good backbone and is very forgiving for an amateur like me. The light weight and noodle-like feel is great for finding the difference between the general gravel bottom bounce and the light strike of a lethargic cold water steelhead. I had a few good casts that day and two really nice fish that came in very easily with the aid of my new rod. 



21" chrome caught on my personal #14 veiled egg

 



This dark river queen weighed in at 4 -3/4#

 

I guess now I just need either a new fishing vest or a nice chest pack to carry my camera and other stuff while on the river (hint, hint). If anyone knows where I could inherit one to do a review on I'd gladly give them my mailing address. :)

I'd like to thank Cabela's for their great customer service and also my friends who said the Crosswater was a fine rod. But most of all right now I'd like to thank the nice folks over at Redington for their quality rods and their good low prices making it possible for poor folk like me to enjoy the sport as well.

Keep your tip up,

                                                                  

                                                      Coyote Luke



Slack Line and Cold Hands

  Cold. Cold is the only way to describe the random gusts of wind that blew past me at what seemed like thirty to forty mph. When the wind wasn't gusting, it was just blowing a nice light five to ten mph that was still pretty cold. I had a break from babysitting since my wife had the day off and I stay at home. I decided that with the sun shining and temps around twenty five to low thirties I should take the opportunity and hit the local stream for a few hours and relax. After what felt like several hours of frigid wind gusts that seemed to only blow while I was trying to cast and caused many frustrating knots in my line that attatched themselves to the tip of my rod, and several lost flies in and around the river, I couldn't decide if I needed a break or if I should just head home.                                                                     

 
  As I packed up my few things and turned to leave, I decided to get a few pictures of the landscape around me. It was a beautiful day after all, despite the chilly wind. So as I walked back to the car I snapped of a few shots here and there.

My camera was having fits from the cold and didn't want to cooperate. The batteries wouldn't hold out very long in the cold temps, but a few decent pictures turned out. When I got back to the car I noticed it was only one o'clock.  

  What had seemed like several hours on the river was actually only two. I decided to just head for the local gas station...you know the one, where everything for sale is coated with some kind of gold dust, or is at least priced that way. I went in and grabbed a Coke and a new set of batteries for the camera. I thought about it and now that I was warm and could feel my fingers again I decided I'd hit another stretch of the same river. This spot I thought would be good, seems how it's a long walk to the river over a couple pretty steep inclines. I got down to the river and messed around in my two favorite holes for another couple hours, with not a single nibble or anything else to make me think there were any fish in the river. Fully disgusted, frustrated, and frozen I made my way back up the trail, back up the steep hills and to the car. I packed my rod and jumped in thinking to myself, "well that was a waste of gas that I couldn't afford." I headed for the home ranch. Again I was warm and my thoughts turned to the excitement of the past times reeling in those silver beauties. About five miles away from the nearest gas station, which was between me and the river, the gas gauge hit zero gallons and caused a light to come on. Yes, it was the please refuel soon light, but also the light also said, "It's only four o'clock. You have at least another hour of good strong daylight left - why not try one more time?" I turned around, grabbed some precious fuel and headed back to the stream. I went back to the area I had started out in, but went a little farther back away from the road. I spent that last hour getting thoroughly cold and losing more and more flies. "This is the last cast," I told myself. I let that veiled egg with a soft hackle tied above it float through the deep black hole one last time and and felt something. "Another snag" I thought. No. In fact this heavy pull slowly took my line down stream like a log with an attitude."There we go!" I was able to hold this steelie pretty good thanks to my new reel with the heavier disk drag. I was doing good now. I worked the beast over closer to shore the whole time keeping good tension on my line. -The down side of winter fishing is the shelf ice. If your not careful it can cut your line instantly, sending your fish and fly to anywhere they want to go. This was not my problem at first. The hole I was fishing is known to have a drop off of sand close to the bank. The shelf ice was over this sand and I couldn't tell how deep it was under the thin looking ice. This caused my thinking to stray to scenes of me in muddy water that could be well over my head and was freezing cold. I needed to get that steelhead to swim up onto the ice and into my lap so to speak. I pleaded with it and tried to talk it into giving itself up willingly, but to no avail.. it was all up to me. I tried in one not so swift move to hoist the fish up out of the water and onto the shelf, almost had it. The weight of the fish and the pull of the fast moving current was too much for my elderly Eagle Claw 5/6 weight rod. The rod snapped off and my first thought was that I not only lost my fly rod, but because of the slackness of the line - I was losing my fish too.

  I reeled in the line and noticed I still had the steelie hooked. I tried my trick again, this time my rod was a little more stiff given that it was only out to the first eyelet. As the steelie slid up onto the shelf ice my leader was cut, freeing the the fish that now lay on the thin ice. I very gingerly put one foot out onto the shelf and grabbed the tail in one hand, the head in the other. In one fell swoop I scooped the now lively fish up and tossed it out into the bushes away from the river.

  Now, feeling as excited as I was when the day started, with my fish in one hand and my broken pole in the other I walked back to the car and headed for home. Now that I was warm again and had a chance to reflect - there is a down side to fishing alone. Yes it is enjoyable to be out in almost any temperature or weather condition, but when you have such a close call or an almost Unaccomplished Angler moment, it would be nice to have someone to talk to on the ride home.