In less than 12 hours now I will be on a plane to Portland, then to Denver, then finally to Billings MT. It wasn't the itinerary I wanted, but it's what I got. By the end of the day I hope to have some time to throw a few fake bugs into the water and to land a lunker or two. If I don't that's ok because I will be doing exactly that for the next five days.
I will have my camera with me and plan to get lots of great photos and hopefully some good vids too. In a week and a half I intend to report to all my loyal followers (all 10 of you!) how things went.
Stay tuned....
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Fortune cookies
So I got a particularly good fortune at a Chinese restaurant. It was last week but I'm going to pretend I just got it and that it applies to next weekend when I will actually be out fishing.
Words to live by.
I'll update everybody in a little over a week about how my annual fishing trip to MT goes next weekend. Should be good!
Words to live by.
I'll update everybody in a little over a week about how my annual fishing trip to MT goes next weekend. Should be good!
My new favorite word
This has nothing to do with fishing, but I have found a new favorite word and you should all try to add it to your vocabulary. I picked this up while playing around with some samples that someone sent me at work. They are apparently very "lubricious."
Lubricious: having a smooth or slippery quality....like a fish? I wonder if it means it's tasty like a fish too...
Monday, March 14, 2011
Everyone, meet everyone
My big annual MT fishing expedition is only 10 days away now and I am quite excited. After getting an email from Brady today plugging my blog to all those going I thought I should throw up a teaser posting. I have pictures of most of the people on trips past, and some how haven't gone yet but are going this year.
I need to warn you that the pictures below might make you a little excited. In fact someone got a little too excited and couldn't help but pee his pants two years ago. You might want to put a diaper on at this point.
First and foremost, meet your best friend Beer. He will be beside you in good times and in bad. He'll help you get past the pathetic skunk you just suffered from, and he'll be there to celebrate with you when you catch a real pig of a fish. He IS you best friend and always will be! Whisk(e)y is also a close friend particularly on cold days but you know that sometimes he can really stab you in the back, especially when you decide to ditch your friend Beer for your friend Whisk(e)y, and then later have to meet your friend John to give up your stomach contents.
Meet Mike Jokhy. He's hiding behind some brush here, but give him a break because he's pulling in a nice fish. Mike and I will be hitting the river two days early to hopefully figure everything out for the rest of you boobs, and to hopefully lock in the big fish contest before the rest of you get a chance to start! Yes it counts.
Meet Lew, also known as the Lew-Doo. Here is he hauling in a nice fish and he didn't even mess up the backcast!
And we apparently need to show Lew how to hold a fish. Yes, there is one hiding there behind his hands and arms (he's on the right).
Meet Frank the tank in the battle of his life. Or the battle of a nice fish on the Bighorn just after and before a rainstorm. Yes, there was quite a bit of rain that day. What are you fishing, Frank, 1x tippet on a 4x rod? Look at that rod bend!
Meet John. Here he is "fishing." John is vying to be the winner of the biggest skunk this year. I'm kidding John! I love your effort. I think you spent the most time in the water last year and you are sure to catch a toad this year. Karma loves you.
Meet Chad, the resident comedian. Yes, he knows what he's doing here.
Meet my cousin Clif at Lunker hunt. He's turned down like 8 invitations to this trip and finally has decided to grace us with his presence this year. A big thanks goes out to the UAW for not striking against CAT this year so Clif and others can go!
Meet Eric, here giving an extra quick release of a fish hopefully after removing his fly from the fish's mouth. Eric is a relative veteran of the MT trip, but he needs to go fishing more often. Yes, Eric, that's right. Get out there and fish more!
Meet Jonathan. Jonathan opted not to go with us the first year because he was the source of a bombed trip just two months prior and couldn't face us again. We were glad when he got over himself enough to come out on the third year. I don't remember why he missed the second year, but he travels a lot and isn'tusually always available. This vid is from the Colorado river where Jonathan seems to show his vicious side by outcatching everyone enormously every &$%*ing time we go.
Meet the winner of last year's big fish contest, the Danimal (left). I think that's actually big fish in his hands too but I'm not sure. And while we're at it, meet me, Tim, too (right obviously) holding biggest brown of the trip. Yes, we kept some fish to eat. Relax.
Finally and last because he's the winner of biggest MT fish yet, meet Brady. I tried to get a measure on it, in the top picture but my tape is only 24" because I didn't expect to need a longer one. Using some expert forensic scientists (thats' right, we have contacts) we have estimated it was about 28" and 10lbs.
At this point I also want to introduce another contest for the trip. As a recap, there will be daily skunk prizes/punishments, largest daily total winner, biggest brown and biggest bow, smallest fish (daily?), and for any whitefish or non-trout caught, you pay the pot $10. My new addition is that if anyone beats the extrapolated measurements provided above gets a $200 bottle of scotch. I'm sure everyone will throw in some cash in the unlikely event this happens.
Also meet Luis, Chad's dad, John and John's dad, the two Denzer's, Jim the Manigle. If you guys or someone else can get me pics of you I will add them to this post and no one will be the wiser. You will all be world renowned!
Man, I sure hope I didn't miss someone. If so I'm sorry.
I need to warn you that the pictures below might make you a little excited. In fact someone got a little too excited and couldn't help but pee his pants two years ago. You might want to put a diaper on at this point.
First and foremost, meet your best friend Beer. He will be beside you in good times and in bad. He'll help you get past the pathetic skunk you just suffered from, and he'll be there to celebrate with you when you catch a real pig of a fish. He IS you best friend and always will be! Whisk(e)y is also a close friend particularly on cold days but you know that sometimes he can really stab you in the back, especially when you decide to ditch your friend Beer for your friend Whisk(e)y, and then later have to meet your friend John to give up your stomach contents.
Meet Mike Jokhy. He's hiding behind some brush here, but give him a break because he's pulling in a nice fish. Mike and I will be hitting the river two days early to hopefully figure everything out for the rest of you boobs, and to hopefully lock in the big fish contest before the rest of you get a chance to start! Yes it counts.
Meet Lew, also known as the Lew-Doo. Here is he hauling in a nice fish and he didn't even mess up the backcast!
And we apparently need to show Lew how to hold a fish. Yes, there is one hiding there behind his hands and arms (he's on the right).
Meet Frank the tank in the battle of his life. Or the battle of a nice fish on the Bighorn just after and before a rainstorm. Yes, there was quite a bit of rain that day. What are you fishing, Frank, 1x tippet on a 4x rod? Look at that rod bend!
Meet Chad, the resident comedian. Yes, he knows what he's doing here.
Meet my cousin Clif at Lunker hunt. He's turned down like 8 invitations to this trip and finally has decided to grace us with his presence this year. A big thanks goes out to the UAW for not striking against CAT this year so Clif and others can go!
Meet Eric, here giving an extra quick release of a fish hopefully after removing his fly from the fish's mouth. Eric is a relative veteran of the MT trip, but he needs to go fishing more often. Yes, Eric, that's right. Get out there and fish more!
Meet Jonathan. Jonathan opted not to go with us the first year because he was the source of a bombed trip just two months prior and couldn't face us again. We were glad when he got over himself enough to come out on the third year. I don't remember why he missed the second year, but he travels a lot and isn't
Meet the winner of last year's big fish contest, the Danimal (left). I think that's actually big fish in his hands too but I'm not sure. And while we're at it, meet me, Tim, too (right obviously) holding biggest brown of the trip. Yes, we kept some fish to eat. Relax.
Finally and last because he's the winner of biggest MT fish yet, meet Brady. I tried to get a measure on it, in the top picture but my tape is only 24" because I didn't expect to need a longer one. Using some expert forensic scientists (thats' right, we have contacts) we have estimated it was about 28" and 10lbs.
Also meet Luis, Chad's dad, John and John's dad, the two Denzer's, Jim the Manigle. If you guys or someone else can get me pics of you I will add them to this post and no one will be the wiser. You will all be world renowned!
Man, I sure hope I didn't miss someone. If so I'm sorry.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
50/50
As many of you know I'm preparing for an upcoming fishing trip to beautiful Montana. Way back when we were scheduling this trip, a little research was necessary. We've gotten bit by high flows the past two years which made the wade fishing a little tough, so this year we were pondering moving the trip up into April to avoid the May runoff flows. Our research told us the average highs in late March, early April appear to be upper 40s, the average flows are just barely starting to come up from the winter minimum, and the water temps are usually increasing into the mid 40s.
All of these things made us think the fishing could be quite good, but the weather aspect has worried me a little. I've been fishing in 10deg, 35deg and rainy, and 30deg and windy so it's not that I'm all that worried. But I've also been fishing in Montana in May with temps in the low 70s and I know how nice it can be and I do value my own comfort. I also know that with average temps in the upper 40s, that doesn't mean I can rely on the temps being that high. It means there's a 50/50 chance it will be a beautiful partly sunny 55deg, and on the flip side a 50/50 chance it will be 33 and rainy or 10 degrees. We will survive either way, but the 55deg and partly sunny would be very very nice.
I have been watching the weather lately. The trip is in 2 weeks, so I'm starting to get an idea of what to expect, and it's pretty much exactly what I thought. I added a town near where we are going to my Iphone weather app and am checking it weekly. Last week it was:
Then this week I saw things continuing to look more positive:
What in the world will it be like when we are there?? Nobody knows! That's part of the fun. I just hope the good weather doesn't get used up this week.
All of these things made us think the fishing could be quite good, but the weather aspect has worried me a little. I've been fishing in 10deg, 35deg and rainy, and 30deg and windy so it's not that I'm all that worried. But I've also been fishing in Montana in May with temps in the low 70s and I know how nice it can be and I do value my own comfort. I also know that with average temps in the upper 40s, that doesn't mean I can rely on the temps being that high. It means there's a 50/50 chance it will be a beautiful partly sunny 55deg, and on the flip side a 50/50 chance it will be 33 and rainy or 10 degrees. We will survive either way, but the 55deg and partly sunny would be very very nice.
I have been watching the weather lately. The trip is in 2 weeks, so I'm starting to get an idea of what to expect, and it's pretty much exactly what I thought. I added a town near where we are going to my Iphone weather app and am checking it weekly. Last week it was:
Then this week I saw things continuing to look more positive:
What in the world will it be like when we are there?? Nobody knows! That's part of the fun. I just hope the good weather doesn't get used up this week.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thanks to you
So I'm proud to claim I have now crossed into double digits in followers. Yes, double digits! I know it's not much, but I just started doing this like 6 months ago, so give me a break! I do get to cross goal number one off my goals list. Hopefully more are soon to be crossed off, particularly the ones involving fish.
But I would like to take a moment to thank all my loyal followers, especially Josh at troutbugs and Dustin who very recently started following me. I will do my best to keep you all entertained.
But I would like to take a moment to thank all my loyal followers, especially Josh at troutbugs and Dustin who very recently started following me. I will do my best to keep you all entertained.
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