Lost Creek

Liz and I experienced the most joyous moment of our lives this past week as we welcomed our daughter Collins into this world. Becoming a father for the first time has been truly incredible and I am so excited for the adventures ahead with our little girl. Needless to say, as the adventures of fatherhood begin, time on the water will be put on the backburner. 

Penny and I were able to sneak out a couple of days before Collins' arrival though and enjoy the water for a few hours. We headed down to fish the Lost Creek section of Barton Creek which is always such a fun little piece of water.

We started our day at the big rock in the center of the creek east of the parking area. I love fishing on this rock, once you wade out to it, you have easy casting in every direction. The take of the day came when a really nice redbreast came up from deep water and hammered the little popper I had on. He put on quite a nice fight before I got him to hand.
   
As we made our way down creek, we caught a number of little bass and sunfish. The farther east we headed, the deeper the water became, and the larger the fish. We scared one bass from under a rock that looked to be four pounds. What scared us though was the four foot snake sliding its way across the creek fifty yards ahead of him. The snakes were out in full force, we saw a number of them on this trip. One of them was dragging a live catfish off for a meal.


Penny and her new friend Snowman

With all of the snakes out, I really had to keep Penny close by. Luckily, she is getting better and better about doing this on her own with each outing we make. My favorite part of the day came when I hooked into a small little sunfish. As soon as it started splashing around, Penny waded over to check it out as she normally does. The fish popped off before she was able to make her inspection though which did not make her happy. She chased that fish around for a solid minute as I sat back and laughed. She is really starting to take this fishing thing personally. I guess the next thing on the agenda is to teach her to use a net.

Rock Creek

It's no secret that Missoula, Montana is a pretty fantastic town for a fisherman. With the Bitterroot River feeding into the Clark Fork at the southwest part of town, and the Blackfoot merging with it just east of town, anglers have access to all kinds of world class waters. Not to mention, the fabled blue ribbon Rock Creek is only a thirty minute drive east of town. 

 

Rock Creek is always the river that pops up in my mind when discussing the ideal, picturesque trout stream. With long runs, good holding water, plenty of boulders, and solid year round hatches, trout have a perfect little playground to live in. The salmonfly hatch of June and early July is legendary on this river, as are the crowds that come along with the arrival of this giant stonefly.

                                                                              Rock Creek Rainbow

When I picture Rock Creek though, it's of calm quiet waters rolling through the Lolo National Forest. Memories of hungry trout slamming big hoppers and caddis next to the banks of hay fields always make me smile. Rock Creek is the only place I have caught a grand slam in one day. Bringing a brown, brookie, rainbow and cutthroat to net was a pretty cool experience.

                                                                                      Cutthroat

Brookie (Not sure where the brown went)

Penny

To say our dog Penny loves the water is quite the understatement. Liz and I are pretty sure she would spend every waking moment swimming if we gave her the opportunity. Fishing has been a natural and, for the most part, easy progression for Penny. She is only two years old and still has a lot of puppy in her, so she will still barrel full speed into a good looking fishing hole every now and then. For the most part though, she is very patient and is really becoming quite the little fishing companion.

                                                               Heading out on Lake LBJ

 

Where the fish at?

I see one!!!

Penny and I got over to the upper Bull Creek area (360 near Spicewood Springs) this past weekend for some hiking and a little fishing. We started down by the falls and made our way back up towards the parking area. We found a few small sunfish (redbreasts and greens) below the falls on size 10 yellow poppers. Penny only tried to eat one of them. 

MMMMM

As we made our way up, the fish got a little bigger. I kept seeing bass in the deeper pools but as soon as the fly layed down, the sunfish would come hammer it. Finally, as we reached the smaller falls up by the car, we found a bass that was faster than the rest. He came up and nailed the little popper and we were hooked up. After landing the fish, Penny and I decided to end on a high note.

               That was fun!

P.S. No fish were harmed by golden retrievers during this fishing trip.

Temple Fork Outfitters

I love my new 8 wt TFO rod my amazing wife got me for my last birthday. It is a nine foot, four piece that's a part of their BVK series of rods. I have had a chance to use it a couple of times in salt this year and love how light weight it feels while still maintaining power and distance. The price is another big draw, costing a third of some of the other big names out there. Temple Fork Outfitters is a Dallas based company so it's great to be able to support a company that is just up the road. Check out TFO online or at your local fly shop. 

Grateful Fest at The Mish

It is no secret that Colorado has had a great deal of recent heartbreak. Between the movie theatre tragedy in Aurora and all of the wildfires that have plagued the state, there has been a lot to grieve about. Within all of the darkness though, there have emerged many stories of heroism. The firefighters who have risked everything to protect lives, homes and forests through the devastating fires are a shining example of this heroism. 

To help celebrate some of these heroes and renew some of their resources, The Mishawaka (Mish) Amphitheatre in the Poudre Canyon near Ft. Collins has set up a benefit concert for September 7th. It promises to be a great night featuring bands such as The Motet, Head for the Hills and Juno What?! All proceeds will benefit the Poudre Canyon Volunteer Fire Department who were instrumental in not only battling the blazes but saving the historic amphitheatre/restaurant as well. I was fortunate enough to be able to fish the Poudre River throughout college and also had some good times at the Mish. Both are very special places so I am sure it will be quite a celebration. 

If you are around Ft. Collins in early September and want to help support a great cause, check out the Grateful Fest at the Mishawaka (http://themishawaka.com/34/Calendar/). 

Bucket List: Cuba

Experiencing new fishing locations is something I love doing and talking about. Bucket List will be an ongoing section of this blog as writing about new and exotic locations will hopefully be inspiration to visit them one day.

For today's bucket lister, we are heading down to the flats of Cuba. My younger brother Greg and I were down in Argentina a couple of years ago fishing with a group called Fly Fishing Patagonia. Justi Campa, Oscar Dono and the rest of the boys at FFP run a truly world class fishing operation that originally was focused in Argentina and Chile. They have more recently expanded to include other parts of the globe and for the last few years, have been hosting trips to Cuba. Each time I get the FFP newsletter with the report back from Cuba, it makes me want to go that much more.











Co-Owner/ Co-Founder of FFP Oscar Dono





A happy client

Cuba is certainly a salt water paradise. With good chances at trophy bones, permit and tarpon on waters that are relatively untouched, how could you not add this one to the dream list. In contrast to very highly fished areas such as the Keys and the Bahamas, areas of fishing ground in Cuba such as Jardines de la Reina and Isla de la Juventud have not been sport fished in half a century. FFP has teamed up with a respected outfitter in Cuba that offers different lodges and mother ships as home base for the trips. Getting access to hard to reach flats and coming home to a mother ship each night, that sounds like a pretty great trip to me.

Co-Owner/Co-Founder Justi Campa with a nice cuda

 

Getting to experience different cultures, fish waters with relatively untapped potential and making new friends along the way is what adventure angling is about in my mind. Cuba certainly seems to fit that bill and I really hope to make it down there some day.

Thanks for the pics Justi!

Guadalupe

Being that it is 102 degrees outside, the only major hatch taking place on the Guadalupe right now is the rubber hatch (tubers). Even though the Guad is a year round fishery, I always look forward to the late fall/early winter when the weather cools down, tubers are gone and the trout fishing heats up. 

Being a trout fisherman in Central Texas generally means you are familiar with this Hill Country gem. It is the southernmost freshwater trout fishery in the United States and became that way when Lone Star Brewery began stocking trout in the mid 60's. Today, the Guadalupe River Chapter of Trout Unlimited along with Texas Parks and Wildlife has its annual stocking program which stocks multiple times each winter. Even with the un-relenting heat of the summer and the human pressure the river receives, many trout still survive year round. This is certainly due in big part to GRTU's long battles to create regulations that protect over 10 miles of trout flows on the river.

The Guad is also where I really learned how to fly fish growing up so it will always be a special river to me. I have many great memories with friends and family on the river and I hope to teach my daughter how to use a fly rod there some day.

Until late fall….