The Fishin' Bishop

I had the opportunity to go with the Fishin' Bishop this morning, and what a morning it was. Hooked five and landed three on the Wenatchee. Unfortunately, none were "bonk-able" so the steelhead dinner will have to wait for another day. I probably won't make it back out until I have to knock the ice out of the guides. Oh well.

STEEL!!! October 19, 2009

At last there is something worth posting on the fishing blog! Native steel was landed on the Wenatchee this morning. Rob and I got in a couple hours of pre-work fishing. The river had colored up and come up about a foot since I was last out with Hannah in the backpack.

Rob and I tried the Turkey Shoot run out of Cashmere. Nice water, but no tugs. When we got to our spot at Monitor we started fishing the tailout of a run. There were old kings rolling on the surface. We fished for a while and Rob had a solid hit that took his bottom fly, an egg pattern. I moved up a little and mooched Rob's water (after he had moved upstream a bit).

I was fishing a black Kauffman's Stone with a size 8 prince trailer. When I laid a nice drift through the area where Rob had his hit I saw the Thingamabobber dive under. I lifted up and could feel solid resistance. I knew it was a king or a steelie. It didn't really run much for about 20 seconds, so it left me guessing. Then it put on a nice run with an acrobatic leap into the air. No doubt at this point.

The fish took me all the way across the river into the backing and into some heavy water. I was worried that the pull of the water on the fly line would cause the tippet to break, so I kept my rod high to try and keep as much line off the water as possible. After taking me down a couple rapids, I coaxed the beast to shore.

Enjoy the pics below.

Just landed and hook out.
Legal fish picture for a wild fish.

At least there is some water dripping off the fish!

OK, maybe there's not a whole lot of water dripping now, but I covered the adipose fin with my thumb. Maybe this was a hatchery brat???

The Creek, October 6, 2009

Haven't visited this little piece of heaven for some time, so I just had to stop on the way back from picking Sarah up in Wenatchee. Grandpa is always looking for a chance to spend time with his kids and grandkids, so he came along. It took a little bit for Sarah to get reacquainted with the art of fly-fishing, but once she did the fish were no longer safe.

The creek is badly in need of 1) a grader on the steep part of the road on the first switchback, and 2) a major flood to flush things out. The road will soon be difficult passage for low clearance vehicles. And the creek is not only overgrown with trees, but grass is filling in all the way across the creek so in many places the stream is flowing through a mat of grass. But anywhere you could drop a fly in, there was a fish or two. I love this place, even in its overgrown state.