Pink and Chrome Friday

November 25, 2011

Forget Black Friday, think chrome with a stripe of pink. Tom and Rick once again continued their post-Thanksgiving tradition of finding somewhere to fish while all the other foolish people crowd into stores shopping. We spent a beautiful afternoon on the Methow River - not quite as crowded as Macy's, but almost. With a car parked at the first bridge, we continued to milepost 7 to fish the run there. No luck. Returning to the bridge, the couple fishing there had moved downstream, so we parked the car and walked out on the bridge to check for fish holding below. Sure enough, we saw three steelhead holding in the run. Tom took the side with the large concrete block, Rick the side with the gravel bar. Tom was fishing a Bella Coola rig with a bead, and after a short time hooked and landed this nice steelie. We continued to the hole above the bridge, but this was the only action we saw.

Quest for the Wall - Day 3

October 13, 2011

(Post under construction - I'm in Montreal and don't have Dad's photo, but I thought I'd get most of it written)

The last day of our quest dawned wet and gray, with a southerly wind - but much warmer, a balmy 41°F as we got on the river. The three brothers each had challenged a 30-inch+ rainbow and had come away victorious. Could Dad make it a perfect foursome?

Rob and Tom fished with Gray Flytalker while Dad and Rick fished with Kate. All morning we motored from one run to the next with no sign of fish of any size. Dad was catching all kinds of fish - just little ones. Adding his first three together exceeded 30-inches, but that doesn't count. By lunchtime, Rob hand landed the only fish of size, a 27-incher from Middle Moose's Butt. Tom was fishing the spey (his new Inuit name, Shoots Line Far), but even with the added casting distance had not encountered any fish.

By early afternoon, Rick was getting frustrated. A couple bumps from small fish was all the action he had seen that day, while down on The Fingers, Dad continued to haul in the little guys, hence, his Inuit name for the day, "He Who Catches Little Ones." At least he was catching something! After beginning to doubt the black fly he'd been fishing all day, Rick finally had a bump. He gave it a little line and and was rewarded a hook-up on a fat 22-incher, large enough to be considered a fish. A few minutes later, Dad finally hooked something big. After a good fight, he brought a 27-inch rainbow to the net, not wall-worthy, but worthy nonetheless.

Just a few minutes later, Rick, fishing the black fly with a new-found confidence, saw a chrome slab roll on his fly at the bottom of the drift. Seconds later he was into his backing. Good fish! After working his way down to the boat, Kate netted a monster 30-inch rainbow.

The afternoon fishing had picked up for Rob and Tom also, who landed fish of [insert information here]. However, time was running out for Dad's quest to join his sons on the Wall. The wind began to pick up for the last hour or two of the day and raindrops fell on and off. Kate worked hard to walk the boat where Dad could fish the prime water, but none were to be found. As the day closed, we fished one last run at The Islands, where Rick brought a few 12 to 20-inchers to hand under the watchful eye of this bald eagle. But no more big fish.
As we headed back to the lodge, we considered the good news - three from our party of four had succeeded in the Quest for the Wall. The better news - Dad will have an excuse to return to Bear Trail Lodge and continue his quest for the Wall.

Qwest for the Wall - Day 2

Wednesday, October 12

Today dawned clear and cold, but not too cold. An absolutely gorgeous day for Alaska in October.
Rob and Rick were with Gray Flytalker today, Dad and Tom with Heath. Gray is the picture of the rugged, Alaska guide as we head upriver into the rising sun.

Our second stop of the day was at the run where Rick caught his first fish yesterday. Rick headed up to the same rock where he found the fish yesterday, then glanced at the riffle upstream. Gray's instructions the previous day had been to start at the rock as he had never picked up a fish in the riffle above. Well.....Rick doesn't always listen very well, and that water looked fishy. So on the second cast into the riffle that doesn't hold fish, his line starts screaming out as a bright fish takes off downstream. Hence Rick's Inuit name "He Who Doesn't Listen to Guide." It looked about the same size as the one yesterday, so Rick called to the guide that it wasn't that big. The guide, who was downstream by the fish waiting with the net, thought he wasn't looking at the same fish Rick was talking about, as he proceeded to net a 29-inch beauty, one-inch short of wall status, but a gorgeous fish nonetheless.

Just after lunch, Rick found his way onto the wall at the Middle Elephant Butt run. He was listening to the guide this time, swinging a flesh fly into a run with water little more than knee deep, where you normally would think of walking. The fly stopped and Rick saw a slab of chrome roll sideways just under the surface. "A nice fish!" he thought, and once Gray had it in the net, even nicer. Out came the tape - 30.5-inches. Not enough to displace Tom from the biggest fish of the trip status, but enough to put him on The Wall with Tom.

Rob had spent the day chasing little ones (15 to 18 inchers), but in the late afternoon on our second time through the Counting Station run on his last cast just before pulling out at the boat, he hooked a giant, 31-inches! A great way to finish the day.

Meanwhile, in the other boat with Heath, Dad and Tom had a slow morning, but picked it up late in the day. Dad switched to the out-of-season bead and started picking up a bunch of fish including a 27-inch beauty. Tom meanwhile, practicing his newly discovered art of spey casting, pulled out three beasts late in the day including another wall-worthy fish of 30.5-inches and a fat beast just under 30-inches. We need to teach them how to use a camera (they might be on the guide's camera).

Qwest for the Wall - Day 1

Tuesday, October 11

What does it mean, the "Quest for the Wall?" At the Bear Trail lodge, a rainbow trout over 30-inches in the net lands you fame and fortune....well, really it just lands you a framed photo on the prestigious "Wall of Fame" and a nice little pin commemorating the event. And late fall is prime time to find these monster trout. That's why we are here.

The day dawned with a beatiful sunrise, though throughout most of the day the sun remained hidden.
We piled on the layers of clothing, squeezed into the old truck, and headed upstream to Rapids Camp where the boats were anchored.

Tom and I fished with Gray, Rob and Dad with Kate. Gray was a new guide for us, and we discovered a peculiar habit at the first run -he talked to the fly as he tied it on and it even looked like he was caressing it. Hence his Inuit name for the day - Gray Flytalker. Whatever he said worked as I walked out and hooked a 24-inch rainbow on my second cast.

At the next run we fished (Upper Moose's Butt), Tom hooked into a monster, that took him into his backing. After a lengthy fight, the fish slipped into the net and Tom slipped onto The Wall. It was a 31-inch beast.

Rick and Tom spent the rest of the day searching for more fish with limited success, but Dad and Rob got into a bunch late in the day, none of them wall-worthy. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Off To Alaska....

Monday, October 10

A long day of travel today. The flight to Anchorage was beautiful, with clear skies and rugged mountains, ice-fields, and glaciers as far as you could see on both sides of the plane. However, a seven-hour layover in Anchorage turned into an interminable wait as there was no plane at the gate. Two flights to other towns were cancelled while we waited, and they kept extending the time for updates on the flight. Then a little after 8 pm, our plane showed up out of the blue (literally and figuratively). It turns out there was a bomb threat in Dillingham where our plane was coming from. That would explain the lack of any information. At about 10:00 pm we pulled into Bear Trail Lodge, tired, but happy that we did not have to spend a night in Anchorage and possibly lose time on the river tomorrow.

"Zee plane, zee plane, eet has arrived boss!"

Heather Lake

Hiked with the scouts today to Heather Lake. What a coincidence! I just happened to have my packrod, cast-a-bubble, and flies with me. I wonder how that happened? I think the scouts are beginning to sense a pattern to our destinations.

Small size 16 yellow humpy was the trick. Caught 2 nice Cutts, a nice rainbow, and a nice hybrid. Two other dads along for the hike caught four fish as well. I think they may come on more hikes with me! Weather was mildly wet intermittently and we had limited boy attention span so we cut the fishing somewhat short, but it was successful. Well worth the 3.25 mile hike in.

Yakima River

Tom, Dad, and I floated the Yakima this morning. Flows had dropped 1,000 cubic feet/second since yesterday so fish were a little disoriented. That didn't prevent a few from finding their way onto our flies. I caught a nice cutthroat early in the morning and Tom had a nice rainbow as well. Mostly little guys. I spent most the day with a stone and grasshopper dry (or drowned) and Tom did really well nymphing. Dad went between dries and nymphs.

Enchantment Lakes, Saturday, August 27 got my goat!

Caught some nice cutts in the Enchantment Lake basin again this year, but did have one very unusual hookup. I was backcasting and the billy pictured below had wandered behind me. I suddenly snagged on the backcast. I'd thought I'd checked behind me and didn't know what I'd have hooked on.

I turned and there was the billy with my hook buried into his rear end! I didn't dare yank it out for fear he'd charge me. He turned and ran and I played him for a little on my flyrod until he wrapped me around a tree--just like all the big fish do--and the hook pulled out with a chunk of him attached. I cast it back out and resumed catching the cutts. Twenty minutes later when we started out, he was still icing his haunches in a nearby snowbank. Probably wondered what insect had bitten him. Some hikers passing by who were watching me fish had a pretty good laugh!

I guess I'm the first Merrill brother to catch an ungulate flyfishing.

Saturday, August 20 @ The Creek

I went to The Creek this evening with Garn Christensen, our school superintendent and a good fishing buddy. We started down low in the big holes by the cave at the turn of the valley. We clawed our way down there because Garn had snorkeled it yesterday with the Rotary Club clean-up of the creek (nice work Rotary Club!) and saw about one-hundred fish in the big hole there.

The fish weren't interested in what I was tossing so Garn wanted to go to the next hole down. I saw something I'd never seen before--somebody swimming in waders. I've seen people bobbing down stream in waders after getting out to the neutral buoyancy point, having done so myself on a number of occasions. No, this was swimming--launch into the water and then crawl stroke--across the hole (10'+ in depth) with fly rod in hand. He did catch one or two down below. I finally managed to land one small rainbow in the upper cave hole.

Once we headed upstream though, the fishing picked up and was pretty steady. Garn did stop to empty some water out of his waders. Grasshoppers are very thick this year. Some of the foliage on the willows even showing their effect. Some of the fish were so stuffed with insects that they had the body form of triploids with their distended bellys. I fished a Renegade, and Garn a hopper most of the time. I think that the Renegade had the slight edge tonight. A great way to spend the evening after a day spent in work!

Big and Little Nunyas

Friday, August 12, 2011

Work is highly overrated, so when Tom said he was wife and kid free we quickly planned an outing. Tom wanted to float the Kettle, but decided the water level might be too low for the driftboat by this time of year, and we opted for the old standbys, Nunya and Little Nunya, along with exploring a little more water on Little Nunya.

Tom got a late start, having to return home to retrieve his rattlesnake chaps. Good thing, because we ran into three this trip, only one of which we could see. But they were all nice and did let us know with sufficient warning that they weren't happy with the direction we were headed. We got this one to come out onto the trail (Tom wanted a new set of rattles for Tory, but the rock missed). Afterwards, we decided that next time we'll give one of our rattlesnake chaps a real, live, performance test (after taking it off our leg, off course).

The day started nicely, with this beatiful 20" brown about three holes up from the bridge on a black, bead-head bugger. Tom got several small ones on the hopper, but things were a little slow, even when we made it up into the better water. A little above the honey hole, we looked upriver and there were three fisherman in the water. They were either dropped off below, or were fishing their way down. Based on our seeing very few fish of size, and not many fish in the normal places, we may have been fishing behind them a good part of the day. Still, it was a bad day as we had some action throughout the stream and turned some nice fish besides those we caught.
Who can't love that face?

Tom pulled this fat-shouldered rainbow from under the grass bank (several times, in fact, as it kept running under and tangling in the grass.

This face is a little harder to love

My highlight of the day was the second big brown I caught (18") from another grassy bank. Tom had stung a nice brown about halfway down the bank and had worked all but the very upstream end of the undercut. I took my turn, trying to replicate Tom's graceful casting. He seems to place the hopper perfectly in the grass every second or third cast, while for me it is more like every tenth cast. Well, it must have been my tenth cast, because the line laid out perfectly while the flopper-hopper gently curled to the right and landed at the edge of the bank just upstream of the overhanging grass. "Perfect cast," I thought, "Just like one Tom would make." Tom, who was tying on a fly behind me, thought the same thing. The hopper drifted into the grass and was lost to view in the shadows, which didn't really matter for what happened next. The water under the grass erupted in spray with an accompanying sound like that of an our slicing through the water. You don't need to see the fly to know what to do when that happens! Rod up, fish on! Extremely gratifying to have such a perfect cast rewarded with a nice fish. Fish with Tom enough, and you can pick up some good habits.

After Nunya, we stopped for a double everything burger at a local shop (not bad), then made a couple quick stops at both the upper and lower access points on Little Nunya. A few small fish downstream from the upper access. We walked about 1/2 mile downstream, and found the river highly straight and channeled like a canal with cattails along both sides. Water was deep enough and flowing, somewhat fishy looking, but without structure and banks, did not appear to hold a lot of fish. More fish at the bridge at the lower Little Nunya access, but not as willing as normal (although lots were present). We were there late, so it may have been fished earlier. Finally, we checked out a new section and found flowing water with at least small fish present based on the rises, but Tom couldn't entice one to a hook. Private land all around, so just fishing right at the bridge. We were treated to a wonderful sunset over an abandoned house. A great way to end a great day.

--Rick

Near the Land of Zarahemla...

Saturday, August 6, 2011

I had to check out a couple hikes for our Beehive Camp next week at Camp Zarahemla on Clear Lake near White Pass. The first hike up Round Mountain had no water but what you could see far below in the Tieton Valley; also great views of Mount Rainier, Mt Adams, and the Goat Rocks. The second-year girls should be challenged by the 1700 ft of elevation gain and somewhat high altitude (just under 6000 ft at the top).

Mel and I then checked out a bushwack hike to Clear Creek Falls which will be challenging for the first-year girls, but rewarding as it is pretty cool. Mel and I climbed up the ridiculously slick rocks into the spray shooting across to the opposite cliff.


More importantly, this was a stream that bested me years ago. In fact, it was at this very creek (Clear Creek) that Jessica informed me the fish didn't like me because I didn't kiss them and tell them thanks. Well, I have obviously kissed enough fish since then, because in the first hole I pulled out this nice rainbow that waked after the elk-hair caddis skillfully skated downstream!

Next stop, North Fork Tieton above Clear Lake. A washed out bridge left us miles short of the trailhead we went to investigate, so I went straight to the river that had skunked me years ago. Beautiful looking stream, a little colored from the glacier that feeds it, but same results as my last visit - not a sign of any fish. I couldn't see any bugs on the rocks in the stream, so I'll just claim this as a fairly sterile piece of water and cross it off my list of places to visit. Unless I'm in the area with Tom, who can then show me how the catching is done.

On the way home, the girls allowed me a few minutes to toss a fly into the Tieton below Rimrock Lake along the rip-rap next to the road, usually a sure producer of fish. That was the case again, even though the water was fairly colored. Five rainbows, all about this size, mostly on the caddis green psycho, one on a brown stonefly, and a few hits on the stimulator chew toy (dry). A great way to close the day.

Temple and Trout

Gotta love the drive to the Seattle temple. I went over with the young women to help watch the primary of another ward. On the return back, I asked the YW if they would mind stopping for 5 minutes so I could catch a fish. They said sure. After landing an 8" cutt on cast one I said "OK, we can go." Their response..... "That wasn't 5 minutes. Can you get anymore so we can watch more closely?"

4 minutes more and 3 more fish. 2 Cutts and 2 bows. Largest being 8". Smallest about 5".

I love summer!

Trip to Spokane Airport

Well, the Courtright Family Reunion has come and gone. Mike C. flew into Spokane on Friday, so I volunteered to go pick him up. The flight got it at 3 PM, so I left at 4:20 am to make sure I would make it in time.

I made great time to Ritzville and after a #7 McDonald's breakfast (with OJ!), I looked at the time and realized I might be getting to Spokane earlier than the 3 PM arrival. Hmmmm. What to do with several hours extra??? Oh, how about a quick trip to Nunya!

Fortunately, I happened to have my rattlesnake chaps, wading boots, 5 wt TFO and an assortment of black buggars and hoppers. Man, was I glad they happened to be there!

After a quick drive (meaning 65 mph on dirt roads), I arrived at Nunya to find myself alone. The first 1/4 mile was unproductive. I fished both hoppers and nymphed buggars with no takes. At mile 0.25, however, the buggars turned on. I proceeded to catch lots of fish on buggars the rest of the way up. Did finally take a small 9" brown (didn't know they made them that small in Nunya!). At the final hole, I put on a hopper and proceeded to take 3 browns on the dry including a fat 22 incher. The lower 1/2 of Nunya produced all rainbows. The upper 1/2 all browns. Chance??? I don't know. Largest rainbow 23" in the corner hole. Most were 17-20".

Well, after 5 hours of a holding pattern at Nunya I figured it was time to pick up Mike. Got him from the airport and I just happened to have an extra set of waders and another fly rod. Sounds like a return trip to Nunya since it is "on the way home".

We fished from the upper bridge both up and down. Didn't find anything large at all. Mostly small rainbows, but Mike did end his Nunya skunking with a FAT 19" bow out of the last hole. I'd like to park cars lower and upper and make the full trek sometime.

Rick, this did merit a post due to the fish size being > 20".

Fish: 30+
Snakes: 0!
Lost flies: 3
Memories: Priceless!

Rob & the scouts @ Myrtle Lake

Plans for the scout hike got changed due to lots of snow in our planned destination along with snow covering backup plan #1 as well as backup location #2. Well, when the going gets tough, the tough go fishing. So we went instead to Myrtle Lake up the Entiat River. Good thing since it was a training hike and one of our boys who is new and has some difficulty hiking took 4.5 hours to get to the lake compared to 2.0 hours for Brian and the faster crew. However, to give incentive to the boys to go back and help the slower one, the adult at the end of the line, was the one with the lunch!

Lots of brook trout in Myrtle Lake. Several boys had their first ever experience fishing and catching fish. I like being scoutmaster--it gives me reason to take these boys and introduce them to the great outdoors, and fishing too!


Sorry, I couldn't get any of my images to upload to the blog today.=-(

Three more streams

July 22, 2011

The big event of the day was dropping Jessica off in Seattle, on her way to Japan for a year for a job teaching English with the JET program. We enjoyed the mini-road trip and a last meal together at a pizza place downtown. A few teary eyes as Sarah, Melinda, and I bid her farewell. Then we were off. Carlynn said goodbye in the morning and stayed at home, so we were free to take as long as we wanted to get home - and you know what that means!

First stop, Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie. This is a sizeable, but beautiful river, crystal clear, but probably higher than normal due to the heavy winter snows and late spring. Since this trip was simply to pad the stream count, I found a pull out with likely water, landed two small cutts, and called it good. On my deer hair headed, rubber-legged fly, what ever it is called (dry). I can't believe I never fished here in all my time in Seattle. Definitely worth a return visit if time permits on a trip to Seattle.

Middle Fork Cutt

Next stop, Taylor River a few miles up the Middle Fork Road. Running a little bit high and fast, but crystal clear. This river drops a bunch, but in lower water would have some nice pocket water. Stopped at the first turnout, turned several, finally landed a little one, but no photo as the phone camera locked up. Turned a nicer fish (10"?) on the deer head thing. Most fish came to the elk hair caddis, size 12.

Left the Middle Fork and headed east for Meadow Creek, a tributary of Lake Keechelus just past Snoqualmie Pass. Nice camping area at the bridge. A faint trail heads upstream, but since I was looking to pad my stream count, I started fishing right away. First hole brought up this little cutt. Caught a few more, similar in size, and missed a few. Nothing I saw had any size at all. Perhaps the parents are farther upstream? Beautiful small stream, lots of nice pocket water and holes, pretty open with not a lot of overhanging branches. Might be fun to explore further up. It appears there may be a road that follows it upstream for a ways. Elk hair caddis, size 12

Meadow Creek Cutt

Finally, stopped a little further west on this road to check out Roaring Creek. It was roaring, a challenge to even get to, with steep short canyon wall and lots of brush. Found one hole with a little slower water, looked good, but no fish to the fly. So on the day, fish in 3 of 4 stream, all three new to me, so mission accomplished with my Washington stream total incremented by three! Every trip is an excuse to fish!

One more closer to 100....

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Took Jessica and Melinda on a day hike up to Meeks Table. A little late for a lot of the wildflowers, but the tiger lillies were out in force in the meadows.

But this isn't a blog for sissy wildflowers. On the way home I thought I'd give Oak Creek another shot. Years ago I stopped very briefly and found it very small and overgrown and didn't raise any fish in a very brief attempt. While the girls slept, I took a little detour (really Natalie, it was little - only about 10 minutes out of the way) and found a wide open stream. A few years ago a fire burned the whole canyon, so it is completely opened up. Stopped two miles up, fished about 20 to 30 min, at least a couple dozen to the fly, a dozen or more to the hand. All quite small rainbows (3" to 7"). Most on a Goddard Caddis, some on the size 16 Psycho Prince. A smaller hairwing caddis probably would have caught more - there were a lot of rejections right at the fly.

A couple more miles upriver might find some larger fish. If the lower stretch tends to dry up small, the upper reaches in the forest (rather than oak scrub) might be more hospitable for trout year round. But most importantly, never caught fish here before, so this adds one more stream to my total on the way to 100 streams in Washington.

Nunya!

Friday, July 1, 2011

There were some early fireworks for Tom, Rick, and Brian A today at Nunya. After the obligatory #7 and McDonalds (Rick was sure to order OJ today, no chocolate milk, and it payed off handsomely with the highest fish total of the day), we arrived at Nunya and found it running a little high, a little colored, but very fishable. What a place!

Short summary first, a few stories after the photos:

About 24 of these:

About a dozen of these:

Only one 24" monster like this:

A couple of these (the sketch effect is cleverly used to hide the fact that the fish took Rick's fly just behind the pectoral fin, one of two he skillfully caught this way on the day):

And somewhat thankfully, only 3 of these:

OK, a few stories.

Brian's monster (taped at 24"): Tom and I are coming upstream and see Brian fighting a stick in the river. But wait, it isn't just a stick! The fish wrapped the line around the stick and is now just sitting there looking up at Brian and laughing at him. "Hah!" says the fish, "The only stick within 30 yards any direction, and you let me wrap the line around it!" But what the fish didn't know was that Brian was delicately fishing with 2x 12-lb test tippet - With that tippet, he could lift the fish out of the water and swing it around his head if he wanted to. So the fish didn't break off and Brian was able to unwrap the line from the stick and land the beauty!

Tom in the first hole: Tom and Brian saw a splash near the grass in the shallows of the riffle at the head of the hole. Brian fishing in the next hole up directed Tom a little more precisely to where the fish splashed, and Tom's hopper briefly hit the water before getting sucked into the mouth of a nice brown. Always a good way to start the day!

Rick and the killer brown trout from Monte Python and the Holy Grail (or was it a rabbit?): Standing in hip deep water, Rick hooked one that proceeded to swim right at him. He was frantically pulling in line and lifting the rod to keep the line tight when the 18-20" brown leaps out of the water and uses the bend of the rod to perform the longest, highest jump Rick has ever seen from a fish of that size. It left the water several feet in front of Rick and hit its apex about even with him at shoulder height (at least two feet above the water!). As it passed by no more than a foot or two away, Rick watched the fly come free from the fish's mouth. After throwing the fly, the trout continued on its flight path and fell back into the water a couple feet behind Rick. I guess with only 3x - 10 lb test, Rick couldn't quite spin the fish around his head.

Details: Spring is 2 to 3 weeks late here as everywhere else. Vetch was in full bloom everywhere, water level and color was typical of early June. A few hoppers around. We caught a few fish on hoppers, but very little action along the banks, even with Tom's incredible casts and drifts along the grass banks. Most of the fish were on black buggers, Brian had an olive beadhead bunny leach. Quite a few follows without takes, a couple tried to take the fly literally on top of Rick's toes. We tried to walk through to the upper bridge, but ended up walking out to the road before we got to the bridge. It was a long way over to the road, added maybe 10 minutes to the hike compared to going back along the creek (but we didn't see any snakes). Speaking of snakes, they are creepy things, especially in the grass. None really rattled, even when harassing them a little. Still a little cool to be really active it appears.

Strip and Chip

Saturday, June 18, 2011 Desert Canyon Golf Club

Wenatchee Stake Golf Tournament was today, and Dad, Rick, and Tom played together along with Kyle Cox, spouse of one of Tom and Rob's assistants. Golf was fun, with the chips going pretty well. Then we came to the 4th hole on the Lakes course. Par 3 with a cattail-ringed pond to the right of the hole. Tom hit first, pulled the fly rod out of his golf bag with the big, ugly-green, rubber-legged bass bug attached, and started heading down the right side of the fairway. By the time we reached the green, he had stripped his bass bag a few times through the pond and had a 12" bass flopping on the shore. We were tempted to leave it in the hole to surprise the next group, but decided it was "be nice to fish that aren't trout" day (although if it were a dolly varden, he probably would have whacked its head on the side of the cart, then left it in the hole with the flag impaled through it - years of conditioning at Bella Coola!). He returned the bass safely to the water and instead recorded his catch on the closest-to-the-pin sheet. He was recognized at the awards lunch for recording the largest (and only) catch of the day, but didn't receive a prize, other than a lot of people shaking there heads and mumbling something like "crazy Bishop!"

Little Nunya

Friday, June 17, 2011 Little Nunya

This day found Sarah and I traveling to Wenatchee for Girls Camp and golf, and since Little Nunya is right on the way (as long as you go the right way!), we made time for a little dad/daughter fishing.

We arrived about 6:30 pm, nobody at the pullout, and no sign that anyone had been downriver for some time. The water was slightly colored (not muddy brown, but good greenish) and quite high, with a good flow coming over the top of the little wall of basalt at the top of the hole above the bridge - an easy 6" higher than the normal level, or more. The barbed wire fence partway to the falls has been repaired, but not posted, so we squeezed through the fence and chased some cows as we made our way to the falls.

We fished above the falls and in the falls, then the deeper hole above the island just below the rapids downstream of the bridge. Sarah fished like a champ, likely catching more than I did, including an in-your-face she hooked a few feet in front of me, although I caught my share, too.




Swarms of really small flies above the water (gnat-like) and lot of takes as the fly hit the water. A small dry or emerger would probably have worked well, but we just dropped the strike indicator to about 9" above the fly and that got us a lot more hook-ups. Fish were on the whole smaller than normal, but fat-bellied, so they should be a lot bigger the next visit.

With the water this high here, I imagine that Nunya will be running high for a while. If I were you, Tom, I probably wouldn't try Nunya until August, maybe September. Since it is such a far drive for you, I figured I would check it out and save you the trip, and after I have three or four 20-fish days, I'll give you a call and let you know it is shape and worth your drive.