Sore Mouths?

Yesterday (Tuesday) the day after Memorial Day weekend my dad & I spent the morning at the FRC.  I think there may have been some sore mouths from the weekend because although weather was perfect, overcast and a light breeze, we only had action from the small guys.  We did catch one that was 15" but the rest were the recent plants.

Almost all were on a size 20 spent midge.  A couple on black bugger and olive bugger.

There is a nesting hawk in the pine tree midway along the north shore.  Maybe hawks will make it less hospitable to osprey?  Although there were two osprey present much of the morning.  Even saw one tuck and dive into the water in an attempt to get a fish--hopefully a bluegill--that was unsuccessful.  Easy to distinguish hawk from osprey--osprey has mostly white feathers in front and on its face with dark circles around the eyes.

Those darn fish catching osprey.  :-(

Siblings @ the FRC

I came to the FRC 5/23 with Rick & Kristi.  We fished from 5-9pm.  Winds were light. Mostly cloudy.  Somewhat chilly--the mountain passes had traction tire advisories this morning.

Kristi with a little one

Kristi discovered the little family secret--her brothers lose a lot of fish and miss strikes for even more.  She now knows what "farmers" are.  (I think she had wondered about all the agriculture talk she overhears from her brothers.  Now she know.)  Lots of little guys striking.  All of us caught fish (eventually).  Lots of surface activity--feeding on about size 28 midges.  Kristi's most difficult challenge of the evening was negotiating conflicting, comprehensive, and constant instructions from brothers on how to set hook, hold rod, angle line, reel, fight fish--you get the picture.  She was a very good sport about it!

The largest rainbow I've ever caught at the FRC

We fished floating, intermediate, and sink-tip lines and had action on all of them. We all also managed to break off at least one larger fish.  Black bugger, green bugger were what Rick & Kristi were most effective with.  Rick had a black bugger with some reflective chenille(sp?) that was very enticing as the light was fading.  At the end we had crazy hits on a fushia bugger.  Enough so that Rick even tied one of these uglies on.  I used prince nymph, chironomid, and size 20 spent midge.  I landed this 26" rainbow on the spent midge.

18" Tiger Trout

We also found a tiger.  Saw one osprey.  Saw otter briefly across the pond on the surface once.  Seeing lots of little fish eating on the surface let me know he hasn't decimated the population (yet).  Nice to fish with sibs and VERY grateful for the Father's Day gift of a few years ago of the electric trolling motor and battery!

Grandpa does it again

Dad did it again yesterday when we were at the FRC.  He landed the biggest rainbow and hooked an even bigger one.  We had sunshine and calm so the shadow of the boat and lines was spooking the fish.  Water is crystal clear so I saw them scatter as we approached and as the lines passed overhead.  It made for some challenges, but better than Saturday when I was there with Scott and Keenan fighting what seemed to be gale force winds.  I caught bigger fish on Saturday than yesterday.

Biggest to net was 17" for Dad.  I caught mostly little guys.  Dad had a BEAST to the boat, but I was unable to net it and it ran again (probably saw my ugly mug) and then it straightened out his hook.  Kind of tough to land one with a straight hook.  I'd have like to have gotten it into the net to measure and get a photo.

Rainbows, Tigers, & Browns (Oh my!)

Fished 10:30-1:00 today with Dad.  I used intermediate line; he used sink tip.  Overcast conditions.  Wind picked up after 12:00.  Caught fish consistently.  Dad said it was his best trip ever to the FRC.  Fish were from several age classes--most were the brand new plants which kept action going, half a dozen of the intermediate plants (see rainbow photo) ranging 14-17". 

At first, I was catching and Dad would get a hard hit, bring his line in and have his flies broken off.  He was using the sink tip so was deeper and the fish must have been bigger.  I think it was frustrating as he would be tying on a new bugger and I'd land another fish.  He made up for it toward the end of the day besting me by about a 2:1 ratio down the stretch.

I caught two tigers--one 17" between boat launch and feeding raft, the other at the opposite corner that went 18".  They should be getting large enough to start slurping bluegill and size up considerably more.  

Dad got the fish of the day in the corner diagonal to the boat launch--a 21" brown.  Tried to get a photo, but keeping the net over the water, the lively fellow went leaping as soon as Dad touched him and out of the net and into the drink and away he went.  Probably shouldn't have tried to one-hand it.  (A better son would have helped to make sure he got the fish in hand to get the photo instead of just holding the net and camera and watching the entertainment.) My rubber mesh net has measurement scaling on the bottom so I gauged size when I was removing the hook.

Dad caught most of his on a green woolly bugger with a cone head; most of mine were on a small chronomid, but I caught 4 on the black woolly bugger with an orange egg head.  Saw a pair of osprey but no predatory mammals. A great day at the FRC!

Adding Merrill Girls to the Merrill Boys Blog

Alyssa and Hannah joined Tom today at the FRC pond.  It was a rare warm and wind-free day in Ellensburg.  We were the only people on the lake.  Not much surface activity, so we went with buggars and sink-tips.  The action was steady for the almost two hours we fished.  Alyssa finished with 8 to the boat and Hannah managed 5.  After Hannah got the first 2, Alyssa labeled Hannah the "Fish Whisperer".  What a compliment!  I hope I earn that one some time!

Fish of the day goes to Hannah, who started with an 18" brown and finished with a 25-27" bow that came off at the boat.  Her farming out her fish further clarified the fact that she is a relative to Rick.

About 1/2 the fish were recent plants that were about 12" and the others were more typical in the 18-20" range.  Just the one hog.

Good day!