Fishing with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker (a.k.a. fast and furious)

OK, it didn't start that way, but it ended that way, which is what we remember most. I (Rick) met Kirk Morris at a walk-in lake in the Columbia Basin where he has fished a couple times and found both rainbows and largemouth bass. He was there early, and had just caught the biggest bass of his life when I arrived and helped with the photos. It was pretty chunky. 

Kirk and his bass

Releasing the big boy

Following that, it was pretty slow for the next two hours. Kirk had a couple take downs fishing chironomids from shore, then went back in the tube and found nothing. I had one take down which I hooked and fought for one run before it came undone (fishing three chironomids under the indicator, about 6 ft to 9 ft down). Next I tried spinning gear, first with lures, then with a leech behind an egg sinker. Nothing more.

As the sun was approaching the horizon and Kirk was packing up his gear, fish started feeding on the surface sporadically, then more frequently. I went into a shallower arm and tried pulling the fly and lures by them. No interest. While I was doing that, Kirk borrowed my fly rod that was still set up, adjusted the depth to about 18" to 3' and tossed it out (not nearly as far as the fish were rising). It didn't matter. This was when Vin and Paul came to visit. Within a minute or two, fish on! Kirk landed a fat, feisty rainbow. I quickly borrowed my rod back, and hooked three in succession, most within about 15 seconds of the fly hitting the water. All the rainbows were big, fat, and healthy.

A face to love (the fish's of course, not Kirk's)

Professional long-arming - note the size of the fish relative to the net - how did that even fit in there?

I told Kirk that he could take a turn after the next one I hooked. So the indicator goes down, he screams at me like a Mexican fishing guide on the bonefish flats, which excites me so much that I set it like it was a steelhead on 15 lb test. You know the obvious result. Kirk leaves to go set up his rod while I re-tie mine. By the time we get back in the water, the action was slowing. I missed one more take down, Kirk caught one more and had a couple other strikes. Then it was time to leave, walking the road out in a mix of twilight and moonlight. We'll definitely be back.

Beastly!

22"--best of the day

Dad & I returned to the FRC again today and it was WINDY.  Beastly windy.  But we also found some beasts.  :-)

Dad had four HARD strikes throughout the morning that snapped his 8lb tippet.  Others that took off running fast that he was unable to stop until they came off.  We put six over 20" into the net and lots of other fine fat fish throughout the day.  First hour was slow (with little wind) but as the wind picked up so did the fishing today.

Controlling the boat was difficult because it was so windy.  Several times fighting fish the wind put us into the shore or into the trees which was a bit of a challenge to get away from after releasing the fish.

Dad also caught a tiger--he's had one every time and I have yet to find one.  I had a nice brown today about 19".  I broke off several flies trying to release fish at the side of the boat that were too big to release that way.  Use the net and save your flies.

Intermediate sink tip line produced more fish than floating line.  Green flies with flashy sparkles and a red leech with bead head were most productive flies today.

A great day--fished from 8:30-1:30.  Did I mention that it was windy?

FRC Fun!

Dad & I decided to start of the week right--go fishing!  The drive to Ellensburg was fine, but gave way to elation when we saw the windmills idled and motionless--No Wind!!  A rare treat indeed in windy Ellensburg!

We were happy to evaluate the enhancement of last week and were very pleased.  As Dorothy from Kansas (or was it Oz) might be inclined to say, "Rainbows, and tigers, and browns--oh my!"

A nice fat rainbow--20"

Dad had most success on a black beadheaded bugger on a floating line.

Dad with a very fat Tiger trout.  Looks like he's been enjoying the bluegill!

I had rainbows on some green buggers with sparkle and the brown was on a flashback prince nymph on an intermediate line.  Risers were present intermittently throughout the time we were there--10:30-1:30.

We managed to have twenty or twenty-one to net.  Dad had the two tiger trout and we each got browns.  An excellent start to the week.  I'll have to come back Thursday with Natalie and Brad to see if fishing on a Thursday is as much fun as fishing on a Monday.

Culverts Glorious Culverts!!

Life is good when your wife says "You should go fishing today. You deserve it!"  Life is either good, or it's possible that there will be a large purchase when you arrive back home.

As there were no large purchases at home, I'll go with Life Is Good!

Brian Anantatmula and went off this afternoon to do a little exploratory fishing. We were chasing down some intel that Rick had collected. Rob was under the weather (the exact quote was "It is now affecting my GI system!"), so it was just Brian and me.  (Mom, that is correct usage of me!  Aren't you proud?)

We headed out to search a couple drains in the area. The first drain had a culvert (the first sign of a magical place) and running water.

Can't go wrong with running water and a culvert!

We quickly spotted some fish and it didn't take long to add another stream to the Washington state tally. It produced well on a head head pheasant tail. Most of the fish 8-10 inches.  All were very healthy!  Probably landed around 15-20.  Brian also found success fishing a prince nymph.  I think it was a size 2-0!!!  I have no idea how the fish got their mouths around it!  ;)

Typical drain fish

On the upstream side of the blessed culvert, I ran into a nicer rainbow.  Probably around 13" or so.  If put up some great jumps and runs.  The water was very clear, so the fish were a bit spooky.

Did I mention I have HUGE hands?

We moved on to try another separate drainage and found it running high and chocolaty with lots of sage brush floating down the middle!  We attempted to add to the stream tally, but with no success.  I'd think during the summer, some hoppers could do wonders against the grassy banks if the clarity improves.  Today it was around 4" of visibility.

Having had fun with the new streams, we moved on to the Rocky Ford petting zoo.  There were nuclear winds blowing, so it was tough, but we brought one nice bow to hand from the Ford.

Good day, new stream.  Could be fun for the winter doldrums!

Fish on!

- Tom