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.

Nightmare

Sunday, June 12

I had a weird dream this morning that merits a blog entry. I was with Rob on the Wenatchee fishing for steelhead below the bridge in town. I know it was a dream because there weren't any other people on the river. I wasn't fishing for some reason, but Rob was spin casting a strange-looing yarn ball and reeling it back in and hooking a steelhead every time. I was just watching him (that is what made it a nightmare!). After he had landed several, I realized I didn't have any spinning gear. Rob suggested I drive back to Richland and get my spinning rod (good move, Rob! By the time I'd get back you'd have caught fifty). Anyway, I realized that I could cast my flyline out as far as he where he was hooking the fish, and if they'd hit that thing Rob was tossing, they were certain to take a bead dead drifted. So I opened up my flyrod case and found everything so tangled it was going to take hours to untangle and get ready for fishing (that was doubly the nightmare!). Then I woke up. I tried, but couldn't get back to sleep and the dream to try and resolve it. What an unsatisfying way to wake up. I guess I'll have to wait until next March on the Methow to resolve this one!

Rainbows, and Tigers, and Browns--Oh My!

The boys scouts of Troop 37 from East Wenatchee camped at the Fighting Rainbow Club and began the process of removal of aquatic weeds at the FRC Friday-Saturday, June 3-4. Using the rollers/rake from shore we were able to clear much of the milfoil from the dock around to the southwest corner entrance to the club. Also dragged the cutters behind a boat with oarpower (insufficient) and determined that the cutter works well, but a more powerful method of propulsion would make the task more efficient and effective (understatement). Good to get some experience with those tools so that plans can be made by the club to continue the work begun by the scouts.

Friday night found fishing good with Brian catching a nice tiger trout and Rob missing lots of opportunities to catch other fish. Dr. Rob seemed to have more fun with the fish taking out lots of line, wrapping around weeds, and coming off. Good reason to reduce the weed population some.

Saturday morning water temp was 58 degrees and Rob had much better success from 5-8 a.m. bringing in a dozen nice rainbows. Largest was a 23" triploid that was 6" in depth--fish was in great shape and took a black woolly bugger on a floating line with about 9' of leader and out about 40-50 feet at a very slow troll. The other fly that worked well was a pheasant tail, size 14. Lots of surface activity, but much of it in weeds, so difficult to troll through without picking up weeds.

Once sun got up high and bright, fishing came to almost a complete halt--which made starting the service project much easier.

Opening Day

Saturday, June 4 The Creek

Thanks to Alyssa's baptism, Rick was able to make it to the Creek for another important event - opening day for streams. Well, kind of opening day, because it was clear there had been significant poaching before the opening.

The road up out of Moses Coulee is deteriorating, with one section just as you start up the hill that is just about at the point of high-clearance vehicle only. We parked at the tunnel collapse and were glad to see no sign of vehicles or people down in the canyon. The creek was a little colored and higher than normal, but still wonderfully fishable. We started around the waterfalls, and each caught several.

We then worked our way up to the crossing and up a short ways from there. We found fish, but not a lot. One or two in a hole, and that was it. Size about 6" to 10", but seemed a little more on the small side compared to past years. Perhaps floods cleared out a lot of the fish. Water was murky enough that it could have been hard for the fish to see the fly as much as they normally would. I tried the psycho prince and had some success, but the renegade still topped it here. Some things never change. Together we probably caught 50 fish or so, but it seemed a little slow. All in all a very nice morning together.

Floods had done some cleaning out of the floating mats of grass, but more would be nice. At least three dams/partially broken dams below the crossing. The one monster above the crossing is also still there. From the waterfalls to the crossing has a lot of trees and such that force you in and out of the water, over and under branches. I sure hope when I'm 80 years old that I'll still be bushwacking it like Dad!

Sunfish, Smallmouth, Spinners, and Sums

Friday/Saturday, May 20-21

Tom and the girls came down to Richland Friday to give Elisabeth some time away from the kids and to give the cousins some time together. We met at a small irrigation pond in a neighborhood just up the road that is full of bluegill with a few bass. It is a great place, right next to the residential street, with mowed lawn to the waters edge and a wide open shoreline (watch you backcast or you may hook a pedestrian passing on the sidewalk!). It did not disappoint. The girls and the 3-wts collected a dishpan full of sunfish (bluegill) within a short time. As the girls played, Tom and I intermittently tried to coax a smallmouth from the water. Tom finally found one with a big ugly green fly with rubber legs. After a short fight with a nice sized smally (16 to 18 inch estimate), his line parted and the excitement was done. As we were loading up the cars, we turned back and saw a bass about the size of the one he lost leap a full foot clear of the water, twist in midair, and splash back down, a parting slap in the face to remind Tom who won this battle.

Saturday morning, we all headed to Moses Lake where we dropped Melinda off at the Washington State Math is Cool Masters Championship (the state championships), then the rest of headed to Homestead Lake for a few hours of fishing. Along the way to Homestead, we saw a few bass in the small lake along the way, and Tom managed to pull a smallmouth from the near the shore on a fly. Then it was off to Homestead. Upon arrival, first cast with a Panther Martin (brass blade, olive body, yellow spots) and Tom hooked the rainbow below, then nothing for a long time. There were some fish sipping on the surface in part of the lake, but no action. While I tried different flies with the spinning gear, Tom worked his way to the opposite side of the lake, where he brought three more to hand with the spinner and lost a couple more. All rainbows, about the size of the one pictured or a little smaller. Not a lot of action, but more fish activity than we have seen there in the last few years. Perhaps we'll have a late fall trip to check it out when the fish have grown some more. The lake itself appears to be silting in a lot, and is much shallower than in the past. Some time in the future it may become another cattail swamp unable to support trout.

While we were messing around with spinners and smallmouth (and 'bows), Melinda was working with sums (and products and factorials and story problems....) to win the Division 1 Math is Cool state championship with her classmates. After the awards ceremony, we all visited Arby's together, then said goodbye until our next time together. Cousins are great!