Nunya

Tom called me about 10:30 pm Friday night and asked what I was doing the next day.  Since Elizabeth and the kids were out of town, it seemed like fishing would be a good idea.  So on a short night's sleep (about 3 hours) we performed our standard Nunya routine, meeting at the Ritzville McDonalds at the opening, #7 meal with OJ, then carpool to our destination.  No cars in the parking area seemed to foretell a banner day, but the fates had other plans. 

Water level was good, weather was good, clarity a little turbid but good.  Fishing, well, my first cast of the flopper hopper just above the bridge had a take from a decent fish about 15 feet in front of me (I missed him).  That was a good sign, but not indicative of the day, as neither of us had a rise or a take until about halfway to the first big bend.  I had another small one, about 12" that I farmed, then a while later this huge brown slurped my hopper. 

Nothing after that until I landed a 16" rainbow from the fast water below the first big bend.  So in 4 hours, I had done OK, and Tom hadn't found anything except the largest rattlesnake we have seen at Nunya. 

When Tom is laying the hoppers in the grassy bank like only he can do and hasn't had a single rise or take, you know that something is off.  So we called it a day and headed back to the truck.  Since no other cars had shown up, we tried again in the first few holes above the bridge, and I sent Tom to see if he could find the one I had missed that morning.  As usual, if there is a fish to be found, he will find it.  You can see him biting his lip in concentration as he tried to make sure he didn't lose it in the grass, and he removed the skunk, landing a nice rainbow.  I had another looker, but nothing else.  So kind of a slow day for catching, but lots of practice drifting flies tight to the grassy banks.

Uh, one more thing, Tom, I know my hat is kind of dorky, but Sarah just saw the photos and said what I had thought earlier - it kind of looks like you are wearing a diaper! (or at least underwear over waders).  She also said "Nice fish, too bad it isn't as big as my dad's." (you notice I cropped mine so the fish would look bigger!).

Brian loves Nachos. Or was that Naches?

Brian and I floated 12 miles of the Naches River with Troy of Red's Fly Shop today.  River had dropped over the last two days and water clarity was great.  Brian was on a tear!  With a little coaching from Troy he was dead on for hooking up with big cutthroats, mostly on stonefly nymphs under a dry stone.  Pictured above is not his largest of the day, but is representative of what he did while schooling his father.

Rob managed to find cutts, rainbows, a large whitey, and the Naches River steelhead in the photo.  Troy said that all the steelhead in the Naches are around 22" and unlike the rainbows, do not have any spots below the lateral line.  That was certainly the case with this guy who took a stone under a hopper in a hopper/dropper setup.  Brian had lots of cutts, a few rainbows, and a whitey also.  Lots of variety today.

Temps were near 100 degrees so we were wet wading.  Brian decided it was pretty sweet fishing while sitting down most of the day.  Lots easier than tramping around the sagebrush all day with Dad or Uncle Tom.  We saw two shore anglers along the highway.  Other than that, we had the entire 12 miles to ourselves!  Nice day for a float and as usual, Red's guide service was superb.

June 21, 2012 Little Nunya with Sarah and Rick

June, 21, 2012  Little Nunya

After reading the blog during a break in one of his thirteen consecutive 14 to 16 hr workdays in Michigan, Rick realized that he had been neglecting his duty as one of the Merrill boys to ensure there are new and frequent posts for others to enjoy, so he committed to remedy that as soon as he could after returning from Michigan.  Sarah was also in need of some practice to prepare for her international flyfishing trip to Japan (well, OK, it is really a trip to Japan where she and Jessica might go flyfishing for a day).

We first went upriver for a change and the cow free scenery and more native banks found there.  I had a bit of trouble finding the put in as there was no trail to be found.  When we made it to the creek, only one small fish was to be found.  There were some others seen, but not the schools that I have found here before.  Puzzling.

So we hiked back down to the waterfall and found some fish down there, all but one on the CG psycho prince (I tied a small hopper on in one hole and was rewarded with a nice slurp).  Fishing was spotty, with just a couple in places that often have dozens, none in other holes that usually turn out a few fish, and a few holes that gave up quite a few.  Perhaps it was the mid-day time that we were there, or maybe their jaws were still sore from Rob and Tom's visit the previous week.

As we returned to the car, Sarah decided to opt for the air-conditioned comfort while Rick visited the bridge hole and above for a few minutes (really, it was just a few minutes).  After a few to hand in the bridge hole, he moved on up to the honey of a run just above, and quickly pulled out another eight or so, seeing many more.  Good to know that some things can always be counted on.



"Little Nunya"

Sarah fighting a nice one in the hole the birthed the Caddis Green Psycho Prince Nymph revolution

Just after kissing the fish

Big enough to use the net on



A stout fish that actually made a couple downstream runs

(Late Post) Methow and Dusty

March 23, 2012  Methow and Dusty

Sarah and I got up very early in the AM and picked up Tom on the way to the Methow, hoping to find the honey hole teeming with steelhead.  Brian A. and Don Schurtz also joined us.  Tom and I stumbled down to the river in the semi-darkness while Sarah waited in the car (sleeping), trusting we'd come get her if the fish were in.  We began to toss our beads into the water as it became light enough to see, and after a few minutes we knew that a repeat of the epic days of the previous year was not going to happen.  After working the hole thoroughly, only Brian A had picked up a steelhead from the rocks on the other side of the river.  The fishing was so slow that Tom actually stopped fishing and went up on the bridge to spot fish.  In all the hole, he saw one steelhead,  to which he graciously guided me.  "Cast out towards the point of rocks," he says.  "About five feet farther on the next cast."  Then, "There!" and I lift the rod as my indicator goes down.  Fish on!  Nice job, Tom.




Nice Methow steelhead (caught by Rick, directed by Tom)

While Tom searched for fish down at the bend, Rick worked a nice looking run of water below the bridge hole.  Not so much a hole, but just fishy looking water, in the Bella Coola sense.  After farming one definite steelhead and losing another possible, Tom came back upstream and Rick graciously let Tom lead the way a second time through the run; then he promptly caught a steelhead nearly in the water Tom had just walked through!



Another one for Rick

Finally, Tom found a steelhead a little farther down the same run.


Tom's steelhead - I think the left pectoral fin is still in the water....

We had to work pretty hard to find these fish, so we let Sarah sleep.  We checked out a couple other spots to see if we could find a big trout for Sarah, but to no avail.  I did get to enjoy watching her toss the bead around, mending the line and all just as she should.



Sarah trying to find a steelhead

With it being a beautiful day and the end of March, there was only one thing we could do on the way home - stop at Dusty!  Sarah needed fish!  The parking lot was empty, so we'd have the lake to ourselves.  After the beautiful hike down the ancient spillway from the floods of glacial Lake Missoula, we could see a good number of fish cruising the shoreline.  With no breeze to riffle the surface, we were as visible to the fish as they were to us. In spite of that minor problem, we were still able to entice a few nice rainbows to take our flies, making Sarah a happy girl!

Sarah finds a nice Dusty rainbow



Nice Dusty rainbow



June 15--Nunya with Tom, Brian, & Rob

3-0-0

That may sound like a low nitrogen fertilizer but that is the results at Nunya with Tom being Mr. Nitro. The the river was high and visibility was poor he managed to find three within the first fifteen minutes in the water--the brown was caught at my feet after I'd drifted my fly through the same spot several times!

After the initial thrill we were shut out for the next several miles of river--not even a take and miss.  Brian asked me after a couple of hours when we were using the same flies and tactics, "Dad, isn't insanity doing the same thing and expecting different results?"

We finally decided to be less insane and went to a lake Tom had read about and after kicking around for a while in float tubes in the middle of the sunny day without results we decided it was time for some  people food and another change of scenery.

After a nice bite and rest it was off to Little Nunya and as you can see they were littler than Nunya, but definitely more plentiful. Brian & Tom had a double in one honey hole.  You have to look carefully at the last photo because Brian's fish was dancing while Tom's was dangling.  Brian and I finally got into the show and made the afternoon totals more like a well balanced fertilizer!

June 14--School's Out For Summer!

Brian & I went to The Creek to celebrate school getting out yesterday.  Though wildly overgrown, Brian was exceptional with his precision casting and put the Renegade where the fish were time after time.  We both spent a little time in the trees and grass but that comes with the territory.  A couple of hours, a couple of dozen fish, and a wonderful start to the summer!

The Creek

As you can see from the photos, the creek is pretty narrow due to vegetation ingrowth.  You really have to control fly delivery pretty precisely.  It was windy so that was tough.  I left out the pictures Mary took of me trying to get the fly out of the trees.  =-o

Managed to find a couple dozen nice fish.  All were larger than the normal average for the creek.  No "Chesters" today.  We were there about two hours including the walk to/from Clifford.  Mary and I went for our "walk" today a little farther from home but managed to leave home and be back eating lunch before Natalie got back from graduation rehearsal.  Of course, the Renegade was the ticket.  Oh, I love this place!