August 17-21, 2021
Plain and simple, for the first time in the 12 years of writing about every single day of fishing, I’m so far behind in about everything in life that I’m going to give the shortest reports from this week’s fishing of all time. Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of this. But the reason is that I fished hard from sun up to sun down this week and tomorrow at 6 AM I’m on my way to the Henry’s Fork to help instruct for the Advanced Dry Fly Class for the School of Trout. The school runs through Friday and it’s a great school and I need to be 100 % ready to teach my classes.
August 17
I fell behind starting on Tuesday when Granny and I had a chore day of epic proportions. I won’t get into those chores now but soon I’ll have news. Late that very night I presented “The Worlds Greatest Trout Destinations” via Zoom to the Washington Fly Fishing Club. The talk went great and I had a blast chatting with the folks till nearly 11 PM Mountain time. Then I had to go to bed.
August 18-20
I had to got to bed because number one it was 11 PM, but I also had to be at Blackfoot Reservoir at 8:30 AM (2.5 hour drive) to meet Winston rods top man, Adam Hutchinson and his film/photo crew – Asher Koles and Cole Leishman. From 9 AM Wednesday until about 4 PM on Friday they documented me putting a hurt on the Blackfoot mirror carp population.
Conditions were beyond horrific from the minute we started until about 3 PM on Friday. We need it but. . . RAIN. . . came in full force along with a mix of wind, thunder, lightening and a cold front. Honestly, had we seen this forecast a week earlier we would have canceled. That’s not carp weather. But everyone is so busy these days as the world returns to life that we just went for it. And by miracle I caught a bunch of fish.
In a nut shell, on Wednesday at 10 AM I spotted swirls in the shallows. I launched my crayfish and wham – fish on. I’d hook three fish in the first hour and land one 18lber. Not bad considering the rain and inability to see into the water. Thankfully the carp were shallow and offered themselves by disturbance and exposed tail. I’d land two this day.
Thursday was more brutal weather. In fact, along came stronger wind. It rained so hard we had our dinner for breakfast just to get calories for the daunting weather then at 10 AM started fishing. On my first cast I landed a beauty. On a blind cast! Despite the quick success and amazing confidence amongst us at this time, that was my only fish all day long. And I fished hard in the rain until 6:30 PM.
Regardless of the weather by Thursday night we had plenty of footage. It was unique, because carping is usually a hot sunny sport. But we had some amazing stuff from the three fish I landed in the rain and wind. It should be pretty exceptional actually.
We ate plenty more food and drank hot coffee so we wouldn’t freeze camping!
On Friday morning at 5 AM, the rain stopped. The patter on the roof of my Explorer (I sleep in here) finally ended. At 7 AM I made coffee and as the sun rose I let it warm me in my Yeti Chair. “Perhaps I’d catch a few more carp in nicer conditions before the shoot ended?”, I thought.
Well, bingo. I hooked ten carp and landed six more incredible fish including several beauties. All these fish came in a four hour period! They were tailing, leaving swirls and bubble lines. You would cast there and more often than not you hooked up. Trust me, this was not the usual Blackfoot fishing! At 4 PM Adam cooked us burgers and we enjoyed a brew before the long drive home.
This Winston shoot will be amazing to see. I’m sorry I don’t have much in the way of photos but that’s the way it works when you’re the modeling angler. Unfortunately, I don’t always get the photos in time to put on the blog. Stay tuned and when Winston puts the photos and film in their media I will be sure to steer everyone to it. No doubt it should be very very cool stuff!
August 21
Yesterday was my great friend, Norm Thomas, his 60th birthday. His wife and I made a plan for me to fish with him on Flat Creek all day way back in May. Then at 6 PM I’d walk him into a surprise birthday party.
I met Norm at the Flat Creek parking lot at 10 AM. Believe it or not, more rain was on the horizon. Luckily it was calm and the lightening held off until 2 PM. Though the hatches were surprisingly meager, we found fish. Between the two of us we caught five beautiful Snake River Cutthroats all on small dry flies. And yes, Norm was very surprised by his party. A kick butt birthday if you ask me!
So, there’s the deal. I’m a bit exhausted but that’s life in the fast lane of fly fishing. I enjoy teaching the School of Trout and part of the teaching is guiding students on the tough trout of the Henry’s Fork. Expect a much fuller report next weekend!