Sticking to your Guns

[NickR]

With warm temperatures, overcast skies and rain in the forecast I've had a real hankering to go searching for carnivorous browns with big streamers. All of my Christmas shopping is done and I have the free time, so why not? I sent out a few invites and Fishidiot, one of the PFF moderators accepted.

I started the day out rowing in short sleeves while Fishidiot threw some heavily weighted streamers on a sinking line. Fishidiot has some great tying ideas so if you ever get a chance to fish with him ask to see his flies.

Aside from harassing a pod of about 15 rising fish in a 50 yard foam slick, we stuck to the plan of throwing streamers. Every serious streamer fisherman knows that when fishing streamers you never quit. We pulled up anchor and went back to work.

Within 1-2 casts I was into a really nice brown that I caught on a 6 inch Double Deceiver. By this time the rain started coming down heavily and the wind started to pick up. We picked up the occasional fish here and there for the rest of the float... actually pretty good streamer activity for late December.

I ended the day soaking wet and tired but in retrospect I had a great time and the company doesn't get much better than Fishidiot. Anybody can be a fisherman in May... if you are looking to stick a big fish now is the time to do it.

 

[Brown71]

Great fish. That second one down looks like a heck of a nice fish.

 

[Fishidiot]

Brown71 wrote:
Great fish. That second one down looks like a heck of a nice fish.

A very nice fish indeed - hook jawed 21" wild brown trout that crushed a 6" streamer.

Thanks, NickR, for showing me a great trip to a river I've long wanted to fish. Some tough weather with the torrential rain and wind but sometimes it does indeed pay to stick to your guns and tough it out.

 

[AndyP]

Nice fish and sounds like a great day.

 

[fisherboy3]

Lots of nice browns being posted these last couple weeks. Nice fish!

 

[krayfish2]

Nice work guys. Yes, anyone can be a fisherman in May jus like me. LOL. I also wager that I put plenty of nice brown in the net a that time too.

 

[Jake41]

Very nice fish. Way to play through the weather...nice reward.

 

[AFISHN]

Very Nice fish guys!!!!

 

[DaveKile]

David is a darn good angler. Thanks for sharing your day out and picture.

 

[krayfish2]

The nephews saw this thread and suckered me into a post Christmas fishing float.

You can see the look of pure joy on my face as we get ready to launch. The kids stuck to their guns....one nymphing and the other chucking meat. I got in a good 5 1/2 - 6 hours of ducking and untangling lines. LOL. We managed one half hearted chase.

The weather had to be 20 degrees colder than what we had in south central PA. Rained off an on most of the day. By the time we'd reached the takeout, it was raining steady with a constant wind of 25-30 mph. To sum it up..... weather sucked, fishing sucked (I'm guessing as I got 3 casts in before the boat was pinwheeling). I did however enjoy getting to spend some time with the little guys that aren't so little anymore. Both of them are pretty handy casters. I'd do it again (minus the 3.5 hr drive )

 

[pro4mance]

Glad you got them out Kray

 

[djs12354]

Good for you! Just building more memories for your nephews and yourself.

 

[McSneek]

Only Kray could rock the Santa hat on a drift boat! Nice.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I enjoyed your report and pictures. This made me hanker to get back to my roots, having fished there pretty extensively before spending my summers in Montana for the past 15 years.

Does anyone fish out of skiffs there now, as opposed to full sized drift boats? An Adipose skiff would seem to be ideal for there.

John

 

[afishinado]

mt_flyfisher wrote:
I enjoyed your report and pictures. This made me hanker to get back to my roots, having fished there pretty extensively before spending my summers in Montana for the past 15 years.

Does anyone fish out of skiffs there now, as opposed to full sized drift boats? An Adipose skiff would seem to be ideal for there.

John

Hey John,

A few months ago I fished out of an Adipose skiff on the Yellowstone. I thought it was a great boat. I would buy one tomorrow, but it's cost prohibitive shipping it to the east coast from Montana.

 

[krayfish2]

John,

You see very few skiffs there and I'm not sure why. With the gentle water and typically windy conditions, a skiff seems to be a perfect fit. Almost got one instead of a 'standard' driftboat. The only reason I didn't is I'd still float at borderline safe flows. At 525 cfs, there aren't many rough spots.....at 7200 cfs, you do get some 3' rollers. If you fished back in the 90's when there were fish kills, it's vastly improved. Holler if you ge back up that way.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I hadn't thought about fishing there at 7,200cfs! I think at that level you'd almost make someplace in New Jersey on a day long float!

I spend the summer on the Yellowstone River, from May to early October. Guess I should get out more here before or after we go there which I intend to do, but the past few years I always seem to get caught up with too many "honey-do's".

We don't seem to see a whole lot of skiffs on the Yellowstone, but depending which section of the river and/or time of the year (e.g. water level) I'm sure they would be nice to fish from, and the Adipose is certainly one of the very nicest, IMO.