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Steelhead, March 2007
It’s Sunday morning and I’m sitting here at the airport gazing out the window as I wait to board my return flight home. A temporary break through the low, grey ceiling is revealing a brief glimpse of the eastern slope of a magnificent mountain range lit up in the late morning’s sun. My previous 3…
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Delta, Top-Water Report
With flat-calm, windless 70 degree weather, a new 12 wt floating head, a hand full of new top-water flies, and a new million-candle-power spotlight I’d been anxious to put to the test I made a last minute run out to The Delta late in the afternoon. My hopes were that the last week’s storms were…
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Delta with Kelvin
Sunny skies, little to no wind, 70 degree weather and winter water temperatures that had been steadily rising for the past three weeks from the low 40’s up into the 50’s – the perfect day to take a colleague of mine out for his first fly fishing trip on the Delta.
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Delta, Jeff’s 19.5 Pounder
Al had to bail on another Delta trip this season, for understandable reasons, so… knowing that Jeff had recently picked up a brand spanking new 9wt Xi2 I invited him out in Al’s place for a day to break it in. And did he ever!
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Delta, Solo
Brandon made a comment years ago while talking about Largemouth Bass, “If you want to catch bigger fish, use bigger fliesâ€, simple enough. Well, with the cold water and slowed fish metabolisms this time of year you need to tempt them with a mouthful worth moving for. This means big flies. And like Brandon had…
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Delta with Jeff
My co-worker, Jeff, joined me for a day on the water for his first shot at our West Coast’s Morone Saxatilis and it didn’t take long at all before his 9wt was buckled over and thumping with the weight of his first Delta Striper!
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Delta with Lee Haskin
Finally, the week’s end and I was able to get back for two more days. Best of all, I’d managed to talk Lee Haskin into joining me for one of them! The water temperatures had plummeted 6 degrees since last weekend and were currently ranging between 48 and 51. Not good.
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Delta, Sweet 16!
Brandon had to cancel his annual trip down this weekend from Seattle, something about a mortgage, bills, responsibilities… yeah, yeah… what ever. So I downgraded the RV reservations from the big Mallard to the smaller 5th wheel and headed over to the Delta for a solo trip.
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Steelhead, November 2006
The Pacific North West had it’s fair share of wet weather recently causing record flooding in the North West. When I got the email from Brandon a few days before our trip stating that the river we’d hoped to hit on the way was 10 feet above flood stage it was clear
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Delta with Jose Silva
I get to the marina extra early, launch the boat and begin backing away from the dock as I see Jose backing his boat down the ramp. Once away from the dock I put the boat in forward… and nothing happens.
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Delta, It’s Started!
The Delta’s Fall and Winter striper season started this month and though there hasn’t been a lot of fish in the system yet, there’s been enough action between baby stripers, large mouths, a few nice stipers, and one particulary HUGE moe (that broke me off) to keep me anxious to continue going back for more.…
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Dad and Brandon, Colorado
Today began with a mid morning phone call from Dave. He was waiting for a flight in Seattle on his way back from a 2 week trip to Alaska and was anxious to share his fishing report. Shortly after that came the call from Al on a business trip in Massachusetts. He’d been out fishing…
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California Kings, 2006
–Standing in a river, fish jumping all around you… -Standing in a river, fish pushing 30+ pounds jumping all around you… -Standing in a river, 30+ pound fish crashing down all around you, your fly swims midway through its swing then suddenly stops, the line tightens, the water explodes, your rod bucks violently and your…
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Baja 7/2006
If previous trips south have been referred to as “Brandon’s 30 pound Rooster trip†or “Doug’s Big Rooster tripâ€, or “The Beach Caught Dorado tripâ€, this trip’s reference would simply be “Varietyâ€.
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Atlantic Salmon, July 2006
Dave returns from his annual Atlantic Salmon trip to the Gaspe Penninsula with reason to smile!
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SF Bones 6/21/2006
It started a few weeks ago while exploring some new waterways on my mountain bike. After about 15 miles of peddling along levees, through “Employee Only” parking lots and around saltwater marshes and brackish ponds, I finally saw what I was looking for.
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Bay Area Slam
It appeared that our long awaited nice weather had finally arrived for good. The sun was out and the temperatures were in the 80’s. The stripers were chasing bait in the big lake, the carp were rooting in the shallow ponds, and Monterey Bay’s surf perch were feeding in the salty wash. It looked as…
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SF Bones 4/24/2006
Rocky Mountain Bones, Poorman’s Permit, Delta Goldens… A friend and I were talking the other day about steelhead fishing and trout fishing, two subjects that too often accompany each other into the same conversation between us. We were rambling on about the frustration of rejections and refusals experienced while fishing dry flies.