Another Day on the Rock

I went back up to fish upper Rock Creek yesterday. The morning fishing was spectacular. Of the ten fish I caught - ten of the fish were caught between 10 AM and 1 PM. That certainly does not mean the fish were not feeding from 1 PM to 4 PM. I hooked into several fish during the afternoon hours, but I was unable to reel them in. Additionally, I could not figure out the right combination to lure the feeding fish into taking my dry flies, nymphs, or streamers with much conviction. There were plenty of hits and misses. There were several highlights from the day and one massive low point. When pulling in an eight inch whitefish towards the bank, a massive fish flashed at it three or four times. I can only guess that it was a rock creek bull trout. It was exhilarating and confusing all at once. A part of my fishing mind was thinking, "don't lose the fish", the rest of my mind was thinking "let the beast take it." I saved the tiny whitey from doom, while hooting and hollering loud enough for neighboring anglers to take notice. At the end of the day, I was headed back to some water that I had successfully fished in the morning. While walking through willows and thick underbrush, my line caught on a branch. I stumbled shortly after it caught on the branch. Together, the stumble and the snag bent the upper piece of my rod until it shattered at the ferrule. So, without a useful rod, I hung my head and sulked back to my car. Cursing myself for getting greedy. On the bright side, I took some amazing video. Watch it in HD on vimeo. (Music: Kev Brown "Another Random Joint")


Another Day On The Rock from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.

Fishing Rock Creek on Me Birthday

I was lucky enough to receive a flip hd video camera and a waterproof case for said camera for my birthday. I promptly headed up to upper Rock Creek to fish with my friend Brian and his dog Wilma. While Rock Creek is still flowing high, as a result of spring runoff and the recent rains we experienced in western Montana, it was clear. We found some fishable water along the banks and in side channels. I caught 11 fish including two westslope cutthroat, two cutbows, one brown trout, and six whitefish on golden stone and green drake nymphs, streamers, and on golden stone and caddis dries. Brian also eclipsed the ten fish mark for the day. A sunny day on the rock. Enjoy the video. Watch the video on youtube to see the HD version. The underwater trout release shots were a little disappointing this time 'round, but I'll get them next time. (Music: Kings Go Forth "Now We're Gone")

45 fish in a day and 15 minutes

That's right. I pulled 45 fish out of Georgetown Lake in a day and 15 minutes worth of fishing. I caught most of the fish out of a boat trolling, but I also had some success from the shore. While on shore, I was amused by what appeared to be a muskrat. The muskrat curiously patrolled the shores coming to check out my fishing activities several times. Most of the fish I caught from shore were of the tiny variety. I had fun catching these 6 inchers on a beetle that I stripped towards shore. This action would produce five or more hits each time the beetle hit the water. I think these hatchery fish may have been reminded of the pellets they were most likely fed back in their youth. Another highlight of the day was getting Ms. Yukon onto her first trout on the fly. Enjoy the video and pictures from our day on Georgetown Lake in early June.


georgetown lake 6.7.10 from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.

 georgetown lake brook trout

itty bitty georgetown lake rainbow

Ms. Yukon reeling in the big one

miss yukon's first trout on the fly (she refuses to hold it though)

miss yukon's first trout on the fly

dreams and goals for 2010 (original and revised)

In the beginning of the year, I made a list of ten things I would like to accomplish over the course of the year 2010. I wrote the original list in a fishing log that I started in a bound, pleather, lined notebook. When compiling the list, I intentionally included reasonable and completely unreasonable goals. The original list read as follows:

1. catch a fish on a nymph
2. catch a fish in each month of the year
3. catch a bull trout (not target, which is important distinction)
4. read "The River Why", "Trout Bum", "Nymphing"
5. catch more than 10 fish in a day
6. film and capture fishing trips
7. catch a 20'' cutthroat, 24'' rainbow, 25'' brown
8. catch fish out of the Clark Fork, Blackfoot, and Bitterroot Rivers (note: when writing the list I had only caught fish out of Rock Creek (near Missoula), Fish Creek, Rock Creek (near Deer Lodge), Flathead Lake, Avalanche Lake (in Glacier NP), and Greenough Lake (near Deer Lodge))
9. fish the following bodies of water - Bitterroot River, Clark Fork River, Blackfoot River, Rock Creek, Fish Creek, Petty Creek, Ninemile Creek, Georgetown Lake, Elk River (in BC/Alberta), Trout Creek, Lolo Creek, Lochsa River, Bighole River, Lamar River, Firehole River, and Slough Creek
10. Catch a Yellowstone Cutthroat

About halfway through the year I have completed the following goals:

1. catch a fish on a nymph
2. catch a fish in each month of the year (holds true to date - through june)
3. catch a bull trout (not target, which is important distinction)
4. read "The River Why", "Trout Bum", "Nymphing"
5. catch more than 10 fish in a day
6. film and capture fishing trips
7. catch a 20'' cutthroat, 24'' rainbow, 25'' brown
8. catch fish out of the Clark Fork, Blackfoot, and Bitterroot Rivers
9. fish the following bodies of water - Bitterroot River, Clark Fork River, Blackfoot River, Rock Creek, Fish Creek, Petty Creek, Ninemile Creek, Georgetown Lake, Elk River (in BC/Alberta), Trout Creek, Lolo Creek, Lochsa River, Bighole River, Lamar River, Firehole River, and Slough Creek
10. Catch a Yellowstone Cutthroat

With prime fishing season still to come, I am pretty proud of my accomplishments to date. But, I would like to add to and/or alter my fishing goals of 2010. Here is my altered list, which will now be managed on the sidebar of the blog.

1. catch a fish on a nymph
2. catch a fish in each month of the year (jan, feb, mar, apr, may, june, july, aug, sept, oct, nov, dec)
   
3. catch a bull trout (not target, which is important distinction)
4. catch a Yellowstone Cutthroat
   
5. catch 30 or more fish in a day from a river
6. catch 40 or more fish in a day from a river
7. catch 50 or more fish in a day from a river or lake
8. catch 3 or more fish more than 20'' in length in a day
9. catch a 20'' cutthroat, 24'' rainbow, 25'' brown
10. catch fish out of the Clark Fork, Blackfoot, and Bitterroot Rivers
11. fish and catch fish out of the following bodies of water - Bitterroot River, Clark Fork River, Blackfoot River, Rock Creek, Fish Creek,  Georgetown Lake, Elk River (in BC/Alberta), Trout Creek, Lolo Creek, Lochsa River, Bighole River, Beaverhead River, Madison River, Gallatin River, Hebgen Lake, Medicine Lake (near Skalkaho Pass), Skalkaho Creek, upper Blackfoot River, Monture Creek. Flathead River, Blodgett Creek, Flint Creek, East and West Forks of the Bitterroot River, Lamar River, Firehole River, and Slough Creek
12. catch all the trout of the this is fly shirt. (see below for more description)
13. read "The River Why", "Trout Bum", "Nymphing"  

Re: Goal 12. I would like to catch and have a hero picture taken with each of the fish listed on the this is fly t-shirt that I purchased earlier this year.

When I catch a brook trout, I will position the trout in front of the species name on the shirt. This will be done for rainbow, brown, bull, and cutthroat trout in the same style. The plan is to have a five piece photographic journey through my year of fishing out here in Montana.

Brown's Lake and the hogs

A friend from Team Cocktails has boasted about the monster rainbow trout that he regularly pulls out of Brown's Lake on the fly for quite some time. While not belittling the trout I have pulled out of the river, he certainly implied that the handshake a 12'' trout delivers is drastically different from the "hello sir, my name is monster trout" handshake a 20" football-shaped rainbow provides. So, this past weekend, with the area rivers flowing high and turbid, my friend took me out on his boat on Brown's Lake. We trolled the shoreline and structure with a seven-weight rods and a mystery fly. While not a standard fly fishing method, it certainly proved effective, as we pulled 2 to 3 pound 16 inchers with regularity. Both of us were able to land hogs in the form of 20'' Kamloops-strain rainbows stocked in Brown's Lake. According to my friend, our day was relatively average for Brown's Lake, if not below average. The highlight and lowlight of the day occurred when my friend hooked into a 30'' rainbow (that was extremely colorful for a lake rainbow - leading me to believe that it was a broodstock). On 5 pound test, my friend was able to bring the rainbow within arm's length of the boat. Using the ghost net (which can hold a 24'' fish), I tried to scoop the hog into the net. But, I was denied. Immediately following the net refusal, the potential 10 pounder snapped off the magic fly and returned to the depths of Brown's Lake. I sat with my hands overboard, afraid to look back at my friend for fear that he might toss me lakeward after missing a golden chance to net the monster. Afterwards, we decided that if he fails to catch a rainbow of equal or greater size in the next 20 years, he is free to contact me and give me a swift, vengeful punch. Seems to be fair.

the fight

the fish

the release

team cocktails goes fishing

evening on brown's lake