Fill in the blank. This edit/video/film is decidedly longer than any of my recent edits/videos/films. There is a reason for that. On Monday, the fishing on the Ruby was in a word, epic. As such, the edit/video/film is epic (in terms of length).
The combination of overcast skies, cloudy water, and a healthy brown trout fishery produced the best day of streamer fishing a fisherperson could ask for. Bucko, who has fly fished for 9 years, agreed. Sometimes trips are about the journey, the experience, the surroundings. This trip was about all of those things, but mostly it was about some stupid good fishing.
From 11 am to 6pm, the Ruby River's brown trout threw themselves with reckless abandon at our streamer offerings. Often times following the streamer from bank to bank, then breaching the surface to mash on some articulated goodness.
Around six in the evening, the fishing was interrupted by a massive thunderstorm. Following the storm and a little dinner, we returned. Fish were rising. Rainbows and browns were boiling at the surface. Trout were everywhere they should be and they were seemingly eating anything that was well presented in front of them. Bucko and I doubled up at least five times that evening. Then, as if it could have gotten any better, Bucko landed a 27" brown trout. The longest of his life.
I had too much footage from this trip. I had enough footage that I included the misses and my bleeped reactions to said misses. Enjoy in HD.
Yesterday, was a great day of fishing. Nymphing in the morning - dry flies in the afternoon. 24 feesh - 4 cutties, 2 brown trout, 15 cutbows, and 3 mountain whitefish. That being said, the day could have taken a turn for the worse (or is it worst) before I had a chance to fish at all. After driving the hour and a half from Missoula to upper Rock Creek, I was excited to get out on the stream. Prior to entering the river I had done a once over to check out any potential dangers. The coast seemed to be clear. So, with the composure of a seven-year old at a toy store, I bounded into the river, rod in hand. I made it halfway across the river when I saw a lady bullwinkle about 20 yards away staring straight through me. Standing in a patch of riparian veg, the lady moose was frozen still. I, too, was frozen...for about a second. Once I realized what I was staring at, I quickly waded backwards towards my car and the safety of the opposite bank. On the opposite bank, I most likely blessed the world with a couple profanities and promptly whipped out my camera to take a couple pictures of the majestic lady moose. She seemed to pose for a bit, lost interest and then got back to breakfast. Having heard many stories of moose and their aggressive behavior towards intruders, I am thankful that my moose encounter was bland. Luckily the moose was 1) a lady and 2) was not with child. Either one of those options may have changed the story a little bit. After my encounter, I fished upstream of the moose for about a hour, keeping a watchful eye on the cow. I caught two whitefish on a size 10 black stonefly nymph and a san juan worm. I moved upstream and caught a couple cutbows, a cutthroat, and a whitefish on the stonefly nymph. With water temps rising into the early afternoon, I saw a great deal of surface activity. I originally put on a midge dry (griffith's gnat to be exact - which is an extremely small fly). Not being able to see the fly and its location on the surface, I put on a skwala stonefly dry on with a griffith's gnat trailing the skwala by about 8 inches. This worked quite well as I was able to cast, in rhythm to rising trout. The majority of the fish I caught were cutbows, but I was lucky enough to catch a 15 to 16'' cutthroat. While everything seemed to go well, there was one slip-up. I lost the incredible hulk of fish. Most likely a brown, the monster took a size 22 griffith's gnat and fought an amazing fight, only to slip off as it sat in the main current. Otherwise, it was a fantastic day. Enjoy the pictures and video from my great day on upper rock creek.
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