Nobody goes there anymore cause it's too crowded

After hearing about the opening day fiasco on Wilson Creek a couple of weeks ago, when I realized I'd be in trout vicinity and have an open afternoon, I was afraid to return to Wilson and ruin that wonderful relationship we've had. I just knew the shore line would be littered with empty blue worm containers and the nice runs pilfered of trout. So I decided to head back to last years spring fling, optimistic I'd have the place to myself.

Sure enough, I put in at the ranger's house, nary a piscator or anyone else in sight. The first run held one skittish little trout as did the second and third- I was going to have to get serious if I wanted to avoid a skunk. With the warmer weather I assumed there'd be top water attention but the royal wolf wasn't doing much. I took the first Brookie of the day when pulled the fly under water to start the retrieval. That was all the encouragement I needed to repent of my dry arrogant ways and go back to the "double dutch"(various woolly buggers flanked by small droppers drifted, swung and then stripped) method which has enticed so many trout this spring. There were still not a lot of fish, but as I hit the more overlooked seams and micro channels, I produced specks with some regularity.

Shortly after I'd removed the royal wolf, I casted into a slow deep run I've named the gorge. Although I'd had hits on the first two casts, my eye was not on my dancing green bugger working it's way against the languid current, but on a large, no, gigantic white mayfly that had just crash landed on the water and was flopping about furiously. On the third flutter a trout darted in and snapped the mayfly up. At that very instant, from the corner of my periphery I saw an underwater flash and realized a large, no, gigantic rainbow had just slammed my unattended woolly and was hauling it back to the black depth of the pool. My chuckle at the mayfly turned to a wail as I jerked my rod sky ward and felt two hard tugs and a pop. How is it that the most exciting part of the day usually entails a miss?

The final tally: 75 degrees with drifting cumulus clouds, three hours in the water, 0 people, 12 trout released and one blithe angler.

Combat Fishing

Fine day out. Gorgeous weather (60 deg). walked into LH Fork. fished great section. take a look.

June Trip List

Alright boys, this is just my rambling start to get me thinking. We're less than 60 days out, so ordering gear, etc, time will be of the escence in a few more weeks. Add to this accordingly.

Fishing Gear

waders (need to fix micro seat leak in mine)

boots

rods: 5wt, 8 wt

reels/ lines: 8wt verasitip, 5wt float and sink tip

leaders: sink, 15 lb test monofiliament ("These fish are not leader shy", Mike Larson July 5, 2008)

weights: split shot varieties, puddy weight

Flies: JB-Put in the email from Mike- can't find mine (Mikey says: wooly buggers, sculpins, smolt patterns, leeches of all sizes and colors. weighted for sure, strong current, deep holes. egg patterns and some big pink things that look like hat pins. bring a mouse or two. easy to fish over their heads, make sure you can go deep.)

Small chest pack

polarized glasses

Net: big net

Loon UV wader repair (couple of tubes, a must)

Clothing

Heli Hanson or other pvc raincoat (the breathable stuff doesn't cut it in a downpour)

waterproof hat

sock hat or baliclava

gloves (waterproof w plypro liner is ideal)

down coat

base layer top/ bottom

200wt or better wader liner

wool socks

poly liner socks

regular pants (same pair as wear on the plane)

water proof boots (same pair as wear on the plane)

Personal items

bug dope, head net

wet wipes

tooth brush/ paste

shampoo/ soap

ear plugs (Mick and Mike snore)

Misc Gear

Cameras: video, still, underwater, mini-tripod, wireless mics (?)Set clocks on cameras to AK time

waterproof camera bag etc (sucks to drop it in the river or get it rained on)

Ideas from Past Trips

Better way to carry video camera. Kept in top of waders last trip in a waterproof bag. Fairly good access for the unexpected shots and always having it available, but hassle to work around.

Some type of counting devise. After a few hours you totally lose track of how many fish you've caught. We've always thought it would be nice to have an accurate count, and we could pretend we are doing some scientific thing!

Have you met my girlfriend?

Brooke Wilson, I call her Brookie for short. Her full name is Brooke Rainbow Wilson. Yeah, her parents were hippies I guess. This time of year she pretty much owns me, I'll do dang near anything to spend time with her and so far this season, we seem to really be hitting it off.

I've noticed some other fishermen, and spoken with a couple and I get the sense that most of them just don't know how to court Ms. Wilson. One guy today was fishing a dry fly down stream! I stood and watched him fish the top end of this run I had taken 15 trout from on my last outing and couldn't resist stepping into the pool below him and on my third role cast hooking a rainbow that jumped like his fins were on fire.



Took a second trout and then felt bad for showing the poor guy up and eased out of the pool, giving him a simple nod as we passed on opposite banks. As I moved up to the run above I kept an eye on this fellow and watched him switch sides and wade out to where I had been, but still, never saw him take a trout while I took 3 more from the small run above him. I spoke with another angler who shared that he'd only caught two fish. He boasted of his fly tying prowess and that he had "put a buddy on a 20" at the Davidson yesterday"- maybe so, maybe so. I didn't divulge what I'd done so far, or that I'd landed one probably bigger than his buddy's.

I did see one piscator in a group of three who took two small trout from a nice run while I sat slightly out of view and ate my sandwich. His one buddy must've been frustrated at the pool he was fishing because the "catcher" kept calling instructions out to him and as I got up to leave the novice moved over and stood right next to his pal, lessons I guess. The third guy was flailing like crazy in a run I had taken trout on 5 consecutive casts on opening week. I didn't see him take anything and he slogged quickly upstream, passing two or three nice looking runs. Ok, I feel like I'm boasting now, and pride goes before the skunk. On any given day the fish gods can fill our hubris with wind knots. I think most of Ms. Wilson's suiters are committed to nymphing, while I spend most my time drifting to a swing and then stripping it home- don't see any reason to change up an effective strategy.

Ms. Wilson had a bit of a cold shoulder today with some nasty gusts. But after cruising through some familiar sections I eventually worked my way up to new water and ended up at about 3:00 in a flat upper section with little structure. I took a spill and sat out for a bit to dry off, had a couple of hits but no takes in this so-so section and just for good measure, hoofed it back to the run where I took the big girl at the beginning of the day and took a few more from that section just for good measure before turning for home about 4pm.

After seeing a medley of fishing dog pictures in the Drake I decided I should take my mongrel and give her another try. She did much better this time. Oddly, for being a lab mix she doesn't like water, which is perfect. She only wades out to stand right by me and other than trying to retrieve a fish I'm landing, she was a good companion.

I wonder if it's too soon to call and ask Ms. Wilson for another date. Were becoming quite an item.

Lil' Bear

A Day on the Lil' Bear from John Berry on Vimeo.

Jumping the Gun

Just too nice to stay indoors any longer! Shoulder be damned! I decided to take a quick trip up BSF. Nice water, will go back when the water levels are lower and there's a hatch. It took actually putting on a dropper to get any action. Missed one very nice brown (lack of attention on my part), then hooked a couple smaller brownies. Looking forward to today (the 17th).

In Full Swing

15 days since season opened and I'm in full swing... caught mostly rainbows but since Brookies are the natives, they get the airtime. Oh yah, and I caught a little small mouth just for good measure. Missed a shot a very large trout- tell ya about that next time after I land the great beast.