Thursday, November 20, 2008

Fly Fishing With My Mike.

Mike took me out fishing today at Eighteen Mile creek with fishing guide, Mike Augat. We woke up at 4:30 am to get to the creek just before dawn. The morning temperature was about 28 degrees, with a dusting of snow. We bundled up accordingly.


Mike had prepared us for our day the night before by filling up our vests with our fly fishing accessories. I got to pick out the flies I would use, and loaded up my little foam box with the most beautiful works of art. The flies come in all shapes and sizes. Each handmade from all types of materials to accurately resemble the natural prey trout feed upon. Mike strung our rods, and I couldn't believe the tiny hooks that we would be using to catch our trout! We fished using the pea sized "blood dots" in the top row of the picture above. They mimic a salmon or trout egg.

We also used the small nymphs shown in the top left of the picture above. These "bugs" are about the size of a slim tic tac, with a minuscule hook. If these don't spark a jeweler's interest, I don't know what will!


Mike and I kept pretty warm in all of our layers. We fished in the brisk creek between the beautiful snow powdered cliffs. We both caught a great amount of fish within four hours. It was the most success we've had trout fishing together. The steelhead (or rainbow trout) displayed colors from bright silver to a beautiful plum and brown. Fly fishing is my favorite type of fishing. It is amazing to stand in the middle of a creek, and see the large shadows hovering in the currents.

The first fish I caught was 4.5 lb, and Mike's biggest fish was about 10 lbs. All caught on a hook about 1/4" long and 20 gauge thick. Now that's pretty amazing!

That's a big fish!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is a big fish! Hey did you guys know it is hunting season? Be careful out there!

Katie Do said...

Oh Mom- You're embarassing me!

Just kidding :) Yes we are always careful.

Anonymous said...

i'm guessing mike must have patched up those waders then!
nice fishies!

Janice said...

whhoooohooo, looks like fun!! The fish is GORGEOUS!! The colors are amazing! DId you toss them back or keep 'em?

Katie Do said...

We toss them back.

We'll sometimes keep salmon because when you find them upstream their mission is to spawn and die anyway. Mike and I don't eat salmon, but we'll keep one now and then for the family to fry up.

Copperheart said...

Wow, you guys are serious!
I used to have a roommate who tied his own flies- it's quite an artform.