No Sports Allowed Volume Dos...

NSA vol. 2 how we do... from Marc Crapo on Vimeo.

Looks like Marc and the boys are at it again with No Sports Allowed Vol. 2

The stuff is legit.  Well done, well filmed, and put together right.  Fishing from the perspective of guys who spend a ton of time on the water and want you to enjoy it as much as they do

and...they're taking pre orders with a special offer to hook you up with Vol.1 for much less dent in your wallet

The High Council of Fishing Degenerates Have Choosen a Winner...

First, a big thank you to everyone who participated in naming my first attempt at a traditional steelhead fly

In all, we had 9 submissions via the blog and 8 from the faceyspace page. 

The high council of fishing degenerates consisting of OMR, a few shop owners and employees, a few trout bum guides from Montana was assembled to choose the winner.

Overwhelmingly, we had a winner

While names like "Blue Iris", "Electric Coolaid" and "Too Gay to Play" did garner serious contention, we continued to return to one name

Submitted by Mark, the  The North Umpqua Fly Guide himself.  Here's his submission.

BB King.....cause it looks Royal and it has the blues man. 

This fly is designed with a slashing take of a steelhead in mind.  At our core, steelheaders are like bluesmen like BB King.  Think about it. 

We're not always understood.

We lament and tell tales of woe and mistreatment by the ones we love.

Anyone else want to go down the road with me about how you can compare a fly rod to a guitar.  There are some that can play their instrument, guitar or rod, with such proficiency and grace that it becomes an art unto itself.

And when the game is played right, there's no sweeter sound around. 

So thank you Mark, your submission was right on.  Watch your mailbox, you have 6 BB Kings on the way soon.

White Unicorn Vol. 2

In the year of crazy things happening to me within the fishing world, here's another

A Grayling

There are two rivers in the lower 48 that have somewhat sustaining populations of Grayling

I happened to be fishing one of those rivers in Montana this weekend, but way, way, way far away from the section of the river that they're supposed to be in 

So I toss my offering out to a nice foam line, and a gentle rise is met with a quick strike.  Seeing the spots, I thought initially when bringing it in that it was a small brown.

The telltale dorsal fan of the Grayling told a different story, White Unicorn #2 for the year

 More stories from the weekend from the weekend in Twin Bridges, Montana coming soon!

Help Give This Fly a Name....

Finally after a long absence from the vice, tonight I tried my hand at traditional steelhead flies.

Part diamond flat braid, part uv dubbing, 2 parts guinea hackle, a bit of wire, thread and sparkle strand, this is the fly that came out of this tying session 

Names of traditionals are always what set these flies apart for me, and I have a feeling that this fly should be named before it touches the flowing waters of the Clearwater in a week or two. 

I am sure a variation of this fly is already in existence, but to get the correct Ju-Ju on this bug, I need your help

Give a name. 

A panel of local fishing degenerates will have a  high council on the submitted names.   The person who submits the winning name will receive a half dozen copies in the mail thereafter.   The winning name will be chosen within 1 week.

Please drop your email on your comment (to be sold to hundreds of spam solicitors, ok right?) so I can contact you if you do have the creativity to win

Good luck!

The 1st Annual OMR "Fay Clave"

It's going to be big, epic and full of awesomeness.  My Dad turns 70 in September, and we're having a gathering on the Clearwater to celebrate.  If you're around, stop in and say hello.

Ring the bells...OMR is on the board!

Set off your fireworks,

Call the Royal Mounted Canadian Police,

Cause...........

Old Man  River is on the board for the 2010 Steelhead Season

Clearwater born and bread, this little hen kicked his ass, and he could do nothing but smile.  She swam away gracefully to do her job and procreate

On a OMR original fly.  He's a bit happy about that....


Cheers to OMR, way to go!

Home Water Trouts....

Beautiful.

Wild.

Acrobatic.

5 minutes from my house.

God bless the summer.

Clearwater Dreams...

The Clearwater haunts me.

It gives me a gift in July and nothing since.  After 100 consecutive casts today without anything but a sunburn to show for my efforts , a steelhead picks up my offering and for a split second I have a connection.

Then, as fast as it came....it was gone

You get to the point of casting, closing your eyes and feeling your way through each swing.  Done correctly, each cast should "feel" just so.  During those casts my mind truly wanders

Why dont people catch steelhead in the ocean like they do salmon?

God I miss baseball sometimes

They should make a peanut butter snickers...

I hope I can be as good as a parent to my child on the way as my parents were to me..

It's true mental therapy.  Yet as I go to sleep tonight, my dreams wont be like the questions I have asked myself while fishing.

No, no no no...

I get a constant, repetitive feeling of flowing water.  A good double spey cast.  A tick tick tick of a following fish.  A hard pickup

Then...nothing, the fish is gone.  Steelhead and the Clearwater are haunting beasts.

Yet this tale is not ment to display woe, but the infectious nature of this river, this fish, and this lifestyle.

I love it

Photog on the Rise..

Introducing the works of Mike Visintainer, photographer on the rise.

 Brother of Sean Visintainer, owner of the Silver Bow Fly Shop, Mike's one of those guys who's good at whatever he does.  Recently Mike joined his brother at the shop as their IT manager and web content developer.

Cars, web sites, and now photography....his work is the kind you expect to see in the Drake Magazine.  Matter of fact, I bet we see it there soon.

Mike joined Sean and I recently at our triple secret pond dubbed "Location Stinky Finger" and chronicled the adventure.  The shots on this post are from that trip and showcase his talent, attention to detail and ability to find the unusual photo prospective beyond the grip and grin shots that we are all used to.

You can see more of his work across the Silver Bow web site, but check out his gallery here

Absolute Beauty

Sunkissed and golden, is there anything more beautiful than the free rising Westslope Cutthroats of the the Mountain West.....

 Or the streams and rivers they inhabit?














Probably not...probably not at all

Hey "Lost" Fans...

While out fishing the home waters, I am pretty sure I found another "installation".  I was half waiting for Sawyer to come running out and ask me to save them.

Here it is, in the middle of town, and you have this fenced off area next to the river.  You can walk into it, but each building is razor wired off. Another friend I fish with calls this area "The Compound".   This is one of those places within our fair city that I am sure 99% of the 500,000 or so people in the metro area have zero clue that it's there.

As you read the signs, take notice of the last line of caution on the next picture.

"Military Working Dog Teams"  Lord help us if they have laser beams on their heads and GPS systems in their paws

Shoot, all I want to do is fish by it.  Hope it doesnt end up with military action against me, as in military working dogs with ripping fangs telling me I shouldnt be there

Yeeeeesh.

Running the circuit..

When the river drops below the flood of Spring and settles into it's Summer pattern, it's time to run the circuit

The fish hang close to the basalt rock walls and are a tough nut to crack, but when you do, they give you all they can.

Acrobatic.  Thick Shouldered.  Deep Red Bodies

And most of all, completely and utterly wild, Columbia Strain Redband Rainbows.

So we run the circuit.  The water pushes into defined runs and pools, and then there's the gems that you only find with time on the water.  The non fishing folk look at you like you have snakes growing out of your head.  They peer and stare and wonder aloud..."there's fish in that river?"

Oh yes...yes there is.

What a way to spend a summer evening, only 5 minutes from home.

Credit...where credit is due

There are some people who need a pile of recognition from Chucking Line and Chasing Tail.

We roll out of bed at 4am and disrupt their sleep.

We disappear for weekends to chase our passion and they smile at us and give us an understanding smooch, with no thought to how nasty smelly and bearded we are when we return. 

They listen intently to our fishing stories and keep listening even though they could swear they'd heard the  same story possibly 17 times.  "Yes honey, the steelhead...yes, it jumped how many times?"

The Wifey and Mrs OMR, here's to you two.  You stand by us time after time when we get that look and you tell us...GO, GO Fishing and hunting.  These Chicas get it.

Knowing how much they help us, it makes us work harder at being good husbands and a son to them.

Both will fish (Mom tends to outfish Dad given the opportunity) when pressed, but they are content to support us.  What amazing women they are and OMR and I are thankful they stand behind us as we go slay the dragons afield.

So we embark on a new post category here at CLCT.....spotlight on the people who dont normally get their credit.  Significant others, lodge cooks, shuttle drivers, so on and so forth.  If you want us to throw the love their way, let us know and we'll post it here

Send submissions to jmills81@hotmail.com

Thanks Mom and Wifey, you are both awesomeness unlimited.

Jet Boat Ban on Grande Ronde...

Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus

Last fall for the first time during Steelhead Season, a guide began using a jet boat on the relatively small waters of the Grand Ronde.  There's just nothing like swinging through a beautiful run on the Boggan's to Schumaker float only to have your piece and tranquility (not to mention great fishing) broken up by the roar of a jet.

Besides the ultimate suckiness of having a jet whirl buy you at 20 miles an hour, it began poising a safety issue as guys and gals were reporting the boat was almost swamping them as they fished

It looks like calmer heads ruled

Jet boaters and fisherman have reached a tenative pact to regulate when jets can use the Ronde.  For the majority of the Fall and Winter Steelhead season, they're out....da motorbots that is


Read the full meal deal here, a link from the Spokesman Review