Dont Fish Behind Vaccum Cleaners...

Cause....they scoop up all the fish.

Joe Willauer of Evolution Anglers with some coastal bling in the swang.....

That's definenty a boo yah moment.  And if you know Joe, you'd know why!

When 175 People Donate $$$..

You get a hell of a lot of money.  $2,000...Das a lot of money

The Spokane premier of Connect was a tremendous success.  A gigantic thank you to everyone who helped, worked and donated at last night's event to benefit the Wild Steelhead Coalition.

A lot of planning went into this event.  We took the idea originally from Dave and his crew at Emerald Water Anglers in Seattle and brought the concept to the east side of the state.

We teamed up with The Silver Bow Fly Shop as our promotion partner and with a two month push, people showed up in droves.

Almost all the raffle tickets were sold.  The over 50 raffle items from the 30+ donating businesses went to very excited winning fishermen, women and children.

And let's be honest, Connect as a film is bloody amazing.  I mean, Tigerfish...really.   I can pretty much assume that I will never get a chance to fish in Tanzania.  I had more comments from the crowd that it was the best fishing film they've ever seen.

So from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone who made this possible.    We couldnt have done it with you.

And the $2,000 check to the Wild Steelhead Coalition is proof positive that even in a down economy, people are willing to come together for a great cause.

Tomorrow, IT HAPPENS..

Aside from a volcanic eruption and the birth of your first born child, I don't see any other viable excuses why you wouldnt come out tomorrow and help us raise a bunch of money for the Wild Steelhead Coalition.

Did I mention the raffle is up over 50 items?

Just sayin...

Millsfly's View from Montana...

A big thanks to Craig fishing impresarios The HeadHunters Fly Shop for posting up the Millsfly sticker at their shop.

God willing, we'll see you boys this summer!

Film Excellence from Ryan Peterson

One in Winter from ryan peterson on Vimeo.


This film seems to hit the nail on the head why we as steelheaders endure day after day of blanks. 

The risk is so worth the reward.

Source:  The Big Pull

While Some Kids Have A Rocking Horse....

Carson has a Rocking Fish.

We're training him early at the Mills household...

Spokane Connect Premier: The Scroll of Schwag...

What a generous community we live in.  The fishing community is eager to help.

Just wanted to keep you all updated on the tremendous pile of gear we've assembled.  Buckle up kiddo's, we gots some stuff to give aways

1 Echo Carbon 5wt fly rod
1 Allen Fly Fishing Olympic 12'6 6wt Spey Rod
1 guided Spokane River trip, courtesy of the Silver Bow Fly Shop
1 guided SW Montana Trip via Evolution Anglers
1 guided Grande Ronde River trip via Rick Hedding of STS Fever
9 Sage/Redington Hats
3 book series from Kirk Werner, author and artist of Olive the Wooly Bugger
2 T Shirts from Deneki Outdoors
3 Redington Shirts
1 Merino Wool Sweater from Ibex Clothing Co.
1 Swinging Sasquatch Hoodie from Lateral Line Media
2 Fly boxes from Montana Fly Co
1 Echo Sweatshirt
2 Rio Fly Lines
1 certificate for Korkers Boots
2 No Sports Allowed DVD's from The Beard
Set of 6 streamers from Mike Doughty
1 dozen steelhead flies from Wayne "from Maine" Jordan
18 assorted steelhead flies from Blake Harmon
1 pair of fingerless gloves from Simms
2 shirts from Simms
6 beautifully tied steelhead traditionals from Mark Stangeland
33 assorted stickers from Sage
33 assorted Simms stickers
4 Montana Fly Co stickers
4 Korkers stickers
4 Echo/Airflo stickers
5 Fellowship of the Swing stickers
3 Detonation Studio stickers

Yep, a boatload

So to sum that up, we're looking at 40 non sticker items, 86 different stickers

There's a big swag bag coming from the Wild Steelhead Coalition right now and a few other items will be rolling in.

If you're in Spokane on February 22nd...we sure hope to see you there, you've got a great chance to win some killer schwag...

Today's Haul

You see some crazy stuff when you're on the Spokane.  Today for a quick trip, I tried to pay attention to what I saw on the ground, so here's today's haul.

14 Poweraide bottles
4 Mountain Dew 2 Liters
1 half of a a laptop computer
1 human hand
2 worm containers
1 beach ball, deflated
7 flip flops, but never a pair
3 Shoes
1 A-Track player
2 empty jewelry boxes
10 different varieties of beer, but nothing over the $6 for a six pack kind
some sort of carpet
1 human foot

And oh yeah, a couple of these....thank god.

LOL Alert....

Now I understand this is aimed at gear guys,  but this chica's video to make fun of her husband and his buddies had me rolling.

Wonder how long before my wife makes one about my friends and fly fishing.....

And The Swag Continues to Roll In....

With the Spokane Premier of Confluence Film's fly fishing film "Connect" fast approaching, the raffle swag continues to roll in.  Today, a little package arrived from some company called Simms, ever heard of them?

Package #2 comes from Mark at the North Umpqua Fly Guide Blog

Some pretty sweet bumper sticker material as well as gorgeous married wing flies from one of his clients who's an expert on the vice.  They're so sweet I'd almost be scared to fish them because my propensity of loosing gear.....

We're getting close to 40-50 raffle items for the February 22nd to benefit the Wild Steelhead Coalition.

Oh yeah, tickets at the door are just $5 bucks.  Omit one mocha from the budget and bam, you're in.

Here's the link to the FACEBOOK PAGE and come join the fun!

Help a Brotha Out...

Over at superblog The Fiberglass Manifesto, the voting has started his annual contest, TFM Spotting of 2011.  The winners of all the months of the year are stacked up against each other and yours truly is in the running for the grand prize of a Scott F2 fly rod with the picture from above.

Check out all the finalists and if you're so inclined to vote for the guy who's drinking a PBR at the Silver Bow Fly Shop whilst his year old son downs some Mooo-Moo,  that guy would be very appreciative. 

Thanks!

The Tale of the Tagged Trout...

Last Sunday to beat the winter blues, we hit the Spokane River  for a couple hours. 

What we got was one hell of a fish tale.

In the last run of the day, the indicator slammed down and I was fast connected with a fish.  Typical winter rainbow fight in cold water and to hand came a beautiful redband rainbow native to the Spoke.

Just behind the dorsal fin, this fish had a little jewelry

Since 2007 in different sections throughout the river, different factions of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Avista Utilities and The Bonneville Power Administration have conducted population assessments on Spokane River Trout.

On this particular trout, I rubbed off the grime off the tag, found the number 1023 and called the Spokane office of the WDFW. 

A few days later,  Chuck Lee the fishery biologist from the Department of Fish and Wildlife informed me a little more on this fish's life as well as their system of population surveys.

This particular pescado was previously found by Chuck within 300 yards of where I found him.  At the time, it was 14 inches and approximately a pound and a half.   Since that day, my guess is that the fish was somewhere between 15 or 16 inches and close to 2 pounds.  

Some of the other findings that I found very interesting was that the majority of fish in this section of the river are found continually within 500 meters range of when they were last surveyed. 

In recent years, there are rays of hope for the river.  Escapement from different sections of the river seem to be minimal.  There seems to be a nice level of different age classes and at least in the lower river, good levels of spawning recruitment.

Browns are comprising a very, very small portion of the population in the lower river.

The Upper River from Idaho through the Spokane Valley behaves completely different from the Lower River West of downtown.    The middle river through downtown is it's own system as it is bound by different damns and impoundments.  There are threats to the trout population throughout.  From dewatering of spawning gravel to the legacy of hard metal mining poloution to non native fish introduction like Smallmouth bass, the trout are a tough bunch and we need to know more how to help them.

That's what Chuck and his team are dedicated to.
 
Hopefully the 10 year period of population assessment on the entire river will give us a better picture on the native Redbands in the Spokane.   Given more opportunities to thrive through understanding, better flows, stream-side restoration and cleanup, these fish should have a fighting chance.