Lab Sandwich...

Dakota (left) and Gus (right) sharing a tight space on the Blackfoot River last week.

I wish I could say I took this picture, but no....I was sitting in a cubicle at that very time

I would have wedged my ass into that seat on the boat as well to escape officeland on that particular day.

A Morning's Optimism...

Before the first line is thrown.

In the midst of the coffee doing it's job.

About an hour or more after that alarm jolts you from the bed

You pull into the spot, soak it up and your left with a beautiful feeling before the day begins....

Optimism.

Carp Shot Caller....

Do you know how hard it is to express the exact location of 20 big arse carp to your buddy on the shore below when your ramped up and excited like you are when you yourself are fishing?

Really fuggin hard.

The carp would materialize out of the depths in pods of 10-15.  Big females followed by a harem of onlooking gentlemen.  Then big big big singles and doubles.  One after another.  Shot after shot.

I have so much more respect for the bonefish guides I have had the pleasure to fish with over the years.  Their ability to translate distance and speed into instructions for a cast is something that I am going to have to work on.

60 ft to the left.  No more left.  Let it sit.  Strip....Not that fast....oh shit, refusal!!

Its easy to get your rights and lefts mixed up when your 30 feet above your buddy calling shots when carp after carp in the 20 lb range come cruising on down the lake and into range.

You can see the carp laughing at us.  Silly fishermen.

We had a couple of legit eats, but in the train of me realizing that the fish sucked in the fly, followed by hurried shout down to the angler, followed by his .0023 second delay of hook setting....the carp politely threw out the junk he or she had in it's mug and swam away

Onward to call more shots.  Carp beware!

Big C at the Vice...

Amazingly enough, I was the one who made the mess.

Running Dawn Patrol...

430am....

On a workday...

What the hell?

I'll tell you why.  Baby #2 comes in less than 5 weeks and when your fishing buddy suggests we go make it happen, you jump at the chance.

The season is early on the home river.  Lucky we were to have flows in the high but fishable range, but  it fishes better from a boat this time of year.  With 2 hours to chuck and duck, the dingy wasnt an option.

One child is a revelation, 2 children appears to be the game changer.  I have this sneaking suspicion that my buddy and I might have a few more dawn patrols before July 19th rolls around.

A grand total of 4 double nymph rigs lost and one trout rolled by my partner, it was a great morning.

Those 2 hours on the flow filled me with such energy.  Who cares if it was 430am?

You Have To Mind F$%ck The Rooster

The Lateral Line Media crew looks like they had a great time in Baja....

Damn, that's a bucket list trip right there

If You Look Closely....

There's a metric ton of delicious mayflies rising up out of the muck on this particular lake.

This guy was confused.....

He must have thought my fly was real.....

The Sage Circa...Like Casting Sex...

Lets get it out of the way first.  The Circa is like casting sex.....

I couldn't think of another way to describe how this stick throws line

Every rod I've ever owned has touted the fast...fast, faster, fastest nature of it's technology  and along comes the Circa and it throws all that fast stuff on its head and says

"SLOW THE HELL DOWN"

Sage gave the Millsfly crew the opportunity to test drive the 8'9 4wt edition.  Originally I threw some line at IFTD in Reno last summer and couldn't wait to put it to the test on something other than a pond in a convention center.

On a recent lake trip in North Central Washington where I carried multiple rods on my pontoon including the Circa as a dry fly rod, you could really see how dynamic and different the stick is.

Here's what stood out to me.

1.  Your other rods are going to feel like broom-handles if you go back and forth

2.  The high tech rod ninjas at Sage really throw you for a loop.  Feels like fiberglass, recovers like new fangled stuff like boron, fiberglass....so on and so forth

3.  The Circa forces you to slow down and enjoy casting instead of attacking each cast.  

4.  Long casts are still cool as Miles Davis.  I had rising trout what I considered a long distance from my pontoon, pulled out a pile of line and with a slow and deliberate cast, dropped the mayfly cripple exactly where I wanted to.  Unfortunately, the Circa cannot make a fish eat.  I am sure they're working on that.

5.  You feel everything.  Literally, the entire line and rod load progression back and through the forward stroke....and fighting fish on a Circa is a blast.  You wouldn't think it has a lot of backbone, but it does.  Enough to subdue a scrappy bunch of fish up to 20 inches in ample time for a quick release

Here are some things the Circa is NOT

1.  A do everything fly rod.

2.  Beefy enough to handle big bugs like streamers, heavy nymph rigs

3.  If you love fast fast fast fast and faster rods, it isnt for you.

Questions I am still working on answering

1.  What's it like to try and punch a cast through substantial wind?

2.  If you're throwing big bugs like stoneflies, how does it effect the rods performance?

All in all, the Circa is an awesome stick.  If you have a cutthroat river near you, or a place where dry flies occupy your time....give it a lawn test at your local fly shop (we prefer the Silver Bow in the Spokane Valley)

And yes, once you do, you'll understand the title of this post.  Oh yes you will.

Highly Technical Advances in Mosquito Repellant...

The little angry bugs descended upon us from the moment we opened the truck door at Chopaka Lake. In the five consecutive years of fishing this gem, we've never had problems with mosquitos

This year was horrible.

So if necessity is the mother of invention, OMR and OMR ver 2.0 (uncle Larry for those who dont know) came up with a very fashionable way to protect their ankles.

Looking good fellers, looking gooooooooood!

Tip The Big Hole...

The Big Hole River is one hell of a place

Come participate in a very unique event designed to help keep it that way

The Big Hole Watershed Committee on June 22nd will be holding the first annual "Tip the Big Hole" event

Guides throughout Southwest Montana will be pledging their tip money from that day's trip in the effort to support the BHWC's goal of retaining water in the river, multi-party stewardship, fish habitat restoration and good land use planning.

The smart fellers who sign up for the event get a T shirt, a sweet schwag bag, a massive dinner and entry into the grand prize raffle containing gear from companies like Winston, Scott, Simms, Rising and others.

The event will be hosted in Melrose at the Sunrise Fly Shop on the 22nd, and events start rolling at 3pm.

It's open to the public, and you dont have to be a guide to donate.  Also, cant be there?  The BHWC has a handy dandy link that allows you to securely give wherever you may be.

The times I have fished the Big Hole it's exactly what you'd expect it to be.

Wild.  Bugs galore.  Amazing Fish.

It's one of those places that on every cast, you feel like you're going to catch the fish of a lifetime.  The whole experience is everything fly fishing should be.

Help keep it that way and support this event.

Learn more about this event from the organizer, Joe from Evolution Anglers as the June 22nd comes closer

Infiltrating Emerald Water Angler Offices...

Oh Dave.....

Your system has been breached.