Presenting the USS Cougar

 Check out Fly Fishing Degenerate Council Member  Britton's new toy.

A devout WSU Cougar fan,  he worked with Sotar to create quite a unique raft.

Hopefully it ups the WSU mojo and get's them bowl eligible!

It's time again to celebrate the winter season with the 3rd annual Hooks and Hops event hosted by the Silver Bow Fly Shop

If you havent been, it's a killer event where Sean and his crew pick up your first beer as a thank you for our business and to another great year of fishing. 

Last year there was in excess off 190 folks, and this year with a bigger venue it should be a hell of a party.   2012 brings the show to the Black Diamond Sports Bar in the Spokane Valley where they have acres of free parking and lots of room in the venue.

What a great way to warm up the year, bull sheet a ton and possibly win some great gear.

See you there!

OMR Strikes Again...

It isnt even funny any more. Seriously. 

5 minutes before the closing bell today, OMR goes ahead and ropes a beast.

Amongst the Fly Fishing Degenerate Council, this is the biggest steelhead of the season.

I've yet to hear the full story, but I couldn't be more happy for him.  Ahh, seriously.

If You Swing, It Will Tug...

A big congratulations to Fly Fishing Degenerate Council Member BJ on his recent success on The Big Water.    A hell of a way to get on the board with your first swung fish, on a fly he tied himself. 

BJ is a hell of an angler, but fall pulls him in multiple directions with hunting and dock dogs, where one of his retrievers is nationally ranked.  Finally he was able to uncase his spey rod and chuck some bugs.

Not bad at all, not bad at all.

Naming the Run...

Coming down the road, looking down on the water....we knew it had to be fished.  

It had all the characteristics, even flowing current stretching over a long gravel bar.  A slight chop on top of the water gave clues that the run had the bolder garden buckets that drew fish in like a magnet.

It screamed at us, swing it, and swing it now.

Still, it's tough to have complete confidence in water you've never fished, let alone catch a fish.

We all looked at each other to determine where each of us would jump in.  Rarely is anyone the asshat who runs into the water without the normal pleasantries of asking.  You have to pretend you don't care where you start but your lying, as you've been eying the bucket since you got out of the car.

I am sure countless others had fished this run in the past, there's no doubt about it.  It's too popular a river, and steelhead bring people out of the woodwork.  But to us it was the maiden voyage.

Twenty minutes in, we all started to doubt our selection of water.   New runs tend to do that to you.  Success gives confidence,  repetitive casting without a tug makes you think your crazy.

In the midst of the should we or shouldn't we leave conversation....Bo almost gets yanked into the river.

So without adieu, it was time to name the run.

Back at the truck, we discussed over the post run/congratulatory PBR's what the hell our group was going to call this piece of water.   Bo had the honor, as the guy who lands the first fish usually gets to right to do it.

Every different group has different names for the same pieces of water.  Confusion rains when one guy tries to explain to another the defining characteristics of a run that he calls "Black Rock" and other guys calls, lets say.."Tall Tree"

On my home river, names also revolve around what is around it.  The Ranch Run, Cattle Company, The Rocks, and so on.

Other times, runs are names after people, as in Poppy's Riffle on the Clearwater.

So we all looked around and threw out suggestions.  "Annexation of Puerto Rico" was suggested but quickly thrown out.  After some him and hawing....Bo named it.

The Grove.....named after the oddly out of place grove of trees over looking the run.

Does your group have a great way to name runs, or a great story on how your favorite piece of water was named? ....shoot me an email at jmills81 at hotmail dot com and I will throw it up here.

The Beer Bandit...40oz edition

Watch out, this man will steal your beer. 

Notice the advance tactics of the fishing buff and life jacket.  He's highly effective.

He also catches the shit out of fish.

The Flip Side of 4am Wake Up Calls...

Is that your fishing buddies tend to conk out as soon as you hit highway speeds, leaving you and the highway all by your lonesome for hours on end.

A Pretty Average Steelhead....

Ummmm, NO!

Fly fishing degenerate council member Marky P ran into this beast on the big river last week.  Holy shit!

This monstah makes all other fish we've caught this year look like minnows.

After a quick photo opp, this buck was sent on it's way to do it's job.

Procreate.

And yes, Sean V does have a beautiful smile.....

The Synergistic Worlds of Beer and Fly Fishing Collide, Silver Bow's Hooks and Hops Night

Put together my favorite topic, my favorite drink and my favorite bar in town

Jack. Pot.

January 19th, come join the crew for Silver Bow Fly Shop's second annual Hooks and Hops Night here in Spokane.  Last year was a blast, and we're anticipating another great event

Why venture out on a Wednesday in ass cold January?  Here are my top 5 reasons

1.  The generous folks at the Bow are buying your first beer.  Mmmmm, beer.

2.  The beer selection at Far West is legit. 

3.  With this many fly fishermen in a room, the level of bullshit being thrown around is unparalleled

4.  Take a peek at the giveaways.  Umm, yes please

5.  Beers....damn, that's a repeat

See you there!

Looking down the Shotgun

Good buddy Mark with a little early season Grande Ronde Steel love. 

Mark's got the shotgun pose down pat, but who's to blame him.  It just means he knows his way around a steelhead river, ties lights out bugs, drops bombs with the spray pole and catches more than his share of steelhead

Dont ask what his day job is.....lets just say it leaves the winter open to do nothing but chase steel.

I hate him

Foto courtesy of of degenerate fishing council member Bjorn..

Life Seems Like It's on Mute Right now

A weekend to the trout holy land of Twin Bridges, Montana can do that to you.

There are certain times in life were everything just pulls together, and this last weekend was like an arrow hitting the dead center of a bullseye

From Missouri, Hawaii, Ellensburg, Portland, Seattle and all places in between, members of the fly fishing degenerate council and their better half's descended into Southwest Montana for a little wedding for our buddy Joe Willauer of Evolution Anglers. 

Planned or not, it also coincided with some pretty nice hopper fishing on the rivers surrounding town.  If you don't know what they are, then you probably need to go find out...cause it's a trout fisherman's version of mecca

Fishing was a nestled in the region between great and unreal.  When you can toss big foam pillows down a current line and have toad browns tip their noses up to accept, it's a pretty rad deal

I hopped in an extra seat on Friday and Kevin Samuelson of the Evening Hatch and his lovely girlfriend Liz. 
She did an excellent job showing s that girls often out fish the boys

And Kevin showed me that there are Steelhead east of the continental divide

The day of the wedding was the culminating day of the trip.  It's a special day when you can do a bit of fishing, hop up the bank, get ready and walk to the most beautiful little church I've ever seen. 

A little golden love right before.....

The ultimate expression of love was stated between Joe and Ke'lah Willauer.  Cheers to you too!

So the stars aligned, the sun shined on our backs, fish ate big dries, a few too many Moscow Mules were consumed, a 4 wheeler ran around the reception hall and I danced like a fool at the reception of the best wedding weekend I've ever been to.