As a reminder, we were fishing with Grand Fishing Adventures and I want to thank them for all of their hard work and accommodations! Link to Grand Fishing Adventures: https://grandfishing.com/
Wendy and I hopped in the boat with Mitch. Mark and Sharon saddled up with Will and we
were off. Mitch paddled a little way
downstream and gave us a short presentation.
The first half of the tutorial was about safety. He told us what to do if we fell out of the
boat, how to get back in, and how to handle different dangerous situations if
they arose. The second half was showing
us how we were going to fish for the rest of the day. He showed us casting angles in different
water and mending techniques that worked with the flies we would be using. He also explained how the person in the front
of the boat and the person in the back could work around one another in order
to keep the tangles to a minimum and the catching opportunities at a
maximum. After a little practice, we
headed down the river to our first spot.
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On the way, he explained what type of water we were looking
for and how the fish in this river behave.
I’m going to paraphrase what happened next but let’s just start off
calling it suckfest and this was not fault to Mitch. I don’t know what happened to Wendy and I,
but we sucked at catching fish. It was
like we forgot how to catch fish. We
missed a bunch of fish and the ones we did hook didn’t get to the net. When I say that we missed 15 fish between us
in the matter of a half hour, that is not far fetched. My first instinct was to blame the barbless
hooks. My next step was to blame the
bites on small fish. That was Mitch’s
idea and I couldn’t tell if he was being polite or if he was serious.
After all of our swings and misses, the boat got real
quiet. Wendy and I weren’t teasing each
other like we usually do. I think it was
a combination of hyper-focus and frustration. I knew I was doing something
wrong but couldn’t figure out what it was.
That’s when I decided to get mean!
I decided that it was no more Mr. Nice Guy with these turds. No more soft hook-sets and gentle
fighting. I was going to start ripping
lips and horsing some fish on the 3X line we were using. And I am proud to say it worked. I boated a 10 inch Snake River Cutthroat and
gave a few fist pumps. He hit the yellow
stone fly like a lot of the others but this time I gave him a proper
thumping. I felt like I had cracked the
code on this deal and the next fish came just a few minutes later. This one was 13 inches and Mitch informed me
that it was an above average fish. I was
pumped and feeling like I was in the zone.
My excitement was hard to miss…and then I remembered that Wendy was
still sitting on a goose egg. I tried to
pass on my new-found advice and tried to convince her to get nasty. She missed a couple more but then finally
stuck a nice 10-11 inch fish. A wave of
relief washed over her and a sense of calm fell over the boat. I was even able to get a laugh out of
everyone when I passed on a quote from Dane (guided us at the North
Platte). He said, “You pay for the first
fish. The rest are free.”
From there, our landing percentage steadily rose. We still missed a few but were inching closer
to a 50% success rate. We were also
getting into some bigger fish. Wendy and
I each missed fish that Mitch said were bigger fish for the river. I was starting to be able to discern between
the small fish and bigger takes. When I
saw a bigger head come out of the water and take my fly down, I knew it was
time to get serious. I saw the fish
twist in the water, and that confirmed my suspicion that this was a good
fish. My pulse quickened even more when
Mitch said “Oh my” My first instinct was
to tell him to shut up because I was already freaking myself out but I managed
to keep my composure and focus on the fight.
I slowly let out my slack fly line when he wanted to run and finally got
to the point that I was able to use the reel for the fight. It took some drag and I was terrified that I
was going to break him off. I was
freaking out about the barbless hooks too.
I maintained a lot of pressure on the fish while Mitch rowed to the bank
to land the fish with the net. With a
little coaxing, the tired fish made it to the boat and Mitch did an outstanding
job netting the beast. The tail of the
tape was 16 inches and a significantly above average fish. Fist pumps, fist bumps, and photos ensued
while all the frustration of earlier in the morning was exchanged with an
adrenaline rush that left my hands shaking.
I am also proud to report that the big fella swam away just like all of
the other fish we caught that day too.
After that adventure, I ended up landing another 6 inch fish
and two more that 12 inches each. Wendy
landed about 5 more fish with a 14 incher being the biggest. If you look at the smile on her face, it
tells the whole story.
The next memorable part of the trip was lunch. I know that probably sounds strange, but I’ve
never been on a guided trip that involved the guides setting up chairs on the
bank along with a table and a blue checkered table cloth to top things
off. That was the fanciest that I have
ever felt on a fishing trip.
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