Chrome Weekends

My weekdays are usually filled with daydreams about steelhead. There just aren't many things as sweet as bright steelhead on the swung fly.

This hen absolutely crushed my bug. There were a bunch of sea lice on her belly.

I'm not sure they come brighter.

This buck was a toad. Not super long(32), but it had the deep body of a springer.

Olive and Orange

Sick tie from my brother. You can't buy this kind of movement from your fly shop.

Another winter bug

I lost a few bugs while getting skunked yesterday. Back to the vise.

I eliminated the artic fox in the back and replaced with ice dubbin. Also used a red and black blend at the head. We will see how it swims.

Pic was taken with my blackberry, so its a little fuzzy......

The cream for the clear

With clear conditions on the way, I've tied up a few bugs with softer tones.

I went on a bender

Last weekend, every river in Oregon was out of shape, and I sat at home grumpy as ever. Not only was I free on Saturday, but I had Monday off of work with no place to swing my flies. Things dried out and I took a personal day on Friday to start off my 48 hours Friday/Saturday steelhead bender.

After 2 straight days of being up before 4am, 12 hours of driving, multiple sore body parts, and a few steelhead to show, my 48 hour quest for steelhead is done..........for now.

34 in hatchery buck destined for the smoker.

That will fish

Here's a juicy tie from Montana Mike. He's the best Montana steelheader I know.

Cold, wet, and solid Saturday

It turns out I owe a big thanks to my sister in law. I wasn't planning on doing any fishing until Sunday. My brother thought he should stay home and many rivers are on the low side. The weather wasn't fantastic, and it didn't appear to be a day to waste a hall pass.

I'm not sure what happened, but my brother emailed me late on Friday to say he was all clear for Saturday. My obligations only ran through Friday night, so I was good to go as well. We couldn't pick a river, nothing seemed like a good choice, but eventually we sorted out a float and got to business. It was a gametime audible and it felt like the wrong choice. The water was a crisp 38, the roads were still icy, and the rain began to fall. It was one of those days where you felt like there wasn't much chance, but is justified with the usual internal phrase of "its just good to get out and swing".

Well..................somedays its about more than just the swing. I got taken to the woodshed by a large buck and Casey had a nice tussel with his girlfriend. We each moved another fish. Great day to be on the water.

From now on, I'm letting Casey's wife choose the days we should hit the river.

35 x 18

Bright Gal