cnr

I was with Joe on this trip and witnessed his "agony of defeat". The man went to his knees in grief, it was a BIG fish. I don't know how all the other streams are since I have not fished them extensively like a lot of folks have but this one holds a special spot for me. Having floated CC 6 times this year I have seen a lot of big fish, but never anything over 20". I think Dan is accurate in that CC does hold a good quantity of 14-18" fish. I have tallied 7 18" fish in total this year on CC and every one of them fought like crazy. I only have one photo of a CC fish, not sure if it was one of the 18's or not. I do think that CC has some of the prettiest SMB I have seen, almost every one of them looks like the photo attached.

These guys are going to take themselves out of the gene pool someday soon. Very scary video.

I agree with the advance notice. If it's planned out there is no problem. The other thing that works out great is the annual trip. Every year my wife knows I will be gone the first week of April Steelhead fishing. This is a no negotiation deal and has been that way since long before we were married. For all of you young guys out there put your stake in the ground early and she will know what to expect. Of course all this goes with giving extra attention when you are home. Flowers, pitching in on the things she hates to do, special dinners, etc. Ya gotta grease the wheel to keep it from squeaking!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found it weak. I really wanted to like it but haven't been able to get through the first episode. You would think they could of written a story that wasn't so boring and filled with petty bickering. The Civil war era was a pivotal time period in our history and I am sure the people were more interesting than the portrayal of them in this mini-series.

I use a 3/0 offset shank hook and fish it unweighted and straight. I have also found in clear water the Smallies shy a little from a wide gap hook so I fish the traditional 3/0 offset shank worm hook that keeps the hook shank close to the body of the Fluke when rigged. The wide gap hooks project away from the Fluke and seem to negatively affect the fish. Found this out the hard way when my fishing partner was outfishing me 3 to 1 when I was using wide gaps and he was not. I switched over to a traditional hook and started to have more action. I was still outfished :-) but not by as much!

I second the 5" Zoom Fluke (in white). It's on my rod most of the day and seems to produce bigger fish than a smaller bait.

I dunno, I still go at it pretty hard at 53. I will admit I don't start as early as I used to though, 10-12 hours of hard fishing and wading are enough usually. I figure if I keel over on the stream I died a happy man!

Illustration, Photography, Video. What determines if any of these visual techniques are "art"? I like this definition: "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects". I think if the image was the creative effort of a vision that began with a pre-visualized concept, then it's art. Using Photoshop does not necessarily negate the creative value of an image, it's just a tool. How it's used is what makes the difference. I began my art career as an illustrator and I can tell you that Al is spot on in his use of Photoshop as a artistic tool to achieve his imagery. I have also seen some very talented illustrators copy a good photograph using traditional media (paint, chalk, pencil, whatever) and I would not call what they do as art, just a good rendering of someone else's well thought out creative photo (art).

I fish with joeD quite a bit, he's just cranky because he hasn't been fishing enough!!! Hmm...but what is enough? Probably for most of us 24/7 would be just about right.

I need a good 4wt rod, and a new fishing vehicle. Never should of sold my old 4Runner! Oh, and new wading boots.

A McStick is a hard jerkbait made by the Spro corporation.

I'm in for the "Occupy Shoal" float and protest. I think threatening a persons right to fish (float) is almost as sensitive as the right to bear arms!

I am guilty too. Have fished the White and then stopped at the NFoW on the way home. But, I think it will be only prudent to try and protect our streams in the future. Of course first time I fall on my butt I may have a few choice words to say. :-)

Be careful of the regulations, and my advice for your first time on the White is to hire a guide. They have a wealth of information and can help you learn the river in a productive and safe manner.

It was a light colored McStick, we tried the Table Rock shad for quite awhile but no luck on this trip, seems like the color preference changes each time. Yeah, I know, no surprise there. Tackle was a 6' Loomis IMX mag light spinning rod and 8lb P line flouroclear. The rod was actually too light and was my backup rod with a different color bait on it. I prefer my 6'6" medium action Loomis for casting these 1/2 oz baits. I just like Loomis rods but honestly for this type of fishing a high-end rod is unnecessary, casting and twitching a jerkbait doesn't take a lot of finesse or feel, the fish crush it when they hit. The browns definitely wanted the bait fished slow with small movements and short pauses (couple of seconds). When we worked the bait too fast the fish weren't interested. Actually right before I caught this fish my buddies were doing all the catching, I took note of their slower retrieve, changed mine up, and I was back in the game.

Oh yeah, that fish went back in. We let it rest in the net for quite a while before we picked it up for a few photos. We then took a quick measurement and put him back in, he swam right off without a hitch. That fish is still there for someone else to have fun with someday.

Thanks. Definitely a fish for the records. You know how it goes, takes a lot of hours to get to that one big fish. It's all fun.

Date: 1/16/2012 Where: Between Gaston's and White Hole access Length: Just shy of 31" Lure: Spro McStick 110 This was my largest Brown landed to date. Lost one that may of been bigger a few days before. Sure is a lot of work throwing these big baits all day but the reward was worth it, these fish just crush it when they hit. In addition to this stud we caught a lot of fish in the 18"-22" range. The trick was to stay on rising water, if the water was rising the fishing was hot, once it flattened out or started to drop the fish shut down. A great trip and a lot of fun, can't wait until next time. Oh, and big props to "Papa Bill" he worked his butt off keeping us on the fish in the high winds last weekend.

The ultra-clear low water works to your disadvantage because the fish can easily spot you wading around and become spooked. I would rate bad wading skills as much of a detriment as bad presentation when fly-fishing. The other factor that comes in with low clear water is that it's harder to fool the fish that your fly is something edible. Trout are mostly visual predators and if they get a real good look at your fly they can tell it is artificial. On the flip side when the water flow increases the clarity drops a little and the fish generally feed a little more with the increase of their food being moved around. The feeding really seems to increase if you can fish the river on a rise and then stabilizes as the water stops rising. The bigger trout really know how to take advantage of the lower clarity and increased flows and this becomes a great time to fish streamers or minnow shaped plugs for larger fish.

Doing a little measurement in photoshop and calculating the width of your 4 fingers at 3.75" it would make the fish 21.32" long. Dang nice fish, congrats!

Wow. It weighs in at a slim 1,000 lbs. Wonder what it costs? You know you will see them at LOZ eventually.

I don't own one of these but they look really well built. http://www.yeticoolers.com/

The park is closed until March 1st

If you are interested in Michigan (my favorite place to fly fish) I would recommend contacting Steve Fraley at http://www.fishbaldwin.com/ . He is a guide and fly shop owner in Baldwin Michigan that specializes in fishing the Pere Marquette River. The PM is a great small to mid-sized river that can be floated or wade fished for Browns, Rainbows, Brookies, and my favorite Steelhead (Spring and Fall for Steelies).