Trouser Trout

Thanks to everyone for the responses, hopefully I'll get at least 1 this way, and I'll be sure to post a picture of it if I do. I probably won't be tying any of my own due to lack of time, but I'll just go downtown to the fly shop and see what they've got on hand. Bryon - I'll be going with a few friends to the Rifle River Rec Area early Saturday afternoon, just for a quick over-night trip. We'll be leaving to come back early Sunday morning. If you're going to be in the area, one more definitely isn't going to hurt - plenty of river there to fish. Or if you want to fish on Sunday, I'll probably still be unsupervised and have some time to go again. Let me know. Mike - I also would have never believed it but a co-worker of mine suggested mousing, and that peaked my interest so I did a little searching. That brought me to here to see if I can could get some first-hand knowledge of how to fish these little critters.

I'll be on a 2 day trip this weekend in Northern Michigan to do some fishing. I've never tried using a mouse pattern, but have heard they can yield some pretty good results. Seeing as we're getting later in the summer and all of the good hatches have come and gone, I'll be fishing mostly terrestrials during the day, and I thought I might try to fling a few mice out after dark. Is there anyone out there that has done this? And if you have, how were your results? Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated as I have never tried this before.

I'll be up around Grayling this coming weekend and a little into next week. I'm sure you're probably on the Ausable, but we'll be camping on the Upper Manistee not too far away. And there is always a day trip to Lovell's Bar & Grill and then we fish the North Branch. Not exactly sure where you'll be, but I'll keep an eye out for ya. I'd like to meet the guy that built me a 2wt...using that rod is the most fun I've had catching trout thus far.

One more thing on the missing adipose fin - Here in michigan they'll clip that fin on steelhead to indicate that there is coded wire micro tag in it's head. If you catch one with the fin missing, you're supposed to record where it was caught, take all the measurements, cut off the snout and freeze it, and then send everything to the DNR. After they read the tag they'll send you a letter with all the information they have such as the age and where the fish was originally stocked.

I definitely have a net when steelhead fishing, besides dragging the poor fish up on the bank, there isn't any other way to efficiently land them. For trout, I carry one along with me, but I also agree with phg - it all depends on the size whether or not I actually use it. For the majority of the rivers I fish and the trout I catch they aren't big enough to justify using a landing net, but I would say it's one of those situations where it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Try using this contraption, I've got one and it is by far the most comfortable way to carry a net with you. After I made the switch to a lanyard instead of a vest, I had no way to easily or comfortably carry a net. This simply hooks on my wading belt and holds the net flat against my back, and a backpack can easily be worn over top of it. No annoying magnets, no more trying to find the magnet and re-attach it, no more of the net dangling off your back - which in turn usually ends up with it tangled in the brush. They're a little expensive for such a simple system, but I believe they are worth it. Or if you're handier than me, I'm sure you could make one of your own. http://www.smithcreek.co/net-holster.php

I live in Michigan, and I had the itch to get out to the pond behind my house to practice some fly casting on the bluegills. Once I got out there, I realized that there weren't any fish left. The pond is about 1/4 acre in size, with an average depth of 4-6ft, and the deepest point is about 10'-12'. There were lots of bluegills dead along the banks, and what disappointed me the most was that there were 3 real nice Largemouth Bass that were also dead. I hadn't caught one of those in years, and thought they had already been taken out of the equation. If I had to take a guess I would say that winterkill was the culprit.

Here's a good song to chill out to. http://youtu.be/S_aQIysiySs

Instrument & Electrical Designer for The Dow Chemical Company, before that I was a journeyman electrician.

I got it! It's going to be a weather stripping foam beetle with dog hair legs and dryer lint underbody.

I'll get in on this one. I haven't been in a swap in a while, and I'm interested to see what everyone comes up with for this one. I don't have a particular fly yet, but I'm sure it will have dog hair and dryer lint in it. I'll let you know in a day or 2 what I'll be tying.

I've gotten more into the minimalist type when I'm on the water. Like Bryon stated, I found that my neck and shoulders were getting sore when I overloaded my vest with a bunch of stuff that I never used. (I usually stuffed a few beers in it too, just in case I got thirsty) I now wear a lanyard that has my tools and a tiny fly box on it that I keep nymphs in, and I've got a bunch of other boxes that will fit in my shirt pockets. I only take 2 at a time, and which one depends on which river I'm fishing and at which time of the year I'm fishing it. I've found that with 3 boxes on me while I'm wading, I still don't use half of what I brought. (As far as the getting thirsty part, I now keep a flask in my pants pocket filled with a good bourbon to go along with a cigar)

I bought a new 2wt. rod from Steve (steeldrifter) and on my list is a new reel to go with it. I've also got a new full brim fishign hat and some rod holders and other gadgets for my fishing kayak on there. Other than that, I think I have everything else I need. Of course any and all fly tying materials are a welcome gift, but most people that know me already know that, so there's no need to put it on the list.

I've only been in the steelhead game about 5 years, and have managed to land 1. (In fact, my avatar is me holding the only one I've ever gotten.) I've hooked and lost way more than I want to count, and been skunked even more. I haven't been steelheading yet this year, but I know a few who did the salmon shuffle, and say that there was plenty of chrome starting stack up behind the salmon. And with the recent rain we've gotten, that'll help move 'em up the river. I'd imagine that most of the salmon should be gone, with maybe a few zombies hanging around. Which would be good because that means the snaggers will probably also be gone. I would be wiling to join you on an adventure to the northwestern part of the mitten, but I'm not going to guarantee any fish. Send me a PM and maybe we can get something put together and give it a go.

The rod looks great Steve! I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'll be adding the Orvis Battenkill I reel to it, which only weighs in at 2.9oz. Should be a perfect ultralight setup for the small streams that I like to fish. Does anyone out there have any experience with the Scientific Anglers Mastery Textured Series lines? I've used the sharkskin line before, and liked the functionality aspect of it, but couldn't stand the sound it made and/or the cuts it left on my fingers. I was curious if anyone has used their newest textured pattern and if they are willing to share some feedback. Or if you have any suggestions as to what line would be a good match for this rod/reel combo.

That looks like it was one heck of a trip. I always jump on the chance to get up there and try my luck on the rivers. I happened to have one of those chances when there was a wedding to go to in Grayling last weekend, so I spent all of last Friday exploring the North Branch. You're right about one thing, the relaxation of it all has somehow got lost to the upbeat "lets get out there and fish as hard as possible" mentality. I had a great time just enjoying the outdoors, and with the leaves changing, the scenery was magnificent. I ended up catching a handful of little ones, and spent about 20 minutes throwing everything in my fly box at a 16"-18" brown that seemed to be way smarter than me.

I bought a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Tandem this spring, and often wonder why I hadn't done it years ago. It is a cross between a canoe and kayak, and works awesome for fishing. Here is a picture of it. It is unbelievably stable, can carry as much stuff as I want, and only weighs 65lbs. It has the capability to add another seat, but mostly its just me and the dog in it. It tracks straight as an arrow, is easily maneuverable, and I have paddled against some pretty swift current without too much difficulty. There are endless possibilities to accessorize it just the way you want with rod holders, fish finders, etc. Here is a picture of me doing some smallmouth bass fishing in it. Here is another one of me standing in it on the day I got it.

Typically I'm a ball cap kind of guy, but I like the full brim hats to keep the cigar smoke next to my head. (cigars are the world's greatest bug repellant.) My wife and I moved in to her great-grandparent's old house and I found this really nice full brim hat in the way back of a coat closet as we were re-modeling. Come to find out, it was Ray's (her great-grandfather) "smoking" hat. Apparently he liked to enjoy smoking a pipe every once in a while, and when he did he would wear that hat. I don't know exactly what year it is from, but I'm pretty sure its well over 80 years old. I had it cleaned up and re-shaped at a local store, and by looking at it they told me it probably came from some time in the 20's. It is the perfect fishing hat, but I don't wear it as much as I should for fear of losing it. Someday I'd like to be able to pass it on to the next generation, and hope it keeps going on down the line.

I currently have 2 pair of Oakley's. The first pair are "Radar Path Polarized" - very dark tint which works for bright sunny days on the river and even better on sunny days on open water in a boat. These are my everyday sunglasses that I wear for pretty much everything I do. The second pair are "Straight Jacket Angling Specific" - these lenses are a cross between an amber and yellow color. They work perfectly for low light (cloudy, dusk, etc.) conditions on the stream, and normally are my "go-to" pair of shades when fly fishing. Yes, they are expensive, but another great feature of Oakley's are that they are Z87.1 certified, which means they'll stop that errant fly coming at you at 100mph. I personally won't buy another pair of sunglasses that aren't polarized, and from what I have experienced with Oakley's, I don't see me switching brands either.

It's been a while since someone posted to this topic, but I was so excited to get this boat I had to share it. It is a Native Ultimate 14.5 Tandem in the Camo color. It is set up as solo in the pictures I have. But the day I got it home I took it out to the pond behind my house and had myself, my wife, and our 55lb. dog in it set up in tandem. It is more stable than I could have imagined, the second pic is the first time I stood up in it. I can't wait to get it on some trout waters. If anyone else has this boat, what are some of the things you've done to accessorize it?

As I was fishing one of my catskill style BWO flies this past weekend, I happened to notice that it was floating sideways on the water. Instead of the hook point being down in the water, the entire hook was laying down in the surface film. A little concerned, I tried a whole bunch of my other flies, and a handful of those were doing the same thing. They all appear to be tied the same, whether they float correctly or not. Any suggestions as to what I did wrong on those particular flies to make them do that?

I spent the opener on the Rilfe River. We were also disappointed with the outcome given the conditions. Had a little hatch on Saturday evening, and only saw 1 fish rise. I did end up taking an 11" brown on a Black Ghost early Sunday morning, but as soon as I pulled it up I saw it had worms coming out of its mouth. I think with all the rain and high water the fish had their fill and didn't really feel the need to eat anything else. Oh well, I'll live to fish another day, and hopefully be a little more successful.

Riff, what site are you using for the forecast? Weather.com and Accuweather are both saying the only rain is today and Thursday morning. My hope is that further upstream the impact of the rain won't be as bad as it will be further down closer to you. As far as river level goes, I'll take your word on it because you can get a look at it in person, all I have to go on is what the internet tells me. Either way, as long as we have some dry days over the weekend, there will always be a cold beer in hand and a log on the fire; regardless of how good the fishing may or may not be.

So far the weather looks like its going to cooperate, and according to the USGS the water levels should be getting back down to normal. I'll have Mickey Finns, Black Ghosts, and Woolly Buggers if its still high, fast, and looks like chocolate milk. If conditions switch in my favor it'll be BWO's, Hendricksons, and caddis for dries. I've also have no experience with nymphing, but if the opportunity arises and I feel like giving it a shot, I've got those too. I'll be in Lupton on the headwaters of the Rifle.

Just picked my flies out of the mail. All of them look amazing, and it's not helping with the itch to get out and get a line wet next weekend. Thanks for hosting Bob, and good luck to everyone on the opener!

I would have loved to be there for this event. Unfortunately, one of my friends decided they were going to schedule their wedding for that day. That's added to my calendar as the 8th wedding this year. I don't know how anybody expects me to get any fishing in with all these obligations. Maybe if this goes as well as I think it will, it could become an annual thing. But thats probably just wishful thinking on my part. Anyway, to all of those that are lucky enough to be going, have a great time!