SF Snake

September 9, 2017 By TB

We’ve spent a lot of time in the Jackson Hole area over the years, visiting Krista (daughter) and Chris (son-in-law) who worked at Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park as well as at the Jackson Hole ski resort. One of Chris and Krista’s friends who worked with them was Tim Smith. Chris and Tim actually worked together at Snake River Angler and of course, Tim was at Chris and Krista’s wedding at the lodge.

We have fished with Tim on the Snake River before, so when we were planning our “River Ramble” trip, we called Tim to take us on a river he’d been wanting to show us for some time…. the South Fork of the Snake. Tim guides out of the Lodge at Palisades Creek, a gorgeous fly fishing lodge property in Irwin, ID. We headed out for the river, not really knowing what to expect.

When we arrived at the river, we were awestruck. It was absolutely gorgeous. Our trip involved first class fly fishing, of course, but also included incredible canyons, eagles everywhere and geologic features that were amazing, including “the air conditioner”. We caught both Snake River and Yellowstone cutthroats, rainbows, cut bows and more. It was an amazing day on the South Fork and our guide talk with Tim, conducted on the river in the “air conditioner” was so special. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed our day with Tim.

Green - WY, Guide Talk

Boots on the Green

September 9, 2017 By TB

Boots Allen is a legend in guiding circles, not just in the greater Jackson Hole area but around the globe. When we called Snake River Angler to book a guide for our trip on the Green River near Pinedale, WY, we asked for Boots and were so excited when he was available for our trip. Boots is a third generation guide and his knowledge of not just the Green, but all of the internationally renowned rivers in the area is second to none.

We met him bright and early at Hoback Junction and headed for our put in at Warren Bridge. We had a great day on the water with Boots and got some beautiful fish. His “Guide Talk” is not to be missed. Enjoy!

Green - Flaming Gorge, Guide Talk

Flaming Green

July 26, 2017 By TB

The Green River is over 700 miles long, originating in the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. It flows through Wyoming and Utah before joining the Colorado River for about 40 miles in Western Colorado. There are two sections of the Green in the TU Top 100 Trout Streams book.

The Flaming Gorge section is in northeastern Utah, specifically flowing out of Flaming Gorge Dam near Dutch John, UT, is the section we floated with Ryan Dangerfield of the Flaming Gorge Resort. We stayed at the RV park connected to the Resort so our commute to meet Ryan and head to our put in was easy.

The Green below the dam is broken up for fishing purposes into 3 sections, A, B and C. Ryan decided we’d do a “mix”, the second half of the “A” section and the first half of the “B” section. What this meant was that we put in at the beginning of the “A” section and then rowed downstream, not fishing, until we made the midway point of “A”. This way, we didn’t bother those people who were fishing ONLY the “A” section. Clear as mud? As it turned out, we avoided both a muddy river (red creek was blown out and muddying the Green) and a downpour in “A” because of Ryan’s decision to do the “AB” option.

We caught beautiful, strong rainbows and browns on dry flies all day and enjoyed the great scenery of the Flaming Gorge area. We also had a great interview with Ryan in a “Carpool Karaoke” kind of way on our drive out. We hope you enjoy it!

Animas, Guide Talk

Animas Antics

July 19, 2017 By TB

When we checked into the Duranglers fly shop in Durango (CO), we asked about our guide, the kind of boat we’d be floating and what section of the river we’d likely float. We also asked if our guide was “fun”. We’ve discovered that we really enjoy having the “fun” guides on our trips. Sure we love to catch fish… a lot of fish when we can… but it’s about so much more than that.

We were a bit surprised and excited when we were told our guide’s nickname was “Crazy Mike”. “Crazy” can have so many meanings….. crazy fun…. crazy river running…. crazy insane…. etc…. The next morning, we met “Crazy Mike” Sulkosky at the shop and immediately started appreciating his brand of “crazy”.

We had a blast! Mike navigated all the boulder fields we encountered and made it look easy, although we know it’s not. We also caught some good fish along the way. But most importantly, we had an incredibly fun day on the water with Mike.

We’ll definitely be back to fish with Mike again, but until then, we hope you enjoy our “Guide Talk” with this incredible, thoughtful, talented and “FUN” guide, “Crazy Mike”.

PS You’ll also hear why he’s called “Crazy Mike”… priceless!

Frying Pan, Guide Talk

Eric in the Frying Pan

July 10, 2017 By TB

The Frying Pan River flows into the Roaring Fork River near the town of Basalt, CO, the home of Frying Pan Anglers (FPA). We had an epic float fishing trip down the Roaring Fork with Ed Deison, senior guide at FPA, but, more on that in another post. The prime fishing on the “Pan” as its known in the area, is the tailwater section below Ruedi Reservoir.

We had the pleasure of fishing the “Pan” with Eric Way, a guide with FPA who specializes in wade trips on the river. We met Eric at the fly shop and headed up river to fish. We grabbed a pullout along the river that was empty and made our way down to the water. Almost immediately, Eric saw a big rainbow hiding behind a large rock submerged below the water. The rainbow would slide out into the current to feed before sliding back in behind the rock. He rigged up a two fly nymph rig and told me to “go for it”. In about 4 drifts by the rock, it was “FISH ON”! What an incredible start to a great day fishing on the Frying Pan.

We had a chance to sit down with Eric during a lunch break along the river and interview him.

Eric is a very fun guy and is a great guide as well. We talked fishing, fly tying (he’s an expert in an English form of tying), beer, food and more. We know you’ll enjoy his “guide talk” with us.

Ramble On

Guide Talk, Rio Grande

Dry Fly Daze

June 29, 2017 By TB

We’ve been nymphing and throwing streamers most of this year and really didn’t expect anything different when we made it to South Fork, CO and the Rio Grande River. We met our guide, Aaron Horrocks, at Wolf Creek Anglers, talked about which section of the river we’d be floating and headed out.

As usual, the guide gets the boat ready, backs it down into the water, drives their truck/trailer up to await the shuttle, and comes back down and we all get in. The next step is to rig up our fly rods. As Aaron started this process, he said “double dries” today. We were both VERY pleasantly surprised by this, but were still a bit skeptical given other guides had talked about fishing dries during our floats but it never panned out. However, that skepticism disappeared in about 5 minutes when we hooked up with our first fish of the day; it hit a small, black caddis and the fishing was on.

Throughout the day we fished caddis, stimulators (a bit of everything fly), drakes, yellow sallies, stoneflies, mayflies and a few I’d never seen before. When one “hatch” stopped, another was already starting. We lost track of the number of fish we caught because we were all laughing and having so much fun watching these amazing trout come up and sip or devour our dry flies. It was truly a “Dry Fly Daze” we were in and it was awesome!

We took time out for lunch to interview Aaron in his boat on the Rio Grande. We found out that Aaron was a middle school math teacher, but had taken a job as Assistant Principal of the K-8 school in the area. Furthermore, we found out his school was going 1-1 iPads this fall. While we shared a few Apple stories and jokes, we still kept our focus on fishing and fun, as you will see in Aaron’s “Guide Talk” on the Rio Grande.

Big Thompson, Guide Talk

Mo

June 26, 2017 By TB

Don’t get confused by the title of this post. It’s NOT about the Missouri River at all, but our guide on the Big Thompson, Jeff “Mohawk” Curran of Kirk’s Fly Shop. When you watch the video, it will become apparent why the nickname.

We’ve really enjoyed all the “characters” we’ve met along our Ramble and Mo is no exception. When we asked him about his perfect day guiding on a trip, he summarized it in one word, FUN! We had a blast fishing with Mo, sharing stories, and seeing this beautiful landscape that surrounds the Big Thompson River through his lens.

Mo took us to really cool places to fish, IF the river had not been raging as it was. I’m sure you’re seeing a theme of our western adventures, lots and lots of water. However, seeing them with Mo, you could easily imagine when the flows are normal, how special fishing these locations would be. Needless to say, we’ll be coming back to the Big Thompson and to the streams of Rocky Mountain National Park again to fish with Mo. For now, please enjoy our “Guide Talk” with Mo, on the banks of the Big Thompson River near Estes Park, CO.

Big Hole, Guide Talk

Big (fast) Hole

June 19, 2017 By TB

We’ve heard the stories about the Big Hole, especially at this time of year… “Sammietime”… Salmon Flies. Everything was setting up nicely for our June 14th trip on the Big Hole, except for one thing; the Big Hole was nearing flood stage and flowing at over 7000 cfs. In other words, yet another western river flowing very fast and very high. Add to that, there was more rain in the forecast.

We did see evidence of these huge flies that trout love to gorge on in the trees and bushes along the river. However, because of the strange weather, the big bugs weren’t landing in the water and more importantly, no fish were rising. So, as we took off in our drift boat, traveling over 10mph on the water (aka. fast) with our dry/dropper rigs, we were hoping to lure them up, or if not, have them eat the rubber legs we were nymphing about 3 feet below the surface. When that didn’t work, we realized the fish were down, and we switched to dredging nymph rigs, which proved successful.

We had a great day on the Big Hole fishing with Cory Calkins. While it was difficult fishing, Cory kept swapping out our rigs to find the right combination of flies that ultimately brought fish to the net. We can’t wait to come back and actually hit the famous Big Hole salmon fly hatch with Cory. For now, please enjoy his “guide talk” on the banks of the Big Hole.

Ramble On

Guide Talk, Truckee

Gilligan’s Truckee

June 6, 2017 By TB

We started our California “Ramble” in Truckee on our way to fish the Mt. Shasta area. We went through the area again on our way down the Eastern Sierra’s, to fish the tributaries of the Kern and the Owens. Finally, we came back to Truckee to actually fish the Truckee River.

We setup the SaraLinda in a campground a stone’s throw from the river. This proximity to the river made meeting our guide, Matt “Gilligan” Koles, the owner/head guide of Gilligan’s Guide Service, a breeze (and let us sleep later than usual before a guide trip!). When we met Matt, we saw he had a buddy with him; Elliott, Matt’s dog. We proceeded to drive down the right side of the river on a one lane gravel road, to a pullout above the river’s edge.

After gearing up, Matt, Barb, Elliott and I headed down the hill to the river. The river was flowing very fast, so we fished from the bank and also waded carefully out into the water a ways, so we could hit some seams and soft areas. Within a few moments, we’d hit into a few fish, including a really nice rainbow for Barb… and a very large brown for me.

What we learned from Matt, is that the Truckee is more about “quality” than “quantity”. The Truckee did not disappoint, as all the fish we hooked were of a good size… and much more. Matt was great getting us to the right spots to experience success and he also rigged our rods with flies specially suited for Truckee River fishing.

When you come to Truckee to fish, you need to make sure to call Matt, well in advance, and take a trip with him. Until then, we hope you’ll enjoy this “Guide Talk” we had with “Gilligan” on the hillside above the Truckee.

Ramble On

Guide Talk, Kern River, Tributaries

Stonefly Guy

May 30, 2017 By TB

When we called the Kern River Fly Shop about a week before our scheduled trip to fish the Kern, we talked to Guy and Kimberly and they forewarned us that the Kern was flowing high and fast and that we would likely have to fish some of its tributaries. After we arrived in the area and hooked up the SaraLinda, we headed to Kernville just to look around and grab some groceries. As we crossed the Kern river in town, we looked down and saw just why they’d prepared us to fish the tributaries; it churned wildly and looked like chocolate milk.

The next morning, when we arrived at the fly shop, we met Guy and Kimberly and talked about our day; we’d be fishing several “nunya” creeks that are a part of the Kern drainage. We left the shop in Guy’s 4×4 truck and headed up Mountain Highway 99, a road that parallels the Kern River. As we climbed higher and higher, the Kern flowed even faster as it tumbled down the riverbed and in many spots, overflowed its banks. The landscape changed as we crossed the Kern River bridge, becoming a beautiful forest on both sides of the road, and we climbed even higher into the Sequoia National Forest.

Guy was really kind to us, taking us to some “secret” spots where we would be fishing in beautiful surroundings for Kern River trout and golden/rainbow hybrid trout. Barb and I both love fishing tributaries to larger streams that hold beautiful smaller fish. I was using my 4wt rod and Guy had Barb using a Reddington Trout Classic 3wt, which would ultimately cost us, as Barb loved the 3wt so much, we got one the next day.

We had an absolute blast fishing these small creeks with Guy, walking from hole to hole, eating lunch right on the banks of one creek and getting a double right after lunch…both Barb and I with a fish on at the same time. FUN!!!

We interviewed Guy in a stand of huge pine trees after a great day on the water. We know you’ll enjoy his “Guide Talk” interview as Guy is a great guide, and as we found out, a man of many talents. Enjoy and as always….

Ramble On