Back On The River

The slush monster was out in full force on the lakes so ice fishing has become more work than what it is worth. With that, Rob and I decided to hit the river for the first time this year. There was lite snow falling with next to no wind. Rob used his fly rod and I used a spinning rod to see what was working. We started fishing around 7:30 in the morning and it started out slow and continued to pick up as the day went on. By the end of the day we had landed a bunch of fish with Rob beating me in the number of fish caught. He caught Brown, cutthroat and Rainbow trout with a bunch of mountain white fish all on the fly. I stuck with my spinning rod and while I didn't have the numbers Rob did, the size of the fish I caught made up for it. I caught a fat 21 inch brown that is a new personal best for me for that species. I'm still looking for that 25 inch or bigger brown to hang on my wall. I also got to try out a new toy my wife got me for Christmas. It's a video head-cam in HD. This unit is in my opinion the best thing since the Cowboys won the super bowl! The only bad thing wasI forgot to charge it all the way and it died about 10 minutes before I hooked into the monster brown. As soon as I get good with editing and formating, I'll be able to start posting video as well as pictures of my fishing trips!

15" Brown

Some of Rob's mountain white fish.

My only mountain white fish of the day.

Christmas Vacation, Ice Fishing Style

I got a week off from work over the Christmas holiday and got to finally go ice fishing. On the first outing, Rob and I met up and headed to East Canyon Res. We started fishing at 7:30 am and caught around 40 rainbows that ranged from 12-16 inches. Pink or White Jammin Jigs tipped with wax worms were the ticket. We found the fish in 10-12 ft.
Rob Couldn't go the next day, so I made a solo run down to Palisade Res. I've had great success here in the past and that was the story again. started fishing around 8 am using pink Jammin Jigs tipped with a mill worm and slammed them. The bite was super lite so a wire bobber is a must. without one, I would have never felt a single bite. I landed 26 rainbows and 1 tiny tiger trout. the rainbows were in the 12-14 inch range. Palisade holds huge tigers but I couldn't find them.
On Wednesday I met back up with Rob and headed to Causey Res. We couldn't seem to really find the fish. We ended up with 20 fish landed, most of which were small tiger trout. The bite was slow the whole day. Our main reason for going there was to try and get into some kokanee salmon. Rob had caught them through the ice before but it wasn't in the cards for us this trip. Overall, the 3 days of fishing were great! It was nice to finally be able to get out on the hard deck and ice some fish.

First bow of the ice season from East Canyon.

Another bow from East Canyon.

A funky colored bow from Palisade.

Small tiger trout from Causey.

Florida Fishing Part 2; Indian River Lagoon

After Fishing Ft. Lauderdale and getting the fresh water fishing out of our system, it was time for some saltwater action! We met up with Captain Troy nash of Big Red Guide Service and fished the Indian River Lagoon just outside of Titusville, FL. Troy knew the lagoon like the back of his hand and had us on the fish all day long. Fishing the flats and sight fishing was a blast. Troy had heard there were some black drum in the area so we set out to catch some of those first. It didn't take long before Rob and I Were in the fish and our drag's were screaming as the fish were ripping out line. I also learned why they call them drum. They make a really cool low drum sound that sounds alot like the base in your car. After landing several black drum, we headed to a different part of the lagoon to go after the red fish and sea trout. Within five minutes of Troy showing us what to do, I hooked and landed my first red fish and Rob landed his first and biggest sea trout of the day. For the next few hours we landed several red fish and sea trout with a few puffer fish mixed in. Puffer fish are considered trash fish but I still wanted to catch one to add it to my species list. We also saw a Manatee and some Dolphin cruising the lagoon which was cool to see. At the end of the day, Rob and I landed around 25 fish. I would highly recommend Captain Troy Nash to anyone if you are looking for fast saltwater action!

Hear are some of the Black Drum Rob Caught.

We couldn't get him to puff up very much, but we tried!

Puffer Fish. Rob and I both caught one.

Here are some of the Black Drum I caught

Biggest red fish of the day.

All day long!

Biggest sea trout of the day!

Check out the single top tooth these trout have.

A tiny sea trout. The biggest one I leadered got away before the picture.

A gator at the Orlando Bass Pro Shops.

Florida Fishing Part 1; Ft. Lauderdale

I had a business trip to Orlando that lasted a week, so I did what any warm blooded American should do; pack some fishing gear and go down 3 days early to fish! My friend Rob was already there and we met up and made the 3 hour drive down to Ft. Lauderdale. We arrived to wet conditions. It rained off and on all day and the fishing was slower than previous trips I've made. We fished some of the ponds I had fished before around Ft. lauderdale. Even with the conditions we still caught quite a few fish, 5 species total. We even caught a few gar that spit the hook and fell back in the water before we could get pictures pf them. I love the fight that some of the exotic species have in them. They put up a better fight than large mouth bass in my opinion. If you go down, check out Everglades Pro Bass Bait Shop Located at 8246 Griffin Rd in Davie, FL. There phone number is 954-434-4495. Not only do they have everything you would need to catch fish, they can also give you good insight as to wear to go to catch what ever species you're going after. After a good day of fishing, We headed back to Orlando for our next trip. See Florida Fishing Part 2 for some great salt water action!

Large Mouth Bass

My first ever Midas Cichlid.

My biggest Jaguar Garbote of the day.

Rob with a nice Jaguar Garbote.

Another one of Rob's nice Jaguar Garbote's.

We should have taken this exit. Just think of the possibilites!

Mayan Cichlid

This is one of the largest Iguana's I've seen!