Semi-Annual Update

 Yes, I am still alive and well.  It seems that I misplaced my laptop for a few months.  Not really, still rehabbing a knee and just awfully busy with life in general.  There were a few trips that involved a fly rod and a net.  My annual "Three Amigo" trip was in April.  Back to Montana we went!  One of my favorite trips with great buddies.

Then there was a quick three day trip to Pyramid Lake in Nevada.  This is the home of those famous giants, the Lahontan Cutthroats.  You work very hard sometimes for that once in a lifetime fish.  I struck out this round.  My two friends waited it out that last night.  I packed up and headed to the hotel 40 min away.  I was going to make the 8 hr trip home the next day.  At the hotel, I got a text with a couple of amazing pictures!!   The girls waited till sundown and got their rewards.  =)  So awesome.  I just had nothing left after 10 hours of casting and standing for long periods of time.

  Kudos to them!!

  

The next day, I headed down the road to my special "redemption" spot.  Haha.  I had to catch a few fish on this trip!  And yes, I found a few nice rainbows to finish up my fishing trip with.  

 Needless to say, my skunk outing at Pyramid quickly faded away.  And my eight hour trip home was much more enjoyable!  I poured my M&M's into the cup of my center console and off I went.  Another adventure completed.

That takes care of January til April.  I will come back and fill you in on May and June soon!  Take care of yourselves and always fish with a smile!

RD 

Make Way for 2026!!

Out with the old and in with the new!

  2025 had a lot of good memories.  2026 will have even better ones!

 May you have the choicest of blessings in the coming year...

Thankful

Here we are on Thanksgiving weekend!  I kind of disappeared for 3 months, but there is a reason why.  There was a little, errr... big glitch with Blogger and after signing up with a new registrar,  here I am.  A big thank you to SitesbySara.com, who brought it all back.  My little blog is pretty darn sentimental to me and I now appreciate it a lot more than ever before!  I am in the process of picking out my favorite stories to publish into a book for my kids and grandkids.  Something for them to remember crazy Grandma Fish and her many adventures!  

So much to be grateful for this holiday season.  I have a great family and a great job.  

I didn't get in my 80 plus fishing days in this year, due to the continuing knee problem after a TKR two and a half years ago.  But, I just had a knee revision 6 wks ago.  Soooo.. I am ready to hit the water March 1st!!!  I am already seeing improvement and I'm ahead by 3 wks with my PT.  Watch out fishies.  I expect more flies to look like this at the end of the day!!!!

 

Higher Elevations

 It is August and it is hot, hot, hot.  In the valley, it is in the 90's and that calls for heading to the hills!  I usually don't do much fishing in August.  Trying to find water that is cool enough to catch and release in is the challenge.  So, the high alpine lakes are the best bet.  We have some beautiful lakes in the High Uintas Wilderness area.  These snow-specked (until July), craggy peaked mountains and trails that weave between ponderosas and aspens, never disappoint.  There are over a 1,000 natural lakes in this mountain range.  They say that one could never visit each one in their lifetime.  Ha!  I know that I won't!  Many beautiful streams wind around these lakes and in all, there are probably 400 mi. of waterways.  Rainbows, brown trout, brook trout, tiger trout, cutthroats, grayling.  A wide assortment!  Just bring a chair and enjoy the solitude.

And the best part...  It was 68 beautiful degrees air temp!! Win win.

When Montana Calls

June was a busy month!  I was able to fish for 4 days in beautiful Montana and meet up with some long time friends on the "Mighty Mo" or the Missouri River.  We have a fishing weekend for one of the group's birthday each year.  I missed it the last couple of years because of this ailing knee.  But, this year, I said that I was going no matter what.  Even if I later found out that one of the hotels that I would be staying in had bed bugs! (Slept in a chair because they didn't have any more rooms and all hotels were full!)  No more cheap hotels that I don't know about.  Ugh... So, there were a few rainbows in the net on a fun float down the Missouri.  A nice dinner with friends.  And down the road again...

 A lively rainbow taking a size 18 nymph.

Best rower award goes to Chaz!

My bestie, Alice! Moving from Oregon to Florida. 

A few of the fleet of drift boats...

My favorite breakfast... Corned Beef! 

Next stop... My favorite little secret creek that always waits for me with open arms.  Always!  There are some beautiful rainbows in this creek.  And I once caught a very big brown that I didn't even know was in this creek... A very big surprise!  It was my biggest brown at that time a few years back.  So, with anticipation, I got out of the car to gear up and set up my rod.  A big smile came over my face when I saw the water.  It was the perfect flow.  Not too high and just low enough for me to cross.  This is where a journal is your best friend.  Writing down the flows each year and what the conditions were at the time is very helpful.  I love the months of April, May and June.  After that, the summer gets too hot for me.  And the trout.

Now you see why I like this little creek. Haha
Yeah, this doesn't look like a rainbow... Hmmm

A couple hours of very nice brown trout! 
(I earned this one... If only the fish would be more cooperative in finding my net!)

Callibaetis were on the menu. 

But, the most important little bug in June was our grandson... #5

He was definitely the catch of the month.