Warm Water

The summer is slowly winding down. The last two months have been difficult for trout fishing.  The water in the rivers and lakes has been too warm to safely catch and release fish.  Scouting new areas and higher elevations has been part of the weekly homework assignment.  There have been a few mornings that I would fish before noon and just make it a shorter day.  Terrestrial fishing has always been a fun part of summer on the fly and I did have a few of those days.  Hopefully, more next year!  Hoping for a good snowpack this winter that will fill our reservoirs again.  

There were a few good days for catching bass on the fly.  It is always fun to do that.  I love their fight.  And it is a great alternative when you are dealing with the warmer water.  Thank heavens for bass! =)

                                      The bass had some fun that day...

There were lots of pretty trout earlier in the summer. 

Of course, there has been a bit of cooking and kitchen duty in between...

Goodbye summer...  We are ready for cool, fall fishing days!

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.