Well I hooked up the trailer and took the fam over to Winthrop for the weekend. Had a blast with some family freinds. Good old fashion BBQ and Beer drinkin all weekend.
I told the wife I was gonna break away Sunday morning to get a little fishing in.
Actually let me refraze that. I asked her if I could get a couple hours away for some fishing. She said, "OK" but gave me that look. Ya know the look that your not gonna get any for a week.
So Sunday morning rolled around and the cell phone alarm went off, and so did my head-ache. Off I went to one of my favorite spots about 16 miles down river around Carlton.
All I brought with me was both my 4wt Sages which was fine because I dont normally fish gear for trout. Had I known I was going to be hooking into some summer steelies I probably would have brought my 7wt. Oh well.
I started fishing the top of the run with a Stimulator pattern and a copper john dropper. After awhile with only a couple of smaller fish on the dropper, I went double nymph with an indicator. A size 16 copper john on top and a size 12 rubber legged hairs ear on bottom. Thats when the fun started.
The first decent fish was a 12-13 inch western slope cuttie. He put up a decent little fight and I let him go without a pic. Now the next take down I had was one of those ones ya never forget. The indicator slowly dropped down like the fish turned down river on the fly. When I set the hook all hell broke loose. It was a 7-8lb wild summer run, on the 4wt. He ended up taking the hairs ear. 10 minutes later he was on the beach for some crappie cell phone pics. After release it was back to fishin. The next take down I had was another western slope cuttie. This one was around 16-17inch. Once again a cell phone pic, and a quick release. Now back to fishin again and another take down. This fish took off like the steelhead did but I could tell just wasnt as big. It ended up being the biggest wild rainbow I had ever taken out of the Methow approx 21-22 inches long and looked like a football he was probably 3 1/2 to 4lbs. Another couple of cell phone pics and release. Back to fishing again and the indicator drops. I set the hook and up comes another summer run tail walking all over the hole. This fish wasnt as big as the first but took just as long to bring in. After a couple more cell phone pics I turned back the 5-6lb hatchery summer run and I called it a morning.
Talk about a good start to the day. I headed back to Lk Paragin where I had breakfast waiting.
I cant wait to get back over to fish the lower river when it opens mid Oct. Hopefully I get my deer early again this year.
Sorry for the pics. Once again there off my cell phone, and its no Blackberry or Iphone.
Enjoy.
