HOPPER WALLPAPER
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Monthly Archives: August 2009
Sunday Afternoon With Arron
Arron Varga and I had arranged to meet to fly fish together this afternoon. It was freezing! This summer has been one of the oddest that I’ve ever experienced. With a brisk wind blowing, and the temperature only about 10C, I wasn’t properly dressed. I didn’t realize how chilly it was before I left the [...]
8/18-8/28
Hi all,
Sorry for the lack of reports over the past few weeks—have been busy moving out of Woods Hole, a quick fishing trip to Florida, and now moving back into the dorms for the fall semester. Here’s a run-through of what the guys have been doing since last Tuesday the 18th.
8/18: Capt. Tom O. himself ran the Yankee Clipper’s limited-load trip last Tuesday, but reports a slow day of fishing. The weather was perfect, but the fish just weren’t in the mood. Just a slow pick of cusk and a handful of haddock.
Capt. Kirk, who had a charter on the Yankee Patriot, reports similar results. Not a lot going on, with some cusk, haddock, and a couple of codfish coming aboard.
8/19: Capt. Kirk ran Wednesday’s day trip aboard the Yankee Patriot, and reports much better action than the previous day, with good fishing on mostly haddock with cod to 14 pounds and a few pollock to 15 pounds mixed in as well. They enjoyed steady action all day with some solid flurries of haddock punctuating the day. A beautiful 24-pound wolfish that swallowed a hunk of clam took pool honors.
8/20: Capt. Josh had the wheel for the Super Thursday trip on the Yankee Clipper, and called the day fair to good. The fish were mainly biting the clams rather than jigs, and catches were well-spread around the bait, with a number of anglers tallying 10-12 legal fish by day’s end. Large haddock, market cod to 17 pounds (the pool winner), and a handful of pollock constituted the catch. The bite was best on the anchor in the morning, but they caught fish while drifting in the afternoon as well.
8/21: Capt. Kirk had the day trip on the Yankee Patriot on Friday, and reports a good day of fishing despite difficult conditions. The wind blew 25 knots out of the southwest, so they anchored all day, catching mostly haddock with a few cod and large cusk mixed in. In fact, a big cusk of about 12 pounds took the pool. The dogfish were pretty thick but the good amount of haddock mixed in with them made weeding through them worthwhile.
Capt. Josh led the charge on a charter aboard the Yankee Clipper, and reports that the fishing was slow in the morning, where the fishing had been good on the marathon yesterday. After catching just a few haddock and cusk they shifted to some hard bottom where they found a steady to good pick on some haddock, but tide-versus-wind conditions made fishing effectively difficult. Their best bite occurred in the afternoon just after slack tide. A fair day overall, he said, with slow fishing to start in the morning and a fair to good bite for the last two thirds of the trip.
8/22: On the Yankee Patriot, Capt. Kirk reports a good day of angling. Dogs weren’t too bad, the haddock bit pretty well with some cod and cusk mixed in, and a 12-pound cod took pool honors. They anchored all day, and bait seemed to produce better on the groundfish than the jigs even though it attracted more dogfish as well.
Josh reports a fair to good day on the Yankee Clipper. They made five anchor stops, with some better than others, catching a mix of cod and haddock, with more keeper cod than he’s been seeing recently. A 12-pound cod won the pool. Jigs and bait were more-or-less equally effective.
8/23: All trips were canceled Sunday due to Tropical Storm Bill.
8/24: Capt. Josh ran the Yankee Clipper today, and reports a fair day of fishing. They had a couple of slow stops to start off, then made a shift and found a steady pick of cod to 18 pounds, cusk, haddock, and a brief pollock blitz of 8-14-pound specimens. The 18-pound cod took pool honors.
8/25:
There were two limited-load trips on Tuesday. Aboard the Yankee Clipper, Josh reports another fair day. After a few slow stops, they moved to some deeper water, where Josh located a large sign of pollock. However, the fish seemed finicky and anglers only boated a handful of them. Hopefully those fish will turn on soon and provide some fast, exciting action for the jig fishermen. Since the pollock didn’t pan out Josh made another shift and picked away at cusk and haddock to finish out the day.
On the Yankee Patriot, Kirk, sailing with a light load, reports a very good day of fishing. Drifting all day, they had a good pick of haddock with some market cod and cusk mixed in. Jigs and bait both produced, although jigs caught most of the better-sized cod, including the pool-winning 15-pounder.
8/26: Kirk ran Wednesday’s day trip on the Yankee Patriot, reporting fair to good fishing overall. The first anchor stop was very good, with anglers putting dozens of nice haddock in the boat during their two hours there. Once the bite petered out, Kirk made a short shift but found only a slow pick on haddock with a pile of dogfish mixed in, a surprise because there had been almost no dogs at the first stop. The third anchor stop offered more of the same, with some haddock but lots of dogs too. Conditions made fishing difficult during the second half of the day, when the wind hauled out of the southwest at 25 knots and the boat began to swing on the anchor in choppy 3-5-foot seas. An 11-pound cod won the pool.
Capt. Josh had a charter on the Yankee Clipper, and reports a fair day of haddock fishing despite the mostly inexperienced angling crew on board. Cusk and a couple of nice cod in the 8-14-pound range were mixed in too.
8/27:
Capt. Josh reports a good day of fishing on the Super Thursday trip on the Yankee Clipper. The pollock bit fairly well in the morning, although they were concentrated in small areas and would only eat a jig twitched slowly right on the bottom. After moving off the pollock, they had a steady bait bite on haddock with some codfish to 20 pounds mixed in too. Many anglers had upwards of ten legal fish by day’s end. A 20-pound cod won the pool.
8/28: Capt. Josh ran the day trip aboard the Yankee Clipper yesterday and reports a fair day, with some anglers catching over a dozen keepers while others had only two or three. They began in the morning by looking for the pollock, but they once again proved quite finicky, although a handful of them including the 16-pound pool-winner did succumb to jigs. After targeting the pollock, anglers picked away at haddock, cusk, and cod for the remainder of the day, despite a ripping tide that made tending bottom difficult.
8/29: All trips were canceled today due to weather.
Willy
They’re Everywhere
FISHERS & HOPPERS 
bite the bullet and make friends
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bite the bullet and make friends-------
.. The word is out: fish the Gallatin River.
.. Saturday was a perfect day! There was a cool morning with low overcast. Then a bright midday with high overcast.
By 6:00 P.M. the clouds thickened and the temperature dropped... Little bugs in the morning, hoppers through the midday doldrums, and caddis in the evening. All this was spiced up by ants, beetles, spruce moths, damsel & dragonflies, and exotic license plates.
.. The parking areas at Bighorn, Fan Creek, and even Bacon Rind, were occupied. Not full, mind you, but "with car.".. Pull-outs were filled throughout the park section of the Gallatin River. Some Condominiums with wheels were parked in the narrow sections and caused a slowdown in the afternoon leapfrogging from hole to hole.
.. They attacked twigs, foam, leaves, biologicals, and artificials with abandon. It was not quite a
popcorn frenzy but the action was satisfyingly brisk... After our recent outing to the mosquito 
infested jungle of the S.W. corner of Yellowstone National Park, it was pure joy to fish where a gentle breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay. And, thankfully, a breeze gentle enough so that casting was pleasant.
.. We're counting on the weather gods and a bit of voodoo to bring us another day just like it was yesterday.
infested jungle of the S.W. corner of Yellowstone National Park, it was pure joy to fish where a gentle breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay. And, thankfully, a breeze gentle enough so that casting was pleasant... We're counting on the weather gods and a bit of voodoo to bring us another day just like it was yesterday.
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.. Yellow and gold and amber have crept into the vegetation color palette.
.. Things are drying and dying. The lichen has lasted longer this year than most years: it too is beginning it's Fall recession.
.. We've eaten our second helping of spuds, a full pound of bacon, three eggs in an omelet with ham and cheese, and finished our second pot of coffee. That might get us out the door... Things are drying and dying. The lichen has lasted longer this year than most years: it too is beginning it's Fall recession.
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.. Off we go to do battle with little bits of water that are known to all and fished by none. We'll return with a report similar to this - Amphritite willing.
.. Now for a second, albeit it smaller, breakfast and a wee bit more coffee; just for drill.
.. Now for a second, albeit it smaller, breakfast and a wee bit more coffee; just for drill.
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Weeds, Fish, Dock and House…Sold?
Monday we headed up to Princeton, IL to treat a pond infested with duckweed, watermeal, curly leaf, algae, and coontail.
Tuesday I cant even remember what we did, but it was a busy day and we needed to gather and load up tons of material for our project on wed. Also I showed the house at 6 pm and then headed out to Menards to load up the rest of the materials.
Wednesday we headed over to Mahomet, IL and built a cool dock, installed an aeration system, bojo buglight, and a Texas Hunter fish feeder for a client just finishing up an incredible half acre pond in his back yard. Tom the excavator was finishing up a few things while we were there and we decided to dig a deep hole in front of the dock for fish congregating purposes.
The pond is being filled with a big well since there is no watershed and the water coming out of the ground is so cold that we will be stocking rainbow trout into this backyard oasis!!! Shiners, Fatheads, Hybrid Stripers, Albino Catfish and Hybrid Bluegills will also call this pond home.
Thursday we delivered 4500 big bluegill and 3000 hybrid bluegill to one of our featured properties: Otter Creek Preserve. Stocking that many large fish this time of year is no easy task! It takes 100's of buckets of water to acclimate the fish in the tanks to bring up the water temps in the hauling tanks and then 100's of buckets of fish to get them down into the water and acclimate them slowly there too. Much easier to stock fish in the fall when water temps are the same, anyhow we also finished filling and adjusting the settings on 10 of the 17 fish feeders we have on the property.
This place will be hands down the best fishing destination in Illinois and rank up near the top as the best in the US in a few short years. We have several lakes totalling over 200 acres of water that are being intensively managed for over 10 different species of fish! These are not just any fish, but rather the best genetics and broodstock available! Bluegills and Albino Catfish from Missouri; Feed Trained Bass and Hybrid Striped Bass from Arkansas; Walleye, Smallmouth and Tiger Muskie from Minnesota; Jumbo Yellow Perch from Wisconsin, and Black Crappie from Illinois. I have scoured the nation for only the very best fish humanly possible and you cant even fathom how good the fishing already is after just 2 years into the program!
Friday (today) we took 37 students from LightHouse academy fishing at the fishing park. We gave them a tour, a fishing education, and made sure that every single student caught plenty of fish. The teachers will email over some pics next week. The kids had a great time!
This afternoon I showed my house to some nice ladies looking for a house for their new boss who will be moving to town in a couple weeks. They think it will be a perfect house to get him started in Peoria and while he gets acclimated and works on future building plans. Hopefully we can reach an agreement and get this house sold! Now I will need to move out and find a place to live, cause the boss man is moving to peoria Sept 18th. That is going to make things a bit more interesting this fall, but nothing we cant handle!
Mens Night at the Lake
For both of my loyal blog followers, after a 10 day marathon, I have a very small window of opportunity to plop a few thoughts and pics down in my diary....
So last friday I had 50 guys spend the weekend out at the lake: we swam, fished, jet skied, wakeboarded, volleyballed, rope swinged, and basically just went 100 mph for about 40 hrs straight. They were the young men from our church and we also spent quite a bit of time learning and listening to some very important life topics from several speakers.
On Saturday morning a group of old men came out and cooked a feast of about 130 eggs, 15 lbs of bacon, 20 lbs of sausage, pancakes, and flying saucer pancakes!!!!!!! After breakfast I took the old guys out for a quick fishing trip before they had to take their daily naps! I will let the pics give the summary of our 20 minute trip:
Then Sat night we had over 100 guys from church come out for a cookout of epic proportions: we grilled burgers, chops, brats, and chicken! We finished the evening singing praise songs and just had a great time worshipping and fellowshipping together. Mens night at the lake will be an annual event!
I didnt have much gas left in the tank, but was able to stay awake long enough to avoid being the one with shaving cream and other liquids smeared all over, etc before crashing for the night. Sunday morning we all headed in to church and my wife and I were in charge of watching the 1-3 year old kids in the nursery. After church Brook was ready to dump the kids off on me after being a single mother for a couple days, but I fell into a very deep sleep for 3.5 hours before waking up for some dinner just before bed!
Bombed In Bechler
A LONG DRIVE
many mosquitoes
skunked
skunked
it happens
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.. We heard the rumors. We drove over to see. The river is beautiful. Catching sucked.Very short video below.
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It’s Early But . . .
ANTICIPATION
Get Streamers Tied
listen to the worm folks
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.. A nice 22" buck Rainbow Trout was taken on a worm at the Duck Creek Highway 191 Culvert Pool yesterday. It was bright, feisty, and very colorful. It was cooked on a grill in foil with lemon, sage, and bacon grease - the flesh was on the pinkish side... Bigger fish were not landed, and several were seen jumping up the little water fall debauching from the corrugated pipe.
.. Reports from the worm-tubers around the Grayling Creek Estuary highlight the catch of fish of the same class. Gulper fishers continue to comment on the bright fish of good size taken from the narrows up to the mouth of the river on the
Madison Arm of Hebgen Lake... So we quickly dug out the "big & ugly" boxes and took inventory. The streamer stash was also examined for completeness and diversity. The mouse collection was scrutinized for possible additions.
.. It's not quite time to expect the submarines in any number - but the anticipation of the fleet is always good for the visceral juices.
.. We mention this now, (while the fishing is still just a bit on the easy side,) so that the best excuse for a stint at the bench will be foremost in the cerebrum. Just in case anyone asks.
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(As always, images are giant - wallpaper if you choose.)
Sweet Shades for a Steal!
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Akinetix Sunglasses are constructed with UV400 lenses. The lenses are Polarized, Scratch-Resistant, and Shatter-proof. Lightweight, Floating Frames work great for fishing.
The Neighbor’s Fly Box
FOR PEOPLE WITH
EYES LIKE A TROUT
EYES LIKE A TROUT
Not Our Cup Of Tea
but they do work
(Click on images for detail.)
(Click on images for detail.)-------
.. We've been chastised for using flies of heroic 
proportions and weight. We admit it and the excuse easily rolls from our lips: old eyes... For those of you with eyes better than bifocals, here is one fisher's go-to-box for the quiet, gentle, smooth water that abounds in the mornings this time of year.
.. She tied them all and told us most of the names. We forgot: old synapses.
.. There were 100 in the box but a few went the way of trout too big for the tippet. There's still over $200/retail in that little box.
