Fish, Bugs and Babes

I know its been sometime since my last post, but i have been on the move. The past few weeks i have been in a transition period from missoula all the way down to the florida keys for the winter time, with a flats boat in tow! it has been super hectic just trying to find a dump cheap enough to live in and find a job, but both are now done and we can start tightening our lines!

Granted we have no idea what we are doing down here, but we have all winter to learn and by the time march and april rolls around, we'll be spanking some tarpon and permit! But then the fun will be over and it will be back to montana for the trout guide season!

but now that i am here i will start bringin you some serious fish porn once it gets figured out. i would expect to see me wearing shorts and sandals all winter long and sippin cold beers on the beach or polling around the flats for hogs!

the next day off of work we have i would expect to see some sweet pics, we are going shark fishing!

tight lines dudes!!!

Its been a while since my last update, but there are reasons for that. I am getting ready to leave for the winter, the pic above will give you a hint! I'll be back when i know more!

Usually I have tons to say about a day of fishing, but this time its different I am rendered somewhat speechless. The only thing I can say is over 30 fish all on dries and some big boys. Like I said speechless...

So these days i am going back to what got me started in fly fishing. and its the wade fishin! Being in a boat all the time i forget all about being on my feet in small water watching cutthroats kill hoppers! They may not be big, or all that smart honestly, but damn are they beautiful. I have been taking a couple of gentlemen out the past few days who have been having a great time spankin some cutties! The waters are crystal clear and small with more cutties than you could ask for.

These little bastards have been killing hoppers with wreckless abandon, which means there are lots of misses. hoppers can be just a pain in the ass to jam into a fishes mouth sometime, you all know what i am talkin about. but for the next two weeks this is the game plan for the rossman!

so enjoy the pics and go fishing!

later dudes!

Picture this, its a friday night around 10 pm and I am sitting around the house tying up some bugs and drinkin a few beers...yes you can all see where this is going. In my state of peace i received a call from my buddy Burke, he tells me that he wants to do some fishing, and of course i do as well. So we get our plans rockin and rollin to hit the MO and want to leave now! He picked me up at my place around 11 and we still had a 2 hour drive to get there and sleep in the car and figure out where in the hell we are going to fish the next day on the MO. All is going well, except that we both forgot our wallets, but we were going fishing so who gives a shit! We made it up to Lincoln to get some gas, and lock the keys in the car, so its a true midnight run because all hell is breaking loose! But we found the keys and got our shit together and got to craig. I was also a bad co-pilot and fell asleep before we got there... but the next morning i woke up in the front seat in what seems like someones front yard! Thats the perfect start to a day of fishing!

We decided where the hell we were going to fish and got out there and did it! And it was a great day of fishing, we fished hard considering that he had to be back before dark so we didnt get to recycle banks and all that good junk, and we probably would have even drilled more if that was the case!

All that aside though we did drill some fish! Them dudes were up and eating and in a frisky little mood! We had boated three fish in the first 20 minutes of the day, and they were good fish. We had a little lull in the karma for a bit after we lost an anchor...dont ask! But they eventually turned on again and we started rippin lip soon enough. The day ended on a huge downpour and we took off out of there!

This was hands down the best midnight fishing run i have ever been apart of. Shenanigans, big trout, bad karma and good karma, what the hell else can anyone as for!

hopefully everyone reading has been getting their fair share of fishing in, its good for the soul!

peace out!

nick

Lately on most of my trips i have been running ninja missions, yep wont tell ya where, and catching big ass trout on big ass flies! Its awesome! This is the time of year i always wait for, watching big bruisers in self destruct mode come up and kill a foamy ass hopper! Some will argue that they would rather see a big fish come up and sip a small dry fly with perfect presentation, brandon. TO HELL WITH THAT! I love watching a true killer come up and either kill a hopper or suck it down a black hole!

The last ninja trip i took was awesome, i took a fellow from georgia who had never ever ever ever caught a trout in his life. We changed that fast. I waged war with them gilled creatures all day long. I had one rod set up with nymphs that pulled out a few nice fish, and then a hopper rod! I shit you not we had more eats than i could even fathom on the hoppers! if we would have landed half of the eats we had, it probably would have been the best day of dry fly fishing/ hopper fishing i have ever seen! All that aside though, we did land our fair shair of fish, and got snapped off 3 times on a 2x leader! By the end of the day Mr. Southern Comfort got bit by the old trout bug. If anyone wants the best hopper fishing they have ever had, right now is the time to get the hell up here and see for yourself how badass it is!

I wanna thank Mr. Southern Comfort for the awesome day, it was a total pleasure to take him out and put him on some hefty ass fish!

Later dudes!

nick

I finally got on top of things so starting today i'll be able to update this bad boy regularly with awesome fish porn and other fun things! I have been pretty busy with trips lately and its awesome! Hopefully there are some out there getting in their fair amount of healthy fishing time!

I recently took an Aussie out on a guide trip, and it was sweet! The dude was a terrific angler, no surprise, and we swatted some serious fish! To start the day, we had a hook up within the first five minutes of the day. From then on i knew we were going to beat up some trout. We proceeded to throw hoppers, and other random dries that weren't producing as well. But the fish are on a hopper alert and its the best time of the year! Within the first hour we had already boated three fish, two of them were really nice too.

After that the day went on, and got slow and the same all over again. But the funniest part of the day was about a 15 minute stretch where the thunda from down unda got schooled by about 10 fish. The fish would come up to munch the hopper and he would be way way too early, not that we all havent done that before. But fish after fish he kept telling me, "I saw it!" It was a fun little 15 minute stretch. I won't even mention the fish that we didn't land... i know your going to be reading this and thinking about how i never let it go all day, and you still gotta hear about it!

Our second to last fish redeemed us, somewhat, of the fish we didn't land earlier in the day. That fellow came up and gave a small caddis dry, and i was nervous that we werent going to land that one either. But anyway it obviously came in and it was awesome!

Thats it for now! hope you enjoyed hearing about the day as much as i enjoyed being on it!

later dudes!

nick

The summer is finally here, fishing season has started, bugs are popping and i couldnt be happier! Its been a while since my last post, i got pretty busy with trips and then i was fishing on my spare time so you'll have to cut me a break. With runoff over and clear water, the fish are looking up and its great.

And to start the season i got a visit from my old man and uncle this past weekend. What better way to start a season by dragging the dad around in all out fishing trip in montana! it was awesome! They got to fish some AWESOME waters and catch some pretty nice fish while this old boy rowed them around like a madman. The first day they got here i had to get ready for a trip the next day so they just went down and fished the creek that runs through my town and did some serious damage they said. On day two we had some plans to do the bitteroot after i finished up my half day trip on the black foot, but that got all screwed, thanks by the way dad! The next day was the beginning of the trip, we woke up early and made the long haul to the missouri, it was a slow day but we still managed to boat up some fish, my dad is holding the bows, and my uncle is diggin it with that really nice brown.

The next days plans were to get up early and float the bitterroot in the morning and do the clark fork in the afternoon. We got up and got all our shit together and hit the road, we got on the root a little too early. We caught some fish and it was really starting to get hotter once we took off the river. We then made the long trek to the lower clark fork down stream from missoula. We were going to try and get an evening caddis float on a sweet stretch of watter and met some of my buddies there. The clark fork is awesome! We didnt slay them but we freaking caught some nice fish and that river is going to pop solid in a good week. My old man caught that nice cutthroat on a little elk hair caddis, and then a few more fish. It was good to see that river clear up finally.

Thanks alot for coming up old man and uncle scottie, it was a good time. i hope you dudes had fun on your montana fishing trip!

LATER DUDES!

So...yesterday morning i woke up fairly early and figured my day was going to be shot just kickin it at the house all day. Since i am broke, and my boss had all of the calls forwarded to to me to book trips for the day i really had no choice. But then something amazing happened, and a buddy called me up to go float the westfork of the bitterroot. I sure as hell didnt turn it down, i mean it was a last minute thing, and i was taking someone else's spot in the boat who didnt show up. so i just had to show up and go fish and drink their beer and eat their food, yes it was last minute so its perfectly polite to do such a thing.

We had a hard time figuring out how far we wanted to float, there was suppose to be isolated thunderstorms, but it was nice at the time. So we just decided to say to hell with it and do a good 15 mile float, the water was kinda moving up there so it only took like 7 hours or so. Now back to the fishing, so we get there, put on some salmon flies and hope for the best, thats really all you can do when your chasing those bastards, and for about 3 hours we had lights out salmon fly fishing! We put a few awesome fish in the boat and a few dinkers on big old scary dry flies! Not to mention we missed a few of them as well. Finally, some salmon fly action. Its been a long time coming since i have seen one of them big bugs, and timed it somewhat right. Now the reason i say somewhat right, is because after about 3 hours of that, the fishing DIED!!!!!!! They had eaten so many damn salmon flies and gorged themselves and just quit eating all together, not even the all mighty san juan worm caught a fish in the second half of the day!

No worries though, it was a fun day. When you get salmon fly action on top, drink some beers, row through some technical boulder gardens, and laugh your ass off all day, i think its a successful fishing trip!

cheeers and tight lines dudes!

Its awesome to get some time on the water with a fisherman that just kicks ass! In this case its my good pal Caleb. I had the pleasure to spend a few days fishing with the dude before he flies out of Missoula to guide in Alaska for the summer. Needless to say we drank some beers, floated in pure shitty weather, and tightened up our lines!!!!!Memories is what makes fly fishing so special to me, as most of you read in an earlier post, and when you get to kick for a few days with a true bro and good fisherman shit ends up workin out in a good way. Not many people have a few dudes that fish just like them and don't take themselves to serious on the river and just love to be out there. I have been blessed with some good dues to tighten a line with and this jerk is one of them. So have fun in Alaska dude! You too Fuller, you don't think I would forget about your ass!

But on another note, WHAT A WEEK OF FISHING!!!!!! We managed to totally bum it the hell out, on some awesome rivers, the Missouri was fished twice and we fished another zone on a totally different river. That rivers name I will take to the grave with me!!! Sorry folks, but that is my new little playground, that not a single person outside of my circle of dudes that will know about, which makes it that much doper!

So here is some fish porn for you guys from the MO, and the nameless river!

Once again Caleb and Mark have a kickass time in Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers and Tight lines dudes!!!!!

Nick

So its runoff time, which sux, so the fishing is non existent. but i'll throw some fishporn on here anyway to just make me feel better!!!!!

cheers and tight lines dudes!

I just wanted to take a second to tell my beautiful mom, happy mothers day! I dont know what i would have done without her trying her damnedest to keep me out of trouble and always a great mom!

Love you and happy mothers day!

nick

Yesterday a few friends and myself did a float on the bighole. We weren't looking for any numbers by any means, we wanted that leviathan sitting at the bottom of the river eating 14 inch rainbows and killing anything else that dares swim in his zone. We didn't catch that guy...but had a productive day with our scary flies. It is hard to target a fish on a freestone that eats a 14 inch rainbow every few days, has ample places to kick it undetected and will more than likely kick your ass when you do hook that dude. Luckily there were a few aggressive browns and a few rainbows who didnt let anyone down yesterday by throwing down a munch on our big uglies.

On an even more awesome note, one of our buddies sheila, caught her first montana brown trout yesterday. She was pumped and it was awesome, but then I went to take a picture of her and the batteries died, it sucked. Some memories are just better off in your own mind I guess.

All in all though it was an awesome day, we had to battle weather all day, and a long drive. But when your rolling back home at 230 in the morning after fishing all day and actually ripped lip, its all good!

cheers and tight lines!

Yesterday I had a guide trip on the Mo, and the fishing was awesome, but as it turns out it was much better than the clients in the boat. Luckily they were cool as hell, which made the day fun for myself and them. They had some awesome eats, but just couldn't seal the deal. Both people in my boat would get the initial head shake of a big fish and one big run, but were definitely under qualified and out classed by the wiley fish of the Missouri. On that note we did boat fish and they were pumped to get some in the boat. The coolest fish boated was a tiny little rainbow that reached 10 inches max, but he didn't really care, once he brought the fish in and we took a picture of it he said "thank got a little fish finally ate my fly because that guy was all I am qualified to handle." That comment made me appreciate them even more because they found the beauty in the sport of fly fishing, and realized that just being there, and getting plenty of great opportunities at big fish, is what its all about.Now if there had been a pair of fisherman in the boat that were qualified to handle the MO, we would have boated quite a few more fish. But that's okay, they were excited none the less. Once they did catch fish they for the most part just wanted to float along and drink soda pop and enjoy the time they had left on the river.

It was good to have clients that knew they had plenty of opportunities and blew them all, and yet understood at the same time. One of the pics above is of one of my clients yesterday with that same 10 inch rainbow I mentioned earlier, and he is pumped regardless. That makes all the difference in the world when you get a chance to see a total beginner appreciate the beauties of fly fishing and treating a fish of that size the same as a 25 inch brown. The other picture is of a can of troutslayer ale chillin on the side of the river at the gallatin. Not that it has anything to do with the guide trip, but its a good beer at a good river and right where a troutslayer should be...on the water!

cheers and tightlines!

nick

Yesterday I was having a conversation with someone, and they told me how sad it was that all I ever want to do is be on the river. They brought up the fact that I just may be old and alone with no heirs or no one that really cares about me, besides my brother considering he is younger than me and will always be a kickass cat, and I thought about that for a second and politely disagreed. Why worry about that when there are lots of fish to be caught out there in the world! Well that seemed even more infuriating to this person. They proceeded to tell me that the most important thing in life is to give yourself to another person because it apparently is living for more than yourself, which is exactly what being on the river is, its a spiritual and satisfying feeling bigger than myself that is too much to put into words. We are put in a society where we can choose our own paths, so why is one better than another, why not fish and tie flies constantly if that is what makes a man like me happy.

And on another note, there are plenty of women out there, why concentrate on one of them when you can check out what a lot of them have to offer right? Its the same with fish, why just catch one of them when you can catch 50.. You tell me which is more satisfying? All that aside though, how is a person suppose to master an art, and yes it is an art, without dedicating their life to it and working to be the shit in it. I guess I could settle as a recreational fisherman, but that to me is no where near satisfying, just like everything else I want to be the best at it. There should be no compromising if it is something that you really love, and with fishing I don't have to compromise.

So on that note, thank you fly fishing. Your the only thing that can make sense in my life day in and day out, even if the fishing sucks. The two pics above may not be with fish, but a couple of memories that I am spoiled to have because of fly fishing.

cheers and tight lines doods!

nick

Yesterday I had plans to write about the day on the Gallatin River that I had. A buddy and myself fished the canyon toward Big Sky, and I had caught a lot of fish, the biggest one being about 11 inches. But something better presented itself and I feel needs to be shared because its badass.

This post is not about me, once I got home from fishing I had called my folks to see what was going on in their lives, and brag to my old man that I am still fishing in Montana, and he is not. Little did I know the old man and some of our good friends went out and did some fishing themselves. And it just so happened to be the 18th bday of one of them. So I tell him about my day and he is not as pumped as usual to hear about my fishing escapades, something had to be up, as it turns out the three of them went on into elevenmile canyon and just brutalized a shit ton of pike. When he was explaining the day to me I had yet to see the pictures and was a little jealous already, since I am a pike junkie. Not only did they catch pike, but they caught some big old dudes. I got pics of the old man, ants and markie. I dont have a clue how they walked up on the day they did but like good fisherman they took advantage of it. Just remember one thing, after a day like this the fish gods are bound to be pissed because they just had way too much fun. Enjoy the pics everyone and sorry this post isn't a Montana post, but this was just way too cool to not share with everyone.

Cheers and Tight Lines!!

Yeah thats right, I said it, STUPID FISH GODS. I dont know what I did to deserve the type of day I had on the river today. I have been behaving okay, I had all the right bugs, and I had great eats on my flies today. Not one fish that gave me an opportunity got landed. So the only thing that pops up in my mind is what the hell I could have done to make them fish gods so angry. I probably missed around 10-11 fish, and had on a super nice brown who totally rocked me. There was a pretty damn good March Brown hatch and they were definitely looking up, I just couldnt seal the deal.

After many failed attempts at catching fish I did what any responsible fisherman would do. I laid down on the rocks and closed my eyes for a bit, and then for about 30 minutes did some rock skipping. Some of them went all the way across the river too, so at least I know my rock skipping was on the top of its game. After I threw my arm out and started a rock skipping party with all the kids playing on the river we bagged it for the day. So even on days when the fishing is better than the fishermen you can still have a good time getting fresh air, or even skipping rocks, its all what you make it for the day.

The cutthroat trout may be the most badass of all the trout in the whole world. Not only are they pretty, but they will tear up a dry fly with reckless abandonment and they are absolutely gorgeous! From now on when I think of cutthroats it will no longer be the high mountain lakes from back home, the only thing that will cross my mind is...upper bitterroot.

The upper bitterroot river is just stupid full of beautiful west slope cutthroats, and they were all looking up today! After a morning of slaughtering white fish, and by slaughter I mean ugly! My roommate zach was fishing for white fish like it was a hate white fish day! But then the mayflies started popping off in all the right places at all the right time! I got some more eye candy for all you guys and chit, so enjoy! The two pictures above are not the biggest fish of the day but definitely two of the most gorgeous fish!

nick

Three words...DRY FLIES BABY! Today on the bitterroot, was the best it ever fished. We did a short 4 mile float today but managed to time it perfectly to hit prime time! The average fish on the ROOT today was about 16 inches, although a few caught were bigger.

Before we launched the boat this morning I had read the weather report for the day and put my head down...it called for snow and rain. But like any good fisherman does is wake up the roommate and get outta the house and do it anyway. The second we put on we had some good eats on top! Zach landed three fish in the first hour of the front of the boat, and then prime time hit! There was mayflies everywhere and fish were steadily rising.

I did get rocked pretty hard by a good fish, so it wasnt all good! enjoy the pics!

nick