Fish, Bugs and Babes

Today on the bitterroot was a sweet day! The fish gave us some nice eats and the weather gave me no reasons to complain. Brandon Henley, my boss and owner of Five Valleys Fishing Company, Sheila Miesl and myself decided what better way to spend an easter than fishing! There was decent dry fly action for about a 2 hour window and in that time the fish were keyed on to a pretty interesting bug. It was a surprising bug for them to key in on but that made it that much better, and not only that, there was some big heads flyin out of the water at the certain fly!

Finally though like all days this one had to come to an end. And at the end of the day, when you are the last boat pulling out of the water you know you have done something special. While everyone else is starting to get settled in for the night or is at home tyin flies, the true trout bums are out actually fishing! To those who love it, fly fishing is not a nine to five day, its a full day of busting your ass to get fish in the boat and take in the beautiful day that we are all very lucky to see.

till next time, happy fishing!

Nick

Second take at the mo ended alright for me today, I ended up moving some fish out of the depths in which they lay. One of my favorite fish of this still new year, happened to be a super nice brown, also seen in the picture above.

Before the fishing got good all hell was breaking loose though, and by hell I mean wind! Both times I have been at the MO I have seen white caps, and today was worse than earlier in the week! WHAT THE HELL! But really I am not too perturbed, nice fish were caught today and there was a good time happening in my boat. I will not tell the people here what anything was caught on, sorry, but I will tell you what I was hammering them on if you want me to take you fishing. It is kind of a catch 22 I know, but such is life!

What can you say about a lifestyle where my job is someones vacation besides cool! and to the people who think we do nothing but fish constantly well i got news for them...yeah we do! but in all honesty whats wrong with that. I couldnt imagine what a nice summer day would be like if i wasnt drinkin cheap beer in my drift boat, a.k.a. Scarlet Johansen, outside, and rippin lip, i would go nuts. And i'll tell you another thing, this job was invented for people who would rather be in a mental hospital than sit in a corner office pushing papers and just staring out a window with a view of sky scrapers. But who does everyone go to when they want to learn how to fly fish, a trout bum who can barely pay the bills and thinks an ice cold pabst blue ribbon is the most refreshing drink on a hot summer day. amen to that brutha!



Today me and my roommate zach fished the bitterroot river today, and it was a cool day. I only fished for about five minutes today because i just wanted to row the boat and take the day in. but for the five minutes i did fish i was tangled up something fierce, yes even people who fly fish as much as i do get tangles, and horrible ones. Its a fact that no person can fish without tangling. But all that aside to tell you a little bit more about the day, there was some sailboat sized March Browns flyin about, and they fish were pounding them. I hate to admit this, but i left all the right flies to catch those fish on my fly tying bench at home. To say the least it was a stupid thing to do but hey it happens, so we then turned our attention to the white fish, you can always count on them in situations where you leave the right flies to catch trout at home!! Anyway another awesome day, i got to row and watch a buddy of mine move some fish and hang out and take it all in...no complaints about that!

Whats up, my name is Nick Ross and I figured it would be dope to start up a fly fishing blog of all sorts of coolness and epicness on the net. Also, a way for my loved ones to always be able to check out what I am up to on any given day.

A little background on myself, I started fly fishing in Southern Colorado on rivers such as the Arkansas and South Platte, and a few high desert streams that shall go unmentioned in this article... I then relocated to Gunnison, Colorado on a wrestling scholarship to Western State College. Gunnison was the first place I was completely exposed to how badass fly fishing is. It soon consumed my life, ruining relationships, finances and my care for much else. I am now in Missoula, MT where I am working out of Five Valleys Fishing Company as a guide. I have only recently moved to Montana, but so far its awesome. Well here is my life a fishing bum enjoy!

The above picture is my first Missouri River Brownie! Some friends and I had spent two days on the MO and the weather was a little rough, the fishing was super tough but the times were awesome! The combination of just gay ass wind and inconsistent weather the fish were sporadically rising, but not like we had hoped. But that being said I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else for the past two days.