Troutcore To The MAX

Practice on NFoW morning session

2012-01-24T19:12:00.001-07:00

Here are a few fish from my morning session today. Fishing was tough for about the first 45 min until the water warmed up a few degrees. Then it was on like Donkey Kong!

Performance Flies

2012-01-22T19:48:00.001-07:00

Check out Kevin Compton's Performance flies. I get a good majority of my comp tying materials including Dohiku barbless comp hooks. I was the first person to start fishing these hooks in the US and 99% of my flies are tied on these hooks. Tell him I sent you. He will hook you up. He is the only Distributor of some of these materials in America and is for sure the ONLY distributor of Dohiku hooks and Fly D&K products here.

NFoW 1-13-12

2012-01-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

So I guess not being employed for the next two months has its benefits. You see, I have been able to spend more time with my girlfriend (which is a definite plus), but I have also been able to spend more time on the water. She lives about a 30min drive to either the NFoW and Mammoth spring in Arkansas so I get to pick where I want to fish everyday. But it has also given me more time to prepare for upcoming comps and the upcoming guide season by prepping gear and flies. Here are a few fish from my last trip on 1-13-12. It was a bitterly cold day (16 deg F) and I was only expecting to move 2 or 3 fish, but i ended up with 7 in the 3 hr session I fished. They definitely made it worthwhile.

Colorado new year

2012-01-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a trip to Colorado last week and it was a great way to bring in the new year. It looks as if I will be moving back sometime in march to start guiding again. I am looking forward to making this move for the last time. So if any of you are gonna be heading that way, let me know and maybe I will be able to take you fishing.

Troutcore Media is born

2011-12-28T07:47:00.002-07:00

Thanks to an amazing girlfriend, who got me a contour+ camera for Christmas, you can expect to see films appearing with my posts along with films from buddies Brian Wise and Kyle Kosovich.

Local Talent

2011-11-14T20:00:00.004-07:00

So after some unspoken prodding, my good friend Matt Tucker has encouraged me to start blogging more. So once again I guess I will. You see, I haven't been able to blog to much about fishing because I have been working so much. My hometown was devastated by an EF-5 tornado this may and as a contractor to the electric utility I was extremely busy. Luckily my house wasn't touched by the tornado, but my work warehouse was a complete loss. I have recently met the girl of my dreams (our second date was a trip to the NFoW where she caught her first rainbow ever and first trout on a fly rod. I have also since bought her a pair of waders and boots so she can accompany me on fishing adventures). So back to the main part of my blog...Tucker wanted to showcase some of the local talent we have in the Missouri Ozarks and I figured since he mentioned myself, along with some of my best friends, I ought to start updating my blog some more. So thank you tucker for giving me some motivation to update my blog more often!!

Follow me on twitter

2011-04-25T11:24:00.001-07:00

follow me on twitter @motroutbum

SE Regional results 2011, Nantahala River, NC

2011-02-21T13:35:00.002-07:00

Team USA posted two perfect scores in its sweep of the comp. Randy Hanner and Anthony Naranja tied with 4 placing points apiece. Kurt Finlayson and Josh Stephens finished 3rd and 4th respectively.

It was great to make it back down to this part of the US and I am glad to be coming back for Nationals in May.

The Next Generation

2011-02-11T08:49:00.002-07:00

My good friend and head guide for River of Life Farms on the North Fork of the White River in Dora missouri has put together this awesome video of his boys fishing.

a new begining

2011-02-11T08:41:00.002-07:00

So with a little big of coaxing from a good friend of mine, I have decided to start writing on my blog again.

I am currently preparing for 2 Regional Tournaments for Fly Fishing Team USA. The next comp is next week in Andrews, NC on the Nantahala River. I have been snowed into my apartment for the last 10 days only getting out to get food and supplies to last the great Snowpocalypse of 2011. I have tied umpteen dozen flies in preparation for it and the next two. State College, PA and then the National Fly Fishing Championships back on the same rivers in NC as well as a few other venues.

North Fork Trip Report

2009-02-09T10:15:00.002-07:00

I fished with my good friend Kyle Kosovich for the last two days on the North Fork of the White river in southern Missouri. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to fish at the River of Life Farm. Saturday night, we fished near the fals and caught several Rainbows on various nymphs including stoneflys and olive mohair leeches. Kyle was swinging a mohair and I was polish nymphing with a stone and a gold bead olive body nymph. At dark we deicided to call it a night and refuel for the next days long float.

Sunday morning came early and we were quick to assemble gear and grab Tommy, Kyle's brother in law. We put in at Kelly and started fishing the riffle just below the put in. We managed several fish coming on the same nymphs the day before. It is always good to knock the monkey off the back early. We noticed that the river was constantly rising--most likely due to the spring pumping out more water from the snow and ice this area had recieved in the previous week. All is well as the fish didnt seem to mind. Several riffles later, we were back to RoLF. We ate a quick lunch and I quickly tied a few flies to replace the ones I had lost to rocks, as we still had several miles of river to float.

The second session of the float was from RoLF to Blair Bridge. The fishing turned out to be just as good as the first part. Pretty SLOW. We managed 10 fish between the 3 of us Which came on stoneflys and caddis emergers. We saw many Bald Eagles (immature and mature) and even saw a family of otters near blair bridge.

It was a excellent day to be out especially with the 60 degree weather in February.

Photo Blog: My Fly fishing year

2008-10-07T10:53:00.008-07:00

Another Long Time Coming

2008-05-23T09:31:00.003-07:00

Its been a long while I think a year to the day that I posted last. A lot has happened, I quit working for the Caddis Company and Bass Pro to come back to Colorado and Work as the Head Guide for Colorado Freestone Fly Shop and Guide service. The Arkansas behind my house looks like chocolate milk and is running at 2020cfs. After a meagre caddis hatch, which Ed Engle wrote an article about me for the Boulder Daily Camera and which made Midcurrent.com, fishing the rivers has pretty much ceased. I am fishing in a lake tournament next weekend in Pagosa Springs also.

I now live in Howard Colorado population 1201. elevation around 7500 feet. I live right above the shop which is located right on Hwy 50. All is going well for the time being.

I fished spinney mountain Reservior last week in 9in of snow on the ground, and snow blowing all day but the rewards were worth it.

Long Time Coming

2007-05-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last post. I went to cody for the trials and I placed 12th overall and 4th of the non team members. I went through a lot and almost died by drowning, but luckily I was wearing my wading belt. I will never buy Korkers Boots again in my life because of the removable soles. They are what caused me to slip and get swept away by the river.

Last weekend I fished in a tournament in Monte Vista and we placed second with 42 fish caught. 15 pike, 1 tinch, 25 trout, 1 bass. Good experience.

The area rivers here in Durango are blown out due to run off and so it is time to fish the lakes. Haviland and Pastorius are going off now with fish coming on wooly buggers, some of my own patterns, hares ears, phesant tails, wingless princes.

I have a couple trips lined up so im excited to get started back guiding.

Fly Fishing Team USA Trials

2007-04-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Im off to my second set of trials for the US Fly Fishing team. I'm Traveling to Cody Wyoming to fish the Clarks Fork river and a couple lakes in the area. Ill post a report when I return.

Fishing Season

2007-04-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

After a below agerage ski season, the fishing season is picking up. We have had one blow out of the river from the low altitude snow pack, which made the BWO hatch really screw up. The Animas is still rising from the higher elevations of melting snow and the water is COLD!!! If you get out and fish, you should use bigger flies with some flash. ie #14 flash back phesant tails, or some flash back caddis. Fish the seams where the shallow riffles drop to about 3-4 feet. the fish are holding in the slower water. If you dont want to fish for the trouties, the pike are running at Vallecito. Throw big bunny leeches, or clousers size 1/0 or bigger. I moved a 48" er last night at dark. The fish are litterally holding in 4" of water.

Tight lines and screaming reels

A Tip on Tipping

2006-10-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is an article on tipping your guide from the fellas at midcurrent.com. After having an excellent day on the water and only getting tipped 5%, I wondered if it really was an excellent day after all. Although I will hopefully book another trip with them in the near future on my home waters, well that is if they decide to call me back. I had an excellent time with the couple. Neither of them had really ever been fly fishing before. So what comes with neophytes and fly fishing.......expect line tangles and re rigging almost every cast Make sure you carry about 10 leaders per person. Luckily I got away with having 6 total. I stopped counting at 20 re rigs. Make sure you have 20 of any slingle pattern. You can expect to lose about 19 of them.

Think of it as if you were a guide. For the extra work that you put in for a beginner, would you want to just get a $20? First off, gas is extremely high so figure what the guide has to pay out of his pocket to make this trip worth while. Did you ride with the guide or did you take your own vehicle? Was the guide on time? Were you on time? What did you learn from the experience? How many flies did you lose or how many times did the guide have to re-rig your flies. Did the guide work hard to put you on the fish? Dont tell the guide that you had an excellent day, you had a really good time, and that the trip was more than you could ask for; then only tip 5%!

Those are just some of the things that you need to take into account when you book a trip. For a full day trip, even the worst guide should get momre than a 20!

Awesome Jacket

2006-09-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

A premium shell –like our 8x Jacket– keeps foul weather from halting great fishing.

Eaten by the River

2006-09-26T11:56:00.001-07:00

The worst thing that could possibly happen to a fly fisherman while fishing is getting eaten by the river. Granted this happens to me just about every time that I go fishing, but not every time I fall in is getting eaten per say. When I get eaten by the river, I mean getting swept down stream and filling up your waders with water, possibly losing some if not all of your equipment. That is a rare occassion. When it happens to me, it usually is the coldest time of the year. The Los Pinos...aka the Pine to the locals, was the first river to "eat" me. In fact, it was the first time that I ever fished it. My boss Brian had just caught a beautiful 20 in. rainbow. Which for the Pine is an excellent fish.

The Missionary Ridge fire had taken its toll on the fishery nad burned more than 30 miles in a straight line from my house to Vallecito Reservoir. The debris and ash from the fires in 2002 pretty much destroyed everything including the fish and aquatic life. But it is making a comeback.

On my way to photograph his fish, I had chosen a spot to wade across that was not too treacherous. So I thought. I had waded about half way across and the strength of the river was too much for me to handle. The Pine is not like the Animas. The Animas is made up of larger rocks and boulders. The pine is made up of smaller gravel and sand. Therefore there is no place to wedge your feet between the rocks. and the current flows strong. In my own ignorance I completely turned around and faced upstream and the river swept my feet out from under me and completely engulfed me. I was taken about 30 yards down stream where I clung to a rock still grasping my flyrod and my pack. I regained my self and was able to wade out of the river with completely full of water and really freaking cold. This all took place in April. In the High country, it stays cold for a while and gets cold even quicker as the sun dissapears behind peaks. Needless to say, I didn't get to photograph his fish because my camera had now become water logged.

I sat naked on the shore so as to not keep my soaked clothes against my body and to help dry off some. NEVER wear jeans under your waders no matter how long you think you will be fishing. I will never forget that day.

To top it all off, I was skunked.

Portugal 2006: World Flyfishing Championships

2006-09-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS team USA. 2nd time in the top 10. Shout out also goes to Lance Egan with a 24th place out of 110 and to George Daniel with a 5th place finish. Finland 2007 is next June.

Bluegill is the New first defense to Eco Terrorism

2006-09-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

Bluegills first defense to detect toxins in water, and prevent massive attacks

The Drift Boat of drift boats

2006-08-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hog Island Driftboats are quite frankly the best drift boats on the market. check them out

Back from the big show

2006-08-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

I finally got back from the Expo last night at 9pm. Man was it a long but truely eventful trip. I got to meet some of the greatest fly fisherman in the world, plus up and coming people like myself. I got to fish the Elk River in Steamboat Springs and caught several fish. I added 2 species to my fly rod list The mountain whitefish, and Northern Pike. I also added a fish to my 20" bringing my total to 191.

ESPN gets rid of Outdoor Games

2006-08-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

So much for any chance i had....but I guess there is always Team USA Flyfishing.

World Flyfishing Retailer Expo

2006-08-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Leaving tomorrow afternoon for the show. Should be a pretty interesting experience. Then to Fish the Colorado River in our new Hog Island Drift Boat. Floaty Floaty bouncy Bouncy.Back on Sunday to fish some water by Wolf Creek Pass.

Keni River Classic

2006-07-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

An Alaska Senator catches a 63 lb king.

Here is Ricks state/world record

2006-07-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

this is the replica mount of the big boy that is hanging in Backcountry Outfitters

27lbs 10oz of pure brown trout from missouri!!!!!

Float Trip to Bondad on 6/25

2006-07-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

heres a 19" rainbow caught on a noble chernobyl

the 20" brown caught on a Phesant tail

Brians cutt

My first fish of the day on a noble chernobyl

here are some of the fish we caught on this full day float. I only boated 4 fish but they were all 17-20 with the biggest being a 20" brown. Brian is shown with his beautiful 20" cutt caught on a noble chernobyl. most fish were caught on a #14 phesant tail.

Lake Trout Otoliths Tell Tale

2006-07-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Invasive fish likely came into Yellowstone Lake from nearby waters

Mayflies out your ears

2006-07-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

Way too many mayflies in WI.

A Mini Course in Insect ID

2006-07-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

This might help some beginners

Drought Threatens NM Rio Grande Cutt

2006-07-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/07/08/news/regional/a1f5e95d2050d6e1872571a30063c8ae.txt

Summer

2006-07-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

The fishing on the Animas river has been awesome. The Baetis hatch in late April was phenomenal. I'm talking like 40-50 fish days everyday. Then runoff hit and lasted untill about a month ago. The amount of snowpack this year was minimal compared to last year, so the river dropped to 460cfs. The monsoons finally arrived and the fishing on the San Juan has heated up over the last few days. The carpenter ants are swarming and the fish are gorging themselves on the clusters of ants that have been flooded out. I wish i was down there right now getting in on the action, but im managing the shop. The PMD's on t he animas have been coming off everyday for the last 2 week and a half, which gives us some dry action from 10am-12pm. A #20 cream sparkle dun is the pattern that best matches the hatch. If you decide to nymph, then throw #12-18 copper johns, phesant tails, princes, caddis pupae. big sculpin patterns are working well right now also. Swing them down through the pockets and then strip and pause.

Fish Stem Cells

2006-02-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11206577/

Humuhumunukunukuapuaa dethroned as Hawaii's State Fish

2006-02-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/news/2006/jan/28/012804763.html

Colorado

2006-01-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

I got back from Colorado and had an awesome time. I caught several large fish and scored a guiding job at the Caddis Company. Its gonna be freakin awesome.

The Best Commercial Ever

2006-01-05T01:01:00.000-07:00

Heres to Beer lovers everywhere and to the Theory of EVOLUTION. This is a commercial that won't air in the U.S. because of you guessed it.....EVOLUTION.
http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/1959/

Patagonia on Hold

2006-01-05T00:44:00.000-07:00

So my trip to Patagonia is on hold for a few weeks while we make some more money to continue for our trip. However, I'm flying to Denver to visit John for 2 weeks leaving on the 10th. We are going to fish the Animas and the San Juan and possibly a few other rivers in the Durango area.

Christmas present

2005-12-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

I went down to Taney today to see what was going on. Stopped by the shop and got myself a christmas present the Orvis Battenkill Mid Arbor for my 8wt. CV2. With some Sci-Angler XXD line. Man that this is beautiful it casts like a dream. didnt have my waders or anything with me so I just fished from the bank and caught a 14 in bow and a 16 in brown on a scud. They turned one on just about 5 min after we got there. hope to get down soon when Jonny gets back but probably wont be down again till after Christmas.

Taney yesterday

2005-12-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

I went down to Taney yesterday to see what was going on and because i didnt have much else to do. When i got there they were running 1 generator and had been since 11am. I walked the bank between 2 and 3 and didnt see any fish of any size. but i did manage to catch 2 rainbows none of any size though. Those would be the only fish i would catch the rest of the day and i left about 6 and came home because they turned on 4 and it wasnt worth staying and fishing in the dark.

A River Runs Through It Deluxe

2005-11-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought that you'd heard the end of all the Traditional Flyfisherman bashing this movie, Columbia comes out with a deluxe version of the 1992 Brad Pitt film. I'll have to admit, this is one of my favorite moveis, but the book is way better. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BBOUEK/flyfishmgazin-20?creative=327641&camp=14573&link_code=as1

2005-11-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is me at Lake Taneycomo with my first 10lb brown. I caught it on 7X with a #18 brown scud.