Fishing the Bitterroot - awesome day

One of the cutthroat I caught, yea!

The temperature was warmer as promised by the weather man. It got to 66 degrees, lovely afternoon with some wind sometimes, no wind sometimes..just enough to keep you tuned in to your casting skills. Bugs, yes. That is all I will say. The fish were rising, we had so much fun. John Hickman, Jack, me and our Chesapeake Bay Retriever Freda. Happy day!

Here are some photos - see the slideshow below.

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"Wheeee, I am a Chessie" by amontanaview | RedBubble

Not much fishing going on here in January so I will go through some photos of Freda on the rivers. Here she is after getting out of the Koffler for a stretch. She needed to jump and run a little and what Chessie doesn't like water! This was in November on the middle Bitterroot River. I will be publishing a few more of , why not? She loves to go fishing, too.
"Wheeee, I am a Chessie" by amontanaview | RedBubble:

"When I say "come," she comes" by amontanaview | RedBubble

"When I say "come," she comes" by amontanaview | RedBubble:

This is actually from last year but I am posting it in a bid for snow. We are supposed to get a big snow storm tomorrow! I so, I will take for a snow walk!
Description:

We were out for a walk in a pasture at the base of the Bitterroot Mountains west of Victor, Montana USA. We were working on some commands and getting our exercise. was ranging a bit far out so I called her back in to me. Wow, she sprinted! Snow is flying.
I took the photo on the Aperture setting and hit the “auto” develop button in Lightroom. This was the result. Crazy eyes and color. I liked it so here it is.
Canon EOS 7D 1/800s, f/5.6, ISO: 200, 70mm
Canon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS lens

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"Fascination" by amontanaview | RedBubble

da"Fascination" by amontanaview | RedBubble:

Freda is pretty darn interested in this beautiful cutbow (hybrid cutthroat/rainbow) trout. Maybe the trout is more than a little nervous. The trout was caught and released in the Bitterroot River north of Florence, Montana USA.
Canon EOS 7D, 1/500s, f/5.0, ISO:200, 160 mm
SIGMA 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Aspherical DF Macro SLD Autofocus Lens

Jack with a pike he caught in the Bitterroot River

We love fishing in the late fall because we can find targets to shoot at, both trout and pike. The trout are usually noses and fins feeding on tricos and spinners. The pike are a different story. We look for them in certain slow water spots and try to throw big, gaudy flies. Once in awhile, we can actually see the big lunkers deep in the water. Seeing them doesn't mean they will take the fly, there-in lies the challenge.

Catching a big pike is a thrill. They are much bigger than most trout and are an effort to land. Jack caught this good sized pike October 12. Usually, I ask Jack to give them away, but on this day, our friend and avid pike fisherman, Eric, showed us how he fileted them. We cut up the firm meat into steaks, covered them with fresh, seasoned bread crumbs and baked them. They were delicious. I was pleasantly surprised. I am ready to go pike fishing again soon.

Here are more photos in a slideshow. One is of us releasing a decent sized trout next to the pike. You will see the size comparison.

October day on the middle Bitterroot River 2011

Jack and our dog, Freda, in the Koffler drift boat

Seven photos from today on the Bitterroot. There were lots of trout, just didn't take fish photos. We were too busy catching...not a bad thing.. Lots of hatches, noses, targets to shoot to, many fish caught. I did well on the small and medium sized trout. As you can see in the photos, there was little to no wind which was helpful for me. Presentation and drift were everything. I was getting much more accurate casting the small bug on this calm day and resetting to get a good drift, but I need practice on bringing in the 20 inchers on 5X. Today I got practice. Only got one of five big fish opportunities in the net. That is why they call it "fishing" and not "catching." I am willing to practice every chance I get!

It snowed today.

Click on the photo for a larger view in a new window - it is worth it.

We woke up to snow today. We were hoping for cooler weather to keep the snow in the mountains but this is a bit much. Like Jack said, "It isn't going to flood in April this year." The cool weather this spring will help the snow melt in an orderly fashion, if it warms up enough to actually melt!

Today we took a hike when it was the warmest, about 47 degrees. At the beginning of our hike, we saw a herd of elk. What a nice start. Then we hiked into a bit of a snow flurry.