We took a break from our RV trip out West and headed up to Alaska for the weekend. Our good friends did a great job hosting us for a weekend of camping, boating and fishing in the rain!

We floated the Kenai River and caught the beginning of the 2nd Sockeye Salmon run. We had some rough weather for the 1st two days but the rain eased up for our last day. On our 2nd day, we floated the river with some of their friends and had a small Navy, we had over 22 people and dogs in drift boats, rafts, SUP's, packable kayaks and one person floated on a pool float.

We didn't see any bears but found some brown bear tracks on a mtn. bike ride down a mud flat. Saw a few moose!

Ok, taking this thing back Texas-way.
The CO, AK and MT pictures inspired me to get out into some moving TX water.
The fish ain't big but they are always fun to catch-- and no bears.

Great photos! Hooked up on a few war mouths a couple of weeks ago on the Guad. Was using a little TFO 3 wt, fly fishing for the first time with my 9 yr old. My photos weren't nearly that good.

Great pics Mr Frodo! Kudos to Dr. Boogs for getting the youngsters involved!

We flew back from Anchorage to Denver and took a day off to rest with friends in Denver. We then drove back to Tincup and fished another day. We fished Willow Creek and caught enough fish for dinner.





We then drove back over Cottonwood Pass and reserved a campsite at Eleven Mile State Park with visions of fishing the "Dream Stream"!


Unfortunately, the "Dream" wasn't a good one. The fishing was terribly slow but we did net one each. Mrs LRHF hooked a really nice fish on an RS-II below a beetle but she broke him off with the 6x. I tied Up some Barr Emergers and Matthews Sparkle Duns for the morning and caught a small rainbow.




We are now having some drinks trying to decide between Elevenmile Canyon or Cheesman. Need to tie some RS-2's and Mercury caddis nymphs.

Was only able to get out for an hour before dark tonight but was able to land three small rainbows/ beats the Houston heat!

Near Cashiers NC

The water flows are high on the Dream Stream and low flow at Cheeseman. Decided on a day of "catching" to help with family morale... the day was so much more!

We went to Tomahawk State Wildlife Area (CO). The morning consisted of mostly pickes with some 12-13" fish. Melissa hammered the fish with a foam beetle and I nymphed the deeper runs. Tied up some RS-2's and caddis nymphs the night before. The RS-2's were great for the morning before we had to run for shelter when a storm came through.




After the rain cleared, we moved about a mile down the road to learn a new area. It was slow for nymphing but Melissa hammered the small fish on a beetle then a hopper with a caddis nymph once the wind picked up. She caught a nice rainbow but jumped out of her hand prior to a picture. Moments later, I was walking back to check on her and saw her set the hook on a fish. I saw the rod come to tension and it looked like she hooked a log. She hollered "fish on" but from my vantage I chuckled. The "log" started moving! She had hooked a massive rainbow on the size 18 caddis nymph at an undercut bank. I dropped My stuff, grabbed a net and came below her. Right as I was a couple of feet behind the fish, I saw It release and almost managed to scoop it up.

I saw This fish clearly, definitely over 20" and I bet at least 6 lbs. This fish had a massive head and "football fish" girth. The 5x tippet broke (not at a knot). 20 minutes later, she hooked and landed a 16" rainbow!

I am too pure to use an indicator....now that size 10 chubby Chernobyl that I have a dropper on...that is completely different.

I switched Indicators tonight and used a large foam hopper... stupid fish ate my indicator!

Melissa found the large fish from a couple of nights ago and set too early! I tried every trick I know but evidently she spooked it. Maybe we can try again in the fall. Off to the Leadville area tomorrow.

Leadville was fun but the weather was a bit wet! We fished a couple of different sections of the East Fork of the Arkansas. We had a blast fishing near the headwaters.

Took a PTO day Tuesday after dropping my wife and daughter off at the airport in Spokane and checked out a new creek I had some intel on. It was right in the middle of a forest south of Troy, MT that FWP releases grizzlies in just about every year, so I had some pucker going on out there. Not another human within miles of me.

Not much size on the fish, but in a little over 3 hours, I caught over 20 fish, and had 4 different species of trout. Cutthroat, brookies, cutbow, and bull. Cutbow and bull we're new species for me.