A long time ago, in a galaxy far away...

(cue Starwars music)
Behold, the Wookie Fly, or as I lovingly call it, "Chewbacca." I bet you didn't know that the name Chewbaca came form the combination of two Russian words: chewdoshe, meaning monster, and sobaca, meaning dog. So Chewbacca means monster dog. The Wookie is a stonefly imitation and is just buggy in the water. I've had much success with my new invention and plan on seeing a lot more. As you can see, it's a fuzzy little thing. I start with the goose biots, then lay down some lead wire all the way up the shank (of course, the bead head goes on first). Next, tie in some crystal flash for ribbing, badger or brown hackle for palmering and lots of peacock herl for the body. Once your body is tight and bulky, palmer your hackle, followed by the crystal flash, and tie off behind the bead (cone) head. Next tie in one more badger hackle behind the head and give it several wraps to build up a good collar. you will want to use a hackle with lots of long, soft fibers so that it lays back in the water. And there you have it. Chewbacca, the Wookie.

Bull Trout Trip IV

BUMMER! No camera on this last trip out to the Metolius. And yes, I have been going up there frequently as of late. That trend is about to come to an end though.
This time the fish seemed to be more active in my favorite spot. I hooked 5 in the first 3 hours, all of which I assume were bullies, three of whom never came to the net. I still claim three bulls on the day though. The first and largest fish of the day came to within leader length of me. I had been playing him for a good 6 or 7 minutes. Its easy to underestimate these amazingly powerful fish. I though he was done fighting so I got more aggressive and as soon as I grabbed the leader, "boink" there he goes. He threw a couple of big head shakes at me and that's all it took to dislodge that barbless hook. And hey - tournament regulations for bill fish state that when a crew member places a hand on the leader, the fish is considered caught even if it comes un-buttoned before the crew can remove the hook. Yeah yeah, weak argument, I just got impatient and blew it. Anyhow, I guess that bully would have gone between 25 and 28. The other two bull trout measured 22 and 14. I did get a really big (as well as a couple of dinkers) whitefish too! Didn't measure but I think he was well over 15 inches.... not big enough to keep a big bull trout from trying to eat him while on the line. Someday I'll get some video footage of these bull trout chasing around the hooked whities. Too much fun! Tight Lines!

New Video

Here's some video shot on the Metolius around Thanksgiving when Micah was up from Cali. Whitie Saves the day once again. It is tough fishing out there a lot of the time and we often find ourselves thanking the river for send us a whitefish. They have a bad reputation in most parts of the West mainly because they reproduce like crazy, and share the same diet with the target species - trout, thus crowding out the more attractive and sought after rainbows, browns, etc. A prime example would be the Crooked River. Once a fantastic trout fishery where one could catch 16 inch native red-side bows all day long, the Crooked has become a breeding grouond for whitefish. Good numbers of rainbows still exist in that river, but they rarely get above 10 inches. There's just too much competition from the whitefish population for food. For this reason some folks place whitefish on the same level as a sucker and even go as far as to toss them up on the bank to dry out. Although I would still rather catch a trout, I am thankful for whitefish who are willing takers of a well presented fly, and who have saved me from going home with the skunk on a number of occasions. Bless whitie, and Tight Lines!

Bull Trout Trip III

Ye-haw! The fish are hungry out there on the Metolius. Between three of us we hooked around 6 or 7 bull trout but landed only four. There were plenty of Whitefish to be had and even one rainbow that jumped about a foot oout of the water in order to give me my fly back. Monday was a good day. I landed two decent bullies and hooked 2 others. Bret beheld the wrath of this river for the first time. She's a tough river to fish - but only because she has this thing about new people as well as some issues with trust and loyalty. It just takes some time. Here are some pictures of my 3rd and 4th bullies of the season. Didn't get any official lenghts and weights, but I figure the bigger fish was about 22 or 23 and the other about 19 or 20. SOmetime I'll write about the fiasco it is trying to land a fish at that Canyon Creek hole. For now, enjoy the pictures and Tight Lines!