BTW - steely pics wanted

Great pics Duggan,
Now what we need is pictures of rivers scenes with you battling a leaping steelhead, caught in mid-air, with the ghost of Roderick Haig-Brown in the background.
Seriously, keep the pics coming. Some of us desperately want to be out there, a pool ahead or a pool behind you.
BTW what weight and length Sage are you using?

Jay C.

Right now all I have is a 9140-4. I keep switching back and forth between saving for a 8150 or a 10150 or possibly the 10151. This week I am leaning towards the 8150. Next week, who knows?

Very Nice! Reminds me of my own adventures over in Snake River country last fall.

And the spring native was a worthy contest winner - sleek and bright!

Next stop - the Sauk -

Duggan,

I have an unfished 8150 that I can't wait to try out on the Merrimack for Atlantic Salmon. You understand, it is only practice for the Olympic Peninsula. The early sessions have gone well, but you don't know the rod until you have had a serious fish on the line.
Hopefully we can post some East Coast pics in trade.

Regards,

Jay C.

Jay -

I look forward to the Merrimack salmon trip with you next month after the flows recede from the thaw. If you are serious about the PNW trip this fall, let's make arrangements.

I'll be splitting time between Vancouver Island and Washington state around the end of August.

Can't wait!

Juro,

The Merrimack is a definite go. Just pick a time and let's do it. The upper reaches above FD are open so an exploratory trip is in order any time now.
On the second topic; PNW, with plenty of notice, I can committ to any time in late August/early September. What did you think about a full multi-media article out of the adventure?

I'll call,

Jay C.

Brian:

Sounds good to me. Let me know when you wanna head north. I am floating the Sky tomorrow so pray for rain tonight!!!

Duggan

Luis,

what is in the background below the underbelly of the Brookie? looks pretty nasty.

andre

Hi Andre:
That would be a mouse. The picture is a bit bluish to bring out the blue halos of the brookie.
Cheers
Luis

Drowned Rodents?

Yeech! I'm not even sure I want to ask why there's a dead mouse in this picture. Hey . . . is this Luis from [email protected]??? Great pic of you with that fresh water dorado!

Regards,

Brian

>is this Luis from [email protected]???

Indeed Brian. And if I remember correctly you've been around [email protected] since the early nineties as well... like Juro, right? I know some guys in Argentina that fly fish for dorados. Maybe I should ask them to write a piece with pics and I could translate... hmmm 8^)
Can't believe you guys are fishing already. Here in Montreal we're back to deep freeze mode. That thaw we had was too good to be true!

Hi Luis,

I've been around [email protected] since being introduced to it by Juro - on the banks of the Snoqualmie River where we were both chasing steelhead no less. Subscribed sometime in the mid 90's - seems like quite a while when I look back.

I sympathize with you guys stranded in places that get a *real* winter like Boston and Montreal. I remember snow drifts, frozen locks, etc etc. (grew up in Maryland). Seattle gets rain, but we're swinging flies at least 10 months of the year (I usually take most of December and January off).

Looking forward to more great pictures - that Atlantic Salmon looks awesome!

And BTW - you never did divulge the origin of the dead mouse - did the Brookie regurgitate it?

Yeah - curiousity's got this cat too... what's with the >blech< mOuSe? (do tell!)

I gotta mouse story - Bill Littlewood (Brian you know him) caught a largemouth with a dark yarn coming out of it's gullet one day when he and I snuck into a drinking supply pond. He said "wow this thing swallowed a ball of yarn" and yanked the yarn. It was attached to the half decomposed body of a water rat... the tail looked like yarn.

I have never eaten a largemouth bass since that day. Not that it has anything to do with the meat, but...

>And BTW - you never did divulge the origin of the dead >mouse - did the Brookie regurgitate it?

These last photos are from local Montreal friend Eugene Hoyano. According to him, the little feet and tail were sticking out of the brookie's gullet. I love it... Carnivorous squaretails!

Tod Dillion uses a HUGE fur fly to catch HUGE Labrador brookies. He brought pictures to Sully's fly-tying clave at the Stony brook sportsman's club. The material appeared to be similar to nutrina, which is a material our friend Martin Joergensen from Denmark uses to give his seatrout flies a seductive action (in much smaller quanitities). The net result was some amazing brookies from the Canadian north, willing and able to eat rodents. Another friend Wayne Norwood is a regular Labrador trophy brookie flyfisher. I'm astounded whenever I see these giant brookies!