WV Sweat Lodge

Sam and I hit the river early, early relative to heat not time. So at 4 am on our home water in WV we figured we had maybe 3 hours max of decent fishing before the temperature would rise to a bazillion degrees Fahrenheit. Just as we were leaving the rainy, humid, Cambodian purple hazed humidity Sam caught a lunker near a sweeper. His 7'3" 4wt. bent and bobbed like a pit bull was at the other end chasing a squirrel. Limp as a wet tube sock after the boxing match Sam pulled the trout in with his net looked up at me and said “I'm done” let's find the nearest air vent with 69 degree temperatures. When we got out of the haze this morning we made a beeline for a local McDonald's, and nursed some Egg McMuffins and coffee and enjoyed a break from the near fatal outbreaks of humidity in this region. After Sam nursed his coffee for a bit he said “I dunno what feels better catching that lunker or soaking in this air conditioning” The summer of no love.
Dave

Copper River Trip

Sam and I just got back from our Copper River trip. It was a breathtaking trip to say the least as well as some Rainbow dry fly action that made our pacemakers run on overdrive. We fished our brains out and then some, had some great guides, great food, spooky float plane trip, and missed some sad fishing (at least here in WV) back here in the lower 48! 

We brought both bamboo and graphite rods with us to Alaska. My Winston WT 9' 6wt. got a workout and was considered a light rod by standards by our guides but was a blast to hookup with the average 18" plus Bows. Sam fished his 8wt. Temple Forks rod and swapped it in and out with his Clint Bova bamboo rod an 8' 3pc. 6wt. that handled the big Bows great, no sets to speak of! The rod I made last winter a Paul Young Para 17 taper an 8wt. worked great for me especially when casting deer hair mouse patterns. These really worked well along with buggy looking “Fast Freddies” a dry pattern our guide introduced to us that looks like a hybrid of an Adams and Champaign Crystal Egg pattern.

Now finally back on our home waters Sam and I both looked at one another the other day and let out a harumff. I had to tear Sam out of two bars in Juneau that he took a liking to. I feel like he's gonna ditch me and move up there when I'm not looking. We are both already planning our next trip for 2102 and planning on bringing a few more friends with us.

A few of our home waters are fishing decent but no hoots or hollers just a lot of reminiscing of the Copper.

Dave