Dream Stream with Landon

Ben and I got to go fishing with Landon Mayer again on the Dream Stream. Our first trip with him was so eye opening we decided to book a fall trip to go after big browns. Ben and I had originally planned to get a 4 day mega trip in this weekend but our little trailer project that we were working on took a tad bit longer to finish than we thought it would.

We originally planned to hit the Dream with Geno on Friday, work on the trailer Saturday morning and fish Spinney on Saturday evening for pike, hit Spinney or Antero on Sunday, and finish up with Landon on the Dream on Monday. Well our half day estimate on the trailer was about a day and a half short. When it was all said and done though it was worth it. Trailer turned out sweet. Will haul two inflated pontoon boats and has a gear rack and an 8 rod rod holder up top. It was a LOT more work than it looks but it'll save a ton of time when we take the pontoons out.

By Sunday evening we were a little zapped. I'm glad Landon wanted to start at 9:30. Even leaving the Springs at 8:00 seemed early but we were both excited to get a little redemption for losing a big brown that Friday.

Landon was geared up and ready to go when we showed up at the middle parking lot. We gabbed about losing the big brown while getting suited up and decided that we'd just have to hook another big one to make up for it. Turns out that would be easier said than done on that day.

Landon had fished on Saturday and as Ben and I suspected it was a zoo. The fish had been worked over pretty hard the two days prior and we could tell almost right away that the numbers of fish we could see were way down from two days earlier. Plus we had several large groups working through the upper part of the river.
 
It was a tough day but we did a lot of walking and Landon found us some good fish to cast to. I had a shot at a 20" plus brown but I was late on the set. Ben hooked a big cutbow that followed his fly for at least 4 feet but he came unbuttoned at the last moment. We did land some fish though! And it was a blast sighting a fish, getting into position, and having two lookouts watch for the take!

This cutty was hanging out next to the brown I missed. I had to crouch down behind a willow to make the cast and Landon and Ben saw the take. I set the hook and realized that I couldn't stand up with one hand on the rod and one reeling up slack line. Eventually I got up and realized I was already up on the bank and way above this fish which made him pretty easy to land. Really nice colors on this fish! Love the pac man mouth too.

We (Landon really) did spot two big browns but they were SUPER spooky. I got one cast to one of them but the other one disappeared as soon as we saw him. We fished hard all day and were rewarded with some nice fish but it was slim pickings as far as happy fish went.

Ben closed out the day casting to some color in a deep run. Landon and Ben couldn't really tell what species it was but knew it was a pretty good sized fish. I caught the tail end of the fight and got a close up of this river monster. Gnarly!

It was a tough day on the water but I learned a lot. Really made me realize that you can do everything right and still have a challenging day on the water. At the end of the day though the fish we caught meant a lot more than the ones that come easy.