You know where

Finally got to take my Dad up to Rainbow Falls last Sunday. I think he was pretty excited about checking it out in person. We've posted some pretty nice pictures since opening day and we haven't even been through a full month yet! Started this entry a week ago and only got one sentence in. Busy week! Work is getting in the way of my fishing. Not cool! That's OK - Alicia is kicking arse in school and is well on her way to becoming my Sugar Momma :-) Then I'll finally get some time to do some fishing....

Anyway... We showed up at 7ish... I wanted to get my Dad in the first few runs in the creek and we lucked out and had the place to ourselves. I pointed out a few good runs and techniques to my Dad and he was hooked up pretty quick. This all happened a week ago so the details are fuzzy but if memory serves I believe he landed a 32" bow on a size #28 that he hand tied creek side using naturally available materials after snatching a few naturals out of the air with his forceps. Fish broke the 7x tippet right at the bank and the Old Man dove in just at the last minute and noodled the beast out from the under cut bank we were standing on. The Old Man came out of the water, arm first held high, with a monster bow that had swallowed his fist. Rocky Mountain noodling! Call the Discovery Channel! Fish was at least 32" but my tape didn't extend any further. Weight was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 - 18 pounds.... Oh my Dad just called me back. I left him a message earlier and told him I was trying to remember the details from last week so I could write up the blog. I was mistaken. This fish has grown over the last week.... It was actually 20" and about 4 pounds. #4 instead of #28, 3X instead of 7X, and net instead of consumed fist. Still a nice fish! Really nice male bow with a sweet hook jaw. Great pic that shows the little creek we're pulling these toads out of.

We fished the creek most of the day. Further down stream was good just past the tunnels. There was a stretch of about 15 minutes where 18" fatties couldn't resist a slowly moving #4 white slump. I think I hit 5 or 6 of them. They are really picky about the retrieve sometimes but if you can dial it in you have a golden ticket. This hole right below the tunnels (first "bridge" over trout creek) is funny. I hit it again today (4/28/13) and the exact same retrieve worked. Always works in this hole. Medium length slow strips, one
or two, then a 1 to 2 second pause. They'll normally hit on the pause. This retrieve works well in general but it REALLY works in this hole. And they won't eat it any other way....

I did put some good time into my favorite Elk Lake and did hook a very large rainbow. Had him on for maybe a minute before he came unbuttoned. I landed about an 18" bow after that. No monsters but 4 fish over 20" aint none too shabby.