Caption Contest/Blooper Reel/Just Look At This Picture!

comments, of any kind, accepted below. enjoy

Road Trip, Take Two

Left Colorado a week ago. Arrived on Bainbridge Island this evening. Did a little fishing along the way.

Flat Creek, Jackson Hole:
This cutthroat was my long awaited redemption from this time.
Henry's Fork, Island Park:
The fish here were picky. We elected to seduce a select few on size 10 foam hoppers.
Rogue River, Southern Oregon:
Steelhead were steelhead and we didn't catch any.

Slab

It looks like your buddy Boone Walker is up for the Moldy Chum Slab of the month......

http://www.moldychum.com/home-old/tag/slab-of-the-month

Well done sir

Tick Tock

Kings are arriving in the SR and a report from the staircase tells of Steele being landed......blood pressure rising

Flat Creek 8/22

Robbins stopped by to fish Flat Creek on Monday. Not much going on for feeding activity but he still got a nice one to net while I blew my first opportunity by swatting a cloud of mosquitos at the exact instant a good fish ate. Unfortunately, the road warrior had miles to put behind him so the trip was short and beers will have to wait till next time. Half an hour after he left, I got my second opportunity of the night. A memorable one indeed...

Henry's Fork report???

2011 Five Minutes of Fly Fishing Movies

Hey y'all, here's a link to The Drake's 2011 movie finalists. Some good'uns in there. Enjoy

Sam the FISH

Into the Allagash: May 2011

I would like to dedicate this video to Wilkie and thank him for being patient, as the release of this video is long overdue. Enjoy!

SolidHookups.com

With a little help from Norm Larsen we now have both the BFC web addresses pointing directly to the Solid Hookups blog. That means that www.solidhookups.com is now the official web address of the blog, so you don't need the .blogspot.com anymore (but that will still work if anyone has it bookmarked or linked).

We are having some technical difficulties with comments, but we're working on it.

And we've made $4.15 from GoogleAds already, so we can buy a BFC Bass Boat in no time.

Fishing with Bob from Texas

A collection of quotes and antics from this week's fishing with Bob from Texas:

Jesse: "Nice cast Bob, let this one drift."
His flies drift through a nice hole, no strke.
Bob: "Wow that was a nice drift! Nice drift Bob!"

B: "Landed two, lost two! That's about average."

J: "OK Bob, cast along that bank there."
B: "Really?"
J: "...Yea."
Three casts later Bob hooks a fish.

We've just finished a morning of fishing and are about to head back to the truck when I spot a fish.
J: "Hey Bob, I see a fish there, you wanna try a couple more casts?"
B: "Yea sure!"
J: "OK, this fish is..."
Bob walks past me by six feet spooking the fish.
J: "...OK, cast on the left side of that main flow, right in the seam.
Bob makes three casts.
J: "Oh, woops, the fish just spooked, oh well."
B: "Oh yea I saw him take off there!"

J: "Bob, do you do any hunting?"
B: "Well I was in Alaska once. There's a Blue Bear there, it's the rarest bear in the world. I shot one."
J: "...Cool."

Bob snaps a fish off by not letting the fish run.
B: "What happened?"
J: "Um, well, sometimes the line gets stressed after you've hooked a bunch of fish."
B: "Yea! I like that! I fought so many fish that I wore the line out!"

J: "Let's put another piece of split shot on here..."
B: "Grand idea!"

B: "Nice casts Bob..."

Bob breaks another fish off.
B: "Well Jesse, put another twist in your knot next time!"

At the end of this morning's trip, my last trip of the summer and perhaps the last official guide trip for a long while, Bob lands a nice brownie on a since 24 pheasant tail. We shook hands and exchanged smiles as Bob reeled in.
J: "Well Bob, that's another great day of fishing!"
B: "Well Jesse, only people with bad attitudes have bad days fishing."

True that, Bob. Nice fishin' with ya.

Found some BFC shirts while moving

Hey guys,

As some of you know I moved to Louisville, KY. During that move I found 7 large BFC shirts that I would like to get rid of if anyone wants them. I figure if I can get 8 bucks a shirt that would be great. Also, stay tuned because we should have some new apparel coming soon. You can buy them by going to the goods page right on this blog.

Recent Updates to Solid Hookups

Gentlemen,

Some exciting updates to the blog today, and some more to come. Here is what we are working on:

+ The connection with Twitter is now improved, so posts and comments are automatically posted to the @solidhookups twitter account. If you use twitter and want to follow, then go to www.twitter.com/solidhookups to follow the blog.

+ The old Facebook Group has been saved and moved to the "New Group" setting, or whatever bullshit hoop Facebook made me dance through today. Basically, we saved the old pictures and now the group is active again. Hopefully this will be a good way to stay in touch with BFC alums since we're almost all on Facebook. If you aren't a member of the group, go here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/2384584424

+ New posts on the blog should automatically publish to the Facebook group, but we'll have to see if that works (this post will be the test).

+ Nissen is working to set up a new commenting system that will retain all of the old comments, but allow for super-simple commenting in the future. I think people will be able to comment using their Facebook accounts, too, if they want to.

+ We have activated Google AdSense, which puts some simple ads on the SolidHookups site. Hopefully these aren't too goddamn annoying, but we can turn them off if they are. Most importantly, hopefully they will start to slowly generate a little bit of money for the club that we can use for future trips, gear, etc.

+ I deleted that swimming fish thing because it was annoying me. I'm not sure what asshole installed it (I did) years ago, but it is gone now.

+ We are working to make www.solidhookups.com the official web address of the blog. Not the biggest deal, but it'll look cooler to drop the .blogspot.com part of the address. It shouldn't affect any existing links or whatnot.

+ Soon we will send out a little Q&A survey to folks to get feedback on the site, and what we want to see on it in the future. And some ideas for new gear, etc.


I hope everyone is well. I am as of today living in the greater Boston area hell yes), so I hope to see more of you soon.

Chet

Sometimes two hands are better than one

It is true two hands are often better ......

Example one :

Example Two :

Example Three :



I just had a friend build me a two hander for this year's crop of steele

I soon hope to put it to good use...

Fly Inventions

Presenting a homespun fly I have dubbed "The Puppetmaster". Tied on a 1/0 Tiemco Atlantic Salmon hook in black. Fish this for brookies in Maine you say?!? Fish this for meat eating salmonids anywhere in the states?!? "It's too long Wilkie, its just too big"....what are you some f-ing ex of mine from college???? Fish for fish that eat smaller versions of themselves and stop f-ing doubting me. Much Love

The Eastern Canyons

Oceanographer Canyon. 103 Nautical Miles from nearest land (118 statute miles). The OI went there, and the OI slayed. Thanks to Tyler and Andrew for joining in the slayage. Big Yellowfin steaks on the grill tonight!

First Canyons Excursion

Since Captain Lane started venturing offshore to the canyons, I have been envious of those fortunate enough to join him. Living on the west coast for the past few years has prevented me from getting in on the action, which, as evidenced by the content on this blog, has been quite solid.

A few weeks ago, a family wedding just north of Boston got me out east for the first time since 2009. My girlfriend Tina and I decided to made a week out of it giving us time to visit Boston as well as the Cape. Midweek, Poseidon provided a glorious weather window for a run down south. Keith made the call - it was finally time to see for myself whether the canyons lived up to the hype.

As the video below shows, the trip was a rousing success. The bite was comparatively slow, but the weather was perfect. Tina caught her first fish ever, a 60 lb white marlin during the afternoon troll.

On the night drift, Keith hooked up on something very large one one of the chunk lines, but within minutes the fish had managed to wrap all 5 lines, creating a massive tangle that nearly spelled disaster for the trip. After the fish snapped off (we were unable to hand line it in), Keith assessed the damage. He was able to salvage all but one of the rods by jury-rigging new top-shots. By morning we were back on the troll. We snagged 5 yellowfin about mid morning, but nothing else. Even some mahi that we spotted loitering by lobster pots were unwilling to bite, so we wound up are lines and headed back to shore.

We ended our trip with an Ahi sushi and poke feast at Jgromma's pad in Cotuit, followed by the usual antics one would expect with such a crowd.

Thanks again Captain, you gave us an experience we won't soon forget!

Fun with big flies

20.5" Flat Creek Cutty. This pig drifted out from its undercut to inhale a big ol' Chernobyl Ant. 15 minutes from Jackson


Google "bank robber fly" (size 4) and you might imagine the look on our faces when this fish ate.



I seeeeeee you

Shhhh

I received a text message from Whisky Steele yesterday afternoon with a familiar message that prompted me, when preparing for the guide's evening fishing outing on the Rio Grande, to grab my two-hander that hasn't seen much use for a while.

And whatd'ya know, I stuck my first fish on the rod!

Oh the gallant Fishers life

Oh the gallant Fishers life,
It is the best of any
'Tis full of pleasure, void of strife,
And 'tis belov'd of many:
Other joyes
are but toyes,
only this
lawful is,
for our skill
breeds no kill,
but content and pleasure.

In a morning up we rise,
Ere Aurora's peeping,
Drink a cup to wash our ees,
Leave the sluggard sleeping:
Then we go
to and fro,
with our knacks
at our backs,
to such streams
as the Thames,
if we have the leasure.

When we pleas to walk abroad
For our recreation,
In the fields is our abode,
Full of delectation.
Where in a brook
with a book,
or a Lake,
fish we take;
there we sit,
for a bit,
till we fish intangle.

-Izaak Walton, born on this day in 1593

Men At Work

Sawyer, Clark, Wilkie and Keith on the troll... This was minutes after Sawyer boated a 65 pound wahoo...

When it rains, it pours PART II

the rains returned and this time for real. the creek jumped up 22 CFS to 50 this morning and she's off color like a good little creek should be after a rain. thick clouds through the valley should stick around all day. got a trip on station 4, one that Caleb can attest has at least one pig in it. got me a good guy to fish with and his three sons - ages 12, 12 and 11. here we go. report to follow.

UPDATE: the worm bite was on today, all day. boys, young and old, as well as wives who had never touched fly rods caught fish on pink and red ones. pictures taken, clients happy, guide tipped. to the bar.

Black and Whites

The Androscoggin River is a big tank of chubs
Photos by Nate True

My friend Ducky had never seen a drift boat....

He fished some... and ripped Mavricks....

I caught chubs..... and had a Mavrick as well

Chub at 12 0 ' Clock