Frying Pan
8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Flows 91
My brother was in town to ski and after a terrible day at Vail on Saturday, he decided he wanted to do some fishing!
Since we were already up in the mountains, what better place to head to than the Frying Pan for him to get into some big fish.
My buddy Josh was also tagging along, as well as the wives and kiddos so our day didn't start out as planned.
We were up at 4:00 AM getting ready to leave so that we could be the 1st ones there. The idea was to plop my brother and wife at the toilet bowl while Josh and I worked the flats and bend hole.
Unfortunately as it goes with babies, we didn't get out the door until 5:30, and even then we had to make a stop at Walmart for supplies.
We ended up on the water at 8:00 AM and of course there was already a group of guys at the toilet bowl.
But lucky for us, they said that they weren't staying long and left at around 10:00 AM.
So I got my brother and his wife rigged up, Josh was already slaying the fish on the flats, so I was excited to see my brother get into some big fish.
I rigged up an egg and mysis for them and my brother's 1st fish of the day was a nice brownie.
Since they seemed to getting into the fish, I decided to meet Josh out on the flats and see if I could get into some out there.
I picked up a few browns and spotted lots of big bows on their redds. No need to fish to the redds, there were plenty of fish all over the flats that are eager to eat!
I decided to check back with my brother at the toilet bowl to see how he was doing. He caught a few more and decided to let my wife give it a shot.
She ended up picking up this beautiful brownie, her biggest for the day.
In between helping them untangle their lines and tie on new flies, I was able to get into a few fish as well. Although it would have been fun stalking more fish on the flats, I had a great time watching everybody pick up fish in the toilet bowl.
I ended the day losing a huge rainbow that wouldn't fit into my net so with 1 more cast I caught another bow...much smaller but it's at least a decent fish.
Forgive the blatant stiff arming in the picture...he ended up being a good 20 incher.
After that fish, I decided to go find Josh and let him know that the rest of the fam was getting hungry and ready to leave. I found him at the Bend hole fishing with his new best friend. Andy Kim was fishing there with 2 of his buddies. If you don't know who Andy Kim is, then you've probably never fished the San Juan. Here's his website. http://www.fly-fish.com/ If you are heading down there, check him out. An overall great guy who loves getting people on fish. His flies are unique and just catch fish. I've used the Yong Special numerous times to fool picky fish. Andy and his buddies were catching fish left and right above the bend hole...no doubt using his "secret" flies.
Josh was doing great on dries in the bend hole with a size 22 parachute adams. Lots of risers and fish were very active.
I wish I spent more time fishing the flats and the bend hole, but it was still a very fun day. Lots of fish, and some big guys that impressed the family. It's a long drive, and it was a long day, but everybody had a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment