Big Boy

Josh and I have just returned from our last back country trip... We spent 5 days exploring a remote river.. The weather couldnt have been better and water clarity was perfect... We bushwhacked for 4 hours into this isolated river... It really should have only taken 3 hours but I had a fever and was feeling awful so little josh had to carry me... We finally got to the river set up camp and starting working our way through some gorges... we spotted very few fish on the first couple of days but we did spot a bunch of foot prints at every hole... what we didnt realize at the time was we were following someone up the river... they were a couple of days ahead of us and alone but it still beat up the water pretty bad... on the third day we had moved our camp up through a large gorge and into the upper section of river... Josh and I came up on a pool and I peeked my head over the top of a large rock... sure enough there was a big fish sitting on the edge of the current swinging a little bit... I was sure it was a rainbow... it had a HUGE red side... only problem... i have never heard about a rainbow in this river? Weird but it didnt matter.. about 4 cast later little Josh and I are running up and down the pool chasing this massive fish around... he ate a size 12 hairs ear nymph and he was pissed! Josh somehow cornered it and was able to net it.. he started yelling at me that it was not a rainbow but a really big brown with red sides? As it turned out it was the biggest brown I have ever landed.. 10.5 pounds and meaty... The fish has some really interesting colors on it.... The size and proportions of the fish say that it is definitely a healthy fish but the colors are very different... I think the fish has just eaten too many mice and is having trouble digesting them... Anyways... this was the fish of the trip for me... I have been looking for a fish this size for a long time... The next 2 days were a dissapointment... while we saw some very large fish they were absolutely not feeding.. whomever was ahead of us had fished up and walked back through the pools... the fish were more than spooky they were not feeding... Little Josh did manage to land a beautiful 6 lber in some quicker water but other than that we were skunked... We had a long 5 hour bushwack back to the car... up over a mountain and out... we were very happy to emerge from the woods to a big field with Rambo sitting on the other side.. thank god for the GPS... the bush is so dense here in this part of the country you honestly felt blind in there... we just trusted the GPS and a compass and we made it in and out safe as can be...

Anyways... this was our last backcountry trip for us... Little Josh flies out on the 27th and I will stay here in town until the 2nd... We may do a little fishing from the road but both of us are resting up and getting prepared to come back to the states... I have updated the blog and webalbum but unfortunately i dont have many pictures to update.. just a couple of fish pics... :) Thanks to everyone for reading my updates... I may send one out just before I fly out on Feb 3rd but we will see... hope everyone is doing well and I will see you all soon... Thanks again to everyone who has written over the last 3 months...