Cameron Mortenson
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Neal…ill-matic set. Looks like a great line up of trips. I almost thought you were Aaron Otto for a second.
I’ve been meaning to post this since last week and hope Mike doesn’t mind me piggybacking his informative thread.
Recently we traveled to and from Michigan completely loaded down.
Fellows…thanks for all the opinions and suggestions. I was pretty set on the Simms Guide boot but in the end ordered the Rivershed boot. Can’t wait until they arrive. Ready to put some miles on them.
I’ve been carrying a lanyard for years now. It really is the best way for me to keep my tools close at hand.
Over the past couple of years I’ve left my vest behind and usually wear my Patagonia Vest Pack leaving the vest front panels off.
The biggest decision for this is that I like to carry my DSLR and it is impossible to do that with a vest. It also give me room to carry everything thing that I need for a day on the water including lunch, stove, water, fly gear, etc.
Recently I got a Recycled Waders Messenger Creel and I’m really impressed so far. The DSLR has a place along with anything else I might want to carry. I’ll be carrying this for a week in Colorado next month and looking forward to seeing how it works out.
Tim…likewise it was very cool to meet you as well. I would have never expected that at 12:30 in the morning on an river access in Northern Michigan that I’d run into I.A. members. Thanks for stopping and talking last night.
We’re at my family’s lake house this week in Crystal and as great as this little lake town is, finding an phone and internet signal is tough. Tonight I’m borrowing the signal from the espresso shop in “downtown” Crystal while the family sleeps.
A few photographs from my night of Hex fishing with Spencer last night.
I left the lake house in the afternoon with a couple of pimento cheese sandwiches, a Coke, and a couple of hours to drive to make it into Grayling for a license and flies.
I can’t say enough about Old Au Sable Fly Shop. Great shop, great location, and great staff.
Got to stay hydrated while waiting out the Hex.
The Goods.
Spencer and I both had new seven weight McFarland Rod Company builds that were were flexing on this trip. I was VERY impressed with mine. As you can see…Spencer and I both have affections for old school J.W. Young reels.
We had about three hours to kills and it was perfect for taking some photographs, sip a couple bottles of Fat Tire, and smoke a cigar while watching small to medium size fish sip yellow stoneflies off the surface.
As darkness fell the gulpers started up along the other side of the river and just up from the downed structure. Spencer was a true guide and gave me first dibs on them. I soon hooked into an eighteen inch brown trout that gave a few head shakes, left the water, and tossed the Hex from his mouth. Damn…
Minutes later I hooked another fish that was just a beast to fight but it wasn’t until Spencer pulled his head out of the net did we realize how large this one turned out to be.
I don’t get to excited to be on the other side of the camera but this is the largest (22 inches) brown trout I have ever caught. The fact that he took a dry fly was just bonus.
Taking photos at night in the dark is tough. We mixed it up with flash and then no flash with just our headlamps putting light out. I took a lot of out of focus photos both ways but a few of them came out fine enough to post.
A while later I caught a second brown trout that gave quite a tussle on the seven weight.
There were bugs everywhere.
The night wound down to me trying to get a few Hex photos and hoping that Spencer would tie into the big brown trout he had been stalking all night.Thanks again to Spencer for taking me to his spot and putting me on a truly memorable fish.
Mike Cline…I’ll reread this thread again this evening but damn…you gave us all the knowledge right there.
