Branding 2012

 Rick (the boss) is an old hand at this and he makes it look so easy.

 John and his friend Matt (the newbie this year) made a good team.

 We had several teams working at the same time, so it made quick work of 138 calves. 

 The "Shot Lady" and The "Fish Spotter" waiting for the boys to throw the next calf down.

Yahoo!!  My hands made it through the whole day without getting beat up.

The Foursome

 This is the first time they have floated the Arkansas.

 P.J. caught this brown on a yellow stone fly.

 P.J. insisted on throwing dry flies.  It paid off.  He caught this nice rainbow.

Michael caught many fish but this is the only one we could get a picture of.

The fish are becoming more and more active.

We saw many sub-surface feeders.

Truchas' Day On the Boat

 Walter caught this rainbow on a little green sparkly nymph that he had in his box.

He actually caught many on this fly.

Truchas and Susan were in the back of the boat after lunch. 

I hope the Fish Spotter doesn't see this.

Same Old Fly!!!!

Dean said he was going to have to tie up some of the red Two Bit Hookers.

It caught 99.9% of the fish today.

Today was Troy's first float trip.  He landed some nice.

Day 3 of 3

John fulfilled one of the things on his bucket list...he caught something over 30" long.

Second on his bucket list was to catch a rainbow.. he caught one.

"Pitter" used the stone fly and the Two Bit Hooker most of the day.

There were SEVERE winds, both upstream then downstream.

One time today, the wind slammed my boat into the bank.  I could not hold it back.

Day 2 of 3

Walt was all smiles when he caught this rainbow.

Walt said this was a world record for him.

"Pitter" had a hard time keeping his flies on his line today.

The morning was stellar and the afternoon was consistent.

Day 1 of 3

The 2 nymph rig worked today.

"Pitter" is holding a spawning hen.

Morning Float

 The Fish Spotter has her eye on this fish.

 The rainbows were after the Two Bit Hooker this morning.

 Some of the rainbows were really sporting their spawning colors.

 This rainbow took the A.R.P.

This rainbow was Darlene's catch of the day.

Pat's Rubber Legs

 By rowing for Lucas, I got to work on getting my set of blisters going.

Need for them to turn into big calluses before the caddis hatch is here.

 Some of the bigger fish were out feeding today.

Lucas used the Pat's Rubber Legs nymph and a chocolate midge.

Afternoon Float

 Larry is trying to get into rowing shape.  So guess who gets to fish?

Solo Float

First time my boat has been in the water for 2012 season.

 Since I was running solo, I had to pick the runs to fish.

 This rainbow took the Two Bit Hooker.

 As I landed this rainbow, she spewed out her pre-spawn eggs.

The A.R.P. was also a good choice of fly today.

However, it was pretty chilly today.

Alabama Fly Fishing Trip

We started out watching Scott eat 4 pounds of crayfish.

Every day we ate different southern style food.  Wow, it was all delicious!!!!!!

Darlene's first Brim caught on a fly rod.

Catfish even hit flies.

Danny (our guide and good friend) shows us how it's done.  This is a large mouth bass.

This is Darlene's first large mouth bass.

Northern Alabama has beautiful sunsets.

These are the type of boats we fished out of.  They are very stable.

This was the lodge we stayed in...  beautiful setting!!!!

Full Moon

Full moon setting over the Sawatch Mountains.

The "Grinch" is smiling at the "Angel" this morning.