Lateral Line Media

Brown Trout: Colorado Winter Fly Fishing

joey — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:01:13 +0000

Magnum and Steve (Atreyu… was his nick name for the day) picked me up in the jeep with no back window around noon yesterday. The best part about having no back window is that you can throw all your stuff in the back with out the time consuming event of opening a door or in this case a rear window. Very Cool.. This time I made sure I had may wading boots. Last time I got picked up by a 4runner with no side view mirror and no rear lights I left my boots by the front door and spent the day wading in my Muck Boots. Which, worked well but were extremely slippery. There were big plans of driving long distances to secret rivers and catching (not so) giant fish but that was all squashed when we all realized it was already noon. So we headed to a local spot about 30 minutes from the house.

Ahhh The Sweet Smell Of Royal Pine

Bobber met us at the rendezvous and the four of us started working our way up river thru the easement. Everything was wide open, no ice, no slush and in the words of Big Zim “it was beautiful.” Magnum was the first to get a bobber down. Steve and I could see him up stream fumbling with a 12 inch whitey that he claimed was a huge brown, but Steve and I knew better. Steve, who I will now refer to as Atreyu, was the second one to see the bobber go beneath the surface and land a healthy Brown. Yours truly finally lost set the hook like Jimmy Houston and loose what could have been the biggest fish in the world…seriously. We noticed that another portion of our party, bobber, was outta sight and nowhere to be seen. We found him up river fishing some lumber with a funky drift. We crossed over and had a little pow wow and began fishing like gentleman. Taking turns in every hole we came to. Now this might seem like an odd practice to you hard core fisherman out there. But, it is quite enjoyable. It works like this, one angler enters the run and begins fishing, the other anglers stand or sit on the bank and heckle the angler fishing. If that angler catches a fish or has taken too much time in the run they simply get out and the rotation begins.

Magnum Heckles Atreyu

Eagle River Brown Trout

A lot of fish this size were caught and after a ninja hookset the little bastards would swim directly at out. And since we were making drifts in the next county, you had to strip like a mutha to get them under control. Atreyu was battling this but once he got his shit together and landed one the weirdest thing happened. A bright light flashed in the sky and all of a sudden Steve was riding Falcor up river screaming with joy.

No Words

After landing his luck dragon Atreyu was back in time to land what he called “the night manager.” When the bobber went down the fish didn’t swim right at me like the others instead it just bull dogged me like a whitey. Then there were the jumps, several. I thought for sure my poor angling skills would lose the night manager but Atreyu and I were able to will him to the net. It wasn’t a giant fish, but he was bigger than the others and put up quite a display. I give you the “Night Manager.”

The Night Manager

We ended the day shortly after that. We landed a few more fish and headed back to the Jeep with no window. Fun day on the river, I think Magnum and Atreyu are guiding down there today so hopefully the Texans they picked up at the Westin have figured out how to mend by now. Thanks for reading… Oh before I forget i wanted to give a thanks to bloodknot magazine for putting LLM in their blogger issue. Check it.

Winter Steelhead: New York To Washington

joey — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:56:02 +0000

When did it start for you? or has it? sometimes I wish that I never caught a steelhead.. not really but there is something about this chrome bastard that continually swims in my noggin. Why couldn’t I have just been happy with catching trout and landlocked salmon. Maybe its the adventurer in all of us that makes us try the unknown. Whatever it is it got a hold of me in the early 2000′s. I had head about this steelhead thing that people were doing down in the great lake tributaries on NY. Shit I knew that water my dad drug me through that piece of water when I was a little dood still shitting my pants..(seriously). Now whether or not you want to call them a steelhead or not the fish we used to chase back east were strong and fun. Anyway, after my first steelhead trip as an adult old enough to drink it soon became apparent that this would now start to consume much of my life. My loving wife can attest. I soon moved from my old hunts in Maine out to Central Colorado where I now pay a mortgage in a place that we can barely afford. But, it is a beautiful place we live in, it is nice to have one stop light in town and see the mountains everyday. I view that I thought I would never take for granted but occasionally do. After moving out here I found that there was a void in my usual fishing habits. I could no longer hop in my truck and make the 8 hour drive on Interstate 90 to my little steelhead world. Which over the years has become an absolute zoo…so I am told. So after researching the internet machine I found that they caught steelhead in WA during the winter months. Now this might sound funny to those of you who grew up on the west coast but being a east coaster I had no idea. Maybe you west coasters didn’t know you could catch mako sharks and blue sharks of the coast of Maine..shhhhh. The only thing that I knew was that they caught these beautiful fish in B.C. but it cost quadruple of my overall worth. I will never forget my first trip to the Olympic Peninsula and I am forever in debt to my west coast steelhead mentor Jeff Brazda. I will also never forgive him for what kind of damage he has done to my tiny fish brain. It was my wife’s school vacation in march. She was looking forward to a nice warm vacation in a sunny destination and I hit here with ” how about this…” “forks! where the hell is forks?” was the reply. None the less we made the trek to what I believe to be one on the most beautiful places I have ever been and she was a trooper. Our first day of fishing with the Braz was a slow day only hooking a couple and nothing to the net. I figured that the way it was and I was not disappointed at all. The following day I was in a boat with a character that goes by the name of Rooster. I had never laughed so hard in my life. In fact there were times when tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t focus. That day I landed my first West Coast Steelhead, in fact I think we hooked about 8 or so and it was marvelous. Since then I have been back too many times to count. In about one month forks will welcome me with a cold Rainier and hopefully good water levels. I look forward to this time every year and until it comes I am often day dreaming and telling people about this magical place. Maybe I shouldn’t. Either way I am a soon to be father and my steelhead days might become numbered but, I will have a new journey to focus on and I am sure it will be wonderful. Hopefully our little boy will get the steelhead bug later in life because he is certainly going to hear about it around the house more than he should. I often wish that in my move out west that I would have kept driving and settled somewhere closer to rivers that get steelhead runs. But, maybe it would loose its luster and I would be wishing I moved to the Keys to chase tarpon. For now I like the thoughts of when I can get to the coast again and test my skills with another bright chrome steelhead.

East Coaster

That fella right there is an East Coast fish. One of the best steelhead fishing trips our “east coast crew” ever had.

West Coaster

This is a pic of Jeff and I on the Lower Hoh River. i think it was february and we were getting sunburned, crazy weather up there.

Thanks for reading my steelhead ramble, some of you might have heard it before but I never get tired of telling it. Best of luck to all you Steelheaders this year, hope to see you on the coast.

Colorado Fly Fishing: Trout Eating Dry Flies

joey — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:38:15 +0000

Lately I have been digging through the media files trying to close out some end of the year videos that have been long overdue. This past summer was another great one out west with plenty of water and lots of healthy fish. Although I did not get to hold a fly rod much last summer I did however get to watch a lot of anglers enjoy their days on the water. Sometimes it is difficult to hold the camera instead of a rod so be careful what you wish for. Regardless if one is fishing or not it is always a pleasure being outside and enjoying time by the river. I threw this together last friday as a montage of trout eating big dries on the surface. There are few things more exciting then watching trout gracefully sip a bug off the surface. I posted this vid last week so some of you may have seen it already, if you have thank you for watching. If you haven’t here it is for your viewing pleasure. Happy New Year.

Colorado Trout from Joey Macomber on Vimeo.

Stop Eating Wild Steelhead: Vail Colorado

joey — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:11:01 +0000

I went fishing with a friend of mine, magnum, yesterday who works at a nice establishment in Vail, Colorado called Block 16. I told magnum I wouldn’t put this on my blog since this is how a brotha makes a buck when he is not rowing a boat. But, since LLM only had a couple thousand unique visitors last year, I am sure this shouldn’t effect his nightly jingle. Especially since Mexico City was not a hot spot on my google analytics. Anyway…. As we were driving over the pass he said “oh this will piss ya off. The chef at our restaurant is has wild steelhead on the menu.” I looked over at him and said “well tell him to take it off them off the menu and also tell him that these fish are almost endangered.” Well obviously being a fisherman and understanding the problems wild steelhead are facing magnum had already told his chef to get that shit off the menu. Magnum has also been telling people in fur coats and diamonds not to order Wild Steelhead. Not easy to do when you know that texan with the ten gallon hat and a plastic wife is going to tip you large. According to our conversation yesterday the chef is going to sell what he has left and take Steelhead off the menu. I hope. If not magnum is going to knock that mutha out. Kind like what happened to this rangers fan after the winter classic… Danny Briere sucks For missing that penalty shot.

If you would like to learn more about Wild Steelhead in restaurants please visit this LINK.

Bluegrass: Currently Over Played

joey — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:03:00 +0000

I like Itunes. But I like Pandora more. My favorite stations as of late has been the Old Crow Medicine Show Station.. Don’t have it? Try it you will be pleasantly surprised. Especially if you like folk, bluegrass music. Here are 2 bands that I have been recently introduced to via Pandora and I have been wearing out their albums each day.
Greensky Bluegrass is the first video below if you have heard of them well thanks for telling me sooner. The album five interstates is worth checking out.

This band belwo is called The Steeldrivers. The lead singer here has got some serious soul. I posted this song earlier of FB a while ago but I really enjoy it I hope you do to. The album Sticks That MAde Thunder should also be in your ear.

The Roaring Fork: Well It Was A Pretty Float

joey — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:45:57 +0000

but the fishing was marginal, or you could say it was terrible. Bobber called me ” I will be at your house at 9:30 it is supposed to be 50 degrees in Glenwood we are going to Fook ‘em up” Everything was in our favor. warm weather, no traffic, good water temps, midges hatching here and there. For sure it was going to be a good day.

Mohawk

Here at the boat ramp bob adjusts his oars. Yes that is a Mohawk. Being the occasional lazy anglers that we can all be. I chose not to bring a rod since bobber had a few in his rig. But, instead of switching out his 4wt wisp for a stiffer nymph stick we battled setting the hook with the wisp. Excuses excuses. Did I mention that was a mohawk? We got down to the circle jerk hole and switched seats. It felt good to be behind the oars again. We had a few bobber downs in the circle jerk but couldn’t connect… damn wisp. Strebber thought it would be a good idea to grab the hell boy and rip some streamers, with the 38 degree water temp I though he was a little nuts but he proved me wrong. Right off the bat he had a few chasers in some shallow sunny water. They were chasing it a long way too. Not just turning but turning and chasing it like a fat kid running after the ice cream truck. Finally one came tight and we documented it in a precarious rowing position.

Mohawk- brown trout optional. Even thought the fishing was not what it was supposed to be it felt good to be in the december sunshine fishing. We’ll try again since winter seems to be on strike. The 5 day forecast is all sun mid 40s. Not complaining now but when the well is dry in June things are going to get ugly. Do a snow dance.

The SLEK Hole: Eagle River Colorado

joey — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:24:55 +0000

Not too sure what SLEK means but there it is high on the bridge. We have a vandal in town who has been throwing up some graffitti here and there. He or she tatted our vets building last summer. I think it is a space man with a flag. Either way the Veterinarian thought it was cool and decided to leave it on his building. I think it is the same vandal who wrote SLEK on the bridge. Maybe it means something that we all don’t know about….This is what the Urban Dictionary says about it
SLEK -
basically all gross and disgusting things on the planet can be used as a synonym for slime, sneeze juice, dog drool, dirty poo, earwax, sperm, and many other disgusting things
SLEK-
A word used to describe an idiot or generally stupid. Has no common sense and usually says stupid crap to attract attention.

I like the bottom definition. Either way Bob and I found our way up to this newly named SLEK Hole before Christmas and tried our luck in the 20 degree weather.

SLEK HOLE

I used to like to go out in the freezing weather and tie on size 26 midges and try to catch a few trout but as I get lazier this act seems to be too cold and too much work. Bob however has been a little tying factory lately and has been whipping up some pretty neat little midges. Pictured below are none of these midges. You will have to visit his blog to see them.

None Of Those Bugs Work

I set my rod down after calling the dog out of the river. Dumb bastard was swimming right into the SLEK hole. Bob eased his was down this slippery rock and started making casts. He had a bobber down and lost his size 100 midge that he created. He handed me his fly box and said “pick something out” I quickly handed him a size 14 Foam Hopper and got a laugh outta him. My fat fingers pulled out a tiny soft hackle midge of a different color and handed it to strebber.

#26 Too Small For My Sausage Links

The bobber went down and bobber set the hook. A nice Eagle River Rainbow. Not huge but very colorful.

Eagle River Rainbow Trout

this was the last thing that poor little rainbow saw before being released back into its icy world. I wonder what it was thinking? Probably was thinking what the Foook is this hairy brown thing and why can’t I breathe.

Cam's Nose

Nothing crazy large outta the SLEK hole that afternoon. Although during float season that is one place I like to hit with a streamer. Agent newell pulled a toad outta there one year. Make sure you check out Bobbers bugs before the winter is over. He has got some creative stuff going on. 10-4

Keeping It Fresh: Boring

joey — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:54:45 +0000

I really hate shopping. I hate grocery shopping. I hate clothes shopping and everything in between. But, there comes a time when you have to bear down and get it done. That time came for me about a month ago when the 3 pairs of jeans i own had all ripped to the point where it was inappropriate to display them, my shoes smelled like cat piss and had foam coming out the back, my tee shirts were coved in paint and oil stains and to top it off I dropped my favorite sunglasses in the river. The wife looked at me and had enough. She dragged me to the outlet stores for a day of a mans favorite thing. Thats right shopping…uuurrrgh. I was a sport about it since I knew that it was certainly time for some clothes that were “in style” and not ripped in half. i like simple things, nothing to flashy and here is what I found.
I found this colorado company called golite. some of you have probably heard of them before but being valley locked I have not. Anyway they had an outlet store so I cruised in for a look see. Got this sweet fleece pull over, cardigan if you will for super cheap.

This little organic hippy dude started telling me how this article of clothing is made from a bunch of recycled plastic beer bottles mixed with organic hippie beard and made locally.. bla bla bla. I asked him if it would keep me warm and he said “yeah bra” I said “thats all I need to know.”

The next article on my list was some sneakers and I found these puppies. I have always been a classic sneaker guy except when I had to have those reebox pumps when they first came out, I think I was 11. My dad was pissed. Since then I kept it simple. I give you the Adidias ZX 500 originals.

Clean and simple even the regulars at the gym see this fat kid struggling with a 25 lb bench press and think ” that kid is a puss but his shoes are killer!” Yeah I go to the gym. I don’t like it but I also don’t like my stomach touching my knees when I take a crap.
When I lost my sunglasses to the Colorado River in October I thought it was a sign. I was netting a fish and they slid off my face into the depths below. I wonder if a giant whitey tried to eat them. They were some kind of smith sunglasses. I wasn’t crazy about them when I first purchased them but the grew on me. So the new pair i replaced them with were also smith. I told myself I would never buy another pair of smith optics but the price was right and they were polarized.

Our last stop was the Jean store and since skinny jeans seem to be in right now I figured I better give it a try. Being the loose fit baggy pants wearer that I am I knew it would be a tough transition. The first pair I tried on were a size 22 waist with a 29 inseam. They were too baggy for this buff bod so wifey grabbed me a size smaller and when I cam out of the dressing room there I was. I goddamn thing a of beauty, a beacon of a new stylized hunk.

I just puked in my mouth

I couldn’t stand the tightness anymore so I stuck with the loose fit baggy jeans and went on my way. Thanks for dropping in. Sorry for the lame post. Keep is sleazy bloggers.

Sightings

joey — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:04:18 +0000

Occasionally I get tagged in by other people in facebook. This kind of makes me nervous, I always wonder where did this person get a picture of me? I like how facebook uses the word tagged like you are a piece of equipment that is for sale, or a side of a rail car waiting to be spray painted by some “artist” sitting in a dark alley. Anyway turns out this tagging hasn’t been a bad thing (yet) these pics below are some of the latest fly fishing tags.

Yos from Chromer Sport Fishing always seems to be representing the Sasquatch up in B.C. As most of you sasquatch representatives know this shirt really drives the ladies wild. How wild you ask? Demonstrated here an aggravated Yos is receiving a text from a lonely Jessica Alba wondering when he will be off the river to tuck her in. Damn woman can’t you let a brotha fish!!

Here is a Colorado crew. Picture courtesy of Mr. Bob Streb. AkA Bobber. This photo was taken on the Upper C about a month ago when these fellas went out to strip some rabbit for hungry browns. From left to right we have Steve, Bob and Zim. I know that the ladies in minturn, CO are powerless when they see these gentleman stroll into the saloon for a bucket of suds. In fact another Jessica has been sighted there. She was at the Saloon with her fancy dancing boyfriend until she saw Steve walk in with that hoody on. Guess who Ms. Biel left with?

Now this fella wears the yeti hoody so much he gets 2 pictures on the blog. This fella goes by the name Blake but I call him Magnum. Shown here Magnum is in Telluride at some kind of music festival rocking out and representing. The lady force is so strong with this guy it is scary. This was his latest line up. Wonder where that force comes from? Guess no longer… It’s all in the Hoody.

Here he is again supporting the hoody incognito while displaying this East Coat Brown Trout he railed with the Mystic Fly Rod Crew. Well played Magnum.

Thanks for all your support out there. If you have any pics of you in your lady slaying hoody send them my way or better yet tag me in facebook.

Eagle River Colorado: November Fly Fishing, Burrito Edition

joey — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:01:52 +0000

Driving down highway 6 I had to stop at primavera for a $3 shredded beef burrito. I hadn’t planed on it but there was the sign and since I got denied last time I suggested it for lunch I was going to get a burrito, dammit. I really enjoy the authentic mexican flavor.

Just a little shack on the corner of HWY 6 and 2nd Ave. Not a lot of english is spoken there but the food is made with serious mexican love… Amor if you will.

headed west down 6 trying not to spill the burrito juice on my sweat pants, I passed the gypsum factory that makes its own weather and finished my last bite of Burrito number 1, yeah I got 2.

I made it to the dirt road, passed the trailer park and found a place to pull my truck into the grass. This particular area gets some pressure from the local mexican community and although their food is excellent their catch and release practices are not quite as good. So I crossed the river and decided to fish some braids that where off the beaten path where the cowboy boots have not been. There was a good BWO hatch popping, small like a # 20, but I didn’t see any risers so the bobber came out and we got down to business. Although I didn’t want to throw an egg pattern I gave into the urge after about a half hour. I trailed the oregon cheese with a Grey flash back RS2 (favorite of mine).

Eagle River Colorado

I found a good paced run about 4 feet deep. I would like to make it know that there were no redds in there either. I hooked up on what felt like a good fish and lost it shortly after as well as my RS2. I tied on another bug and made another drift in the foam line. Bobber down. The fish quickly took all of my slack line and made a few turns on the reel. Well I thought as I burped up some salsa flavor, this feels like a god fish. Probably a whitey!

Eagle River Brown Trout

Yeah I propped up the camera on my boat bag and snapped this pic of myself. Not something I enjoy doing but how else would you believe me. I hooked several other fish this size and then it turned off, or my skills went to shit. Which, now that I think of it that is probably what happened. The hatch turned from BWO’s to tiny midges and I have not filled my boxes with tiny midges yet. I really hate to do the tiny midge thing even though I know its necessary. My damn eyes are getting so bad I am having a difficult time threading those bitches. So instead of rummaging through all my bugs looking for something tiny I decided to take a few pictures and enjoy the end of the day without staring at a bobber. This was my favorite one that turned out.

Brush Creek - Eagle River Confluence

I hope you all enjoy your Turkey. We are headed over to bobbers house to deep fry some goodness. Gobble Gobble.