The Year of the Fish!

I am not going to get into the whole story, but for those of you who know me well, fly fishing has been the biggest part of my life for most of my years.  Along with running, fly fishing has been a constant positive aspect of my life since I can remember.  Well, sometimes LIFE gets in the way of pursuing the things that truly make us who we are.  This time however, LIFE has changed me for the better.  Since my last real post back in JULY, I have made a few large life moves and though some were very difficult, I feel as though the struggle to obtain happiness has certainly been overcome this time.  I have finally bought a house with the love of my life and on Christmas Day I was able to ask her to be my wife in front of her family.  She said "YES" and we are now on our way to forming the life that we both see for ourselves in the future.  The best part is that our future does still coincide with Fish Story Guide Service!  I have been getting lots of little messages from people in the past few months about why the blog is not up to date and how things were going and I certainly appreciate all of the inquiry.  Well this post is to shed the light and show you where this road is headed.  This road is leading to "The Year of the FISH!"  I am going to slowly post some pictures and stories from this past fall as the winter moves along, but at the same time start to map out 2016.  I am fully ready to dive into guiding this year and hope to make Pittsburg the main focus.  I am already receiving calls and emails from repeat clients about next spring, summer and fall and I am really grateful for that!  For anyone who has been thinking about trying to get up to Pittsburg this year let me know your thoughts and I can help make your plans come to life!  I hope that this little memo finds everyone happy, healthy and ready for "The Year of the FISH!"

Feel free to email me anytime!
Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Ready.... Set... GO!!!

In my next post I will go into a little more detail about where I have been and what I have been doing, but for right now, just know that 2016 will be the year of the FISH!  More to come very... very... soon!

-Patrick

What is your Catch Phrase?!

Fish on!  Got one!  Here we go!  Big fish!  Heeeeeey! Yahtzee????!  The opportunity to announce a hookup on a recent trip was just about as fun as landing it!  I was able to guide two awesome guys from "down below" and we just had a blast!  They were athletic, younger guys, about my age and this gave me a unique opportunity.  We were able to go anywhere that I wanted!  It is amazing how the fishing success can increase ten fold just by being able to wade the river.  In two days of fishing we hit five different sections of the river and could have done more if we had wanted to.  The quality and quantity of fish landed was just great as well.  The best part was that we maybe bumped into four other anglers in the entire two days of fishing as well!  This happens more often than not if you are able to get up on week days.  As a guide, being able to make a plan and fish pools in a certain order makes for a more enjoyable day on the water as well.  So how many fish did they land in two days?  I don't know... lots... What flies did we catch them on?  Everything....  There are so many fish in the river right now, that you really do not have to do anything special to hook them.  We actually stopped fishing certain pools and moved down river as I felt guilty about the numbers of fish we caught.  If I had to give you some of my go to flies for right now here would be the list:  Black Feedinators, Sulfur Emerginators, Pink San Juans, Egg patterns and Pittsburg Buggers. 
Thank you Winslow and Devin for a great couple of days of fishing and I hope to get back out there again with you soon!

I do have some openings left for the next couple of weeks!  Let me know if you want to get out on some phenomenal fishing before the summer is over!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

DOUBLES!

Bow and Brookie!

Beautiful Brookie

The Battle

YAHTZEE!!!

16 " Racer Bow

Put him on a Catalogue

Wolf Pack...

Days of Gold....

We have been having a good old fashioned Pittsburg summer lately.  It has been more beautiful than ever and the fish are still happy.  I was lucky to guide a pair of gentlemen who plain and simply had fun with their time on the water!  This has been a trend this year and for me it makes guiding a wonderful experience.  My "sports" have all been great people, down to earth and willing to learn.  What more could I ask for!?  The dry flies have been doing well also.  There is something about a trout coming up to a dry and smashing it, that is just tough to explain.  It is electric and shoots adrenaline throughout your body in a way that makes you want to jump out of your skin!  Thanks again guys! 
I do have more open trip dates for next week and August, but let me know soon as we are running low on time!  Enjoy the dog days of summer!

Shoot me an email anytime!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Got his salmon!

Fish and fellas!

Nice pattern

Great Leaping Battle with this one! Great work!

Artsy..

Stay a Little Longer....

     One thing I find happening to most people when they visit Pittsburg is that at the end of a trip they usually say, I wish I could just stay one more day!  I know the feeling especially when I need to go back down south for a work week.  That being said, I do whatever I can to make the best out of my time here and help others to do the same.  Fishing has continued to be wonderful lately with large salmon still in the mix.  I had a gentleman last week who almost had his 12 inch brookie eaten by a "mystery monster fish" as he reeled him in.  I don't know what kind of fish it was as I only saw the explosions on the water, but it was either a humungous brown or Salmon.   The other thought in my head was that it may have been a giant laker.  With the higher water last month, I would not have been surprised to see it in the river.  I may need to tie up another 12" brookie streamer and see if I can hook into the beast!  My "go to" flies for the past few weeks have been Feedinators in all colors, Pittsburg Buggers, San Juans, Caddis Dries, Kev's Caddis and Emerginators.  Depending on the time of day everything has been matching up with the hatches.  I plan to do a little bit of exploring in the next few days to see how our outer ponds look as well.  Let me know if you would like to get out and do a little fishing as my dates are getting close to being filled for the summer!  Time flies when you are having fun!  Feel free to email me for my availability or even if you just have a question about what is happening up here!  Looking forward to seeing people on the rivers and ponds!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com



Little Orange Belly Action



18" Salmon.  What a Battle!



Art?



Fun Times!

Back Lake Hex

I had a chance to get out on Back Lake last night and the fish were still Hexin'! I did not see too many of the big bugs, but they were still keyed in on the big dries we were throwing right before dark!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

The largest of the evening. 16" and thick!

Welcome to Pittsburg!

It has been nothing but wonderful since school ended and guiding season has begun in Pittsburg.  I have been all over the place with awesome people and the fishing has not let us down.  In late May we were all worried about our "mini drought" and not having enough water in the system, but by early June we were practically flooded!  I am a huge fan of high water for our rivers up here, so long as they are not blown out.  Luckily for us, we never got to the blown out stage.  With the higher water lots of nice salmon and brown trout entered the river and made for exciting fishing with my "sports."  We carefully waded all of the normal areas as well as moving to places that produce well only in high water situations.  The Trophy Stretch was like a completely different river compared to normal, but in a good way.  I was able to fish stretches of water as if it were the fall salmon season and actually hook up with salmon in the 16-20" range!  We had our Trout Unlimited Kid's Trout Camp once again and I might say without hesitation it was a spectacular group of kids.  We were able to immerse these 14-16 year old young adults into a world of fly fishing that will hopefully carry over for a lifetime of enjoyment.  Through lots of fishing sessions, entomology classes, streamside conservation projects and river shocking with fish and game, we were able to show these kids how much fun this "fly fishing thing" can really be.  I do have a huge amount of optimism for the future of our sport through spending time with these kids each year.  I have been guiding a good amount lately and the water has come down a bit.  With the drop in flows, the fish are a bit more concentrated, but still spread out enough to be able to fish away from crowds for the most part.  I have had the opportunity to also guide some of the outer ponds with my canoe as well.  This has been an absolute blast!  Rising trout on big dry flies can be extremely exciting!  The ponds have been a great way to mix up a day for people.  I am still booking trips at this point for the summer and have some dates available.  If you would like to know my availability please feel free to shoot me an email and I would be happy to send you my dates!  It is perfect up here right now, come on up and enjoy! 

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com