[Steelheader69]

Watched a really good episode this am. Anyone who hasn't seen it before, it is a show sponsored by Stihl and is hosted by Larry Csonka and his wife (and any of you not old enough to remember, Larry was a famous football player for the Miami Dolphins).

The program was set on the Alagnak River using spey rods for trophy sized rainbow trout. Showed the guide teaching Larry and his wife to throw one, then showed their progress fishing. Of course, you could see them having some problems, but were doing pretty good. This was one of the better epidsodes too. They caught some DAMNED nice trout. 8-10#'s on average. Gorgeous fish, some minty bright like a fresh from salt steelhead. His wife even got on the action. I think what impressed me the most about the show was the guide they were using. He landed every fish brought in for a "glory shot". Guess what he did??? He kept the fish IN the water until they were ready to take the picture. If they wanted more then one pic, he would put the fish right back down into the water and raise only when a picture was to be taken. I've seen MANY of these shows were that fish is out of water for minutes while the anglers talked. Was very refreshing to see. But was nice to see the spey in action and catching these big trout. They had those 14' speys bent pretty good and looked like a blast.

 

[juro]

Wish I saw it! Especially where the guide keeps the fish in the water... good stuff.

 

[flytyer]

I saw this show too and found it refreshing to see people learning how to use the 2-hander. Csonka even talked about how much fun it was to catch fish on the 2-hander. The guide was no slouch when it cme to spey casting either. Although the guide did do some BSing about greenhart and cane 2-handers weighing 6 or 7 pounds, this was a good show with good solid information about the origin of spey casting and use of 2-handers.

 

[Steelheader69]

LOL Flytyer

I will have to say this as well. I SAW the whole thing, but only heard about HALF of it. My kids were constantly asking me questions about the show (which I hadn't seen before) and missed half the dialogue. :hehe: So missed the history part. Heard some of the casting parts and critiquing. That was about it. Missed the history lesson (usually my kids are asking me questions on EXACTLY what they guy is answering while they're talking to me). So, I miss it myself.

But was a good show. First where I saw a guide thinking of fish first. Most keep the fish out of water for awhile.

 

[flytyer]

Steelheader69,

I saw an episode of Fly Fish TV last fall that had Dave Steinbaugh of Port Angeles taking a feloow out on his first winter steelhead trip as well as his first time with the 2-hander. Dave (who I know) provided excellent instruction and also kept the fish in the water when the "dude" caught a small steelhead.

 

[JDJones]

Damn, I missed it

I don't suppose anyone taped it?

 

[circlespey]

No one seems to have figured it out, but that guide was Scott O'Donnell (he of Coastal Oregon and recent controversial posts on this board). He is a guide at Rapids Camp on the Naknek all summer and has got the guides up there doing the spey thing for the big Kvichak and Naknek lake run rainbows in the late season, which he says are hotter than any steelhead. If you check out his website (www.scottodonnell.com) you can see several photos of clients with those big lake run bows. That was actually the second time they ran that episode, and I suspect it will air again.

Circlespey

 

[interiorak]

Sooner or later you guys and gals will learn not to touch a wild fish ... period! ... take a picture of fish in the water if you have to reduce beauty to possession ... volunteer in a hatchery sometime ... seeing the number of fish that die after handling will inspire you to look ... but don't touch! ( the % death is much higher than you realize)

My experience as a biologist and angler for the last 30 years is ... "catch and release" or "catch, touch, release, and die ! Your choice.