Ep 71: Looking Back and Looking Ahead, with Mel Moss
Mel Moss is back again to discuss our favorite 2021 fishing memories and what we have planned for 2022. We talk about my first greenback cutthroat trout and carp, as well as some fun trips Mel took last year. Looking ahead, I hope to do more tying this coming year and land a pike on the fly, and Mel fills me in on her upcoming trip to Guam, where she hopes to catch a jungle perch.
Youtube video mentioned: link
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Katie
You're listening to the Fish Untamed Podcast, your home for fly fishing the backcountry. This is episode 71 with Mel Moss on looking back and looking ahead. Before we dive in, I wanted to hop on and make a quick announcement about the show. Fish Untamed is now a part of the Waypoint Podcast Network, which is a group of podcasters all in the outdoor space. And it's just a way for me to connect with other great people and expand the reach of the show. So the content isn't going to change. I'll still be talking to the same type of folks, same type of show as before. The only difference is that now there will be advertising on the podcast. And while I know some people probably have really enjoyed the fact that this show has been ad-free up until this point, this was just an opportunity for me to make a little something back for doing it. Because up until this point, it's just been a passion project. And this will just allow me to keep doing the show for longer and keep bringing you the same content I have been. So again, the content isn't changing. I'm still doing the same show. always done. It's just going to sound a little bit different from here on out. And for everyone who's been listening, everyone who's reached out, I really, really appreciate your support and I'm looking forward to what's in store from here. So without further ado, we can hop into my conversation with Mel Moss. Well, we already cracked our beers, so we're going to have to just pretend that we're cracking them again.
Mel
Cheers. Cheers. Katie. All right. I thought of something we could call this. cheer chat cheers and beers in the new year
Katie
how long were you thinking of that
Mel
I was hiking yesterday and I was like hmm what could I say what could I call this
Katie
I feel like when I hike alone the weirdest thoughts come to mind if I'm with Yuki I'm telling her all these thoughts because I'm just like someone's got to listen to it so I just talk to her
Mel
yep they're the best listeners
Katie
They are. They never have anything to say. Well, I think we talked about maybe doing an episode like this last year, but I don't know if we ever did. Like a New Year's wrap, put a bow on 2021 and look forward to 2022.
Mel
I think that this has been one of our ideas for a long time.
Katie
Yeah. Well, I think you're the most recurring guest at this point with like four episodes. so that's like four out of 60 you make up like a very large portion of my episodes cheers again yeah well that's because Mike requests you all the time he's like when's Mel coming back on so I had to do it it's what the people want seriously give them what they want well we can get started then do you want me to go first since I had four things to talk about for 2021
Mel
yeah I think that sounds good so Katie I was gonna ask you yes what are some of your favorite memories or accomplishments from 2021
Katie
I'm gonna get off I'm gonna go in the order of least funny to funniest okay so I'm gonna I'm gonna start with the two kind of unfunny ones and I will I guess begin with my first pure strain greenback cutthroat trout which I feel like has kind of been in the making for I don't know 10 years now since I first started because we for the longest time thought we were catching greenbacks in Rocky Mountain National Park and told everybody that came that they were catching greenbacks there too and then it wasn't until a couple years ago that it all just came out that those are all frauds and there are only a couple places that have real ones
Mel
no kidding no kidding I didn't realize that
Katie
oh you didn't
Mel
no
Katie
I thought you did I thought you knew that
Mel
no I don't think we've talked about this so tell me a little more okay so how did you find this out?
Katie
I don't want to don't take any don't quote me on any of this because I don't know the full history but as far as I'm aware they thought those were I think they thought they were extinct and then they thought that they found some and you know they stalked them all through rocky mountain national park and it was on all of the brochures and you know I mean you saw the the pamphlets back in the day that are like this is Colorado state fish like gotta put it back barbless hooks all this and that right and I want to say a couple years ago they then came out and were like these aren't pure like I don't know what percentage of them are greenbacks like it might be some percentage of it is a greenback and some percentage is some other strain of cutthroat but it wasn't like a pure greenback and then I don't know if there was any sort of window between that and them saying oh we did find some pure strain greenback cutthroat like I'm not sure what order all this happened in but they did find some pure ones and stocked them in a handful of locations around the state and I think some of them weren't open to fishing for a while but now the populations are strong enough and there were some like failed efforts too where they'd put them all die and they'd have to try again. But one of the populations near our house has been going, I want to say, for like at least three or four years now successfully. So now you're allowed to fish for them. And so I went up and it was more difficult than I expected because they were very sporadic in the stream. Like, I don't know, you know how when you show up in a mountain stream, it's kind of like every pocket's got a fish. And this was not like that. You'd walk an entire stretch and see nothing. And then there'd be 10 of them all in this like one little pocket. oh wow it was like hard to access with all the willows and stuff on the shore so I lost a lot of flies but finally got a couple to the net so that was exciting what wasn't exciting about it was that it didn't look any different than any of the other cutthroats it's not like
Mel
I was gonna ask you go
Katie
yeah no it looked it looked just the same as all the other ones
Mel
really okay I was gonna ask you that so this is mind-blowing like we were just spreading lies this whole time?
Katie
we were definitely spreading lies and like I don't really feel bad because it was mostly out of staters coming in to just enjoy their first fishing experience and so like whatever let them have that joy but looking back like man I told hundreds and hundreds of people that they were catching greenbacks when they weren't but
Mel
we all did
Katie
it wasn't our fault it wasn't our fault we didn't know and none of them
Mel
well and all these people probably went home and they're like what were you catching oh gosh it was something cut yeah I don't remember yeah
Katie
I caught the greenback cutthroat trout the state fish of Colorado
Mel
how big were these ones that you were catching in the stream
Katie
probably eight to ten inches. I think there are probably some in there that were 10 to 12 but you know a typical typical mountain stream fish not tiny they weren't teeny tiny but
Mel
ah nice yeah I was at least able to I was gonna say were you at least able to use flies that like would they eat anything and you're like well because I'm gonna lose a lot of flies here I'm just gonna throw on my crap flies
Katie
I remember trying a couple flies in one little pocket and couldn't get like I could see one fish in there and it wouldn't eat anything but I also think it may have seen me so maybe just wasn't eating right and then the next like giant pocket of them I found I want to say I just threw on like an elk hair caddis or something and you know got got a strike right away so I don't think they were picky they were just hard to access and hard to find like where where they were sitting in the stream and actually when I was hiking out so it was you know this trail goes up along the stream and it goes in and out of forest and as I was coming back down I passed a guy going up and he was like oh did you know did you find any and I was like yeah I found some you know a couple in a pocket up there and he's like oh in the in the field like he knew where they were it was like they weren't in the entire stream that's kind of what I experienced too where I was trying multiple sections and it for a while I was like I guess maybe they died and then yeah it was a jackpot just in this one small stretch and only in certain pockets so it seemed like that guy had been up there and was aware that they were all in this one like short stretch of the stream huh interesting yeah that's really cool yeah no kidding You'll have to come back and check that one off your list for real. Seriously. I've got a list of all the species I've caught, and that one had an asterisk by it. I went years thinking I caught this, but it wasn't really, but I don't know what it was. So I just said greenback asterisk, and then I was like, I have to remove the asterisk once I know for sure I've caught a real one.
Mel
Right. Get out. That's crazy. Well, learn something new every day. Today wasn't much of a day of learning, so there we go.
Katie
I got something to check off. What's yours? What's your first accomplishment for memory?
Mel
Well, okay. So I ended up going through today my whole camera roll from 2021 because I was like, I just feel as though I have more fishing memories than are coming to mind from the year. But I came to realize that, because I had gone and done the high Sierra trail in California, a lot of my fishing season, days were actually spent more trying to get my miles in for training, for hiking and backpacking than, you know, putting my efforts towards fishing and finding, you know, high mountain streams or lakes or whatnot. So, I was kind of bummed with myself going through my camera roll from 2021 and seeing how few fishing outings I actually had.
Katie
Can I just say that it's a very Mel thing to do to go look through all your photos?
Mel
Yeah. I'm like, where does 2021 start? Because I am going to go through the whole year and scroll, scroll, scroll and see what I did. I expect no less. And I had a trip right at the end of 2020 to Montana. And I'm like, I guess I'll start with 2021. And we'll start talking about my first trip of 2021 that really strikes me as memorable, which was our trip together to Wyoming. And I know we exhausted that quite a bit in our last podcast. So I'll kind of just briefly touch on it. But this was one of the times that I, my parents had been begging me for a month or for years to go back to Wyoming and fish the North Plat. And so we, you know, obviously, you know, we ended up meeting there and camping out in our usual spot. And the fishing was definitely lived up to its, I guess, what's the word I'm looking for?
Katie
Expectations.
Mel
expectations and what I yeah what we had experienced in the past I know you've had your highs and lows there I really have only had highs there so I don't know check the flows
Katie
so what what was your if you had to pick like a highlight from that trip what was your favorite part of it and it has to be part that I was in or it doesn't count I'm just kidding it could be the float too but I know you guys were kind of disappointed in the float a little bit.
Mel
Yeah, we were a little disappointed in the float and it's mostly just because of the location that we floated and the fact that the fish were not as impressive even in that section. And so it was certainly some of the times that we went to the canyon. Did we do it two days in a row when you were there?
Katie
I think we only fished the canyon together one day. One day. Okay,
Mel
well then that was my favorite day okay
Katie
that's yeah it's really option but we also went up to the we also went up and like caught fish to keep under the dam
Mel
right that was really awesome and that was one of my Katie teaching Mel how to gut a fish right experience so that was really cool but I think that was all part of the same day but yeah anyways yeah that was just a phenomenal day. The fishing was incredible. I couldn't, there was, you know, the, the chaos on the bank with my, on the rocks with my parents and everything going haywire because the fishing was so good that, there was multiple things happening at once. And my parents are, well, they call me their guide and they're fairly dependent on me when we go fly fishing together. So I still got quite a bit of great fishing in as well, but I was happy to be kind of the netter and tire and photographer, the photographer and the get this, get this bird's nest untangled.
Katie
So that was wonderful.
Mel
Just like the good old days. Yes, exactly. Brings me back. Brings me back. So that was just an awesome day. And we ended it with some good food and a fire and all of the things.
Katie
Yeah. And then I don't think we mentioned it in the last podcast, but then the next day, the weather was so crappy that we played a board game and I got to wear a crown and sign your mom's logbook of all the winners, which was truly the highlight of the trip.
Mel
Yeah. Settlers of Catan. Yeah. You sure got the full experience there.
Katie
Mm-hmm. every board game needs to come with a scroll that you can sign
Mel
see there's there's benefits to rainy cold days
Katie
yeah and your dad doesn't all have to be fishing
Mel
oh yeah he is like I am out of here this camper can't handle one more person it was just it was too exciting for him yep so all right well there's my first and I'm just kind of going in the order of the year for me I guess
Katie
okay okay mine actually from here on out will be actually I think this whole thing is in order for me as well it just happens to be going in order of least funny to funniest as well my year got funnier as it went on oh I love it that's awesome okay my second one which is still another like more serious one is this it's one fish in particular I mean the whole day but it was kind of highlighted by one fish my friend john who was on I don't know handful of episodes ago he builds rods he and I went fishing at a spot that he knew that's like not too far from home I think I kind of described it for you like it's it's probably only about an hour from home but it feels like you're way farther away and I had never heard of it and he said that like not a lot of people know about it not a lot of people go there so we we went and hiked down in and the water was high and we had to cross to get to get across and he was not so sure because I think the the flows have even lowered last time he was there so we we made it across after looking a while to find a spot that was crossable and then we were essentially stuck on the other side of the river and you know we caught a bunch of nice fish like just really solid fish especially for Colorado probably 16 to 18 inch rainbows for the most part and he then caught a tiger trout which was super exciting which I hadn't seen a tiger trout outside of a place that they just like dump tiger trout in like I've caught them in lakes where tiger trout are the only thing you catch you know just like a bunch of little stalker tiger trout and this one looked like it had been in the water for a while it was really colorful and a little bit larger and then I hooked into this huge rainbow that it, I mean, it looked beat up. I don't know how long it had been in there. I mean, I'm sure it had been stocked at some point, but I feel like it had been in the river for a long time, but it was still just kind of trashed. But I hooked it on our side of the river and there's just like whitewater rapids in the middle of the river and then a solid vertical rock wall on the other side. And this fish just shot across the current and ended up on the other side of the whitewater against this rock wall. And I've got a four-way because I didn't know what kind of fish we'd be catching and this thing's I don't know we didn't measure it but I would say it was somewhere between 18 and 20 inches and I'm just like dying because I don't know how I'm gonna get this fish back because it it it went across the rapids and it's now stuck on the other side under this wall and Jon can't do anything so he's just filming me fumbling around with my net and stuff I ended up dropping my net and it got like sucked away so now there's no net and somehow I got this thing back across the river and I remember him asking after like how did you do that and I was like I have no idea like this was not I feel like this was not a matter of skill this was a matter of luck that it didn't come off or I don't know how it didn't break the tippet yeah but we got that in it was it was one of those fish that was probably similar to the size of fish we caught in Wyoming but it was it felt more exciting because I didn't know it was coming you know when you go up to Wyoming you assume that you're going to be catching expecting yeah like you see the fish and you're like yeah this is what I came for and this one I didn't I had no idea what we're going to what we were going to be catching instead of come across one of those fish quote unquote in the wild you know like it just shows up yeah was extremely exciting so that was my second second memory of 2021
Mel
that is awesome did you end up using his net then or?
Katie
I don't I feel like I kind of like blacked out at the end there but I think we must have there's no way we got this fish in without a net and I definitely lost mine like on video yeah he was filming me and you can see me toss my net and I think it's still attached to me it's not so I basically just throw it and then it's just gone
Mel
but then when do you remember when you realized that you didn't have it anymore or and what you felt I probably were didn't care at that point
Katie
oh I did care because it was like I don't know what I'm gonna do like like it was when the fish was still on and I was going to reach for it it was just gone and I was like, crap, it's definitely,
Mel
I don't know what I'm going to do versus, oh shoot, I just lost another net.
Katie
Yeah. I mean, this was a $20 net from Bass Pro Shop, so I didn't really care about the net. It was more just, I can't get this fish in without a net. So we must've used Jon's. I feel like I do kind of remember that now, but that's the only explanation. Yeah.
Mel
That's awesome. Those are such, it's just like, like you said, when you're expecting those fish them all day it's just I mean that's kind of like going to New Zealand and expecting these huge fish and then when you catch ones that are smaller than you expect it's like so and just the story behind it and you feel so much more accomplished when something like that happens yes it's just an easy one an easy catch so that's awesome cool
Katie
all right I will check that one off and I actually had Wyoming on my list too but I'm going to cross that off since I had more on my list than you did because
Mel
because I was a lame-o for fishing in 2021
Katie
I have four goals so we'll get to that too but yeah we each have two memories left right?
Mel
yes perfect so my my next one is is pretty cool and you were involved in the aftermath of talking about it so I know I had mentioned previously that I did the high sierra trail, in August of this past year. And, I ended up catching a ton of golden trout and this is my first time, experiencing that. And so that was really, really awesome. Um, so we did eight days, seven nights in the back country in a row. And we had a group of nine people and, I was one of two people who brought a fly rod and everyone else didn't bring any entertainment or anything to do in the evenings. Cause we weren't really sure how much extra time we'd have. And I think we've, I think we ended up camping near a water source all but one or two nights. And so I tried fishing every chance that I could get, once camp was set up and everything for the day. Um, and I remember getting to our night number two, cause night number one was not by a water source. And so night number two is our first, at a lake called Hamilton Lake. And, I started fishing and it's a really fun memory because I remember looking back cause we had all eaten dinner together up on the rocks. And then I started fishing the lake, in the evening and I looked back and there was probably six or seven people that were in my group that were just kind of all lined up behind me watching me. And, so it ended up being kind of this entourage that would follow me because nobody else had, nobody else had anything to do or entertain them in the evenings, not even books or anything. So it was, nope, nobody brought books or anything. So it was their entertainment. Um, and so I felt a little more pressure. I was like,
Katie
Ooh, I hate when people are just like smiling at you like catch something I know you're like buzz off
Mel
I know I know and I ended up going to the outlet stream of that lake and I caught my first two of what I thought were golden trout because I wasn't really sure what I was exactly looking for on them
Katie
is this what you sent me a picture of after the fact?
Mel
yeah and so my third fish once I went back to the main lake was the one that I sent you the picture of. Okay. And I thought, is this a golden trout? I don't know, but that one was a decent size. I would say that one was probably, Oh, I don't know, 10, 12 inches, something like that. Um, and so I caught, you know, a handful of fish in that lake and I was really excited. And I kept telling my group that I was catching golden trout. And then, we continued on, you know, next day and got to this really small stream. And we, you know, every time we crossed the streams, when we were on our hike, we would see the fish in the river and the streams in the rivers. And, I fished the next day and I started catching these teeny tiny ones, but they were much more yellow in color with that black strip. right and I thought well these are also look like golden trout more of what I would think it would be looks different than the one I caught in Hamilton but maybe there's different subspecies or whatnot whatnot and so I think I caught gosh 25 40 30 40 I don't know I kind of was just catching them and having a blast at that point at one of the streams, one of the nights. Um, and they're just little guys, maybe four or five inches, who knows even less some of them, but really beautiful, really, really beautiful. And, and then, yeah, so essentially caught a bunch of fish that trip came back and was like, I got to tell Katie and ask her about this. Cause you have had, or you have caught golden trout before. And so, you know, kind of more of what they look like. And so I guess we can talk about what we ended up learning about the first, the first lake and the ones that I had caught. Cause you ended up looking it up more than I did.
Katie
I went in like a deep dive on this.
Mel
Yeah, you did. And wasn't it, you found, we found that it was like Kern Valley rainbow in particular, right?
Katie
There is a Kern River rainbow, but, and that's, I think that was the first suggestion. I threw out because it looked like a rainbow but it looked a little bit different and I knew that that was a strain and I think one of the characteristics it had was was something that a current river rainbow had and so I was like oh that must be it and then I think I just went down a rabbit hole of looking at what species are out there and I realized that there's like a ton of subspecies of rainbows out there there's like different ones for different lakes it's like this lake rainbow and that lake rainbow and this lake rainbow and I'm and they all like had these same characteristics So I'm like, scratch what I said. It's a rainbow, but it's like, I have no idea which of these strains it is. Yeah.
Mel
Thousands of subspecies.
Katie
I mean, it's kind of like the cutthroat. Like I had no idea. I would have never been able to tell that this was a pure greenback cutthroat if I didn't know that's the only thing that's in this stream. And that's kind of how I feel about these rainbows. It's like, I don't feel like just based on the descriptions they had online or the drawings that I would be able to tell the difference without knowing where each one is found. But we did look at it compared to the the fish you caught that you knew were goldens. And it was I think once I saw because you were like, is this a golden? I'm like, I really don't feel like it is. But it also doesn't look like a typical rainbow. Rainbow. Yeah. Maybe maybe there's something I don't know. And then when I saw it compared to the goldens you did catch, it was like, no, this is definitely a rainbow. Like if that's what the goldens look like, then this is definitely something different.
Mel
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a blast. It was so special to catch those native Sierra golden trout. And it was extra special because I remember one, one night I was in this small stream, and I had to move a lot, right? Because there was, you know, you get your little pocket and you get a couple fish out of there, and then you move. And my entourage of the rest of my group was trying to follow me down the stream. And it was not easy terrain to navigate through. And they were all tripping over sticks and trying to get over logs and all the things. And it was awesome.
Katie
So you had the entourage the whole time?
Mel
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Katie
You should introduce them to like an e-reader or something.
Mel
I know. and that is one of the things at the end of the trip we all talked about kind of what what would you do differently next time and they all said you'd probably bring some entertainment for the evening because we didn't know we'd have this much downtime we just had Mel to watch fish that was it but yeah it was it was really fun I think that yeah I definitely know that the smaller ones that were in the streams I was catching were the goldens and they were little but so beautiful and just caught a bunch of them. And so that was, that was a really fun time. I'm glad I brought my little, it, my, I brought my five weight, I'm sorry. Um, my five piece rod. And so it was really small and packable down. So that was, that was cool.
Katie
I'm glad I brought it. Yeah. I'd still really like to do a trip to the Sierras. That's definitely on my bucket list.
Mel
Yep. I think you and I could, dedicate and do some research on what lakes are the best for it and dedicate actually our trip to that. Um, because this was obviously a side activity on this high Sierra trail. And I actually contemplated not bringing my stuff because, the weight, the weight part of my pack, like every item mattered because we were on the trail for eight days and so I'm glad that I did though so
Katie
yeah I feel like I could do like a five-day trip carry a little less food weight and bring more fishing stuff and turn it into like a dedicated fishing trip
Mel
yeah yeah I agree that would be really fun it's a beautiful spot because you have only been when you and I went to the little truckie right
Katie
yep I mean I've been to California separately but not um like I've been to San Francisco and stuff yeah right right so yeah definitely want to spend more time out there maybe hopefully in a not super bad fire year would be great
Mel
exactly we'll see when that is
Katie
never I think and that might be a permanent fixture at this point
Mel
they actually closed the high sierra trail cup I think just a couple of weeks after we went oh really for the kern valley fire so yeah and all the other fires around yeah so we got really lucky all right you're up What's your next one?
Katie
All right. We're starting to get into funny territory. And in the same way that I was mildly attached to that story because you had talked to me afterward, you were mildly attached to this story because I talked to you on the way to it. All right. I was driving out and I called you and I was like, I'm just going to go try this new spot. I don't know what's there. I want to catch some like bluegill or something. So I took my belly boat out and it was just this like kind of gross lake. Like it just sMelled like mud. And I get out there and there's carp everywhere. Like they're, they're, surfacing and I'm like, oh man, I really want to catch a carp. Uh, cause I have wanted to catch a carp for a long time and it just has never, I've never been able to do it. But I had my four weight in my belly boat and like some little, little like trout bugs that I was going to try to catch bluegill with. So, I think I ended up throwing on a, like a small woolly bugger. because I was like, well, if there's anything, if there's like small bass in here or something, I'd like to be able to catch both bluegill and bass. So I threw on this little streamer. And at one point my line's like tangled or something. So I've got my line in the water and my fly's like sitting on the bottom and I'm doing something and I go to pull back up and it's stuck. And I'm like, ah, this sucks. There's like a log or something. Then I find out it, a carp ran into it and it's like hooked in the back. And I'm like, oh man. So I, I try to get it it ends up like coming off and I'm like well it wouldn't have counted anyway because it was hooked in the back but I the more I'm out there the more I realize how many carp there are in this lake it's like a carpet of carp on the bottom a carpet I see what you did there yes and at one point I'm like I kick into shallow water and I'm kicking carp with my my fins it's like there's so many of them but I'm still like well I can't like I I haven't gotten carp to eat anything before like struggle with them as they're spooky and hard to catch. Well, then at one point I, I start to like hook into them, foul hooking them more regularly because they're everywhere that I'm pulling my fly and I'm just hooking carp in the tail. And it's getting to the point where I'm like, I can't keep doing this. I finally get another pull and I'm like, it's probably another carp in the back. And then I realized it's a carp in the mouth. Like I want to actually eat my fly and I'm so excited, but I've got a four way and a belly boat and it's just hauling me around this leg. It's just pulling me so hard my arm is so tired I'm having to like switch switch arms to keep this thing on and I eventually get it in and the thing's like I don't know 25 inches across it it's going across the whole belly boat from side to side across my lap and I want to get a picture of it because it's my first carp so I'm trying to like take a selfie with it under my arm like a football I've got these like terrible selfies of me like cradling this carp and I actually remember that the look face. I remember texting you afterward and being like, yeah, so I didn't catch any bluegill, but I did catch a carp by accident. It probably took me 20 plus minutes to land, even though it was right beneath me the whole time. You got a free ride. I did. I got pulled all around that lake. So now I feel accomplished because I'm like, I finally caught a carp after three years of wanting to catch one. But I don't feel like I really earned it because I feel like there were so many carp that it was just a matter of time. Like I didn't actually do anything skillful to catch this carp, but I'm also like, I bet I can catch carp whenever I want now if I just keep going back to this lake and just drop something to the bottom and wait. So we shall see. I might go carp fishing again there, but take like a fishing kayak at an eight weight instead of my belly boat in a four weight. Cause that was not, I was very undergunned for that experience.
Mel
Well, I also feel like there are certain fishing experiences that you just don't feel as skillful and you still caught fish and like that was my golden trout experience they were so easy to catch they wouldn't eat anything so yeah I think just the fact that yeah that you got this carp and it actually ate your fly
Katie
it did that's a win that was all I cared about I was like is it in the mouth good all right then it's official let me hold this thing like a football
Mel
Right.
Katie
So yeah, what's your, what's your next one? I guess your last one.
Mel
This is my last one. So this was on Labor Day of this past year. Um, Jarrett and I decided to take a trip to one of our favorite, what we would call local, local rivers. I think when I say local, I guess, what is your definition? Because I talk about like a three to four, maybe even five hour radius around us. I still call that local.
Katie
Local for me is 15 minutes, but I happen to be 15 minutes from a fishable river. So maybe that's why.
Mel
Yeah. My, our closest river that we fish is about 30 to 45 minutes. So, so I guess my range is just a little bit.
Katie
By local, you mean like in this region of the country?
Mel
Yeah. And my state. So, so we drove and, we, it's about a three, three and a half hour drive to this place. And I still call it a local river, but anyway, we have this Marco Polo video app that we do with my parents. Um, since my brother moved to Guam because the time difference is so drastic instead of texting and doing group texts, we just do the video updates for each other every now and then, and then you can watch it whenever. And so, we were fishing the, I think that, yeah, we were fishing our first day cause we got there late on Saturday night after Jarrett worked. And then we started fishing Sunday and I was taking a video cause the fishing was awesome. And we were catching our, you know, local West slope cutthroat. Um, cause that's all, Oh, sorry. Nope. That river also has bull trout and whitefish. Um, but we were most majority catching the cutthroat. And, so I was doing a Marco Polo for my parents and my brother, and I was saying how great the fishing was and, how, you know, we were getting pretty decent size fish. And I had, I was trying to kind of figure out approximately, cause we weren't measuring any approximately how big they were. And I was like, maybe, I don't know, 14 to 16 inches, something around there is kind of the average, what we're catching. And so, you know, after I did that video, I said, Jared, we should, we should start measuring some of these just because, you know, I'm curious because I did that video and I am actually really bad at trying to estimate. Yeah. So the next, yeah. So the next day we decided to get the measuring tape out and measure a bunch of these fish that we were pulling in. First one came out to be 14 and a half inches on the, on the dot, 14 and a half. Second one, 14 and a half inches. Third one, 14 and a half inches. I am not kidding you, Katie. Almost every single fish that we measured was 14 and a half inches.
Katie
Really? Was it the same fish, were you just catching the same one, throwing it right back in the hole and be like, Oh, look at another one.
Mel
Oh, we were all over this river. Unless that fish was like
Katie
it was a traveler. It was not all who wander a lost Mel.
Mel
Um, and so, you know, the ones that we, if Jerrett and I were kind of far apart and we were kind of just showing each other, you know, before we let our fish go, we'd hold it up and go 14 and a half or because we weren't measuring all of them. But so we ended up calling it the trip of the 14 and a half trip. And so that was just really fun. And I think one of my bigger ones was about 16 inches. Then I would say if I had to compare to the 14 and a half inch ones, it was about 16 or 17. I don't know, but the fishing was awesome we were for being labor day weekend there were not a lot of fishermen out which I was really surprised about because this this river is getting a lot more popular but we definitely saw a lot of hunters going by so I was like yes continue on hunters
Katie
you should go back to this river every year and see if like next year they're all 15 and a half inches. Then they're all 16 and a half inches and see like if they all stay this size or if they all grow the same rate.
Mel
Yep. Yeah. And on that same trip, there, was this big pool beneath a little waterfall and I was kind of sight fishing a little bit and I saw this huge fish in there and I'm like, Jarrett, that's gotta be a bull trout. So I'm going for it and going for it. And I keep pulling out cutthroats and cutthroat and whitefish. And, Jarrett decided to come up. He's like, Oh, do you want to go and fish the run below the riffles and use my dry fly for a little bit? Cause I'm catching them on the dry and it's really fun. And so we ended up switching, setups cause mine was a nymph rig and first cast he throws in there. He pulled, he pulls that dang bull trout out. I was like, are you kidding me? That's mine. it was really it was a beautiful fish I think it was probably a 20 inch or so
Katie
nice so yeah sweet well that sounds like a fun river I hope you get back there and can see like if it stays like this
Mel
the progression of I know because now we got to know are they always 14 and a half or
Katie
at some point this is going to be the river this is going to be the river of like 23 inch fish you know in like 10 years
Mel
I know I'd love to take you to this river if you ever come
Katie
I would like to go it sounds fantastic in a couple of years.
Mel
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Katie
I do want to come fish Idaho though. That's, that's another one that's on my list.
Mel
Oh, is it a goal for 2022?
Katie
It's not, but I can tentatively put it on the list. Once I know my schedule, I'll, I'll have a better idea of like what I can be doing. I tried to keep my goals very doable for my schedule.
Mel
Yeah, I agree with you. Same with me. I'm trying to do realistic goals so that I'm not bummed out when I look back on my camera roll.
Katie
I feel like that was something that I know we've got one more memory, but for the goals, I was very cognizant of like, don't pick goals that are just completely unattainable. I feel like nothing's worse than a goal where you're like, I want to fish Mongolia this year. And then you're like, that wasn't even a goal. That was just you saying like something you'd like to do someday. So I tried to pick goals that were very much like I could some weekend say like, hey, I'd like to accomplish this this weekend. Like, let's give that a try.
Mel
I agree with you. Like instead of saying, I think I'd like to go to Kamchatka. Well, that's a lifetime goal, but maybe not 2022. But yes, you have one more memory.
Katie
I do. So the actual fishing part of this story is pretty short, but there's a bit of a preface to it. Are you familiar with the Colorado Master Angler Program?
Mel
I am not. Fill me in.
Katie
Colorado has this program that is, they've got it for every species that you can fish for, and they've got different lengths for each species. So I don't know what they all are. I want to say rainbow trout. It's like 24 inches or something like that. And if you catch a fish larger than this length and like send a picture to CPW, you get a certificate and a patch saying that you are a Colorado Master Angler. so dang and a lot of them are pretty difficult I think to do like I like I said I don't I'd have to look it up but I want to say some of the trout are like mid 20 inches like 24 inches or you know just like fish that exist but you very rarely catch and I want to say like bluegill is like 10 inches or something like it's it's pretty big oh wow but I was looking through the list and I was like what can I catch on this list and of all the fish can you guess which one like just stood out as being totally attainable brook trout no a brook trout's like 18 inches or something oh dang white fish white fish you got it which I will say I think I did catch a brook no maybe brook trout 16 inches I think I have caught a brook trout that was longer than that but you have to submit it within like 30 days of catching it and it was that one I caught a couple years ago on the sasquatch trip yeah I think I sent you a picture of that one but so I can't submit that now I want to say that was 16 and a half inches or something like that and I think brook trout might be 16 but whitefish is 15 inches and I'm like nah yeah I'm just like this just does not fit with the rest of this list if we're talking about like 24 inch rainbows and 16 inch brook trout I feel like a whitefish if I had to put it on that same scale I would put whitefish at like 19 inches or 18 inches. But it's 15. And I was like, okay. So Mike and I went out and each caught one whitefish and each one was like 16 inches. So we submitted them and now we have matching master angler patches. Master anglers. Yes. So you are talking to a master angler.
Mel
Yeah. And you know what? I'm talking to a master angler for both whitefish and brook trout because in my head, you're a master. And you can get. Oh, go ahead. I was going to say, have you placed this patch anywhere yet? Because that's a big deal.
Katie
Yeah, I don't know where to put it. I don't have a good place for patches, but we kind of want to get enough of them. We can put them in like a little frame. I actually think I have it right here. It happens to be in my office. Here it is.
Mel
Oh, look at you. Oh, that's actually really cool. Are the patches all the same? No matter what species?
Katie
They are, unfortunately. I wish it had a glorious white fish on the front. Right. But they all just say the same thing.
Mel
Oh, my gosh. Katie, I'm in the presence of fame right now.
Katie
I know. And you know what? I bet you could do it too with one white fish. Just go out and catch one. And it's very likely to be a mass ring-length white fish. It's just one of those things that I want it to be prestigious, but it's totally not because this fish is so easy. It's so easy to catch a 15-inch white fish. I feel like most whitefish I've caught around, like all the states I've caught whitefish in have all been over 15 inches.
Mel
I agree with you. I'm like, if this one, you know, if they're mixed in with the cutties and the everything and it feels heavy, I'm going with it's a whitefish. It's a big whitefish. Yeah.
Katie
Yeah. So, yeah, that was my last favorite memory. But again, the fishing portion, that was pretty short lived. I mean, like I said, it's as easy as going out to a place that has whitefish and being like, there's one. And then, boom, you're a master angler. All right. So next time you come to Colorado, we'll have to get you one of these patches for yourself.
Mel
I like it. I'll put it on my favorite backpacking backpack. I think that's a good place for them.
Katie
Yeah. I think that'd be a good spot.
Mel
Oh, you should put it on your fly pack.
Katie
I think it's too big. Like, I don't think I have enough real estate on my fly pack for it. Especially not when I get like 12 more this year, you know.
Mel
Yeah, of course. All the same patch.
Katie
You can only get one per year, but you can get unlimited certificates each year.
Mel
Oh, man. You're going to run out of wall space.
Katie
I know. I know. I'm going to wallpaper my whole office with these certificates. Okay. Well, why don't we move on to our goals for 2022?
Mel
I like it.
Katie
I feel like these are going to go quicker because they obviously haven't happened yet.
Mel
Yeah, there's not really a story. It's just more of a quick discussion.
Katie
I actually removed one of mine because I think I may have one. I tried to think of some and the first one I put down, I feel like was kind of a cop out. But then I thought of some other ones that booted this one off the list. So I've got three now. How many do you have? Okay.
Mel
I have four.
Katie
Perfect.
Mel
So I could start.
Katie
Yeah.
Mel
You go first. Okay. So kind of as we were talking about before your last memory, I feel like when this became a subject and I started to think about my goals, you know, and I was out hiking with Maddie.
Katie
Bouncing ideas off her.
Mel
Cheers in the new year. I, you know, it's hard after having a trip like New Zealand when we did that in 2019. it's hard to kind of dial back to more realistic goals. Kind of like we were talking about earlier, you know, cause you, it's easy for my brain to say, Ooh, okay. Fishing goals for 2022. I, where do I want to go? What are these lofty trips that I want to take? And then thinking about, is that really realistic with my new job and all the things. And so I tried to come up with a little bit more local, goals. And again, you know what I mean by local
Katie
like somewhere in this half the country,
Mel
somewhere essentially that I can take a long weekend and do it. So, so I guess my first one is, the black, I really want to fish the Blackfoot river more, because the only time I've done it was with you. And I drove by it this past fall when I was coming back from Sealy Lake area. Shout out to Holly Maloney. That's right. What's up, Holly? Except she didn't answer my phone call. So right before in between Sealy Lake and Interstate 90, I was driving along the Blackfoot and looking at it and I'm like, this is just such a beautiful river. It's like a size of river that I really like, maybe a little big for wading sometimes, but, Jarrett and I really, really want to get a raft that is set up for fishing out of, and that is a possible attainable goal for this next year. We just don't really know where we're going to store it. Uh, but that's kind of our next toy that we'd like to obtain. And so if that becomes something, I would like to get over to Montana a bit more to those rivers within a few hours of us, Blackfoot, the Clark Fork, and those rivers and fishing. But even if we don't get a boat this year, my goal is to get over to the Blackfoot at least once or twice this summer and just do a weekend of exploring it and camping along it and fishing it so
Katie
that is a really good size river it's not overwhelming but it's not the kind of stream that you can just cast all the way across like you've got to kind of pick it apart
Mel
yes exactly yeah
Katie
I've only fished it that one time I think we were only there for a day on that yeah but I remember really really liking it that's where you got some of the coolest photos I have of I love that one yeah you're like the silhouette yeah that's probably like my favorite photo that's ever been taken of me fishing.
Mel
That's awesome. Well, good thing I took it with the nice camera because if it were a cell phone quality back in the day.
Katie
Oh, that would have been bad.
Mel
It'd be really bad.
Katie
I have to say it is. I do enjoy fishing with you, you know, because of our friendship and all, but it is nice fishing with somebody who has a nice camera and can use it.
Mel
Yeah, well, it is. I don't take that can't the Nikon out nearly as often as I used to because of the cell phones nowadays but t yeah so the Blackfoot river it's on the list
Katie
oh I'm excited to hear how that goes if you make it over there which that does sound like an attainable goal good for you
Mel
yeah yeah thanks thanks I'm really dialing it back
Katie
I would like to go fishing once this is my goal
Mel
yep can't fill up the camera roll with too many fishing trips be too overwhelming scrolling scrolling back all right what's your first goal of 2022
Katie
um my first goal is to catch a pike on the fly. I've caught pike but I've never really I tried once this actually this year probably the last time I went fishing and it was probably the worst day of fishing of my life oh I don't know if I told you about it It was just terrible. I went up. I can't say it any other way. It was just awful.
Mel
Oh, man. Your facial expression during that, too, was great. I wish everyone could have seen that.
Katie
Just terrible. It was so bad. I'll keep it brief, but basically I drove up to a lake in the mountains that's known for pike. It's supposed to be really good in the fall, and this was closing weekend sometime this October. And I went up there and it was just like hurricane force winds and there were waves just like crashing into me. I was in thigh deep water and I was getting water over the top of my waders that were up to my chest. Oh my gosh. It's like not conditions I would ever really want to fish in, but I had driven two hours to get there and I wanted to stick it out. And there was like a spin fisherman down the shore that was just raking in fish just to not stop catching fish. Oh no. And then had a little tripod that he was posing in front of for every single one. like to take a take a photo and I was over there just dying like getting watered on my waders couldn't cast anywhere because I'm casting into the wind thinking like oh the wind's blowing all the food this way you know I want to be on I want to be on the side of the lake but I couldn't so yeah anyway that's get it anywhere I didn't catch anything it was awful and so this year I want to go back there on a nicer day and redeem myself with a pike on the fly
Mel
I like it it's just like watching water flows you're gonna be looking hard at that weather forecast
Katie
oh yeah well it's hard with the wind because a lot of times you're just like oh it's you know sunny and 50 out and if unless they actually show the little wind symbol which I don't I don't know if I just didn't see that or if I just didn't trust that it was gonna be that bad or what it wasn't that windy down here so when I drove up it didn't get windy until I was 20 minutes away and then you know that's already right so so yeah I will try to redeem myself this year with a pike I think I can do it
Mel
yeah you can yeah you can I've caught one pike on the fly and it was awesome so I'm excited for you and also can we just really quick mention that wind is I don't know if you feel the same way but wind is one of my least favorite elements and
Katie
it's the worst I was just talking about this with Mike. It doesn't make any activity better because I'm not into kite flying or kite surfing or kite anything. It makes skiing bad. It makes fishing bad. It makes walking outside bad. It makes everything bad.
Mel
I could handle any element. It could be drizzling, sleeting, but if it's coming down without wind, I'm cool.
Katie
Okay. If we're talking about elements like falling down on us, I think fire is bad too.
Mel
Oh, well, yeah, you got a point.
Katie
Okay, but sitting around a campfire is nice, and sitting around a windstorm is not nice. So at least there's a redeeming quality to fire. Wind is just bad all around.
Mel
All around. Yeah. And I also miss post-fishing day fires with you. I think we're getting a little off topic, but I just wanted to say that.
Katie
Yes, it is truly the best. Yeah. Just like this trip was truly the worst. I'm thinking about our California trip where we just like sat around the fire for, I don't know, four hours just talking and drinking beers and eating like tuna on a cracker. And it's just so nice.
Mel
Tuna on a cracker never tasted so good. All right.
Katie
Next one. Next one. You're up.
Mel
I got another local. This is like local.
Katie
Alaska?
Mel
Okay. That's actually one of them, but not really, because I think that's not really attainable for 2022.
Katie
But I thought you were to say that's not really local.
Mel
I do want to that's on my list for traveling places to go within the next couple of years is Alaska for sure. And make it like a actually a fishing dedicated trip because I've been once, but it wasn't a fishing dedicated. Okay. So this one, this goal is, so I told you kind of about the local river that we usually go to 30 to 45 minutes. You can go over an hour to go up river quite a ways, but to actually get off of the freeway and go, you can get to the river. It's about 30 minutes from us, 30, 40. Anyway. So whenever we go to this river, I feel like we always just drive along it and stop along. And, you know, we know our, our main little pullouts and where it's good to go fish. And we always just do that. And there's this tributary off of the main river that is hiking access only. And it's supposed to be super beautiful. I think there's a trail that's like 13 miles from the point that you can go from the road over to another area that you could access a road or something. So it could be a through hike and you could drop a vehicle. And I really I don't know if we'll do the through hike this year, but I certainly want to do a couple of nights where we hike in even a couple of few miles and just explore that area. Cause I'm like, how have I never, I've lived in this area for several, several years now. And how have I never gone and fished this particular spot that's hiking only because how I just, you know, you know how it is. It's like, if you work a little bit harder for it and it's an off the beaten path, you're not right along the road. How much more special is that? right so that is very attainable and it is on my list for the summer
Katie
I feel like this is a classic good fishing goal of like I have been meaning to get to this place for years and it just hasn't I haven't done it because it's almost it's almost like there's there's places that are too close where you're like I could go there anytime so I've got I've got enough time off I'm gonna go to this place that takes two or three days to yeah see and then you overlook that's kind of how my greenback was like I can get there in 45 minutes but it still took me a while to actually come around to doing it because it's like I don't know it's just I'm trying to usually get bigger and better things and you just overlook these places that are like really close to home
Mel
right yeah because you know if you have a few days off in a row like you said you're like I'm gonna get out of town what can I do with this and really make the most of it but sometimes I gotta remember that there are places right near us that can be a really awesome weekend.
Katie
Cool. I'm excited to hear about this one too. By the way, before we finish, I feel like we should write these down and check in with each other about They're written. Okay, mine are written too, but I mean in an official manner. You can check it off and then tell the other person that you did it. I want to hear when you do these things. Oh, I agree. I want to be held accountable for myself too, so I don't just let them go by the wayside.
Mel
Yeah, let's do it. We'll send an email or something where we both add them. Sounds good. Okay.
Katie
All right. This one's a little more nebulous. This one is a location one for me too, but it's a little open-ended in that there's two lakes that I want to fish. I don't think they're both going to be attainable in the same year with my schedule. So my goal is to backpack to one of them, one of these two lakes that are in completely different parts of the lake, sorry, parts of the state. One is supposed to hold massive cutthroats and the other one's supposed to hold massive brook trout. And I can't decide which one is more exciting. My friend told me about them and he said that he has heard rumors that they're considering wiping out that brook trout population, I'm assuming in favor of native fish. So I want to say I might prioritize that one because I know the one with the cutthroats will continue to have cutthroats. They're not going to wipe those out. So I think if I could only choose one, I would probably prioritize the Brook Trout Lake. Also, because as I've stated, I must get the Brook Trout Master Angler Award. So absolutely. Well, officially.
Mel
Officially.
Katie
Yeah. Yes.
Mel
I would say if before you ever even said any of that, if you asked me, which one do you think that I'll go to? I would say the Brook Trout.
Katie
Really? Why?
Mel
Well, you know, you love catching Brook Trout.
Katie
Is this like a thing you think about me? You know, the brook trout gal.
Mel
She's the brook trout lady. No, I remember early Sasquatch days when we would talk about our favorite species. You're like, I just love brook trout.
Katie
I do. I will say, I think at this point I like cutthroat more only because of their specialness out here. You know, being native and stuff. But if I could only choose the look and personality of a fish, I think I would choose a brook trout because they're always up for anything. You know, they're always game to play ball when you throw a fly in. They're not picky. They're not snobby. They just take what you give them. And I like that about them. Yeah. And they're pretty. They are really pretty. They have the best personality of all the fish. But I would place a higher value on cutthroats. Yeah. And actually the cutthroat lake is close to another place that I caught my biggest cutthroat, like my personal best cutthroat. And I've heard that this lake has even bigger ones. So it is on my list, but I'm less worried about it dying off or anything like that. Or being killed off by the state. So I think I will prioritize the brook trout. Thanks for helping me walk through this and figure out my one true love in this world, which is brook trout. You're so welcome.
Mel
I thought I knew I could have a little bit of a pull here. Yeah.
Katie
So I'll let you know if I make it there and if I catch a monster book trout.
Mel
Yeah. You'll, it'll go on our email list. I'll hold you accountable. I'll hold you to it. Perfect. And what is the, kind of the estimated mileage for these?
Katie
I don't, I want to say, I want to say the cutthroat one. Actually, I don't remember the length, the distance of either. I think the cutthroat one is a longer hike and it's definitely a tougher hike. I think it's like the elevation gain is significant. I think the Brook Trout one might not require a huge hike. I think it's just in a less heavily trafficked part of the state. Like there's just not a lot of people going over there. But I don't remember what the hike itself is. Neither one was unattainable. It wasn't a place that you have to backpack. I'm hoping to backpack them just to spend more time there, but I don't think they require a backpacking trip. Oh, it could be a day hike type of thing. Okay. The cutthroat one, I think might be on the verge of a day hike. Like it might be six miles each way or something like that. Sure. Is like, I would rather stay the night at that point than come back, but I think you could do it. Yeah.
Mel
I think those are the best too. When you can get your fix of both backpacking to a beautiful location and you're also fishing like that. What's better. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's why. Yeah. That's why last year was tough for me because I was just doing these hikes over and over locally meaning you know within 10 minutes of me locally and
Katie
I like that you just say locally and then afterward you're like and here's the exact distance I have to specify because locally didn't narrow it down at all
Mel
yeah exactly so I didn't put priority on having my hikes include fishing it was more of I gotta get my butt in shape for this right big backpacking trip so so all right well I have two more oh right I forgot so you're second to last one this one's really quick I'll you know it's just I really want to get back to Canada which is local it is local it is local you're not part of Canada I mean we're talking three to four hours which, you know, that's within my window. And so I would really like to get back there. We haven't been back there to fish since we got engaged up there. This is the area where we caught the monster bull trout. And so, the fishing there is just epic. And regardless, if we, if we happen to catch the bullies at the right time of the year, in the fall, or if we end up just catching the cutties up there it's awesome fishing so we'll be going to the same guide we probably we might contact him but we may just do our own thing and wait it's a very wadeable river actually so well that sounds fun yeah and there's quite a few rivers to be explored up there but the one in particular that we had our awesome day on we certainly want to get back to this fall so
Katie
what is the name of that video I can put it in the show notes so everyone can go see you get engaged while catching massive bull trout. is it just like fly fishing proposal or something?
Mel
I think it's called the best catch a fly fishing proposal
Katie
i'll find it and I'll link to it so you can get like 50 more views from all my listeners
Mel
hey hey hey Mike, Mike you gonna watch it
Katie
Mike, put it on repeat you're just gonna watch it forever it's a loop
Mel
I mean this podcast is really for him you know so
Katie
it is it's truly only for him
Mel
cool yeah that so we're really excited and my new job schedule should certainly allow us to do so because we're gonna I'm gonna be working 312s and so I'll have four day weekends
Katie
oh wow awesome you know what that sounds like to me? a Colorado trip!
Mel
well I mean I didn't technically list that on my 2022 goals but I figured I might mention it
Katie
it doesn't even need to be stated because it's already set in stone it's not a goal if you don't even have to try right so yeah yeah I mean that's just that's just a given all right it's local I mean it's local for you so
Mel
I mean when we're talking about flight time it's definitely local
Katie
I don't know if we've mentioned do we mention that you live in Idaho just for people wondering what we what we're joking about when we say local and you're throwing out like states away
Mel
I think earlier you said I'd like to come fish Idaho okay that's all that has been mentioned
Katie
okay so so far Canada has actually been local Montana is pretty local local your California was local Colorado's local and Wyoming has Local.
Mel
Anything out West, baby. Local. Local. All right. All right. What's your final one?
Katie
My last one is a more of a year long goal and it is to dedicate more time to fly tying.
Mel
Oh, I love that.
Katie
Because I go in waves. I actually haven't started this year's wave, but it's generally like, oh, it's winter. I'll tie some flies. And then summer, I just completely give it up. And then I have to start from scratch when I pick it back up again. And so I want to kind of slowly work my way through flies getting more and more complicated so I can send you something other than brassies next year because that was depressing.
Mel
They were awesome though. They were so awesome.
Katie
You know, your goal should be to catch a fish on each one of the brassies I sent you.
Mel
Oh, why did I not think of that? Oh my gosh.
Katie
I don't think that's a hard, if you find some brook trout, don't worry. They'll be willing to play on those brassies.
Mel
Yeah. Play ball, baby. All right.
Katie
So yeah, I tie really basic stuff and I want to tie some less basic stuff. So I figured the only way to do that is to be on a more consistent schedule. And I'm thinking something as simple as just like, you know, every day go down and tie like one or two flies. So, you know, I don't have to dedicate more than like 10 minutes a day to do it. But that way it's just a very consistent thing that I'm showing up for all the time. Or even if it's like every couple of days, just like every week at least put in some, like dedicate some time to that.
Mel
and you'll get faster muscle memory if you're doing it all the time that's gonna be good and if you want to dedicate an hour you pull up a more complicated pattern
Katie
yeah I'll just put on in the background just put on the best catch a fly fishing proposal and just put that on loop
Mel
I mean it's kind of long it's like eight minutes so
Katie
I know so yeah yeah so that is my last goal
Mel
I love that. That's really awesome. I, gosh, I feel like starting a new job in orthopedics. I am just learning all the things, bone related. And so, fly tying is not on my 2022 list, but it's going to be eventually because I'm so stressed out with my new job. But once I can start to feel more comfortable and less of, I have to do everything outside of work to prepare for work, then I can do some things like, like fly tying. So I do have a kit, a beginner kit, but I haven't really busted it out yet. So it's probably a 2023 goal.
Katie
Okay. I started thinking ahead. I'm going to fish some local rivers in 2023 as well. I think. Yeah.
Mel
Yeah. Local.
Katie
Well, we can, I have, I'm going to do this every year. I mean, every January, get down and write some things down and discuss.
Mel
I'm happy to scroll through my camera roll for you every year.
Katie
Well, hopefully our 2022 goals are our 2023 memories.
Mel
Oh, yeah. That would be fun.
Katie
We could go through and figure. Oh, that'd be cool. We could go through and talk about which goal. Like, how did each goal go? Like, what happened? Did I go up to catch a pike and I was hitting, you know, whitewater? Or did it actually happen? Tune in next year to find out.
Mel
I like it. And now I've already got, you know, an idea for my goal setting.
Katie
I'm going to do some fly tying. Getting ahead on things.
Mel
Yeah. Yeah. I have a last goal that is not local. Oh, this is a big one.
Katie
Japan?
Mel
Close
Katie
It's the only thing outside your radius.
Mel
So as I mentioned earlier, my brother is currently living in Guam. And I am going to be going to visit him this spring. and he has a boat down there. And so most of our fishing, he's, he's been doing quite a bit of fishing. Um, but it's mostly deep sea stuff. And he also has, dabbled in the spearfishing world, which I don't know. I don't believe he's been very successful with spearfishing, but he has been with, on his boat. Okay. And so most of the fishing that we're going to do together is going to be like going for dorado and yellowtail yellowfin tuna and wahoo and so those are the three species that he said we're kind of going to be targeting but I am going to bring a fly rod because we're going to go on some hikes to these waterfalls and he said these streams have jungle perch in them
Katie
oh my god I have seen jungle perch well I don't know if it's the same ones but they were jungle perch in australia
Mel
okay and I guess these are native to guam so maybe they're just a tiny bit different but I don't know but I watched a video and it looks awesome I'm so excited
Katie
I think I might be the most interested in this one of your goals like to hear how it goes because it's totally outside the you know my realm of experience
Mel
yeah so jungle perch are on the list
Katie
do you know how to target them? like what do they eat?
Mel
no idea no idea Yep. This was something I actually reached out to my brother yesterday because I told him we were doing this podcast and I was going to throw in the goal of the species that we were going to target there on his boat. But then he said, well, actually, yeah, I mean, we can also target jungle perch on a fly rod. And I'm like, what? And so I looked up a video, just a really short video on YouTube and saw some people catching them. And so I'll have to look into it more and see what they're using and things like that. But hopefully they're not too picky.
Katie
Yeah. Well, my only experience with something called a jungle perch was in Australia. And we were going swimming. And the locals were like, oh, you'll probably see some gentle jungle perch. And they kept referring to them as the gentle jungle perch. And we got in and they started biting us.
Mel
Oh no.
Katie
I mean, they have like little mouths. It didn't hurt, but it was just like, not how I would describe like a gentle. Gentle. They came up and started like nibbling on our legs and stuff. So I hope you encounter the gentle jungle perch and you can let me know if they start attacking you if you get the water. Yeah.
Mel
Do some wet wading and I'll just scoop them.
Katie
Right.
Mel
I don't even have to get them on my rod.
Katie
That's what it would have taken for us. It's just a net. You just scoop them right up. Yeah. So yeah, I'm excited to hear that goes for you. You'll have to fill me in as you, I might look it up actually after we get off and just see if they're the same ones and you know what they look like, how big they get.
Mel
Yeah. If you just, I YouTubed Guam Jungle Perch and there's a guy, I think it's a couple, a guy and a gal that go out and film themselves fishing for him. And so I sent a picture to my brother and he's like, oh yeah, those are the same people that I watched do it. And that's how I know. Oh, cool. Like, okay. So probably one of the first videos that pops up, it'll be the same one.
Katie
So yeah. Well, when do you go to Guam?
Mel
Um, in May.
Katie
Okay. I will be checking back in with you cause I'll, I'll be excited to hear how that goes.
Mel
Yeah. I'm excited.
Katie
Well, that's a wrap.
Mel
yeah, I think that we have some good goals, had some great memories and this was really fun. I'm glad we did this. And I think that it was good to, to tie both of them in segue from memories goals because that was a really fun thing to start thinking about this past weekend.
Katie
For sure. I am impressed that we kept it to an hour and a quarter and not like three hours. I was like this could easily go on for hours and hours. So I'm proud of us. We kept it succinct. Kept things clean and tidy. And yeah, I think we should do it again next year. I think that'll be fun.
Mel
I mean, clean and tidy in true Katie and Mel fashion. Of course.
Katie
It's always how I describe myself when someone asks. Well, you know, I'm clean and tidy.
Mel
And succinct.
Katie
And succinct. All right. Well, we can wrap up and probably hang out for another couple of minutes and finish our drinks. I don't know if you finished yours, but mine's a tall one and it's still going.
Mel
Nope. And I have a little bit left. I've got this Yeti koozie. And so it's heavy and it works super well to keep my beer cold. but I can never tell how much beer is left because it's so heavy that I'm like, this could just be a crazy weight.
Katie
Yeah. I have some left though, so. Perfect.
Mel
Yeah.
Katie
All right. Well, let's sign off and I think we'll be checking back in next year then. Sounds like. Right on. All right, guys. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to head over to the website, fishuntamed.com, for all episodes and show notes. And also, please subscribe on your favorite podcasting app. That'll get my episodes delivered straight to your phone. And also, if you have not yet, please consider going over to Apple Podcasts and leaving a rating or review. That's very helpful for me, and I'd greatly appreciate it. Other than that, thank you guys again for listening, and I will be back in two weeks. Bye, everybody.
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