One for the books

It had been a couple of years since I rallied over to this spot for a mission, which is way, way too long given how freaking badass it is. Case and Bubba joined on Sunday for what ended up being one of the best days of fishing any of us had ever witnessed.

Case, at the top of the "slide" getting ready to rig the raft for it's hour long belay down into the canyon and the river below.

Bubba packing things up. I know the only peeps that actually read this blog are friends and fam, but just in case there are others, the name and location of this float are still being withheld!!!

The primary reason why you don't see anyone floating this section and why the fish are so unaccustomed to seeing big dry flys! It's a full on ordeal just getting your boat down to the river to float.

Case running the belay and Bubba guiding er.

Putting the raft warranty to the test! We took Case's 16 foot boat which was as big of a craft as you would ever want to try and navigate down this lil gem of a river.

Yep, it really is that steep! Case, in the shot two above, belaying it down the final pitch.

Bubba, trying to get a shot of the final slide down to the river.

And........., finally, Eureka.......pot at the end of the rainbow. A river all to ourselves with nothing but a ton of fish to keep you company.....And ohh yea, rattlesnakes too! I literally came within a few inches of stepping on a rattler that was shaking his tail like he meant business.

Gotta air it out whenever possible. Case, taking a break for fishing for a swim.

Oh yea, and then there was the epicness of the fishing. It was non stop good. Literally every single fly that we pulled out of the fly boxes worked. It was just one of those days.

The cutty's here look like no other cutty's I have seen elsewhere. All kinds of funky spotting to em.

Bubba, getting ready to release.

Hell yea Case.

We didn't catch any absolute monsters, but the sheer volume of fish made up for it.

Did I mention not only was the fishing off the charts, but as an added bonus, there are multiple entertaining runs of class III whitewater too!

The fishing was so hot we were catching fish literally in "dead" water that had no movement to it and was infested with weeds.

"Huh, that looks a little tight for the 16 footer."

Case, scouting the last rapid. Nope, that isn't a walking stick. It's a "watch the f-out for rattle snakes" stick.

I made a commitment to come over and do this more than once a year. It's just too good not to.

Umm yea, there isn't any sort of boat launch at the take out, just a 4wd road that is pretty gnarly that gets you about 50 yards from the river. So, you kinda have to get creative getting your boat back on the trailer. Using the climbing rope on the winch to make it happen.

Have moto, will shuttle.