Hungry Horse Res (campgrounds, to eat, best)

[rickers]

I caught a twenty six inch Brook Trout at the Quarter Circle Bridge once. I was taking it to the parking area by letting it hang from the line with the hook still in its mouth and the 6 pound line broke twice as I was carrying it to the truck. The line was worn and frazzled and I still wonder how I managed to land the monster.

[Reziac]

Ya know, we COULD consider buying new fishing line once in a while... instead of being cheap buggers who untangle what we find on the riverbank and use that instead (yes, I actually did that when I was a kid!)

[grizzfan]

Rezia says:

The fly fishermen all stared at me like they'd seen a bear. But they went home emptyhanded, and I had fresh fish for dinner.

They were probably all "catch & release" pukes anyway and had never tasted a pan-fried trout!!

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by Reziac

And my landing technique isn't sport, either -- it's designed to ensure that I eat. I don't play the fish up to the bank. Once the hook is set I just HEAVE on the line, the fish flies out of the water and sails overhead, then I go hunt for the fish over in the bushes.

That's EXACTLY how I land most ALL of my trout when I used to fish in PA ! I got tired of loosing them when they get a few feet from me. I wanted to eat too... and when they got close enough to catapult on shore that's exactly what I do. Zing... and watch em fly . It's a trip trying to find them sometimes isn't it ?

And I always thought I was the only one that did that ! I have never seen any ever do it... totally hilarious.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by grizzfan

They were probably all "catch & release" pukes anyway and had never tasted a pan-fried trout!!

Heh heh, probably so... me, I can't see annoying the fish if I'm not gonna eat 'em. And when I want fish for dinner, I don't want to spend the whole day at it... just catch the durn thing and go home and cook and eat it!

I'm not real fussy about what kind of fish, either. There are a lot of whitefish (suckers) in the small streams off the East Gallatin, and while the trout are spawning and taste like crap, the whitefish are really good. Just gotta be careful about the 10,000 little bones. Whitefish roe is good too -- milder than commercial caviar.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Stephan_K

That's EXACTLY how I land most ALL of my trout when I used to fish in PA ! I got tired of loosing them when they get a few feet from me. I wanted to eat too... and when they got close enough to catapult on shore that's exactly what I do. Zing... and watch em fly . It's a trip trying to find them sometimes isn't it ?

And I always thought I was the only one that did that ! I have never seen any ever do it... totally hilarious.

LOL!! I'd never heard of anyone else doing it either!! Tellya, we better never go fishin' together, we'd fling those fish around and wind up trussed up in each other's lines!

[rickers]

Originally Posted by grizzfan

They were probably all "catch & release" pukes anyway and had never tasted a pan-fried trout!!

I really wouldn't refer to folks who believe in catch and release "pukes" and these days if a person hooks up and just flings it out of the water without knowing exactly what they are taking, they are just begging for a citation at the least and possibly getting all your fishing gear confiscated as well as your brand new truck. I release most fish I catch in a manor that will let them live and the main reason I do release most of the fish I catch is because I respect the law for one and the other reason is because way too many fish are contaminated with mercury. I will keep small mountain stream fish as they are generally quite clean.

[rickers]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I'm not real fussy about what kind of fish, either.

I'll start saving up all the long-nose suckers I hook up to for ya !
You'll be sorry, My drunken dirt-bag sister in law that sponged off of us for two years before we booted her ass out of our house after two years, wanted to eat a long nose sucker that I had caught. She cooked it and I had to evacuate the house (myself) from the stench ! She took one bite and left it in the pan she cooked it in, I went to the pan with the sucker in it that she left on the stove and took a whiff and came real close to tossing my cookies, those things are NASTY ! I have heard that the Blue Suckers are tasty but I don't have the guts to try them yet. I have no problem with fishing for fun, I also have no problem with seriously torturing our enemies we take as prisoners to glean information. I have to go shave my head now and trim my Van-Dyke, (Not to be confused with a Goatee !)
I get my Blackfeet licence in a day or two and I'll try not to get stuck in the mud at Mitten Lake.

[Reziac]

Dunno about other kinds but what I was catching were mountain whitefish. Funny thing, when the trout are nasty they're good, and when they're nasty the trout are good, so there's always SOME fish fit to eat Biggest one I ever caught was close to 3 pounds... you sure don't expect that big of a fish in a little stoney irrigation ditch that barely has water in it!

And then there was the night I went out fishing (whitefish bite best around sunset), flung my rod back to cast it, and hooked a bat.

[rickers]

I hooked a seagull once by casting too high in a balistic manor and a seagull grabbed my bait and got hooked. It was scary trying to get the hook out. We gave up and cut the line as short as we could.
The very first time I ever fished it was on my "Daddaw's" ranch at the base of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. He had his own little steep drop and pool creek no wider than four feet. He showed me how to tie a piece of fishing line onto a stick and tie on the hook. We dug a few worms and took a few small pan size trout out of a few pools. On the way home we shot a few buzzards at his water spring and then once home we cleaned them and fried them in a pan on the wood cook-stove.
I've been hooked ever since !