Well, after some delay -- yeah, I was fishing -- here are the winners of the Fish-Only Photo Contest:
Jason Wells wins one dozen Dechutes River trout flies for this amazing shot of a leopard-spotted cutthroat in a Clackamas River tributary stream.
Nice, nice shot! It looks like the fish is floating on air, and check out those spots -- especially on the tail -- and the white-tipped fins of a wild trout. Jason, send your address to [email protected] so I can get those flies into your hands!
Here's the second-place winner:
John from Portland will get six Deschutes River flies for this shot. I really liked that the fish wasn't huge, but it was beautiful. I have a soft spot for small, colorful wild trout, as I do catch a few of them myself. This fish is from Oregon's Deschutes River, and you can see the clear water, greenish rocks and Elk Hair Caddis that fooled this fish.
John will get six more flies to show Deschutes River trout -- as soon as he sends in his mailing address.
Third place goes to Mike Timberman, who sent in this shot:
What a nice grayling! Mike hooked this fish on a self-guided trip to Alaska's Alagnak River. I can't imagine how fun it would be take a float trip down an Alaskan river. Mike clearly caught this fish on an egg fly.
I've never hooked a grayling on an egg fly, but I had the pleasure of hiking into a lake during my one and only trip to Alaska -- so far -- and hooking countless grayling on Griffith Gnat dry flies. Grayling actually act just like I've read in angling articles. They do jump into the air and eat a dry fly on the way down. It's kind of weird to see this, but I never got tired of the stunt. I have to figure out a way to get back to Alaska for a two-week-long Fishathon.
Mike, send me your address, as Deschutes River trout flies work in Alaska -- and lots of other waters.
Wait -- we're not done yet!
This photo contest -- the blog's second -- had a record number of rule-breaking entries. The biggest rule for the contest was that the photo had to show a fish -- but no humans. Of course, plenty of shots came in with human hands, humans holding up massive brown trout -- yeah, I'm talking about you, Cory -- and other illegal shots.
This gaudy disregard for the rules prompted me -- through admiration -- to create a prize for best shot that included humans in the shot. The prize? Why, it's one spool of red fly-tying thread, as this category is all about my own red tape.
Paul Huffman is the winner of the tape, and here's his shot of a big, stunning Westslope cutthroat trout caught somewhere in Washington:
Paul knows what to do to get his prize, but we all know the real prize was finding, hooking and releasing such a handsome fish. I still get a little envious whenever I see this shot. The photo also reminds me that some exceptional wild trout live in the Pacific Northwest.
I'll cook up another photo contest during the next month or so -- and maybe it will start around Halloween. I'd love to hear suggestions for themes or rules -- not that most of us pay attention to those silly details.....
