Fish on Film

Nice bruiser of a common on my home lake 🎣

Shortly after Ryan caught his fish he went up to the truck to grab some photography equipment and right as he did we had another run!

Lovely maple and bronze colors on this one 🍁The face on this common also looked a little stubbier than normal 🧐

Ryan with his first common on a euro setup 💥

For those who don’t know, Ryan is currently filming a documentary about fly fishing the lower 48 states and is already well past his halfway point. He’s road tripping the entire journey while living out of his truck (but don’t pity him too much - it’s a legit set up).

After a couple days of getting our butts kicked going after carp on the fly (and only catching some pan fish) we decided it was time to switch up our approach and break out the euro gear. We headed on over to Ladybird... and well ended up getting our butts kicked there too. We spent 7 hours with no action, and thunder storms had started rolling in on top of us painting a pretty bleak picture of the reality of the situation. We weren’t giving up, but didn’t have much hope left either.

Yet as always when it comes to fishing, things tend to happen when you least expect it... After an entire day of no action the alarm absolutely SCREAMS. The rod pod almost flips over and before I know it Ryan grabbed the rod and started going to war with this fish and landed what at the time was his PB common! Little did we know he’d be breaking this PB within the next hour 😂

We had such a crazy few days on the water with plenty of highs and lows, but I’m happy to have been a small of this adventure!

📷: Pentax 646nii
🎞️: Kodak Portra 400

My first ever bass on the fly and it turned out to be a Guadalupe!

Fly Fishing is something I’m still very new at (and it shows in my cast), but catching this fish was so rewarding. I was out with my new friend Ryan and after hours of really struggling in our main spot we walked down stream to a more secluded area where he gave me a nymph to tie on. I spotted a bass in a small area with some other panfish, and after a few attempts I was able to convince him to eat!

Such a fun time

📷: Pentax 645nii
🎞️: Kodak Portra 400 ( developed by )

Thus concludes my trip to India

This journey was an absolute grind! My resolve as an angler was really pushed to the test, but to preserve and be rewarded with a fish few in history have caught made it all worth it. I’m extremely blessed, and I know I’ll forever look back on this trip with a smile. Couldn’t have done this without the help of and my good friend

Now time to set my sights on the next big endeavors. Lots of stateside stuff for a bit, but 2027 is already shaping up to be a big one 🙌🏼

📷: Pentax 645nii / RB67
🎞️: A mix of Portra, Gold, and a little bit of Ektachrome

David with an absolute GIANT of a Goonch Catfish💥

We decided to gamble on a new spot before the trip had officially ended. I had already caught the fish I was after, and David had at least caught a small one to check off on the species list - but was still yearning for a bigger trophy sized specimen. We had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

We drive to a nearby town and lug our dear down a steep cliff to setup on some boulders near the water where we spent hours sitting on the most
uncomfortable rocks as the heat was beating down on us. While we hadn’t given up, the reality of us not hooking into another fish had already set in…

Yet right when we were getting ready to make our peace with this expedition and pack it up for good, one of the rods ABSOLUTELY buckles over. David is hooked up and starts battling what we know is a good one up current. After a strenuous battle stretching close to 30 minutes in the most unideal conditions he starts to get good leverage and brings the fish in.

In a wild turn of events this buzzer be**er fish bit within the last hours of the last day!

We didn’t realize just how big of a fish it was until we landed it. It was a giant beyond our wildest dreams. We never would have dreamt that going into this trip we’d have not 1, but 2 goonch over 100lbs landed. I’m still buzzing from it, a trip I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.

📷: Pentax 646nii
🎞️: Kodak Portra ( developed by )

A few times throughout our trip we were graced with the presence of wild gray langurs

I tried to document them when I could, but it I found my self just enjoying the moment more times than not. A couple of times it felt as if they were putting on a show for us!

📷: Pentax 646nii
🎞️: Kodak Portra