Artists on the Water

I fished with a couple good guys today that I’ve never hung out with before, Ryan of the TroutHunter Fly Shop and Derek DeYoung, fellow fish artist. Although I didn’t know Ryan, Derek and I have been in contact many times, we just haven’t fished together because he lives up in Livingston, Montana. That’s about five hours away from Victor, Idaho. But this weekend he was in the area and contacted me about fishing. Derek even towed down his lake boat so I met him up at Island Park Reservoir.

Derek has been painting his entire life and his talent is clear in his work. He’s is not only a fellow Simms T-shirt artist but also one of the top artists of the sport. His art appears everywhere from on fly boxes and water bottles to decals and you name it. He also sells his originals on his website and like most fish artists, takes custom commission orders. Although Derek and I both have work with Simms, sell originals and take custom orders, our art is very different. Derek works in oil paints while I work in watercolors. And Derek’s fish paintings are very contemporary while I tend to go more realistic. We complement each other very well, so much that we will be doing an art show together August 5th at Wyoming Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming.

The sun shined, the clouds thickened, and then the skies dumped sleet and rain on Island Park Reservoir. At times the lake was like glass, then a breeze came through and minutes later you feared for your life when the surface turned to a frothing sea of whitecaps. Fishing was tough to say the least. We managed just two fish. I landed a small rainbow on about the second cast of the day and Derek scarfed up another as we were getting wind swept down a structured bank just before the first pelting of ice pellets.

The three of us only fished for about four hours; however that was enough time for us to get to know each other a little better. I’ll see Ryan again next week when I’m over at the Henry’s Fork and Derek and I plan to meet at Island Park Reservoir yet again when the weather finally calms down and gets more predictable.

Next on the agenda is the “Bass on the Fly” tournament on Ririe Reservoir Tuesday June 14th. Granny, Weldon Jones and I will compete and try to do better than last year. After scoring a 3rd place then 2nd place in the two previous years we dropped out of sight last year and hope to get back near the top.

Then after the weigh in at 4 PM, we’ll head north to the Ranch Opener Party at the TroutHunter. If we can survive the bash we will fish the Harriman Ranch for a few hours the next morning. This will be my 25th year at the opening of the Ranch! Stoked!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website