Look More and Fish Less on Small Streams

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When I’m not in my drift boat on the river I’m wading fishing on small streams. Most large rivers don’t provide much sight-fishing opportunities for the fly angler unless they have low enough flows, clear enough water or plenty of rising fish. On the contrary, almost all small streams offer great sight-fishing opportunities for fly fisherman. Fly fishing small streams over the years, I’ve learned that if I take the time to look over a spot thoroughly before I fish it, I usually have much more success. Spending just a couple minutes studying a section of water allows me to break it down into pieces, figure out where the most likely trout lies are and I often will even spot a fish or two in the process. Blind casting will catch fish, but

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Surface Tension

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IT’S ALL ABOUT BREAKING THE SURFACE.

I’m always reluctant to talk about my photography. Somewhere, deep inside, I suppose I think no one is interested but I keep getting requests asking me to talk about my photos so I guess I should. I thought today I would talk a little more in depth about an image I love and why I love it.

My fly fishing photo library contains almost 400,000 images. That’s a lot to get your head around. Think of it this way, in my office there is a safe containing over a dozen external hard drives. Each holding between two and six terabytes of data.

There are a great many different kinds of photos in there. Hero shots, scenics, moments of epic timing as well as failed experiments, half baked ideas and photos of my drunk friends. Some of them puzzle even me and I live with the uneasy idea that the best photo I ever took may be just lost in all of that data.

One thing seems to be true about this mountain of work. The cream does rise to the top. Over time certain images just continue to catch my eye. Some I love at first sight, but others I fall in love with over time. I find that those are the images that end up meaning the most to me. The ones that take time to love and understand.

Here’s the tricky thing. Time is not a luxury that photographers enjoy. Time is more of an adversary. Here’s what I mean.

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Sunday Classic / Keep Your Rod Tip Off the Water for Longer Drag-Free Drifts

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Are you finding yourself struggling to get long drag-free drifts on the water?
If the answer is yes, you may be holding your rod tip too close to the water during your drifts. When your rod tip is positioned too low, you’re putting unnecessary fly line on the water that you in turn have to manage in order to maintain a drag-free drift. As soon as this unwanted fly line hits the waters surface, it’s immediately subjected to the surrounding currents. Depending on how fast the current is at your feet, the less time it will take for it to be pulled downstream and begin effecting your drift. Eventually all the slack will be pulled out in your fly line and your drag-free drift will be compromised. There’s of course a happy medium though, on rod tip position. Too high, and anglers will find it difficult to effectively mend and set the hook. I generally tell my clients to keep their rod tip at least three feet off the water’s surface.

Here’s a simple drill to help you understand

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Saturday Shoutout / TFM’s 12 Days of Christmas

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Get some free stuff from TFM!

Tomorrow is the start of The Fiberglass Manifesto’s 12 days of Christmas giveaway. This is the coolest gear giveaway and Flyfishing. TFM will be giving away something bad ass every day. All you have to do is email to win. Get over there now to get in on the good stuff!

TFM’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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New Partnerships, New Products from Fishpond

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Watch the Video!

FISHPOND IS AN IDEA FACTORY!

The thing I love about these guys is, they never stop innovating. This year is no exception and the best example may be their new Co-Lab products. Fishpond has partnered with Chaco and Voormi to develop new products unique in fly fishing.

Best of all Fishpond’s heart and wallet are in the right place. A significant portion of the sales of these products goes to the Western Rivers Conservancy. That’s a win all around.

Check out this video to see the cool new products and watch me pour water all over our friend Kara Armano!

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If It Looks Offensive, Fish It!

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By Justin Pickett

Does a trout fly have to “be something?”

I was once approached by a man on a local stream after I had brought a nice male Rainbow Trout to the net, and immediately he asked the age old question, “What’d he eat?” I removed the fly from the trout’s kyped jaw and held it up for the older gentleman to see. The look of shock and awe… no… make that shear terror… on his face was priceless.

“What the hell is that supposed to be?!” to which I replied,

“I dunno, but it works!”

The fly in question is the brainchild of a good friend, and colleague, of mine. He fishes it all the time, and has lovingly named it the “Trout Brain.” It is a large, ugly, bulky, pink, flesh-like pattern tied on a partridge hook with a bright, fluorescent orange, tungsten bead. To look at this thing, you’d think that there is no way any self-respecting trout inhabiting the lower 48 would eat it. Hell I’ve had clients and other fishing buddies downright refuse to tie it on their rig. I’ll admit I had my doubts at first as well.

It is definitely a far cry from what you would consider a “traditional” fly pattern, but it has proven to be very effective. Do I know why

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Tenkara Fly-tying

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2 Cool Videos

I initially got interested in fly-fishing because of flies and fly-tying.

The idea of creating a lure using feathers and thread was very appealing to me. Before I ever got my first fly rod I probably tied well over 100 flies. Of course, I got indoctrinated in the western fly-tying school, that of trying to imitate, at least somewhat closely, the insects that lived in the waters I fished. Then, I discovered tenkara. When I first discovered the method I saw in it just the idea of using a rod, line and fly. For my first year of tenkara fishing I continued using the western flies I had learned to tie: parachute adams, elk-hair caddis and some cool mayfly nymph imitations. And then I started learning tenkara from the people that had been doing it for decades in Japan, and I started paying closer attention to their flies.

TENKARA FLIES OPENED UP A BRAND NEW WORLD FOR ME.

Sure, tenkara flies, called kebari in Japanese, were still supposed to fool fish by somehow looking like the insects those fish ate. While not all tenkara flies look the same, the most characteristic tenkara flies are the so-called sakasa kebari, or “reverse-hackle fly”. To a western fly angler they will look more like soft-hackles but with the hackle facing away from the bend of the hook, reversed. This reverse hackle style is very popular and has become my preferred style fly to use. With it, when I’m fishing in moving water the fly will always retain some profile to it rather than becoming a sliver and “disappearing”. I can also impart motion onto the fly, with a light pulsating of my rod, the fly will open and close and look very buggy.

Just like I got into fly-fishing because of flies and fly-tying, I can say that the tenkara flies and what they represent certainly had some impact on my interest in tenkara too. Tenkara flies show us the different approach of suggesting bugs rather than trying to imitate them. They also bring with them the philosophy of using any “one fly” (not changing flies nearly as much as we do in western fly-fishing), and the idea of tying the simplest fly you can get away with. How I wish I had known about tenkara flies when I started learning how to tie flies (my first several hundred flies I tied by hand, without the use of a vise.

TENKARA FLIES SHOW US HOW SIMPLE FLY-TYING CAN BE.

Here are two videos I think people should watch to learn about tenkara fly-tying

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5 Tips To Stop Breaking Off Bonefish

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By Louis Cahill

If you’re breaking off bonefish, there’s probably and easy fix.

Someone asked me not long ago about losing bonefish due to tippet breaking. It happens to the best of us but there are only a couple of ways for it to happen and each has a pretty simple fix. If you follow a few simple guidelines you can cut way down on the number of bonefish you lose.

It’s fair to say that several of the potential problems I’m going to talk about apply to almost any species of fish. Some are much more common in the environment where we find bonefish and others just happen more frequently because of the speed with which things happen in bonefishing. It is a demanding game but breaking fish off should not be a problem.

Keep in mind that tippet strength is always a concern and in no way a constant. The weight of your tippet has everything to do with where you’re fishing. In locations where bonefish see a lot of pressure, you will need to fish lighter tippet and you will have to be much more diligent. Regardless of the strength of your tippet, there is no reason not to fish to the best of your ability and each of these tips is relevant.

How bonefish break off and how to stop them.

THE HOOK SET

One of the most common ways anglers break fish off is on the hook set. Bonefish behave unpredictably. Often a fish will eat your fly and make an immediate turn away from you. Sometimes even before you strip set. This is most common when a fish charges the fly while it is still high in the water column. Even small bonefish are powerful and failing to give them line when they need it will result in a familiar popping sound. You need to

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Sunday Classic / My Favorite Bonefish Reel

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STILL MY FAVORITE BONEFISH REEL.

BEST OF ALL IT ONLY COST $285

I remember standing on the beach at Andros South watching my buddy Bruce Chard teaching his annual bonefish school. Bruce was illustrating for a first timer what he should expect when he encountered a bonefish. He held the line and let the student feel how hard he should strip set, then he took off running down the beach a fast as he could. The student did a good job of clearing the line and getting Bruce on the reel but I’ll never forget the look on his face when Bruce turned and ran straight back toward him. He stood slack jawed, line piled up at his feet while Bruce and I laughed.

That’s exactly what a bonefish will do to you. They can swim thirty miles per hour and at some point, as they go ballistic and criss cross the flat they’ll head straight for you. You had better be ready to pick up some line in a hurry. The first time it happened to me I struggled. My reel wouldn’t pick up the line and I resorted to stripping it in by hand. My guide told me to, “get rid of that trout reel.” Of course, it wasn’t a trout reel but it clearly wasn’t a bonefish reel either.

The next time I went bonefishing I had to be better prepared. I knew I needed

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Saturday Shoutout / A Special Year

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IT’S BEEN A SPECIAL YEAR FOR MY BUDDY PAUL PUCKETT.

You may remember the article he wrote for G&G a while back, “Half Way Through A Bad Decision.” Paul took on the idea of spending a whole year fishing a single fly. In this case the Everglades Special. I think it’s fair to say he found it challenging.

Well here’s the video evidence.

“A SPECIAL YEAR PART ONE”

Watch Paul and the crew from Flood Tide take on Tarpon and Permit in all the wrong ways.

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