Playground Earth Relay Episode #3 – Fly Fishing Owyhee River
Louis and I are proud to showcase with all of you today Episode #3 of the Playground Earth All-Terrain Relay sponsored by BFGoodrich, which documents an epic off-roading and fly fishing adventure to the Owyhee River in Oregon for trophy brown trout.
We couldn’t be happier with the final cut and we hope all of you thoroughly enjoy watching the brilliant work created by Camp 4 Collective. First, we’d like to thank BFGoodrich and The Martin Agency who believed in us and allowed us to participate in this once in a life-time opportunity. We’d also like to thank Camp 4 Collective for making us look top notch and Rob Parkins, our Lead Location Scout, who put in countless hours of his time to make sure our relay was a success. We couldn’t have pulled it off without these great partners.
Read More »Fill Flash For Cooler Photos
WHEN SHOOTING IN NATURAL LIGHT YOU CAN OFTEN CREATE DRAMATIC AND BEAUTIFUL EFFECTS WITH FILL FLASH.
If you have a dedicated flash for your camera, it can be pretty easy. Here’s how to start. Most DSLR cameras have a flash output adjustment. It allows you to turn up and down the flash power in thirds of stops: -.3 being one-third stop darker than a normal exposure, – 1 being a full stop darker. There is a similar adjustment for ambient light exposure. If you’re not sure how to set these functions check you manual. For a nice natural fill flash look, set your flash in TTL mode and start with a setting of +1 for ambient exposure and -2 for flash exposure. Check the results on the view screen and adjust up for a brighter image or down for a darker image. Experiment and see how the image changes. Your first
Read More »Use Side Pressure To Avoid Breaking Off On Snags
You’ve got a big fish on and it’s making a screaming run straight for a big snag on the far bank. What should you do to decrease your chances of breaking off?
Your best bet is to apply low side pressure with your rod while keeping a perpendicular position between you and the fish at all times. Doing so you can put twice as much pressure on the fish than you normally can when your fly rod is in the overhead fighting position. Secondly, it’s much easier for you to steer the fish’s head and turn its direction using low side pressure. Always follow the fish up and down the river during the fight. The closer you stay to the fish the more leverage and power you can apply to steer and control the fish. Lastly, don’t tighten down on the fish trying to stop its run towards a snag, because nine times out of ten you’ll end up breaking the fish off. The harder you pull on a big fish the harder it generally going to pull back. If you find playing the fish aggressively makes the fish fight harder
Read More »Take the Time to Research Your Boat Ramps
It’s really easy to get excited about a last minute trip when your buddy calls and says the fish are biting, and then not take the time to research the logistics of where you’re going to be fishing. Much of the time things work out in the end when we’re doing what we love, but every now and then, no matter how hard you try to make things right, you’re bound to get screwed. That was the case for us during our final day of our recent musky trip with our good friend Charlie Murphy in West Virginia. Due to poor water conditions, we had to go with a Plan B and change our fishing location the final day of our trip. Charlie had taken a friends word that we could launch our boat at the designated spot with no problem. Unfortunately, his acquaintance thought we were launching a drift boat, not a john boat, and that turned out to be and impossible task, without the aid of a cheap pvc roller and a 20 foot section of rope. Now, I’m known for being able to back up a truck and trailer with the best of them and until this day, I was batting a 1000%. So much for my perfect batting average of backing up, because this midget boat ramp put it to me. I tried like hell, but it just wouldn’t fit.
If we would have had the time in our plans to drive by and look at the boat ramp prior to our fishing we could have saved a wasted trip by getting the equipment needed or headed back to our first spot where the musky fishing was super hot. We had nailed them the first couple days but the musky weren’t monsters. Let me give some advice to those that are willing to take it.
Read More »Wind in Saltwater is Your Friend Not Your Enemy
Its 6:30am in the morning when we arrive at the boat launch in Big Pine Key, FL.
Within minutes of stepping out of the car the stagnant humid air begins to suffocate my body. The North Georgia mountain weather that I’ve grown so accustomed to, feels like air conditioning compared to this, and my body is still in shock from the drastic climate change. As I walk down to the boat ramp to help unload the boat, I feel the first drops of sweat rolling down my back. I think to myself, are you freaking kidding me? The sun isn’t even up yet. There’s absolutely zero breeze this morning, so calm you could spot a fish rolling on the surface three hundred yards away. My eyes seem confused at what their witnessing. If you had blindfolded me, and taken me here, there’s a good chance I’d guess I was on a freshwater reservoir. Call me crazy, but I was under the impression there’s always supposed to be at least some wind in the saltwater. I’d know better, but I’ve spent very little time in the Florida Keys during the late summer. Apparently, it’s quite common to go days without any wind during the months of July, August, and September. Awww, it makes total sense why I saw all those sailboats anchored up now.
You always overhear fly fishermen complaining about too much wind on the saltwater flats, but you rarely hear fly fisherman begging for it. To much or too little of either can spoil your fly fishing on the saltwater flats, making fishing conditions extremely tough. Believe it or not, wind is your friend and can at times, be an asset for fly fishermen. For starters,
Read More »A Flybrary for Anthony
By Mark Greer,
WHEN MY SON, ANTHONY, SUDDENLY DIED IN MARCH 2011 IT WAS BEYOND DEVASTATING.
His loss was the most excruciating pain that I’ve experienced during my life time. Anth was a talented fly fisherman and a Green River Outfitters Guides Association (GROGA) certified guide on the famed Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir. He was a college student, he tied his own flies, and he fished every waking moment that he could. He was also the kind of angler that would walk up to another angler on the water, strike up a conversation, offer them a secret tip for that specific spot, and then leave them with a couple of flies which he’d been successful with that day. He was also a fly-fishing evangelist, as everyone that expressed an interest in fly-fishing, Anth would take them out with him – teach them to cast, and give them the needed gear to get them started and off on the right foot.
In an effort to cope with the loss of my son, I did two things. I kept a journal where I’d write my thoughts and what I was struggling with, and I started a (picture) scrapbook of all his fishing adventures. I also decided during that first year of his passing that I’d do a special remembrance project for each year for 10-years. These projects, along with the journal and scrapbook, became my makeshift-therapy for dealing with my son’s death. Here’s a list of those projects.
Read More »Flood Tide Redfish
By Owen Plair
I ALWAYS TELL MY CLIENTS THAT THE FLOOD TIDES ARE A GIFT, TO ANGLERS, FROM MOTHER NATURE.
Targeting tailing redfish on flood tides, from Northern Florida all the way to North Carolina, is one of the most unique opportunities for fly anglers. Something about seeing a tail slowly cut through the top of the water column, surrounded by short spartina grass, on a flat that is only covered by water a few times a month is simply special. Watching these fish casually tail their way through the flat, digging their noses in the mud looking for fiddler crabs is almost as fun as watching them at the end of your fly line.
This is a simple and short explanation of this unique style of redfish and will be the introduction to more articles on flood tide redfishing, which will be more detailed on characteristics of flats, fishing, presentations, fly selection, and equipment.
What is a flood tide?
A flood tide is a larger than normal tide that pushes water onto short spartina grass flats, allowing redfish to feast on the thousands of fiddler crabs that live there. In areas where flood tides occur, there is a lot more tidal flow than most redfisheries in the US. For example, here in Beaufort our average tide is between 6-7 ft, but your flood tides would be 7.5-8.5 ft which pushes enough water on these short grass flats for the redfish to move in.
On average we get around 10-15 of these tides per month, depending on moon phases, and only fish the floods from the middle of March till the end of November, depending on weather patterns. Once the water temp gets below 65 the fiddlers go down and the redfish stop tailing. No food means no tails. Tide charts are your best friend when it comes to flood tides and I seem to find myself always looking forward to the next set of floods!
How do you fish a flood tide?
When fishing the flood you usually want to start around
Read More »Land More Bonefish By Safely Clearing Your Line: Video
A lot of bonefish are broken off in the first few seconds of the fight.
One of the most common problems for new bonefish anglers is managing the whirlwind of fly line created by the fish’s first blistering run. If left to its own devices that line will find something to wrap around. Maybe your real seat or reel handle or even your head. Whatever it finds, these powerful fish will break off immediately when the line comes tight.
It’s a situation that’s easy to avoid, once you know how. Once you strip set on a fish, just separate your hands by at least three feet and let the line slip through your fingers, keeping pressure on the fish, until all of the line is all out. Then you can use the reel to really put some pressure on the fish.
WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE HOW IT’S DONE.
Read More »Getting in Bed With Bass, Part 2
By Justin Pickett
It’s time to get serious about catching that trophy bass.
In part one we covered the when, where and how of fishing to bass on beds. Now we’re going to talk about the get, flies and presentations that make for success.
The Presentation
So, you’ve found Ms. Piggy sitting just off of her bed, seemingly staring intently towards her nest and chasing bluegill away from her vicinity. It seems as though she’ll likely eat anything dropped near or onto her bed. What’s next?
First, let’s address your setup. I recommend swinging a 7-9 weight, fast-action rod with an aggressive weight-forward floating line. You’ll need the power in the ass of a beefier rod to help set the hook solidly. I don’t stress so much on reels for bass, as they do a lot more jumping and thrashing than they do any kind of running. I do make sure to hunker down on my drag though, just in case once tries to take me into some trouble nearby. I throw short, beefy leaders when fishing to bass on beds. I need my flies to turn over quickly because I’m doing a lot of close up work in shallow water, so I typically stick with 7.5ft leaders and 12-15lb tippet.
The second thing we’re going to touch on is your timing. When you decide to hunt for these fish is going to play into your success rate. Your chances are best in the early morning and evening hours. Low light can make these fish a little harder to spot (another reason to always wear polarized sunglasses), but that’s when fish begin to drop their inhibitions and feel less threatened by predators. High sun is a great time for spotting beds and fish, but also makes it a lot easier for the fish to spot you as well. ShadowsI’ve had the glare from a raising fly rod spook many fish in my experience. I’m not saying don’t try during the middle of the day, but the odds aren’t as great. When planning your stalking, try to plan fishing during the first and last few hours of the day, or on overcast days. The other reason for fishing first thing in the morning is the fact that they have had all night to settle in and chill by their bed. This is especially true for bass that see heavy angling pressure.
Thirdly, let’s talk fly patterns. I kind of have a system that I go through when I find a fish on a bed that’s aggressively protecting the bed. My initial presentations are done with
Read More »8 Fly Patterns For Southern Appalachian Brook Trout
My good friend Dan Flynn is the man when it comes to hike-ins for Southern Appalachian Brook Trout.
I’ve never met a fly angler that enjoys bushwhacking through walls of thick impenetrable rhododendrons all day long, more than Dan. Randomly pick any thin line of blue on a Delorme’s Georgia or North Carolina topography map, and chances are Dan’s thoroughly explored the high elevation tributary.
Most anglers I know wouldn’t waste their time and energy for such a small catch, but that’s where most anglers go wrong in their thinking. It’s not about the size of the catch that’s the reward. Instead it’s the aura of true living that comes over you exploring high mountain streams in complete solitude. It’s the small doses of adrenaline that you feel pumping through your veins as you hike up a steep slippery waterfall to the next plunge pool. It’s the anticipation and excitement that you get as you peer over a boulder or log jam and spot a colorful native feeding on the surface. Decades of your life seem to roll back here and the kid in you is reborn. Make a trip to one of these crown jewel brook trout streams and your soul will feel cleansed and reenergized afterwards.
Southern Appalachian Brook Trout Feeding in the Current. Photo By: Louis Cahill
The best thing about brook trout fishing is that you don’t have to carry your entire fly fishing arsenal of gear with you. A fly box filled with a handful of brightly colored dry and wet flies will almost always get the job done. The biggest factor for success is