Focus On Steelhead Technique
By Louis Cahill
Here are 5 jam-packed articles to help you catch more steelhead.
If you want to catch steelhead on the swing, you have to have solid technique and stick to your guns. Often, you don’t get a lot of feedback from the fish so you have to know what will work and stick to it. That can be tough, especially if you are new to the game, but even experienced anglers can falter when fishing is slow.
Below are links to five articles which focus on steelhead techniques that produce fish. Get yourself a cup of coffee and dig in for a nuts-and-bolts steelhead download. These tips should help make your next steelhead trip a success.
Read More »“I’m Down To Seven Patterns Fuckit”
By John Byron
MY FISHING FRIEND RON WINN SAYS THIS: “I LOVE TO TIE FLIES. I LOVE TO FLY FISH. IF I HAD TO PICK ONE… I’D PROBABLY TIE FLIES.”
I’m kinda there too.
So when I started chasing bonefish a few years ago, I sopped up patterns like a sponge and tied a gazillion flies. Lots from Lefty’s book on saltwater flies. Many/most of Dick Brown’s bonefish patterns. ‘Five essential flies for the Bahamas.’ Drew Chicone. Aaron Adams. Tied them all. Took them on trips.
And came home each time realizing that about 98-percent of what I’d tied stayed in the fly box. So, as a matter of self-discipline (weak) and determination (getting stronger), I’ve started to cut back on what I tie and what I carry.
I’M DOWN TO SEVEN PATTERNS:
Read More »The V Grip
HOPEFULLY YOU’VE GOTTEN COMFORTABLE WITH ADDING THE WRIST SNAP TO YOUR CAST. TODAY BRUCE IS GOING TO GET INTO SOME SERIOUS ADVANCED TECHNIQUE.
Your going to see him use the “V Grip”. This is going to feel seriously odd at first. In fact I think this is harder to get the hang of if you have been casting for a long time. Don’t get discouraged, the results are amazing. Don’t expect to get it over night but with a lot of practice you can do this smoothly and effectively and you’ll be glad you spent all that time out casting on the lawn. Bruce will be back on Friday with the final video in the series.
Check out the video!
Read More »deGala’s Grass Shrimp
By Herman deGala
Let’s size up a shrimp pattern for saltwater.
A compadre of mine asked if I could fashion a grass shrimp that was 3 to 4 times larger than my mysis shrimp so that he could chase redfish in his native Texas on the Gulf. It had to be tied on a saltwater hook and it had to be really durable.
I used the basic concept from my mysis shrimp, combined it with some of the principles from my carp flies and came up with this.
The 3/32” tubing can be found on the web and the rest of the materials can be found at your local fly shop or online.
WATCH THE VIDEO AND LEARN TO TIE DEGALA’S GRASS SHRIMP
Read More »When Is a Pizza Not a Pizza?
Q: WHEN IS A SLICE OF PIZZA NOT A SLICE OF PIZZA?
A: WHEN IT’S A RISING TROUT!
I got this surreal photo via text from my buddy Rob Parkins (Photographer, Fly Tyer, Fishing Guide in Victor ID). It may be my favorite fly fishing photo ever. If you don’t see the trout yet, keep looking. Once you see it, it’ll blow your mind.
Like the Virgin Marry appearing in a piece of burnt toast the pizza trout was an oman of good things to come. Three weeks later Rob joined Kent and I on the South Fork for an unexpected salmon fly hatch. It was awesome!
Check out Rob’s site rpoutside.com to see more of his photos and find out about fishing opportunities.
Read More »Tie Twice the Flies in Half the Time
If you tie flies and you’re looking for a way to increase your fly output, I’ve got a great fly tying tip for you today.
I personally don’t have the luxury of extra time on my hands these days with running two companies and managing my family time. When my fly boxes start getting bare, I have to restock them as fast as possible. For years, I’ve been an advanced fly tier but I’ve never been one of those guys who can rip out a dozen flies in thirty minutes. I take that back, I can bust out a dozen san juan worms in thirty minutes, but that goes for most of us. For more complex fly patterns, it can be very beneficial to us if we take the time to get organized prior to wrapping the thread on the hook.
Read More »The Virtues of a Sidearm Cast in Saltwater Fly Fishing
SOMETIMES YOU’VE GOT TO COME AT A PROBLEM FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE.
I’m a sidearm caster by nature. I think it’s in my DNA. I threw a baseball sidearm when I was a kid and I’ve cast a fly rod that way for as long as I can remember. It was a necessity on the streams where I learned to trout fish. Under the heavy canopy of trees and mountain laurel you find in the southeast, it’s the only effective way to reach the fish and keep your flies. I literally had to teach myself to cast overhead for situations where it’s a better technique but my sideways cast has served me well in the salt.
Here are a couple of reasons that I feel a sidearm cast is superior for saltwater fly fishing.
It’s one of the most effective ways to deal with wind. Wind is not a uniform movement of air. There is a turbulent zone near the water that moves slower. The higher your line is off the water, the stronger a wind it travels in. Keeping your line close to the water takes advantage of the turbulent zone to make for easier casting. The sidearm cast also allows you to straighten your line closer to the water, within the turbulent zone. This means your fly is not as likely to be blown off target by the wind.
In a moderate wind, off your casting shoulder, a sidearm cast uses the length of the rod to keep your fly at a safe distance. If your line speed is high enough you can manage this in a surprisingly stout wind. The sidearm cast is also an important component of the Belgian cast. This cast will handle even stronger winds.
In addition to fighting the wind, a sidearm cast is less likely to spook fish. You can cast slightly off angle and work out line without the fish seeing your line in the air, or its shadow on the water. This extra stealth makes a big difference with spooky saltwater species.
The sidearm cast also makes
Read More »The V Grip Haul
IN THE LAST VIDEO OF OUR ULTIMATE LINE SPEED SERIES BRUCE IS GOING TO TURBO CHARGE YOUR DOUBLE HAUL BY APPLYING THE “V GRIP” TO YOUR LINE HAND.
Again, this is seriously advanced technique and it’s going to take practice. However, if you can master and employ all the techniques from the last five videos together you will cast like a rock star and the wind will be your bitch. Now, doesn’t that sound nice? I hope this video series has been helpful. I look forward to seeing the hero shots of all those salt water fish you’re going to catch!
Check out the video!
Read More »It’s OK To Stay Home
By Justin Pickett
SOME DAYS, IT’S NOT HAPPENING.
Up at the wee hours of the morning, Tim Harden, of the Venturing Angler, and I, hit the road en route to meet up with our guide, Capt. David Accursio, for another day of fishing in the Everglades. Excited to hit the water, we hadn’t even considered to check the weather. After all, it’s Florida and it’s summer time, so there is always a chance of rain and we were prepared for that.
We arrived to the meetup spot early with David arrive a few minutes later. Soon after our morning’s greetings, David brought up the weather and how things had been looking on the radar. Not Good. A string of storms were building just southeast of the keys, and while they seemed to be tracking west of where we would be fishing, things could certainly change. With that knowledge on board, we decided to make the drive out to Flamingo and give it our best shot. After all, you don’t know unless you try. Right?
And we did just that. On the drive out we constantly checked the weather. Keeping tabs on every single storm cell and how it was building. As David backed the boat down the ramp and prepared the boat for launch, a huge bolt of lightning split the sky over the bay. Without a word said, I think we all made the decision in that moment to get back in the truck and abort our fishing plans. This was the right decision to make. Not three minutes later, the rain was so heavy that you could barely see out into the bay and the lightning was striking all around us. We certainly avoided what could have been a dangerous situation.
We sat in the truck for about an hour going over scenarios concerning what the weather could do, or might do, but we all know Mother Nature has her own plans and there isn’t one damn thing you can do about it. She definitely laughed at our optimism that morning as we sat there hoping for just a window of opportunity to get the boat wet. After realizing there was no hope for hitting the water, and about fed up with being eaten by voracious pterodactyls (David called them mosquitos), we decided to bug out and take it to the house.
It’s never easy admitting defeat. Even when it’s something you have zero control over, like the weather. When you travel so far to fish a place as awesome as the Everglades, you want nothing but to be on the water enjoying every possible opportunity to fish amongst the creeks, flats, and mangroves that dominate this waterscape. When it comes
Read More »When your fly is there, be aware!
I’ve touched on this before but it occurs to me that the subject needs more attention.
Quite possibly the most important thing in fly fishing is situational awareness. That is, knowing what your fly is doing in relation to it’s surroundings. Surroundings like current, structure, light, the boat and most importantly, the fish. Trout fishermen are accustomed to thinking about the drift of a dry fly but less at ease with the idea of a nymph’s drift, for example. Lots of guys fish streamers with a simple swing down and across, without considering how the baitfish they are imitating would negotiate the currents, eddies and structure along the way. This idea exists in every type of fly fishing but is never more crucial than in salt water so let’s look at that in more depth.
Right from the first false cast you should be thinking about the environment in which the fish exist. An experienced angler knows that a flat is less like a pond and more like a river. Except for brief periods of tide change the water on the flats is always moving. Like a winding meadow stream it finds it’s way through a maze of channels. Unlike a river those currents are constantly changing direction and speed. Those changes affect how your fly behaves in the water and that determines the strategy of your presentation. It’s key when flats fishing that you always know which way the water is moving and how fast. How quickly will your fly be carried to the fish and from which direction? How fast will it sink? Where will the fish first see it? Which direction will the fly be moving and how fast? You need to know the answer to all of these questions before you cast.
Current also effects your retrieve. The fish is not interested in how the line moves through the guides, but how the fly moves through the water. If the current is carrying the fly away from you, that retrieve has to slow way down. No fish is going to chase a shrimp that can swim thirty miles per hour. If, for example, the current is carrying your fly toward you, your retrieve must be brisk or you’re just dead drifting. Worse, you’re creating slack that will prevent getting a hook set or even prevent you from knowing when the fish has eaten. While we’re on the subject of the all-important hook set, don’t forget that the current is carrying the fish too. Unlike a trout, who must turn and run back to his holding zone as soon as he eats your fly, a salty fish moving with the current will likely eat your fly and keep coasting your direction creating slack that must be taken up quickly to hook up. It’s best to see that one coming before the fish eats.
The most common mistake made in salt water is
Read More »