Streamers, Fish ‘Em Deep Enough
By Louis Cahill
How deep should you be fishing your streamers?
I had the chance to fish with my brother Tom the other day. It’s a shame we can’t do it more. I always enjoy talking about fishing with him. Tom is a very technical bass angler. He does the vast majority of his fishing with conventional tackle, a sparkly boat and plenty of electronics. It blows my mind how technical that game is. If I had a lifetime I’d never understand it as well as Tom.
We were throwing streamers for striped bass in the river, my favorite summer fly fishing. Tom does most of his fishing in still water so he had lots of questions.
“How deep do you want that fly?” he asked me.
That’s often the $64,000 question, and remember, it’s coming from a guy who’s used to marking fish on a graph and knowing exactly how deep to fish, in feet. As a fly angler, used to targeting fish in moving water, my approach is very different. I figured out years ago how I like to address the problem and it’s worked pretty well for me.
When fishing streamers, there are a handful of variables that come into play when deciding the depth you should be fishing. Water depth, speed and clarity, lighting, water and air temperature, and species just to name a few. Of course, some of those variables are constantly changing so you need a strategy that will work consistently as that happens. A simple answer like, five feet, doesn’t work.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Fly Fishing: 3 Great Times to Fish Streamers
I fell in love with streamer fishing the very first time I cast one. All it took was me bringing one trout to the net on a size 6 white Zonker, and I was hooked. I’ll never forget that beautiful 15″ wild rainbow trout, that I caught and released on a ten foot wide Southern Appalachian blue liner up in North Georgia back in the 90s. I remember the tiny stream being too overgrown and tight for me to make traditional fly casts so I crawled down on a flat boulder, stripped out some fly line and dead drifted the streamer downstream into a pool. Nothing happened at first but I didn’t give up. Instead of retrieving the fly all the way in, like most anglers regularly do, I instead made a few strips in and then let the streamer drift back down into the pool. On my third attempt, that gorgeous wild rainbow trout hammered my streamer and I brought it into my net. I still use that downstream stripping and drift back technique quite a bit when it’s called for. It works equally well with nymphs and dries.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Mend
Joey Maxim was 16 years old when he died in a car crash. Fly-fishing helped bring him back.
The film “Mend” is the incredible story of a young man’s journey back from death and his struggle to overcome traumatic brain injury. Once a successful student and athlete, Joey found himself struggling just to survive. Simple daily tasks became monumental and his will to live seemed gone. Then he discovered fly fishing. The river healed Joey both physically and spiritually. Today he is a guide.
ENJOY, “MEND”
Read More »New Products From Sightline Provisions: Video
Just about every angler is familiar with the leather bracelets sporting metal badges of fish silhouettes.
It’s hard to think of a fly fishing accessory that has become as immediately popular as those Sightline bracelets. They have become the secret handshake of fly fishing. A way for devotees to spot each other everywhere they go.
Recently, Edgar Diaz has branched out and used his art in new ways on new products. Some with the leather and fine metal look Sightline is known for, and some new offerings including all metal bracelets, one-of-a-kind artist’s hats, keychains and more.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FOR ALL OF THE COOL NEW STUFF FROM SIGHTLINE PROVISIONS.
Read More »Stretch Thy Fly Line
Are you looking for more a little more distance in your cast? Is your fly line not shooting through your guides as easy as it should? Is it lacking that fresh from the box high floating buoyancy? Are you spending more time untangling your fly line than fishing? If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, you should think about taking a couple minutes before hitting the water to stretch your fly line out.
Read More »Sunday Classic / How To Become A Badass Angler
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WAS A BAD PHOTOGRAPHER AND A BAD ANGLER.
I got to thinking about this the other day when my brother called to tell me that Leon Townsend had died. I hadn’t thought of him in years. Leon was the man that gave me my first job as a photographer, at the local newspaper in 1978 when I was seventeen years old. He was also the first, and only, person who ever fired me. I honestly didn’t learn much from my time there at The Register and Bee, but firing me was quite possibly the best thing anyone has ever done for me and I will always be grateful to Leon for that.
I had enough pride that being told I wasn’t up to the job stung. It motivated me. I realized that Leon was right. I wasn’t very good and it was on me to make myself better. I have been told many times that I have talent and I have often insisted that I do not. I realized early on, that I would have to work twice as hard as the talented people around me to succeed. What I have, what I learned, is not talent but tenacity. It has served me well. If you want to pay me a compliment, call me tenacious.
In time I became a good photographer and a good angler, and I did it in pretty much the same way. I won’t bore you with a chronology of my photographic career but I will offer you some insight on how I learned, and continue to learn, to fish.
HERE’S HOW YOU BECOME A BADASS ANGLER.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Brookie Genetics
USGS Scientist have some interesting new findings on Southern Appalachian Brook Trout.
Fly anglers in the south love their brook trout. While many western anglers see these fish as an invasive species, here in the southeast they are our only native trout and our southern fish are genetically unique. It turns out they are more unique than we thought. Their habitat is so fractured that there are as many as ten-thousand separate populations.
There is some good news and some bad, but one notable finding is that native brook trout have suffered less hatchery introgression than expected. In this article USGS researcher Dave Kazyak’s sits down for a conversation with Keith Curley, of Trout Unlimited, to share some of his findings.
FASCINATING BROOK TROUT GENETICS WORK
Read More »Echo Fly Rods For 2018: Video
Some dynamite new rods from Echo fly-fishing.
It’s always fun for me to talk fly rods with tim Rajeff. This year Echo has three very cool new offerings. A premium trout-spey family that’s one of the lightest two handers I’ve ever held, The new Shadow X competition euro-nymphing rods and a whole new lineup of River Glass fiberglass rods.
If you are in the market for a great fly rod and you don’t want to break the bank, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Echo.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THE SCOOP ON THE NEW ECHO FLY RODS FOR 2018.
Read More »Streamer Retrieves For Different Current Speeds
I’ve talked in great detail about streamer fishing since I began writing articles for Gink & Gasoline. Most of my time has been spent talking about color and pattern choice, streamer gear/rigging for both big and small water and how to locate and target prime trout water with streamers. One area of streamer fishing I’ve yet to talk about in detail is retrieve speed and candor with streamers.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Fly Fishing: Don’t Overlook The Trout Water Close To You
When you fish your home waters day after day you get pretty good at knowing where the trout like to hang out. But if you let your big ego convince you into thinking you know it all, that’s when the fish will put you in your place. The other day guiding, I approached a honey hole with my client and gave him the break down on where I thought he should make his first presentation. I backed up my preaching by telling him about all the big fish we had landed there in the past. I insisted that all he needed to do was land his flies off the big rock on the far bank, and he’d get a hookup. My client promptly responded, “That sounds good Kent, but let me ask you a question? Shouldn’t I make a cast on the close side first? That water looks good too?” I replied, “That’s probably not a bad idea. It definitely could hold a fish, but if it was me fishing this spot, I’d land it off that big rock and drift the far seam first.”
This is where my client put me in my place and showed me tat even though I spend hundreds of hours a year on this trout stream, I’m no physic. Despite my coercion, my client went with his gut feeling and made his first presentation to the water close to him. Then, two-seconds into the drift, his line went tight and a behemoth trout came shooting out of the water like a tomahawk cruise missile. We landed the fish, and my client looked over at me with a “I told you so” grin. I smiled and said, “What…? I told you it probably wasn’t a bad idea to fish that close water.”
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