4 Leaf Clovers and 20 Inch Trout
TROPHY TROUT ARE MORE COMMON THAN YOU THINK.
The real estate crash of the mid 2000s was good for something. My buddy Dan and I were having a banner trout season in the very depths of the crash. Here in Georgia, the secret to finding big trout is to get away from public access, where the coolers get filled. Access laws here give land owners the right to keep folks off their water. We are all used to hearing that angler access is a good thing, but here in the south the lack of access is the only thing saving a couple of nice fish. With the market in total collapse, many carefully guarded stretches of water had become vacant and bank owned. Somehow, Dan had procured a list.
One Saturday, he and I were fishing just such a stream, the banks lined with the skeletons of unfinished spec homes and crushing fish in the mid twenty inch range. This is not common. The developers had been feeding these fish in anticipation of a big payoff that was never going to come. With the steady flow of chow interrupted, these big boys were hungry and dumb. Not necessarily “classic trout fishing,” but a hell of a lot of fun.
It was spring and the field was covered in clover. I was picking 4 leaf clovers and eating them.
“What the fuck?” Dan blurted out again and again. “How many of those have you found?”
“I don’t know, you want one? Here.”
I do have one super power. I find 4 leaf clovers. Sometimes at will. Often enough that I can make it look like a magic trick. After a few minutes Dan spoke up again.
“Oh no!”
“What’s the matter?”
“I dropped my clover.”
“Hang on…here you go. The to hang on to this one.”
“Fuck!!! How do you do that?”
Their everywhere man. Just like 20 inch trout.”
He and I have never forgotten that conversation, and there is a lot of truth to it. There is no trick to my finding 4 leaf clovers. They really are far more common than people think, especially in early spring. They are just very good at hiding in plain sight. Having spent my life as a photographer, my eyes my be a bit more tuned in on recognizing patterns but my vision is also pretty poor.
I think the real reason I see the clovers where others don’t is, I believe they are there.
It’s that confidence that gives me an edge. I know they exist, so I spend a minute looking for them, and there they are. I often find several within a few feet, or even inches, of each other. Statistically, a given number of clover in every patch will have four leaves, and if you look you will find them.
Of course, they don’t actually bring you luck, and fortunately you don’t need luck to catch trophy trout. All you need
Read More »Sunday Classic / Fly Fishing: The Popper-Dropper Rig
Like a lot of kids, I spent most of my adolescent summers chasing bass and bream on the local creeks and ponds in my area. Most days, a single rubber-legged popper tied to the end of my leader, was all that I needed to catch fat bream and the occasional lunker bass. On days when the bite slowed, I’d put down my fly rod and head to the neighborhood pool with my best friend Ryan Evans. It didn’t take long for us to get labeled the Huckleberry Finn boys of the neighborhood. We got plenty of strange looks walking through those pool gates, fishing rods in hand, and both wearing cargo shorts with boxers hanging out the tops. Those dirty looks were well worth it, and we learned to shrug them off, because that pool was the perfect place for us to cool down in between our fishing adventures, and it also happened to be one of the best places for us to keep track of the older females. We learned reflective polarized sunglasses weren’t just good for fishing, they also were great for inconspicuously eyeing the older females, walking by in those skimpy bikinis. It was a time in my life when I was relatively stress free, and I had not yet taken on very many responsibilities. Those were the days.
It wasn’t until I started dabbling in trout fishing that I found a way to improve my warm water popper fishing.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Scouting mission
Trout spey is growing more popular every day.
While swinging flies for trout is a fun game that everyone can enjoy, the world of spey fishing is almost opaque to the uninitiated. Single hand anglers trying to learn the dark art of spey often lose years of productive fishing to confession. Fortunately theres a way to shorten the learning curve and take the financial sting out as well.
Single-hand spey casting let’s you enjoy the fun of spey casting and learn the technique using the single hand rods you already own. It makes a lot of sense to learn the techniques before investing in an expensive two-hand rod but getting a setup that performs like it should is crucial. Otherwise, you’re not having fun and you’re not learning.
The key is matching the right line to your rod. Spey lines are more complicated than single hand lines and intimidating to new spey casters. Fortunately there are some very good, short spey lines on the market these days, specifically for single-hand rods. But which one is right for you?
I ran across this article from Echo on exactly that. The folks at Big Sky Anglers in West Yellowstone took the lineup of Echo Skagit Scout lines out for a test drive and put together a great article on how to dial in the perfect setup for successful trout spey.
If you’re curious about trout spey, and wondering how to get fishing without dropping a lot of cash, this article is well worth your time.
“SCOUTING MISSION: THE PATH TO SINGLE-HAND TROUT SPEY” BY MATT KLARA
Read More »Bob is a Winner
Don’t worry Bob, we’re all winners. See more of Bob and the angling art of Andrea Larko on Etsy. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »Loon UV Infiniti Light Video Review
By Bob Reece
The ease of working with UV resins is largely determined by the quality of light that is applied to cure them.
As an Umpqua fly designer and guide, I spend a large amount of time throughout the year behind the vise. Due to the fact that I’ve incorporated UV resin into several of my patterns, I’ve put to use a wide variety of lights.
A couple months ago I was setting out my tying tools at a fly shop a few hours from home in preparation for a tying demo. During the setup, I came to realize that the AA batteries in my UV light were dead. Looking around the tying table, I caught sight of a Loon UV flash light. I picked it up and was happy to find that it turned on. I was immediately impressed by the width and intensity of the UV light beam that it produced.
Without any other options, I put the light to work during the demo and was blown away by how quickly it cured my UV resin. It wasn’t until the demo was over that I noticed the USB port in the side of the light. Loon hit a home run with the addition of this element, providing a rechargeable UV light for fly tiers. Upon returning home, I purchased the light and have used it extensively over the past couple months. Although it is rechargeable, its battery life is substantial and does not require frequent charging.
I’m a huge believer in
Read More »Look More and Fish Less on Small Streams
By Kent Klewein
Your odds of a hookup skyrocket when you see the fish before you cast.
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 if you’re abel to locate a trout before you begin fishing, you’ll know exactly where to position and present your fly on the first cast to give you the best shot at catching it. And that means, your chances of lining or spooking fish will drop considerably, you’ll usually be able to
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Bite Of The Venomous Brown Trout Or, Stopping Fishfinger
WE THINK OF TROUT AS PURE.
Perfect creatures born of virgin waters. Incapable of anything unclean. So, I wasn’t especially concerned the other day when a nice twenty-one inch male brown, from the Delaware, bit the ever living shit out of me.
I knew I was likely to get a piece of those gnarly teeth when I stuck my thumb in his mouth, but the fish was bleeding a little from the hook and I needed to pour a little Coke down him to stop it. (Yes, it works. Read more HERE) This fish surprised me though. He clamped down with a vengeance. I applied alcohol generously, internally of course, and forgot about it.
The truth is that fish, even pure wild trout, carry lots of things that are not so nice. Bacteria, parasites, man made pollutants. Many of them can cause the malady known as fishfinger. Known well by Alaska guides, fishfinger is the infection that sets in after an open wound is exposed to fish bacteria. It’s often a result of mishandling a knife while cleaning fish. It’s nasty stuff. Very unpleasant.
So, I wasn’t exactly surprised when I woke up in the middle of the night with my thumb bright red and throbbing. When I pressed it against my forefinger, blood spurted from the wound. I knew I had to do something fast or the next days fishing would be torture.
Fortunately, ever since my life-threatening brush with
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Beyond The Horizon
Fly-fishing changing the world.
Here’s a film I can’t wait to see. “Beyond the Horizon tells the story of Rankin Jackson’s struggle to provide for his family while trying to survive the push of drug running and ultimately how fly fishing revealed his road to redemption.” Real life and real fishing in Guanaja, Honduras.
BEYOND THE HORIZON
Read More »A Backpack For All Your Adventures
By Justin Pickett
Recently I’ve been toting my gear around in Fishpond’s Thunderhead Backpack.
It’s not something I carry on the water every day, but if I’m going to be far and away from my vehicle (or civilization) for a day or two, then it’s going with me. The Thunderhead’s ability to take a beating, carry a ton of necessary gear, and keep water out puts it high at the top of the list for me when it comes to my favorite pieces of gear. I’ve been so impressed with it, that I decided to take some time out of a recent day trip on the Flint River to do a quick on-the-water overview and review of this do-it-all, go anywhere pack!
WATCH THE VIDEO TO SEE ALL THE FEATURES OF THE FISHPOND THUNDERHEAD BACKPACK.
Read More »Listen to the Fish
Sometimes all fly fisherman need to do to find success when their not having luck is slow down, and take the time to listen to the fish.
Trout can’t speak to us in words, but they do often provide us with subtle clues from their behavior that can help us catch them. That is, if we’re paying close enough attention to pick up on them. Not long ago, I was on the water guiding one of my favorite clients during an unusually cold early fall overcast day. A cold front had rolled in the night before and it had completely shut down all bug activity on the surface. There wasn’t so much as a single midge in the air, so we opted for drifting nymphs below the surface and began catching trout. As we broke for lunch, I noticed the clouds beginning to break up and the sun starting to find its way down to the ground in spots. Refueled, we headed up to a productive bend in the river to resume our fishing. As we crept down to the waters edge, I saw a large slurp from a big fish on the surface. It came at the tail-end of the bend, from a bath tub sized spot where the sun was shining down on the water. Both of us froze in total shock and amazement. It was the first surface activity we had seen all day and we waited with anticipation to see if the big fish would rise again. A few minutes went by with nothing. I scanned the water to see if I could see what the big fish had taken on the surface, but I saw no signs of food drifting in the current.
Convinced, the big fish rise was an omen, I snipped off the nymphs, added a couple feet of tippet and tied on a big black foam beetle. I handed the rod to my client and instructed him to quietly get into position and present the beetle slightly upstream of where the big fish rose. He obliged with a perfect cast and
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