3 Ways to Make Your Wiggle Minnow Fish Better
The foam wiggle minnow has been a mainstay streamer for me for trout and other predatory game fish for several years now. When you combine its realistic swimming action and the significant water it pushes during the retrieve, its one of the best streamers I know of for calling in fish from great distances to eat. Plain and simple, the wiggle minnow will catch fish just about anywhere you visit in both fresh or salt, regardless of the water conditions you may find yourself fly fishing. Furthermore, it also fishes well on all types of fly lines (floating, intermediate, sinking) and on a wide range of rod weights. This can prove to be very valuable if you find yourself on the water with limited gear options. The last few years, I’ve been experimenting with modifications to my wiggle minnows in the effort to improve their fishability.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Crazy Water on the Dean
THIS VIDEO IS FROM A TRIP SEVERAL YEARS AGO.
I recently saw a very different Dean River. The river was as low as I’ve ever seen it at the end of this June. The fishing was still great and you will be reading more about that trip soon.
You will be reading more in the coming weeks about my trip to British Columbia to fish the Dean River. In every post I will likely mention the tough fishing conditions. In order for you to really understand what I mean by “tough fishing conditions” I put together this little video.
I have never seen a river so crazy high. The fact that we fished the very next day and the fact that we caught fish that week is a testament to what a truly remarkable river the Dean is. I can’t wait to go back but I hope I have better conditions.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Pesqa on Trailer Hooks
I’VE BEEN LUCKY TO SPEND SOME PRETTY SPECTACULAR DAYS ON THE WATER WITH SCOTT BAKER-MCGARVA.
It was on one of these days that Scottie showed me how to rig a Hobo Spey to help prevent fish mortality. It’s a lesson that stuck with me. In fact, it was at that point that I started fishing tube flies exclusively when steelheading.
It turns out that some of the flies that catch the most fish also do the most harm. It’s a simple problem to fix once you’re aware of it, but many anglers just aren’t. When I saw this interview with Scottie on the Pesqa Blog, I knew I had to share it.
Read the interview and learn to rig your flies so they catch fish, not kill them.
THE DAMAGING EFFECT OF FLIES
Read More »Handling An Anchor Safely And Easily
Too many anglers don’t understand how dangerous a boat anchor can be.
I was talking to a good friend the other day about an auto accident he was in. He was T-boned at an intersection while towing his drift boat. His wife was in the passenger seat and his two year old daughter in her car seat behind them. Luckily, they all walked away with only minor injuries, although his boat was completely destroyed.
Later, viewing the footage from a traffic camera, his blood ran cold. The video clearly showed his pyramid anchor punching through the back window and sailing across the intersection, missing his daughter’s head by less than a foot.
The energy of a car accident can turn a boat anchor into a cannon ball. I know way too many anglers who drive around with an anchor in their truck or SUV, just waiting to turn a fender-bender into a fatal accident. Don’t be one of them.
A couple of years ago I had a brain-storm while in the Home Depot. I bought one of those XXL carabiners they sell for bundling tools and drop chords. It’s turned out to be a great tool for managing my anchor safely and easily. I don’t know how I ever got by without it.
Order one HERE, NOW!
WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE HOW I HANDLE MY ANCHOR SAFELY AND EASILY.
Read More »Some Days It’s All About the Twitch
Last week, I had the honor of fly fishing with Rob Parkins (WY & ID veteran guide) and Zack Dalton (Farbanks Sales Manager) on the South Fork of the Snake River during an epic salmonfly hatch.
Read More »Careful What You Ask For
All fish are not created equal.
It’s funny how what we want out of fly fishing changes over the years. We’ve all heard the story, I want to catch a fish, I want to catch a lot of fish, I want to catch a big fish… As I evolve as an angler I always look for new experiences, new species, new techniques, anything to keep the game fun and challenging. I continue to spend plenty of time covering old familiar territory, but what I get out of it is very different. Fishing a stream that used to be all about hunting big trout, may now be a great way to share some time and water with an old friend or watch a new friend catch their biggest fish to date. Just as rewarding, but in a different way.
That doesn’t mean that I no longer have goals as an angler. I’m very goal oriented. Those goals are just more complicated than they once were and they are defiantly not all about fish size. Two years ago when I landed a 42-inch steelhead on the Dean River, my friend Andrew Bennett said, that may well be the biggest steelhead you’ll ever catch. My personality almost precludes that kind of thinking, but it would be arrogant to not see that he might have been right. I haven’t given up on breaking that personal record, but I have incorporated some less size based goals.
I was back on the Dean recently, at the awesome Kimsquit Bay lodge, and although I didn’t go with a goal in mind, I guess I had one rattling around back there somewhere. I was telling a buddy that I’d never had what seems to be a pretty common experience on the Dean. I’d never had a steelhead really take me to the cleaners. I’ve hade some pretty tough fights on that river. It’s no myth that those fish are the hottest and most aggressive in the world, but I’d never had the experience of getting that big midstream eat with the fish heading for the ocean and no prayer of stopping it. That sounds fun and I’ve always wanted to do it
I’d pretty much made up my mind that it was all hype. Most anglers, in my opinion, even experienced anglers, have no idea how hard they can and should fight fish. Many just don’t have the technique and few actually have a good grasp on the amount of pressure they put on fish. If you are a serious tarpon angler, you know what I’m talking about. Until you get out the spring scale and fly rod, you’re just guessing and you’re probably guessing wrong. I wrote those Dean stories off to hyperbole. That, it turns out, was premature.
I was fishing a run called Cut Bank
Read More »Sunday Classic / Nymph Fishing, There’s Nothing Wrong With It
It seems like every where I look, I see blog posts all over the place chastising and bad mouthing nymph fishing. I hear comments claiming nymph fishing is nothing more than mindless fly fishing. That watching indicators floating down the river all day is boring. So let me ask you this, does it make since to instead fish a dry fly if your chances of catching fish are slim to none? To me, that’s what’s boring and ridiculous. My objective on the water is always to decipher what the fish are predominantly feeding on, and then fish the appropriate rig and fly that allows me to imitate it to my best ability. Whether or not the fly pattern is a wet or dry fly has no bearing to me at all. All that matters is that it’s the right choice for the moment. To frown upon nymph fishing and purposely avoid it, even when it’s obvious it’s an anglers best bet for success, is like a golfer choosing to putt with a driver instead of a putter. It will work but it’s obviously not the best gear choice. We don’t go through life purposely choosing to take the most difficult path in the off chance we’ll find success. Just as in fly fishing, it doesn’t make any sense to fish one method of fly fishing over another just because it feels more pleasing to the soul. I can stomach doing it every now and then, but to ignore fish behavior and throw away my adaptive fishing tactics, just because I dislike nymph fishing or any other method, seems to go against all the teachings that our fly fishing pioneers have worked so hard to pass down to all of us. It doesn’t matter what type of fly pattern your fishing, … Continue reading
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Killing The Colorado
It’s hard to be an angler and not care about water.
With most of the U.S. suffering from prolonged drought anglers and the fish they pursue are united in the search for water. In no case is this more evident than the Colorado river. The battle over the waters of the Colorado are legendary, and though it may seen an isolated issue, there are lessons to be learned for water management everywhere.
When Abraham Lustgarten began work on his series “Killing The Colorado” he thought it would be a piece on climate change. It turned out to be much more. It turned out that, in spite of the Colorado suffering from drought for over fifteen years, the bulk of the damage has been done by mismanagement.
It’s a fascinating bit of reporting, and very informative.
YOU CAN READ “KILLING THE COLORADO” HERE
AND LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH LUSTGARTEN HERE.
Read More »Under Armour ISO-Chill, Made Right
I’M WARY OF GIMMICKS AND MARKETING SLOGANS.
I tend to discount claims made by any company about the magical properties of their products. So when I hear that a piece of clothing will keep me cool when it’s a hundred degrees and there’s not a breath of wind, I don’t even take the time to be skeptical. I just don’t believe it.
So what’s up with Under Armour’s ISO-Chill products? The fine print reads, “Made from yarns with increased surface area that help dissipate heat from the body, creating a cooling effect.” I wouldn’t call that claim magical but I was relieved to find out that ISO-Chill is not some day-glow chemical that’s going to turn me into the Toxic Avenger. The fabric does feel cool to the touch. In fact, the feel of the fabric is one of my favorite things about this gear. Plenty of companies have technical fabric designed to keep you cool. The ISO-Chill works as well as any of them. It’s UPF-30 rated and it dries very quickly. That’s all fine, but it’s not what has made it my favorite micro fiber gear.
What I really like about the Under Armour line is the design. It comes down to fundamentals. What I’m going to call the three Fs. Fit, Fabric and Features. I’m less impressed with claims of proprietary technology than I am with a piece of clothing that is just a pleasure to wear.
FIT
Let’s get this out of the way. I’m a big guy. 6’4″ and a little over 250 pounds. Ok, 260. I have a beer once in a while, so sue me. I’m well over my ideal weight but not Springer fat. I wear an honest XXL. The problem is that most fishing gear is made for Montana trout guides living off boiled eggs and dip. The Under Armour sizing is real-life proportioned. I can wear a XXL without it feeling painted on. I’m comfortable and I’m thinking about my fishing, not my diet.
FABRIC
All of the ISO-Chill fabrics feel great. The texture and the weight of them feel like quality fabrics. They are super comfortable against your skin, they have the right amount of stretch and they hold up really well. They don’t pick and snag, they keep
Read More »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.
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