Sunday Classic / 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,
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Hook Shots and Pickles
These boys are not right.
Our buddy Joe Cermele is back in action with another episode of Hook Shots. This time, with the help of Joe Demalderis and (ringer) Tim Romano, he’s taking on the world of competitive fishing. The Dream Team travels to Lake Champlain To fish The Ditch Pickle Classic.
This is high-stakes competitive fishing as it should be, with manhood on the line. There’s pizza, there’s beer, there’s fish of laughable proportions. Do you know the difference between a pickle and a banana? You don’t want to miss it, when the boys from Field and Stream pull out the Pickle Stick!
CHECK OUT HOOK SHOTS AT THE DITCH PICKLE
Read More »Is That Fly a Nymph? A Look At Insect Life Cycles
I’m not generally one to engage in exercises of semantics but I believe there is more at stake here than clarity of the word. I know that when I first became aware of midge patterns many years ago, I was reluctant to fish them because
Read More »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 »