Drift Boat & Car Renting Tips Abroad
When you’re traveling abroad on a fly fishing trip that you’ve meticulously planned out for months in advance, the last thing you want to deal with is equipment problems. That was exactly the case Louis and I ran into several years ago heading out to Wyoming for a week long fly fishing trip with our good friend Bruce Wayne, a.k.a “Batman”.
Read More »8 Elements of Fly Design to Follow for Imitating Trout Food Sources
When tying fly patterns, it’s very important that you try your best to incorporate several different elements of fly design to increase their effectiveness. No one knows with complete certainty what order or priority trout rank each element of a food source or fly pattern, but most anglers agree that the value or ranking of the elements often change depending on how long a trout has been selectively feeding on a specific food source, at what frequency the specific food source is being eaten, and how diverse or consistent a trout’s diet is at the present moment. The order of the elements that I will talk about in know way ranks the importance of the elements. Instead, fly tiers should look at them together as a whole, and try to include as many as possible or as a check list of the features a fly pattern should have when completed. Doing so, they should find there fly patterns more effective on the water for fooling and catching trout. In this post, I will specifically talk about eight different elements of fly design that fly tiers should pay close attention to when tying fly patterns at the vise.
Read More »Strip Set, Dammit!
Quite likely the most frustrating thing for an angler who is new to salt water is the strip set.
A dedicated freshwater angler will have thousands of hours of muscle memory to overcome. I did it myself time after time. I’d see a fish eat and my arm, without permission from my brain, would raise the rod tip and off would swim a happy bonefish. Then I would hear my friend Josie Sands, from the platform, “da ain’t no trout in the Bahamas Louis”. To be fair, as frustrating as this is for the angler it may be worse on the guide. He has to deal with this almost every day.
I wish I had a silver bullet to offer that would solve this problem for you instantly, but I don’t. It just takes focus and practice. However here are a few suggestions that may help. First, don’t beat yourself up. Every guy who stands on that bow has gone through this. You are not a moron, you just feel like one. Self loathing will not help.
Second, stay focused. There is a lot to think about and when you spot fish things happen quickly. Try this. When a fish turns and chases your fly,
Read More »The Green River Below Flaming Gorge Is Where They Coined The Word Epic
If you have never fished the Green River below Flaming Gorge, its time to check it out.
Located in the northeast corner of Utah, the Green River is one of the premier tailwaters in the country. The river flows through a beautiful red rock canyon with towering cliffs suspended high above the water and with close to 13,000 fish per mile its hard to have a bad day. The Green is best appreciated from a boat, but wade fisherman can also equally enjoy the river from the shore. There are three main sections of this tailwater. The A, B and C sections are separated by mere miles, but can fish very different depending on the time of year and Ill go through each section independently.
THE A SECTION.
At 7 miles in length this is a true tailwater, with consistent flows and gin clear cold water, bug life is a little limited in its diversity but the fish are always active. Midges, Baetis and Caddis are the primary insects but due to the arid climate, there are always a plethora of terrestrials in the summer. The Baetis hatches in the spring is both world famous and frustrating at the same time.
The river can be blanketed with bugs and it looks like its boiling with all the fish on the surface, but the fish are ultra picky. Going smaller with your tippet is always a good bet and switching from a dun to a cripple can sometimes be the ticket. About the second to third week of May we start seeing Cicadas. In my opinion, this is the best fishing in the country. 50 fish days can be the norm and 100 fish days happen from time to time. This is dry fly fishing at its pinnacle. Big bugs and big angry fish smack these monster terrestrials with a recklessness that will make your heart race. Having said that, cold weather and rain will put them down so look for multiple day of hot, sunny weather.
your planning on floating this section on your own, there are a few things to keep in mind. There is not a lot of whitewater, but there are two rapids in particular
Streamers for Small Streams
By Jason Tucker
Small stream fishing often conjures to mind light rods and lines, small dry flies, an easy, pleasant day on the creek casting to small trout.
It indeed can be that, and most of my small stream fishing consists of this. But I firmly believe every small stream out there holds bigger fish, and more of them, than you think. One of the best ways to find out is with streamers.
Researchers have shown that as brown trout reach the twenty-inch mark they become largely piscivorous (fish eating). This means if you want to catch them, you need to throw streamers.
Streamer fishing has changed a lot since the days of hair wing flies and Grey Ghosts. If you have fly fished for any amount of time you have heard of or read “Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout” by Kelly Galloup and Bob Linsenman. Streamer enthusiasts today pound the banks with articulated monsters measuring five to as much as twelve inches long. This is great for bigger rivers but a bit of overkill for small streams. You’ll want to scale your efforts to the water you’re fishing. Still, streamer fishing small streams can be a very enjoyable way to fish them, and a great way to find out the true potential of the stream.
MY STREAMER BOX FOR SMALL STREAMS CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:
Muddler Minnow size 4-10
Cone Head Madonna/Zuddler size 4 in barred yellow, olive, black and white
Black Dace size 6-10
Mickey Finn size 6-10
Zoo Cougars size 6 in yellow and white
As I said I try to scale my streamers to the water I’m fishing. It would be rare for me to tie on a size two streamer. Most of the forage fish in a stream are going to be closer to the size of traditional hair-wing streamers like Mickey Finns and black-nosed dace. In a lot of small stream situations, I prefer the stealthier presentation of hair-wing streamers to the loud splat of bigger, heavier streamers advocated in “Modern Streamers”. Trout in small streams are well aware of everything going on in the water. That splat can be what sends them on the run.
BY FAR MY FAVORITE STREAMER FOR SMALL STREAMS IS A MUDDLER MINNOW.
It is a great sculpin imitator, and all the streams I fish both North and South are chock full of them. Trout eat them with abandon. Even big fish will roll out for a size eight Muddler. If you want an enjoyable day seeing and catching lots of fish, tie on a Muddler minnow and go to town. I find that original versions work better than marabou or conehead versions. Sculpins hug the bottom normally, and when trout see a muddler swimming up high, they think something is wrong, triggering a response. That’s my theory and I’m sticking with it.
My second choice is the conehead Madonna, which to my untrained eye is nearly identical to a Zuddler. It’s another sculpin stand-in; a great pattern with lots of action and a good profile. It has some “plop” to it, but not so much that it will spook fish in normal or high-water situations, and it’s a great pattern for finding bigger fish in the system.
After that I like the Mickey Finn and black-nosed dace. They are tried and true classic patterns that brook trout especially go for. Black-nosed dace are forage minnows, and very common in small streams. The yellow and red of Mickey Finns is also very effective. I always try to keep these in my box.
Lastly, if I suspect that water holds bigger fish, I’ll tie on a zoo cougar. Their disadvantage is that they’ll float even when saturated. Because of that you need a sink-tip, or a split shot a foot above it. For that to work you need enough room in the water to allow it to sink, work it, and hopefully get a reaction. If the stream is too small you may not even get the streamer down before it’s out of the hole. But on the right piece of small stream you may see a fish following that scares you.
There are dozens of other great streamer patterns out there, from marabou streamers to various flash minnows to woolly bugger variations. If you have a favorite, take it out and give it a try. These are just my go-to patterns, and I try to keep things simple.
PRESENTATION
Fishing all flies revolves around three words- presentation, presentation, and presentation. It’s no less true with streamers, though
Read More »Carp Czar
I recently had the great pleasure of spending a day carp fishing with my friend Bruce Smithhamer. It was every bit as challenging as promised. The fish were gearing up for the spawn and were lock jawed. We would have gone fish-less if not for Bruce’s encyclopedic knowledge of the species. We changed locations and tactics several times and eventually got into fish.
Carp, especially Mirror Carp, are a remarkable fish. Their color and scale patterns are reminiscent of classical Japanese painting. Their eye sight is excellent and there hearing quite acute. They are even able to communicate danger to other carp by releasing a pheromone in to the water. Their behavior is unpredictable except that they will refuse more often than eat.
Perhaps their most remarkable quality is their ability to completely ruin a good trout fisherman. I’ve seen several guys go down this road and few come back. They started out
Read More »How Not To Learn Bonefishing
Float to the Bahamas on a 55 gallon drum and save the air fare but hire a good guide every day!
My buddy Brad went to the Bahamas for bonefish recently. I loaned him a rod, reel some leaders and a box of my favorite bonefish patterns. It was his first trip to the salt and when he got home the stories brought back memories.
Brad is a great angler. He guides for trout and when it comes to working a tough fish with a tiny dry fly he’s the man but salt water is a totally different game and, like all of us, he ran up against the learning curve pretty quickly. He came home from the trip with a photo of himself holding a nice bone and that’s better than I did on my first salt water trip so I’m not dogging my friend here but I’m going to tell you where he went right and where he went wrong.
Brad took some advice I gave him and that was a good start. First off he went to the Bahamas. There’s a lot to learn for the beginning bonefish angler and much of it is retraining muscle memory. Developing a good strip set for example. The only way you learn to strip set is by feeding fish. “Those crazy ass fish run every which way!” Brad told me. That’s true, and you only learn how to lead moving fish by getting shots at moving fish. Simply put, in the Bahamas you get a lot more shots and you feed a lot more fish.
The first way he went wrong was he went to the wrong island. I told him to go to South Andros but he has a friend with a place in Eleuthera and went there. He saved some money and I get that, but he caught a lot fewer fish. It’s like my friend Joel told me when I booked my first trip to Andros. “The Bahamas is the best bonefishing in the world and Andros is the best bonefishing in the Bahamas.” Well said, and true.
I learned to fish salt in the Florida Keys and that’s a tough way to go. The fish in the keys are a lot more educated. The bonefish in the keys are big but fewer and the turtle grass bottom makes them hard to see. The Bahamas has
Read More »Beefcake Hopper
By Bob Reece
I look forward all year to the warm summer and fall days that allow me to fish hopper dropper rigs.
I fill one fly box each winter to meet this need. One half is filled with my Fusion and Clearwater Crawler nymphs. The opposite side is filled to the brim with Beefcake Hoppers.
When designing this pattern, I spent time viewing natural hoppers from below the surface of the water. The differentiation of body segments and leg movements act as prominent distinctions. These factors guided my design of the underside of the fly. The Thin Skin wing provides an accurate imitation while drastically increasing the durability of the top side of the fly. With the application of UV resin, the durability of the fly’s underside is also increased.
The foundation of this pattern is the Tiemco 2499BL. Having been created for the world of nymphing, this outstanding hook is ideal for extended body terrestrials. Short in the shank and wide in the gap, the hook keels this buoyant pattern very effectively. The large gap
Read More »What The Little Fish Are Saying
This post has a soundtrack. Take a second to start the video below.
MAYBE YOUR STATURE AS A FLY FISHERMAN ISN’T DETERMINED BY HOW BIG A TROUT YOU CAN CATCH, BUT BY HOW SMALL A TROUT YOU CAN CATCH WITHOUT BEING DISAPPOINTED. — JOHN GIERACH
Like it or not, I am in the big fish business.
I hate admitting it, but that’s how it started. I carried a camera to take photos of fish and the small ones were not the fish who got photographed. Eventually folks started to buy the photos I took and I found there was a simple equation. The bigger the fish, the faster the sale. That’s a pretty hard-nosed view of fly fishing and I’m not especially proud of it.
Call it skill or luck or hard work, a lot of big fish have come my way. I’m grateful for each of them. I hope there will be many more but I no longer measure myself in inches or pounds of fish. Not because I’m above it or used to it or jaded about it. I still like to catch big fish but I’ve come to understand my place in the equation.
Sometimes I choose the fish. I plan, I strategize, I stalk and pursue. Often, by force of will, I bring the fish to me. Sometimes I choose the fish, but every time the fish chooses me. I think about this when I am swinging a fly for steelhead. Like a practitioner of tai chi, I mind my swing. Seeking always the perfect presentation. Mindful and empty, dreaming not of what was or what may be, simply present in what is.
It is in that moment that the fish chooses me. I accept that all I have done is to make myself available to him. It is not done without skill or planning. It is not an accident. It is the culmination of years of effort but I recognize that it is a culmination for him as well. It is not a thing I have done alone. I have not brought the fish to me, something larger has brought us together.
In that convergence there is something that defies explanation. Among the thousands of fish that have passed in and out of my hands, some are special. I can not always say why. Once in a while a fish connects with me in a way that is deeper than either of us can grasp. There is a convergence of place and time, of hand and heart the sum of which is greater than the two of us.
One of these fish is worth a year of my life. That is
Read More »Imposter Syndrome on the Flats
By Tim Loonam Is faking it keeping you from making it? I’m standing on the deck of a Bair’s Lodge flats boat on South Andros and turn to look over my shoulder. There’s our guide, Gary, wearing that huge Bahamian smile with the ever-present cigar stub in the corner of his mouth and an off-kilter ball cap barely covering his unruly mop of mini-dreads. I look down at Louis Cahill, my fishing partner as he finishes uncoiling the fly line I’ve stripped into the cockpit. He too smiles at me and boosts my confidence saying, “You got this, dude.” I turn forward just as Gary calmly says, “Get ready, mon…bonefish 2 o’clock…50 feet, moving right to left.” I take a deep breath and think of the Nobel Prize. Wait, what…? Before you punch your fist into your open palm and say, “You’re dead, nerd!”, stay with me. As I got ready to cast, I thought about the 2000 award in psychology known as The Dunning-Kruger Effect. The Dunning-Kruger Effect applies anytime we engage in a new endeavor whether it’s learning a foreign language, flying a plane, performing brain surgery, or in my case, a double haul cast to a ghost of the flats. In their research, David Dunning and Justin Kruger plotted their subject’s confidence level in a task against the subject’s actual competency, and what they found universally was with any new task we all start out Unconsciously Incompetent: We simply don’t know how bad we are. That certainly applied to my first attempts at the double haul. I remember flinging that fly line around like one of those Korean dancers with a ribbon attached to a stick at the Opening Ceremonies of the Seoul Olympics. The next phase in the Dunning-Kruger Effect occurs as we gain just … Continue reading
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