Tandem Streamer Rigs Catch More Trout
There’s no doubt that Louis and I are both hardcore streamer junkies.
We never leave home without our streamer boxes packed full. One thing we do a little different from some streamer fishermen on the water is fish a streamer dropper rig. Quite often we’ll tie on a nymph dropper off the back of our big gaudy streamer to increase hookups. Big fish are smart, especially during the busy season when their getting pressured, and they can sometimes get a little gun shy eating big streamers. If you’re on the water and you’re getting a bunch of chases or short strikes on your streamer, try tying on a dropper nymph. It will serve two purposes. First, it will be less intimiating to spooky trout. Secondly, it will often tempt a trout to eat that has turned off your streamer at the last second.
Case in point, last year Louis and I were on the Madison River streamer fishing with very little luck. Instead of giving up on the streamer bite, Louis tied on a size 10 golden stonefly nymph dropper and began putting on a clinic. Every fish ate the golden stone like it was candy and he brought numerous twenty plus inch fish to the boat that day. Experiment with
Read More »Light, Composition and Action
THERE ARE A LOT OF ELEMENTS TO A SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPH. MANY ARE TECHNICAL, BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ARE AESTHETIC.
A technically perfect image is worthless if it doesn’t capture the eye, and the imagination, of the viewer. Unfortunately, most new photographers get so wrapped up in the science of photography that they totally miss the art. There are as many aesthetic choices to be made when shooting a photo as when building a house but a hell of a lot less time to make them. It takes time and experience to master designing a photo on the fly but to help you get started there are three element so crucial to a great photo that they deserve your attention every time you lift the camera. They are: light, composition and action.
Light
Light sets the mood. When you sit down for a romantic dinner do you turn on the overhead fluorescents? No, you light a candle. When the police interrogate a suspect do they do it by candle light? Probably not. Of all the choices you make, light has the biggest impact on the emotional tone of the finished photograph.
You may be thinking, “How is light a choice?” I have been a studio photographer for more years than I like to discuss. In the studio I control my lighting by moving the position of my lights and changing their intensity. Shooting on the river you don’t have that luxury but you do still have choices. You can’t move the sun, but you can
Read More »Getting The Wife On The Water
By Rob Parkins
I have not been able to teach either of my wives to fish.
No, not two wives at the same time–that is illegal. I mean my former and current wives. Even though I am a guide, they just won’t listen to me. Obviously, neither do I or I would be explaining the whole wife situation. I believe that it is very difficult for a man to teach his better half how to fish.
That being said, here are a few things that I have learned after many years in the boat with couples.
1. Get her a casting lesson. You can’t teach her, at least without an argument. Stu Apte is the only guy I know who taught his wife to cast, and Lefty said he did it wrong. Sign her up for an Orvis 101 course or go to your local shop, they should be a great resource and have basic fly fishing classes.
2. Hire a guide. Then stay home. Here’s the deal, as a guide I have seen it a hundred times. Guy comes in and says, “I want you to focus on her today. I know what I’m doing and I just want to see her catch fish.” By lunch time you are pissed that the guide is tying on the right flies for her, putting the boat in position so she can have the best shot at the fish and she is catching all the fish. Then you start correcting everything the guide taught her. Guides both hate this and relish the fact that he can silently put you in your place for thinking you know it all.
3. Make sure she has the right equipment. Don’t use the fact that she is getting into fishing as an excuse to upgrade your gear while giving her your old stuff. As you know, the proper gear makes all the difference. Giving her your old glass rod with a 10-year old fly line is only going to make her work harder and not enjoy the sport. Also, if you take her to a shop to buy a rod, let her cast it and form her own opinion, not what you want, or feel is the correct choice. The weight, grip size or a number of other factors may be the reason for her decision. Hell, it just may be the color she likes.
4. If she needs waders, get her ones that fit. Same as you, the day will be miserable wearing waders that don’t fit right. Also, no neoprene or other non-breathable materials because they were on sale.
5. Don’t buy her a fishing outfit. Seriously, DO NOT do it. Men have a shitty fashion sense. You get her something
Read More »The Need For Speed, Line Speed, That Is
Joel Dickey is one of the most dynamic casters I’ve ever seen.
One of the hallmarks of his dominating casting style is truly awesome line speed. It enables him to shoot massive amounts of line and hit distant targets with accuracy, even in high wind. In this video he explains how you can build your line speed.
WATCH THE VIDEO!
Read More »The Only 6 Things You Need To Know About Fly Casting: Video
By Louis Cahill
There are just six thing you need to know to be a great fly caster.
If you’ve been fly fishing for a while, you may have heard of the 5 essentials. It’s a great list of the fundamental requirements for a good fly cast. IMHO, there is a sixth. If you know, and practice, these six things you will see your fly cast improve exponentially.
I have written in detail about these before. I recommend that you read that article but today, I’m going to go over the six essentials in this video. Commit these to memory and practice them off the water. This will help you self diagnose casting problems, make tight efficient loops, cast further and make better presentations.
LEARN THE ONLY 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BE A GREAT FLY CASTER!
Read More »Perfect Moments, Bahamas Edition
OUR RECENT TRIP TO SOUTH ANDROS BAHAMAS WAS AMAZING FOR MANY REASONS. GREAT FISHING, MAKING NEW FRIENDS AND SEEING OLD ONES.
Fishing cool new rods and tying great new flies. We even had a couple of bona fide adventures. We laughed until it hurt, ate until it hurt and, yes, drank until it hurt. I came home with a head full of snapshots that will not soon fade. It got me thinking. Since we practice catch and release, what is it that we bring home from a fishing trip?
In “Swimming To Cambodia” Spaulding Gray talks about having a perfect moment. An experience so culminating, that nothing else seems to exist but that moment. He can’t leave Thailand until he has one. He finally does and it involves Thai stick. I like that idea of the perfect moment and ever since Spaulding made me aware of it, I keep my eyes open and try to spot them.
I thought I found my perfect moment about mid week of the Bahamas trip. A subset of perfect moments that I’m fond of is “perfect shots.” By shot I mean shots at fish, not photos and I had one on Tuesday. Several things go into the making of a perfect shot. Most important, it has to be visual. I have to see the whole story unfold. I have to perform to the best of my ability. There’s no compromising on that one. The fish has to do his part, mainly eat the fly but he shouldn’t be a pushover. Of lesser importance but still of value
Read More »Game of Bones, 5 Common Bonefish Behaviors and Successful Strategies
By Louis Cahill
Understanding these 5 common bonefish behaviors will help you catch a lot more fish.
I love bonefishing! There’s a shocker. Every species has unique characteristics which make them fun or challenging to catch. The chess game of feeding a sipping brown trout, the mix of finesse and raw power required to boat a tarpon and the zen of swinging a fly to a fresh steelhead are the parts of the game that hold the reward. One of my favorite games to play is the one we play with bonefish.
They don’t have the power of a tarpon or the mystique of a permit, the romance of a steelhead or the selectiveness of an educated trout, but they remain a challenging and rewarding species. More than the pursuit of any other fish, bonefishing is a game of strategy and tactics. Their vigilance and behavior require the perfect presentation at the exact right time. For me, it never gets old.
I had a day on my last trip to the Bahamas that was just about perfect. We were fishing deep in the backcountry on a high tide. Our guide poled the boat way back onto a flat that was sprinkled with mangroves. Single mangroves, clumps and mangrove islands, sometimes with just enough space to push the boat through. Puffy clouds blew over our heads.
We’d use the mangroves for cover and take sniper-like shots at fish as they approached open areas. The fish would appear and disappear with the sunlight. Everything had to be timed perfectly to get the hookup, and once you did you’d better be ready for a fight. Keeping those fish out of the mangroves takes skill.
That’s just one of the endless scenarios you’ll find when bonefishing. The beauty of the game is that anything can happen. Bonefish can exhibit bizarre behavior and a wise angler expects the unexpected. That said, there are five very common behaviors you will see from bonefish and knowing how to present the fly in these situations will catch you a lot of fish. I’ll give you some guidelines but remember, it’s all about reading the fish’s behavior and adapting. Don’t be afraid to improvise. That’s what makes it fun.
5 COMMON BONEFISH BEHAVIORS AND SOME SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATIONS.
Schooling
It’s very likely that you caught, or will catch, your first bonefish from a school. I’m not talking about small schools that you see roaming the flats but big schools of hundreds or even thousands of fish milling around using their numbers for safety. As you progress in your bonefish education, you get bored with fishing schools but for anglers new to bonefishing they are a golden opportunity. Fishing schools gives you the opportunity to develop skills like the strip set and fish fighting by hooking a lot of fish in a short time.
When they are schooled up, bonefish become more confident. They also become competitive, which gives you big edge. When presenting the fly to big schools
Read More »Reading The Body Language of Highly Aggressive Trout
By Bob Reece
As we move into the fall months, the use of streamer patterns typically increases for many fly fishers.
There are many factors that lead to success when pursuing trout with these beefy creations. Evaluating the body language of the aggressive fish that chase these flies can improve your odds of hooking up.
Throughout the course of the year I have countless conversations with other fly fishers. When these discussions are focused on streamer fishing, a common tale arises. I’m repeatedly told stories of “missed” opportunities or last chance swipes from aggressive fish at the end of a retrieve or as the pattern is lifted from the water for another cast. The excitement and emotion of these encounters is often evident in the eyes of the story teller.
While this story is common, its ending can often be avoided. The end of a retrieve does not always mean the end of an opportunity to hook that fish of your dreams. If an aggressive trout pauses where you finished your retrieve or actively searches the water or substrate, you should immediately place that offering back in its field of vision. When I encounter these situations, I attempt to quickly place the fly in front of and off to either side of the fish. As with many other fly fishing situations I avoid
Read More »WTF Is A Steelhead Anymore?
By Louis Cahill
Is all the arguing over steelhead hurting the fish?
I’ll probably be sorry I started this, but I have a point to make. It seems you can’t say the word “steelhead” without starting an argument. The fighting points are numerous. Are beads flies? Are hatchery steelhead killing wild steelhead? Is nymphing wrong? But the most contentious and, frankly, mind bending disagreement is over what a steelhead actually is.
There are historically two sides of this argument, although lately there seems to be a third, I’ll get to that later. It’s a classic East vs. West conflict. Eastern anglers refer to fish running from the Great Lakes as steelhead and western anglers insist that only fish running from the saltwater are steelhead. Yelling and name calling ensue. Here’s why both sides are wrong.
First, let me be blunt about this, a steelhead is by definition an anadromous fish. That means it runs from saltwater to fresh. End of story. No fish which lives its entire life in fresh water is a steelhead. It’s not my job to make definitions so don’t blame me.
Here it is from Webster.
Steelhead—noun, plural steel·heads (especially collectively) steel·head.
a silvery rainbow trout that migrates to the sea before returning to fresh water to spawn.
anadromous —adjective
(of fish) migrating from salt water to spawn in fresh water, as salmon of the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus (distinguished from catadromous ).
That said, west coast anglers can be real assholes about it.
I’ve had this argument over more beers than I can count, and I’m sure I’ll have it again. One of my west coast buddies will start railing about lake-run rainbows and the knuckle- draggers who fish for them and I’ll tell them that their attitude is killing steelhead. Here’s what I mean.
Look around yourself on any western steelhead river.
Read More »Dos and Don’ts For Guided Fishing
“I have done enough guiding with enough people of all types that I sometimes cheer for the fish.”
My friend Kirk Deeter, writing on the Trout Unlimited blog April 25th, threw out the bold headline: “Guides: Gatekeepers or Profiteers”. There’s no mystery where Kirk stands on the subject. He goes on to write, “I think the sun rises and sets on the fly fishing world where guides collectively say it does. They are stewards of their rivers. They are the innovators, and the teachers. And a good guide is, for fly fishing and trout conservation, worth his or her weight in gold.”
I agree with Kirk completely but it’s apparently a controversial topic. Not everyone loves fishing guides and it got me wondering why. Most of my friends are, or have been, fishing guides. I am not, but I hear the stories and I remember having a few rough days with guides back in the day. I mentioned it to Kirk and this was his response.
“You ask a great question here. Let me put it to you this way. I have done enough guiding with enough people of all types that I sometimes cheer for the fish. Seriously. You can say I said that. On the other hand, nothing lights me up more than sharing a passion with someone who gets it, appreciates it, and really shows some genuine class and enthusiasm. A great guide and client team should be like a Bwana and his tracker… two people on one mission… bound by respect.”
I reached out to a few more friends in the guiding business and asked them, from their perspective, where things go wrong. I decided to make a list. I figured, like Rodney King said, “why can’t we all just get along?”
People hire guides for a host of different reasons but they all want the same thing, a great day on the water. Unfortunately, some days end with neither the guide or the client feeling all that good about it. Malfunctions in the client-guide relationship can spoil what should be a positive experience for everyone. Fortunately these malfunctions can be easily avoided. With that in mind, here is a list of dos and don’ts for your day of guided fishing. Follow these simple guidelines and, even if the fishing is slow, you’ll walk away feeling like you got your money’s worth.
A quick note: I use a great deal of male pronouns. In no way do I mean any disrespect the the many talented and hard working female guides out there. I’m just trying to keep this under 2000 words.
DOS
•Do be enthusiastic
Bring a positive attitude. Have fun, relax. No one fishes well when they’re tense.
•Do be clear about your expectations
Tell your guide right up front what you want out of your day. If you just want to chill and take photos, say so. Want to be a better caster at the end of the day, no problem. Want to catch
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