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Selectively Opportunistic 03/27/08 - Now there's an Oxymoron for you "selectively opportunistic" but it gives you an idea how I look at feeding fish. To my way of looking at them feeding fish fall into one of these two categories - like any good oxymoron they can't be both. Of course they can be off-the-feed and neither selective or opportunistic but for the most part unless they are frightened, injured or stressed by temperature and such they are selectively opportunistic. Fish eat to live and they seem to like living. Breaking it down the question becomes which way are they feeding - selectively or opportunistically? I hope for the selectively because that behavior happens when there is an abundance of food and feeding activity is often visual. If I can see fish moving around close to the stream bed or in the surface film I've got some clues that help me. First off I know they are feeding. Secondly, whenever there's an abundance of food if I poke and probe the surroundings a bit I can identify that food source - or maybe several food sources. Then it's just a matter of trying them all until one works. If there isn't a hatch or period of behavioral drift taking place triggering the constant movement that often accompanies selective feeding I've lost one big advantage - I can't spot the fish anywhere near as easily without movement. That means I've got to fish likely looking spots with something I think the fish that should be in that likely looking spot would like to eat. Lots of "I thinks" to that way of fishing. I also don't get a clue as to what might trigger a strike but all is not lost. During opportunistic feeding periods there are some clues and here are a few I look for and things I do. Long ago I was told if the feeding is fast - fish fast and if feeding is slow - fish slow. During the opportunistic times when fish are apt to grab at anything that makes them curious (Jim Thibodeau's favorite saying "they got no hands you know - just make em curious" comes to mind) I fish slow. I work likely looking sheltered runs, deep slots, riffle edges, scum lines and rips. Give me a good attractor pattern (Royal Wulff, Humpy, Stimulator) and a dropper (soft hackle, LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa, Pheasant Tail) and turn me loose. Chances are I'll find a willing fish. But if I don't I re-rig and try a different set of tactics. Out comes the Wooly Buggers, Black Nose Dace, Cone-head Muddlers, Brooks Stones and Caddis Larva and down I go. Generally I switch to a sink-tip line and move to the riffles and then to the slower tail outs of pools or deep runs with prime lies and I search out those fish that are hanging out waiting for the current to bring them a meal. I work the water systematically, taking my time, searching the water and hopefully giving some hidden fish a chance to see my fly and react to the impulse to OPPORTUNITISTICALLY strike at what might be a meal. My movements are slow and careful and my concentration on water and currents could be called intense because I'm watching for a flash, a movement, a refusal any clue that a fish is around and can be induced to strike. Yep, "selectively opportunistic" that's what fish are. And, when they're actively feeding and being selective is when I've lots of clues to work with. It's those time of opportunistic feeding that are tough. That's when you've got to anticipate where the fish are and what might make them strike. Give me those feeding selective fish anytime - even if I can't figure them out I know I'm in the game. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
One other thing - this is the last Thursday Review until
December. Starting April 1st I'll switch to the Friday Updates.
(and no the 1st isn't a Friday)
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Sight Casting 03/20/08 - Sight casting to fish is something we get to do
precious little of here in Maine.
Tannic Acid tinting our water is one reason, steep gradients and
a broken, turbulent water surface is another common problem.
But one of the biggest problems is many of us just don’t know
where to look or don’t look at all. Many times I’ve watched people walk a path
along the edge of a stream and observed them walking with their eyes
glued to the path – never looking at the water.
I often see the same behavior when people walk the edge of a
stream, sort of half-in and half-out of the water grabbing alders and
stepping over rocks. You
can’t blame them, as a person has to watch their step when climbing over
rocks and moving around holes. For years of my fishing I was that
person. Path watching is a prime example of why a lot of people don’t
see fish – they aren’t looking into the water.
Looking for fish is an art and there are
techniques involved in most art forms that makes things easier.
One technique that is easy to learn and apply is the stalking
method. My normal method of moving along a stream is to walk and pause.
When I pause I sweep the streambed with my eyes.
I look for shadows - long thin ones. I look for the movement of
fish coming out from behind a rock to grab a drifting nymph before
moving back to shelter.
And, I look at the trail or streamside picking my path to the next
vantage point – then I look at the streambed again. It takes me longer
to get from point A to point B moving that way but after I started doing
it I saw more fish. Another trick is to take advantage of the sun.
If the sun is behind you, ideally over your shoulder, you have
better chance of spotting fish. Unfortunately, you have a better chance of spooking them with
your shadow as well. But
often when I stalk along the edges of a stream I walk the sun-side bank
so I don’t have to deal with the glare of the sun like I would have to
if I were on the other side. Sun glare is your enemy when looking for fish
and your best weapon against sun glare is a pair of polarized
sunglasses. I don’t like to
wear sunglasses and you’ll seldom see me with a pair on – unless I’m
fishing. When I’m fishing it’s rare to see me without them. But the
sun isn’t the only reason for sunglasses – eye protection is a good
reason to wear them. Anyone
you see on the water without sunglasses is handicapped when it comes to
seeing fish. But looking into the water is only the first
step. Knowing where to look
is the second thing. Current is the key to that. Look where the current
isn’t. Look in the obvious
places like behind (or just in front of) a rock. Then probe the water
looking for other places where a fish can be out of the direct flow of
the current. Maybe you’ll see a depression on the streambed that provides
a sheltered spot. Or maybe
if you’ve been standing there long enough there will be a fish holding
in the eddy created by your legs – it happens.
Another sheltered spot is a plunge pool below a
slight drop or in the eddy of a pool.
Many pools have a back currents created on both sides of the
stream right after the flow enters the pool – both eddies are worth
looking at. The edges of direct current flow are certainly key places to
check and where I look first but I don’t stop there. I look into the direct current spots after checking the
sheltered places.
I know fish can’t hold indefinitely in direct
current flow but if there’s enough feed coming down the stream, say
during a pre-hatch drift, the fish will be right out there in the direct
current feeding. They may
be a little harder to see as the current flow distorts the water but if
you look for movement or a flash – not for a fish – you’ll pick them up
if they are there.
So, while sight casting
opportunities are limited here in Maine they do exist.
To take advantage of them you have to practice looking for
fish – each time you fish.
Stop and take time to look into the water searching the stream
bottom. While you’re looking
try to figure where the current isn’t and concentrate your search in
such spots. Think of spots
where the fish ought to be and you might be surprised how many fish
you’ve been walking past.
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| Mayflies are Trout Food 03/13/08 - Yes indeed, one of my favorite things about mayflies is that trout love to eat them. Oh, I think they are pretty floating down stream with their wings standing up like sails. Their mating swarms are an incredible sight and always just out of my reach. Those things and more make them a critter worth watching but what endears them to me is that they are trout food and trout will risk much to feast on them.
Armed with only the knowledge that trout feed on mayflies one can go the
the rivers and streams of Maine and catch an occasional trout on an
Trout don't speak or read Latin - neither do I. But learning the Latin name for the common hatches in my area has helped me gain "a little more knowledge" about the mayflies I commonly see. I should say learning to read the Latin name has helped me because I still can't pronounce most of them. None the less knowing the scientific name of insects has helped me locate information on life cycles, habitat, preferred water temperatures and much more. Perhaps the most valuable information for me has been learning where different mayflies choose to emerge. A good example of emergence style is the comparison of the Quill Gordon and the Hendrickson. Generally, mayflies emerge in one of three ways. One is for the nymph to crawl out of the water, in a manner similar to stoneflies, and emerge on a rock or branch - think Leadwing Coachman (Isonychia Bicolor). Another method is for the nymph to float upwards emerging just below or in the surface film - think Hendrickson (Ephemerella Subvaria). And yet a third method is for the dun to emerge from the nymph stage underwater, along the bottom, and then rise to the top fully in the dun stage - think Quill Gordon (Epeorus Pleuralis) The Hendrickson and Quill Gordon nymphs have much in common. They like riffles and pocket water, both hatch in the May, June timeframe (around here) and while the Quill Gordon may begin hatching with high 40's for water temperatures both are normally hatching when the thermometer reads 52 degrees.
But that's where the similarities end because the Quill Gordon is a
tough, hard fighting, two-tailed clinger nymph that likes to gather in
the slow pockets scattered amongst the
However, the Hendrickson nymph, a three-tailed Crawler, lives a softer
life and seems to care more about comfort and seeking out comfort.
Enough so that when hatch
So while all mayfly nymphs and adults are trout food they are not all available at the same time or in the same manner during emergence. Knowing subtle differences like the preference for fast pocket water emergence of the Quill Gordon vs. the seeking out of softer water by the Hendrickson can improve your catch rate. Because while trout don't read or speak Latin they do know where those mayflies live and hatch, if for no other reason than the simple fact that Mayflies are trout food. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
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| Handling Trout
03/06/08 - The State Open Water Fishing Regulations (which are out now Now they aren't starting the time clock when the fish comes to your net or hand - the time clock starts at the moment of the take. From that instant on the clock is ticking and the quicker you get the fish off the better the chance that fish will survive.
Now you might be planning on keeping the fish but you don't know if it's
a keeper until you get it in and measure it so the quickness factor The most important tool for a quick landing is tippet. After all tippet is the weakest link in the chain and if it fails the game is over. We're lucky in that area as today's 4X tippet rates in the 6-pound test range - back in the days of Bergman, Brooks and Ovington 4X rated in at about 2-pound test. I make it a rule to start with at least 4X if the hook will accept it and to work down in tippet size if I can't hookup. Often I'm hooking up using size 16's on 4X and others will tell me they had to drop to 5 or 6X. The difference is I'm usually using about 4-feet of tippet and they are using about 2-feet.
The
But without a doubt the standard hook removal tools are forceps.
So play your fish hard - test that tippet strength - you'll be surprised how strong tippet is if you apply steady pressure and work the fish. If you get the fish in and can't release the hook without removing the fish from the water (or you want a picture) remember to take care when handling the fish.
Wet you hands so you don't remove all the protective slime from When you put the fish back in the water if it needs to be revived hold it by the tail with one hand and cradle it under the belly with the other. Keep it's head facing into the current if you can and if needed you might move it forward and back to force some water through the gills. The fish will usually just kick out of your hand and swim off. Watch it's gills and you'll often see strong gill movement just before they kick away. Sort of like us taking a deep breath before a heavy lift.
While many will argue Catch and Release doesn't work or is cruel I for
one am a proponent.
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Fly Tying - Good way to learn about insects
02/28/08 - I enjoy books like Tom Ames book Hatch Guide For New
For example, even people who don't tie will benefit
from articles
The article gives step-by-step instructions for tying
the stone above and then tells you why it works. Edwards breaks
Stoneflies down and give you identification techniques along with
instruction on how to fish them. He even borrows from the bird
watcher world and tell you how
Now certainly Fly Tyer isn't the only magazine that has good tying articles they appear in many magazines. My point is some people breeze right by the articles without ever realizing there is good fishing information mixed in with the tying and it's a shame. Fly tying may not be your thing but if you plan on staying with fly fishing and want to learn bugs you ought to give it a try. When you start tying one of first revelations is how small the bugs you're trying to imitate are. Most people who take our beginner fly tying class look at a size 12 hook and say - "man - that's a small hook. A year later when you talk to them and ask they'll tell you they seldom tie on hooks larger than a 14 when tying imitations (not attractors). One of the reasons for that is they have come to realize that every time they look up a new pattern to imitate a specific insect they see the size range of recommended hooks. Most it turns out are small so they just get used to tying to imitate the actual size and then start fishing those smaller flies and - generally - their catch rate goes up. Take a look at the Orvis Hatch chart below and you'll see what I mean about insect size. Now the information about insect size has been out there for years but what drives the point home is the actual tying. If you tie to match and actual insect and want to fish the flies you tied - well - pretty soon your realize you only have small imitative flies in your boxes. Of course there are those like the Green Drake,
Hexagenia and Golden Stones that are bigger (some up to an 8) but in
general bugs
Yep fly tying can teach you a lot. And even if you don't tie flies the next time you're flipping through a magazine be sure a give those tying articles a second glance.
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Spring Fishing - Get It While You Can 02/21/08 - Well March is right around the corner and I, for one, welcome March. Not just because it brings one of my favorite holidays – St. Patrick’s Day – but also because it often brings some good fishing before the river here gets blown out by the spring melt. Fortunately the Kennebec River from Madison down is open year round and so some of us get to take advantage of that quick to close window between the deep cold of winter and the melt of spring. That is if we have our gear and flies ready. Some years it never happens – that window never opens – most usually those years are the ones with a warm winter and more rain than snow. Those years the river stays high all winter and the spring melt takes the river from high to higher. This winter has been cold enough to give the feeder lakes a chance to drop in level and so now we’ve got to look for the kind of spring the Maple Sugar guys look for. We need some nice warm days the kind of days that draw you out into the sunshine and then we need the cool, cold even, nights that drive you back inside. The task of making it a good Maple Sugar spring we must leave up to Mother Nature. Our task is to be ready if the days warm so that we can take to the water; ready for what will be the first fish of the year for most of us. Each fall, late fall, my gear gets a going over and is cleaned, lubed and missing items get replaced. Well most missing items get replaced so I’ll be ready for any wintertime “January Thaw” days that come along but I don’t replace my flies. At least not in one fell swoop. I let fly selection and replacement drag out through the winter. That gives me time to read up on new patterns and techniques and to review my fly boxes culling out the flies types I didn’t use to make room for some new flies that peak my interest. One of those flies is the John Barr’s Meat Whistle. But with the selection of this fly as one I want to use comes a nagging feeling that the fly is a bit removed from, well, fly-fishing. If you’re not familiar with the Meat Whistle it’s a crawdad imitation and it’s tied with a cone-head. Now I fish cone-head Muddlers and Woolly Buggers and have gotten past the “this is a weighted fly” mindset but the Meat Whistle takes it one step further it’s tied on a Jig Hook. When Maine changed the law allowing weighted flies I had a hard time adjusting to that. No weight was part of the challenge of fly-fishing. But without a doubt adding beads and later cone heads caught me more fish. And I could live with beads and cones because the flies were often standard patterns tied on standard fly hooks and the bead or cone was just an added part. Besides I’m well aware that real metal tinsel, used in the days before mylar, added weight to a fly. But now, John Barr is asking me to take it a step further and use a JIG hook – he comes right out and says it – Gamakatsu 90-degree 1/0 Jig Hook. Oh what it the fly fishing world coming to? That March window opens and closes quickly and I want to be as effective as I can be and I know the fish are lethargic and generally bottom hugging. The Meat Whistle is designed for just that kind of fishing and Shawmut is after all Artificial Lures Only water not Fly Fishing Only water so it’s OK isn’t it? I mean to say I will be using a 7-weight fly rod and I will be casting not chucking my fly - so it's fly-fishing - not my father's fly-fishing perhaps but under today's definition it fits. Yep, March is coming, I want to catch fish, it's legal and I usually fish alone so no one will know. I'm going to tie the flies myself and the water is ALO. Yep, it'll be OK I just won't take any to Grand Lake Stream in May. Well maybe one just in case. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
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Placencia, Belize - 2008
Well, Belize was everything
I remembered. Beautiful weather (mid to high 80's, He built a place and stays down there quite a bit. Some of you may know Ted. I didn't until he came over and introduced himself along with his brother Andy who asked me if I know a guy from Maine named Jon Berry. When I said yes Andy said "That's my boy" - small world isn't it. So Jon - your dad says "Hi."
But let's get to the
fishing and I've gotta say right up front that this wasn't a fishing
trip. We went to relax, chill on the beach, tour some ruins and
trying to get three days fishing was a
And, the boat ride is the big advantage of staying at a lodge out near the barrier reef - you don't have far to go to fish and you can sneak into sheltered coves since you're already out there.
You might have guessed from
all this hedging around that I didn't catch a fish. If that was
your guess you got it right. But I got lots of chances at Permit and
Permit was my target. I just couldn't hook up - there were lots of
fish. I saw more Permit on my first morning than I had seen
collectively during two pervious trips to Belize - and I fished 5-days
on both of those earlier trips. I'll go again and I wouldn't
change much. Here are some tips
First, if you expand the
picture on the left you see a rainbow in the upper right - I saw a lot
of those we had what the guides liked to call "squally" weather - it You might also want to bring some good, small crab patterns, especially, if you're going to insist on staying on the Permit flats instead of going after Bones or Tarpon. You see small crabs are what those Permit want. And I do mean small - about the size of a dime. Yet even with a fly that small I was using a 10-weight - certainly not because of the fly size - partly for the size of the fish I wanted to catch - but mostly due to the extreme wind.
Now people told me take tan
crabs and green crabs and you'll be all set. They were right - sort of.
There were tan crabs for sure but green crabs - well you tell me how
many shades of
Anyway, as Marshall would
say, bring your A game if you go down there. I can cast fairly
But as you can see if you
expand the picture above and to the right there were fish caught.
Not by me but when Hector and I got out to wade the flat Carlos would
cast to the deeper
Hind-sight tells me maybe I should have done more of that but the plan was to spend two days casting to Permit as long as they were up on the flats and feeding. Well they were up on the flats all day long and they were feeding. I've often heard that during low tide and especially during ebb tide you can forget Permit. Well, not the case for my two days. Carlos and Hector knew of flats that were just the right depth at low tide and when one flat got slow due to water levels we just jumped to another that was "just right."
Plans go astray and the
major wind we got the next three days cancelled the third day.
If you want to take a close look at the size and color of the crabs down there - follow this link - to a video of one I picked up off the flat. I'd have paid good money for this clip before I went. I searched the web many hours trying to get a good picture of these crabs. And if you want to know how windy it really was - follow this link - it will give you an idea.
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Lost and Found – One Moose Skull and Horns Have you ever gone for a hike and come across a moose horn drop or even a deer antler? If you're like me the answer is yes - but only once or twice is all the years I've been beating around the woods of Maine. How about a skull? Ever seen one of those? If you find one your best bet is to leave it there and get a warden to go back with you to get it. You'll save yourself a lot of grief if you do it that way.
Well I had never found
a skull, however, on August 20th 2007 that all changed. You see I
hiked into a remote unnamed
Now before I go on with this story let me tell you it has little to do with fishing. It was the heat of the summer - fishing was off and I was just trying to find some new ponds to hit. I visited this pond three times and never saw a fish rise but I do have hope and will be going back. Anyway there is was - a mile back in the woods from my truck through thick brush and over steep terrain. So after sticking it up on a Black Spruce stub and taking some photos I headed out intending to return and carry it out. Fortunately I posted my plan on the Friday Update page and George read it. George who you might ask - so do I. But I'm jumping ahead. George comes in later.
My next trip up there
was on September 2nd and I took an old backpack frame, some rope, bungee
straps and went after it. When I got there it had fallen off the
Black Spruce and If you look at the flipping pictures just below you'll see the start of my journey back was a balance beam walk across a deep, black mud pit. Fortunately I didn't fall and a mile later I was back at the truck. It wasn't an easy mile but there is a nice flat rock about halfway of the hike that offered a perch for the backpack and I took advantage of it. I was some glad when I got out of the woods, past the bedding area the local bear was using and to the clear-cut where my truck was parked. I was even happier when the skull was on the front deck of our camp. That was on Sept. 2nd a Sunday and on Monday Linda and I headed home, feeling like the worst of it was over - it wasn't. This is where George comes in. Tuesday morning - the 4th (the dates and times of these events do become important) about 8:00am I opened the shop and checked my phone messages. There was one from George (who said he was from the Bangor area) and he told me possession of a skull was against the law and that if I wanted to be legal about it I had better contact IF&W about a permit.
I thought that over and decided I did want
to be legal - don't we all? That's not to say I always am but I do
try. So I called IF&W and asked about getting a permit. That's
when the fun started. Ironic that I called on September 4th
because the 4th is when I finally
You see a Moose or Deer antler drop is an OK thing to pick up and carry out of the woods. The animal has "discarded" the drop - so to speak. But a skull is another thing - the animal died to give that up and how it died makes a difference. How long you have the skull in your possession - that makes a difference also. This gets long and involved but I'll try to just hit the highlights as this is long already. Acting on George's advise I did call IF&W. The first thing I was told was that I couldn't possess a skull. After I explained I already had it I was put in touch with Warden Glidden of the Millinocket area. Warden Glidden met me at camp that following weekend and informed me that possession of a skull without a permit was a crime and then he confiscated the skull and horns. I was less than happy and to his credit when I made some smart ass remark about how I guess since he was armed if he wanted to take them I couldn't stop him he took no offense. As a matter of fact he was darn good about it breaking the tension by breaking eye contact - looking at the ground for a second and saying "Well, I'm glad you see it that way."
We had a good conversation after that and
he gave me little hope but told me if I wanted to secure a permit I
should call Augusta and contact Col. Santaguida. The reason
But after much research it was proven I didn't break the law. You see the statute that I would have been in violation of is 12306: Possessing unregistered bear, deer, moose or wild turkey and there are exceptions allowing temporary possession in that chapter. It was just by chance that I came under the exception because I wasn't even aware of the law but chance works. You see there are provisions made in that chapter of the law for people on hunting trips. The purpose of the exception is to allow someone who bags game on the first day of a hunt to keep the animal at camp or campsite for a few days rather than making them leave the woods the moment they bag an animal. Specifically the law says: "A person on a hunting trip in an unorganized township and staying at a temporary place of lodging may keep an unregistered harvested animal at the temporary place of lodging for no more than 7 days or until that person leaves the woods, whichever comes first." So since I only had the skull in my possession for 1 day at my camp I was well under the 7 day limit. Here's where George's phone call becomes timely. The second part of that exception is that when you do leave camp you have 18 hours to notify a warden or go to a tagging station. I left camp at 8:00pm on the 3rd and called IF&W at 8:00am on the 4th - well within the time limit allowed. So while I did have possession without a permit I had called to obtain the permit - all by dumb luck - within the allotted time. It was an involved process and took some taking, writing, calling, research and general pain-in-the-butt perseverance but I was cleared of having committed any crime. But they still wouldn't issue me a permit.
The long and short of it is after visiting the site and looking around at the scattered bones the warden couldn't determine how the animal died. When the state decides that it can't decide how an animal died the policy is for the state to retain possession of a found skull. They wrote and told me that and I thought it was over because after reading the policy I had to agree that was the only thing they legally could do. I was out in the cold so to speak. Then during a re-read of the policy I found a section dealing with the disposition of skulls retained by the state. The policy says that skulls can be given to Wardens for demonstrations, given to a school or civic organization for the same purpose or sold to a citizen - eureka. "Hey, I'm a citizen" said I to the empty room and then I sat down and wrote a letter to the state offering to buy them. The state accepted my offer ($200.00) and sold me the skull and antlers. Believe me I could write another couple of pages explaining how that all came about but I won't. To sum it up let me say if you find a skull and want to possess it the first step you should take is away - directly away from the skull - and then you should go find a warden. The first two months of this tale was taken up proving I was innocent of illegal possession of an unregistered animal (a skull is considered an animal for the purpose of this law). The second is be prepared for a drawn out affair - after all it is the state you will be dealing with - and on top of that, well, the wardens do have other things on their minds during hunting season. But if you do find a skull and do contact a warden you stand a good chance of obtaining a permit. Especially if the cause of the animal's demise is obvious - and you didn't kill it. If the cause of death isn't obvious than the whole process becomes a little dicey. Fortunately, because of the difficulty getting to this pond even though they couldn't determine the cause of death they were pretty sure I didn't hike in and kill the animal planning on coming back later for the skull - there are just to many easier spots to do something like that. All in all the time and effort were worth it for me. I wanted that skull to hang over the door of my camp and I've got it. In addition I have a new pond to fish, a tale to tell and I found the largest collection of Pitcher Plants I've ever seen. Yes - that funky looking plant you saw a couple of pictures of is a Pitcher Plant - a bug eating, carnivorous plant that feeds on flies. I'm sure that dead rotting moose drew a concentration of flies that might well have led to the abundance of the Pitcher Plants. Funny how stuff like that all ties together. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
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When is a 5-weight not a 5-weight?
Fly lines used to be identified by letters. If you wanted a double taper fly line you would get an HDH. An HDH line would be .025" on each end and the mid-section (belly) would be .045" and as long as you purchased the line from the same manufacturer life was good. However, if you bought an HDH from a different manufacturer all bets were off. The line might cast well or it might not. The industry had no standard. Today there is a standard - sometimes.
In 1962 the AFTM (Association of Fishing Tackle Manufactures) stepped in and presented the industry with a standard weight chart based on the weight of the 1st 30 feet of a flyline. Suddenly it didn't matter who manufactured a fly line if it was a 5-weight it probably would cast well on your 5-weight fly rod. If life was good before it was now grand because you could jump based on price, availability, coating characteristics or whatever else mattered to you and be fairly sure you the line would load your rod well - no matter who manufactured the line.
A few years back I started hearing rumblings about how a line from "Company A" loaded a rod better than a line from "Company B" and frankly I didn't pay much attention. Because after all according to this chart:
a 5-weight was 140 grains and no matter who made it 140 grains was, well, 140 grains and so all line would load the same. Lines may have had different tapers and rolled out differently but from a loading point of view - one 5-weight should load as good as another. BUT - that wasn't true any longer. Some people weren't paying much attention to AFTM standards.
Rod manufactures are a competitive bunch and rod tapers and design are pushed to new limits on a regular basis. The new limits are usually on the faster, quicker end of the spectrum as it was hard to make rods softer than some already out there. With the faster tapers came timing problems and compounding the timing issue is the fact that quicker rods, faster strokes and high line speeds shorten the time it takes to execute a cast. Some people bought faster rods and just weren't up to casting them - ability was one limiting factor - the need to concentrate on your timing was another. So people started overlining rods. This slowed the casting stroke down and allowed more time during the stroke for the brain to register the feedback from the rod loading and unloading.
It became common to
overline rods. But the inevitable backlash came and it arrived in the
form of a simple question like - if you wanted a 7-weight why didn't you
just buy a 7-weight, how come you bought a 6-weight? Some bright
light in the line manufacturing end of things saw this question as an
opportunity and along cam
These lines have two things in common. For a given line weight none of them are that actual line weight - they are all at least a half-line weight heavy. And to their credit they all are advertised that way. When half-weight lines were introduced it was a little bit of a back-door offering. Initially a half-weight heavier fly line was marketed right along side its actual line weight neighbor and not identified as being heavier.
But the difference was there and noticeable and that started people talking about how a line from "Company A" loaded a rod better than a line from "Company B" but it didn't take long for manufactures to let AFTM in on the secret. Once AFTM became aware of the half-weight lines they reintroduced the offending manufactures to the standard and things have gone on from there.
The half-weight lines didn't go away but there are now identified and that's a good thing. That is after all what standards are about - standards level the playing field - and allow customers to make informed decisions. So when someone says to you "this new GPX, Grand or PowerTaper line really loads my rod well" you and they should understand that the reason is the line is heavier than what it says it is.
So - when is a 5-weight not a 5-weight - it isn't a 5-weight when it's a Scientific Angler-GPX or a Rio-Grand or an Orvis-PowerTaper. What it is a half-weight heavier line that probably gives you that extra loading and feedback you want.
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Sink that tippet unless you want it to
float.
You can’t buy Mud anymore, at least, not in Orvis stores. I’ve never seen it anywhere else hence my conclusion you can’t buy it any longer. Most people don’t even know what it was so they don’t miss it. However, if you wanted your leader tippet section to sink it was the best “degreaser” money could buy. Mud came in a little red tub and rumor has it that it was a mixture of dental adhesive and bentonite clay. If you took a pinch of Mud and drew your leader threw it the leader section would be wiped clean of any oils or other chemicals that would cause the leader to float. And monofilament left to its own devises will sink and a sunken leader tippet is just what I want most of the time. You see, I’ve got this mindset that tells me a floating tippet section is more visible to the fish and therefore a bad thing. I can’t prove it, wouldn’t want to try, but I believe it to be true. Now plenty of people want just the opposite from a leader – especially the tippet section. Floating leaders are preferred by a lot of people who skate Caddis imitations along the surface or those fishing an emerger in the surface film. If an emerger sinks a little deeper than desired people often apply dressing to the leader stopping about six-inches from the fly so that the fly can sink a little but is prevented from sinking deep. So why do I want my tippet section to sink? Like I said I wouldn’t really argue hard for sinking tippet sections I just believe sunken tippet sections frighten fewer fish than floating ones. Just my perception of things but perception is reality. But let me clarify a little. I don’t mean I want my tippet section to sound down to the bottom like a sulking fish taking my fly with it. No, I just want my tippet section to break the surface film and throw a little less shadow or make a little less apparent pointer tracing out the path to my fly. That’s where the Mud comes in because Mud removes any dressing that may be on the tippet allowing monofilament to break the surface tension. I’ve been told that if a slowly sinking tippet section is what I want then Fluorocarbon must be my favorite tippet material because it has slightly more negative buoyancy than regular monofilament. But that’s not the case. I don’t think Fluorocarbon sinks so fast that it pulls my fly under but I do think Fluorocarbon is too stiff for dead drifting dries or emergers. When it comes to floating dry flies I like long and supple tippets – give me a length of Super-Strong monofilament. One argument against sinking tippet sections is that you throw spray when you pick them up. That’s not the case if you take the time to slowly draw the leader back towards you before lifting it off the water. Drawing the leader towards you accomplishes two good things. First, it breaks the surface tension and allows the tippet to lift off with water with no clinging rooster tail. Second, if the current or eddies have pulled any section of the leader or the fly deep under the surface drawing the leader towards you before you lift it brings everything to the surface. This prevents the “popping” noise that so often accompanies the lifting of a sunken fly. Wet flies and Soft Hackles are often fished with a floating line. Getting them down in the water column is considered a good thing. A leader that has been treated with a floating dressing doesn’t help achieve that. But if you had dressed your leader and had some Mud handy a quick application of the Mud would remove the dressing and help your leader and fly reach the desired depth. So will Gehrke’s Xink. If fact Gehrke’s Xink may well be what led to the demise of Mud. Mud was the answer for a long time but it seems to have faded from favor. George Gehrke’s Gink has long been a floating fly dressing of choice for many fly fishermen. When Gehrke’s decided to offer an offsetting product to complement their floating dressing they called it Xink. Gink worked so well many just assumed, rightly so, that Xink would work well and when they bought a bottle of one they bought a bottle of the other. You can’t really be expected to carry a set of floating leaders and a set of sinking leaders so your best bet is to use Gink and Xink to make your leader able to do both. And that’s what I do I carry both Gink and Xink. If you intentionally treat a tippet section or contaminate it unintentionally with a floating dressing and want it to sink you don’t have to change it out. Xink (or Mud if you can find it) will do the trick and get your leader to sink. Gink, on the other hand will, if desired, will keep your leader and fly floating nicely. So sink that tippet unless you want it to float. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
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Roll Casts - Switch Cast - Single Spey casts - all the same thing? 12/20/07 - You often hear a Single Spey Cast is an elaborate Roll Cast. When I first heard that I accepted it as the similarities were obvious. Once I started Spey Casting I confirmed it to myself for I found the forward stroke of the Single Spey and the Roll casts are almost the same. The big difference it seemed to me was the way you set up for that forward cast and I was pretty comfortable thinking of it like that. But as you get familiar with many methods of casting you discover you can parse the strokes into finer sections. Such was the case when I wanted a little more out of my Roll Casts. To increase the distance of my Roll Cast I needed to load the rod better. There had to be a change in my stroke. What happened when I changed the stroke was I started Spey Casting and I had never heard of Spey Casting. What I started doing was the Power Roll Cast at least that’s what it was called then. I don’t remember the article or even what magazine it was in but I read that if you let the line go behind the rod when you made a Roll Cast you could get more distance with less effort. I liked the idea of that. But was it still Roll Casting? Not really. That step, letting my line get behind the rod before starting the forward stroke, was my introduction to Spey Casting. Yep, Spey Casting for it seems that before it was the Power Roll Cast it was the Switch Cast. After I started Power Roll Casting along came Spey Casting or at least that was the way I looked at it. Spey Casting was new to me and I was surprised when I learned how long people had been Spey Casting. A basic Spey Cast is the Switch Cast and I was some surprised to learn the Switch Cast and Power Roll Cast were the same casts. Without realizing it I had followed an accepted, perhaps preferred progression from the basic Roll Cast to Spey Casting. It was such a natural progression that it has become a common method of teaching Spey Casting basics. Follow along and see if you agree. Roll Cast The Roll Cast is normally a short line cast with 30 to 40 feet being a good long cast for most people. The Roll Cast doesn’t allow for much in the way of a change of direction and so works best when casting on still waters. Roll Casts work well with floating lines and straight casts. It has another use, perhaps my favorite and that is lifting Sink-Tip lines up to the surface so that you can eventually lift the whole line off the water. But it is a limited cast and in moving water the faster the water is moving the harder it is to execute a good Roll Cast. When I executed a Roll Cast I stopped the rod on the pickup stroke when the line hung almost straight down from the rod tip. The whole point of the Roll Cast was to be able to cast forward without a backcast. To be able to cast while backed up to the Alders and keeping the line even with the rod – not behind it – was a key to a proper Roll Cast. Then I heard about the Power Roll Cast and it told me to let some line go behind the rod before starting the forward stoke. Switch Cast When making a Power Roll Cast if the line behind the rod (what is called the D in the world of Spey Casting) starts to reach back and grab the alders behind you then you aren’t Roll Casting any longer even if you call the cast a Power Roll Cast. What you are doing is starting on the road to a Switch Cast and the Switch Cast is a Spey Cast. If you really worked the Power Roll Cast eventually you would get a backstroke that would lift the whole line out of the water and you had to slow the stroke to keep the line from extending straight out behind you. That slowing of the stroke allowed the line to drop back to the water before starting the forward stroke. When you really get that loop behind the rod moving and then slow your stroke so the line tip touches down just in front of you – that’s when you can really blast the fly out there. It’s that touchdown of the fly line tip that loads your rod and if you can start a smooth forward stroke right when the line touches down – that’s a thing of beauty - a wonderful thing happens. What happens is your line sails out with almost no effort. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a 6-foot rod or a 15-foot rod if you make a Switch Cast stoke and your timing is correct your forward stroke will be almost effortless when compared to a normal casting stroke. However, a trait common to both the Roll Cast and Switch Cast is that neither allows for a wide change of direction. Single Spey The greatness of the Single Spey is that you can change direction by using it. Additionally, of all the Spey casts out there the Single Spey holds the honor of being the longest of all Spey Casts. Single Spey casts are a natural progression, an easy leap forward, from the Switch Cast just as the Switch Cast is from the Roll Cast. But with power and added capability comes complexity. Simply stated there is just more to do when executing a Single Spey. And again it doesn’t matter if you are using a 6-foot or 15-foot rod the elements of the cast are the same. A limitation of the Single Spey cast is that the line must be on your upstream side when you begin the forward stroke. It just won’t work otherwise. And the key to getting the line upstream of you is line control. The cast forces you to learn line control and as you get better at line control any – ANY – cast you make Spey or conventional becomes better and easier. Now I can’t explain the Spey Cast here. Better writers then I have tried to write out the steps and failed but I can tell you that it is a good, powerful cast and not that hard to learn if you build up to it starting from the basic Roll Cast. Additionally, the Single Spey has the advantage of providing you with visual feedback throughout the cast as the line and fly never go completely behind you. The fly line tip and the fly will drop back to the water in front of and upstream of you before you start the forward stroke and that visual feedback helps you gain control of your line and line placement. Something a conventional backstroke doesn’t do. Gone is the question a beginning conventional caster often hears when making a backstroke – no one will ask, “did you feel a slight tug as the line straightened behind you?” Someone might ask “Did you watch your line touch down before you started the forward stroke?” And a Single Spey caster should see that touch down. Thankfully, the visual feedback is easier to recognize than the subtle tug of a conventional backcast. So is a Single Spey Cast just an elaborate Roll Cast? Well yes and no. The two certainly share characteristics. The big difference though is that the Single Spey will allow you to change directions with your cast. Gone is the limitation of having to cast back to where your line was. Instead you can pick your line up from a downstream dangle and cast it back out at 90 degrees, or at an even wider angle, from where it was. I guess I’d sum it up by saying that if you can Roll Cast you’re well on the way to knowing how to Single Spey cast. If you move from the basic Roll Cast to the Power Roll Cast or Switch Cast you’ll be even closer. And, then when you make the next step and learn to Single Spey the ability to switch directions during the cast you will find a whole new realm of water becomes fishable and fishing all the available water, not just the easy water is bound to improve your catch rate. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome |
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Thermometers - do you use them? 12/13/07 - Thermometers are a must have for some and a “why bother” for others. Thermometers will tell you the temperature but they won’t change the fishing, which is why a lot of people don’t bother with them. But knowing the temperature can, and should, give you a good idea how to approach the water and what techniques you might want to use. If I check the water temperature and get a reading between 50 and 65 degrees I’m a happy man. Happy because my preferred target species is trout and trout like that range of temperature. When trout are comfortable they usually have the feedbag on. It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day (or night) they are out there looking for a snack when the temperatures are right. But when I get a reading of 70 degrees or higher I often don’t fish for trout and pursue Smallmouths, Pickerel or Perch (a much underrated fly rod species). I mostly catch and release my trout and when I let them go I like to think they live to be caught again. However, when water warms and the levels of dissolved oxygen drop released trout often, in my opinion, suffocate or succumb to other temperature-influenced ills like lactic acid buildup or heat stroke. And this happens after they give you that warm-fuzzy feeling by swimming away. Fish seem to tolerate cold water better than warm water. They hunker down and their metabolism slows until the warming that is bound to come. So when the temperature reading is low (below 42 is my confidence cut off point) I seldom catch fish but when I do I’m fairly confident that released trout survive. Now I’m not saying trout can’t be caught and successfully released above 70 degrees. Nor am I saying they can’t be caught below 42 degrees. There are few hard and fast rules when it comes to fishing. Yet, it bears mentioning that fish are cold-blooded and the water they are in dictates their metabolism. It is my belief that when the water temperature is above 70 or below 42 the fishing is slow to non-existent, at least when fly fishing for trout. The bugs and trout often tell me when the temperature range is between 50 and 65 degrees. They communicate that to me by way of a hatch and surface feeding. That’s an easy one – when I see surface feeding I know dries or emergers are the way to go. But - if I get to the water and there isn’t surface activity and the thermometer tells me the water is in the optimum range I’ll often tie on a dry fly even without surface feeding. Why? Because I know fish will move to a fly when they are comfortable. When the water is in their comfort range trout more than move to a fly they often are cruising and aggressively seeking food, especially if there is no hatch. Your fly may well be the trigger they need to strike. But if I check the temperature and get a reading below 50 degrees I seldom tie on a dry and go searching. Instead I tie on a nymph, maybe even switch to a sink-tip line and I go down after them. Down as in bottom bumping. The colder it is the less they move and so taking the fly down to them in the way to go. I find a feeding lane that has slack water adjacent to it or the tail-out of a pool – that sort of water and I plumb the depths for them. The colder it is the more I pound the bottom. If the temperature is just below 50 degrees I don’t feel the need to hook bottom every fifth or sixth drift. If the water temperature is 44 degrees I don’t feel I’m in the game if I’m not hooking bottom frequently. The colder the water the less a fish will move so the colder the water the deeper and slower I fish. So while not having a thermometer won’t stop me from fishing it helps when deciding how to fish or what to fish for. Remember too that the river or stream temperature changes during the day. Often the morning water is 4 to 6 degrees cooler than the evening water. Depending as I do on the information thermometers provide puts me firmly in the “must have” category with the discussion of thermometers comes up. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
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Disk Drags are a good thing. 12/06/07 - I used to be asked, “do I really need a disk drag” it was a frequent question. Now I’m seldom asked that because even most entry-level reels have a disk drag. There are still plenty of older models of spring and pawl reels out there but not many offered as new reels. Why - because Disk Drags are a good thing. One of the biggest reasons is they allow you to put a lot of pressure on the fish and get fish in quicker. The key there is QUICKER. It is the same reason I use a net. I can get a fish into the range of my net quicker if my drag is set and I can net them while they are still hot. I often back my drag way off – easier for me to strip out line and it protects my tippet on the initial strike and run. However, after that first run I crank on my drag and work that fish in as quickly as I can. If I’ve got no drag save the click and pawl over-spin prevention setting it just plain takes me longer to land that fish. Many times I don’t need to set the drag but when I get a good fish increased drag allows me to land fish quicker. I know I could palm my reel and at times I do – usually on the mid-sized fish – the ones not big enough to require adjusting the drag but a little to big to allow them to run as they wish. However, if I get one of those 20” plus Landlocks on Grand Lake Stream using light tippets I’d rather have a SMOOTH drag then my fumble fingers protecting my tippet. And in a little darker water than that of Grand Lake Stream if I get a bigger fish and I’m using 2X tippet I crank that drag down and play that fish hard to my net. IF&W’s number one listing in “TIPS FOR CATCHING AND RELEASING FISH” is “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE” and I think they are right. I think a lot of fish are over played and even if an exhausted fish swims off that doesn’t mean the built up Lactic Acid won’t cramp them up and kill them later. So what’s the down side – Disk Drags that aren’t smooth? Yep, that’s the answer and how smooth a drag is can be hard to determine. Almost all of the reels today feel smooth in the shop. Heck, they’re brand new and bright – they’ve never seen sand and grit, never been dropped. They ought to be smooth. So how can you tell – well you really can’t. To my way of thinking there are few ways to know. So if you want a good SMOOTH drag you can read reviews but usually the person doing the review has only used the reel they are reviewing for a few hours. You can buy from a reputable manufacturer – that’s pretty safe – putting out good product is how they earned their reputation. There are other good ways to get a good smooth drag but my favorite is to ask someone that has been using a reel model for a couple of seasons. Chances are if someone has been using the reel for a season or two they have a good idea if the drag is smooth after use or only smooth right out of the case. One feature that you can look for on a Disk Drag reel is an easy to adjust drag knob. There are reels out there that have good smooth drags but small drag knobs. Small knobs are hard to find and adjust in the heat of the battle. I don’t want to search for and then fumble with my drag knob. I want a drag knob that is easy to adjust without having to look for and at it. I don’t care how they make it easy. The can make them big, make them mid-size with indents for your fingertips – I don’t care how but the manufacture has to address ease of adjustment. I guess I could sum this up by saying that I feel Disk Drags are good things if they are smooth AND easy to adjust. They are good because they allow me to play a fish hard and to apply pressure rather than letting the fish run over and over until it tires. I’d rather break a fish off than play it for 8 to 10 minutes because I didn’t play it hard and fast. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome |
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Rookie Mistakes 11/29/07 Well, open water at fishable levels is some scarce. So instead of reporting river conditions it's time to start the Thursday Review. For those of you not familiar with the format the Thursday Review is something I do to pass the winter and supplement the Friday Update. I thought I'd
start this out with a review of some Rookie Mistakes I made this year.
Well most of them are mine - I borrowed another one from a regular Forum
member. Here's one of my recent ones. If you click on and enlarge the picture of my boot you'll see the boot laces are sticking out instead of hanging down. No, the laces can't defy gravity - they are sticking out like that because they're FROZEN. Yep, all my gear was frozen that morning. I had fished
the day before and had a long, late drive home. When I got home I
told myself I was going right back out the next day and heck leaving my
gear spread out in the back of the truck would be a good thing -
especially since I was tired and didn't want to mess with it. Well Now if you want a challenge try reaching down into the leg of a frozen wader and trying to pull it right side out - took me awhile. But the real challenge came when I tried to get my boot on. Even my Brogues with the side zipper don't go on easy when they are rock solid. I got them on and had a great day on the water - that Brookie on the right was one of my rewards but the lesson learned from this Rookie Mistake is - TAKE CARE OF YOUR GEAR - no matter how tired you are. As my good friend Kenny Clark says "it's a damm poor cowboy that doesn't take care of his horse first." Another Rookie
mistake for this year is ignoring good fishing that's right in my back
yard. I spent a good part of my summer hiking and looking for
ponds and beaver dams to fish. Hiking and
Click on the picture above and you'll see Willie holding a nice Shad. Shad aren't here all season long and I know better than to be gallivanting off in the woods wasting a limited opportunity but I did it anyway. I had a good time and found some good water but my time, from a catching standpoint would have been better spent standing along side Willie. One catch I did
make was the moose skull and horns you see on the right. I carried
them I made other Rookie Mistakes this season. None to severe - things like actually taking care of all my gear after a trip and then forgetting to put my vest back in the truck. Not a big deal until you get to the water. Fortunately I carry so much extra stuff in my truck it didn't matter I just outfitted myself for that day from the "extras." Another simple one was not having my camera and digging my cell phone out from inside my waders to use the camera in it. Now my camera has a lanyard on it so I won't drop it - my cell phone doesn't (it's normally off and deep inside my waders when I'm fishing so it doesn't need one) but I pulled my cell phone out and started taking a picture of a recently caught fish - two steps from shore. Now I could have taken the two steps to shore and taken my cell phone out over land but no I stood there mid-calf deep and didn't think a thing about it until I almost dropped the camera - duh.
But the best Rookie Mistake this season
wasn't even mine. It was
Neal's and it was a good one. I'm
not even going to make a thumbnail of this one - it deserves to remain
full size. Yes sir - that's what happens to your fly box when you put it in the oven to dry out those wet flies so they won't rust up on you. Yep - taking care of his gear just like he's supposed to but - well - to hot is just to hot. So how about you. Someone out there must have a Rookie Mistake to share. If you do follow this link to the Forum and share it with us. It isn't even December yet and the freezing rain is pounding down we could all use a smile or two. Be sure and visit our Forum - Comments welcome
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Adams
or other standard, generic mayfly imitation. But armed with a
little more knowledge about mayflies one can catch even more trout. 
riffles
and fast water they call home before hatching. There the dun
emerges and riding a gas bubble rises to the surface fully emerged - a
full fledged dun. To me that means a wet fly like the Gold Ribbed
Hares' Ear swung into the eddies of pocket water should produce and
pre-hatch that has been a good searching fly for me. 
time
comes the Hendrickson nymph leaves the riffles it grew in and seeks
softer flows. This might mean a migration to the edges of the
stream or crawling/swimming to the tail out of a riffle where the flows
calm. And once in this softer water they like to practice the
hatching rise to the surface. In this water give me a Bead Head
Flymph that I can raise off the bottom and then lower back down
imitating the pre-hatch rise and drop of the natural.
stop in and pick up a copy) has a section titled Tips for Catching
and Releasing Fish. The number one rule is TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.
I couldn't agree more. There are some tools available to the fly
fisherman that help you do just that. 
still applies. So how do you get a fish to hand quickly? My
standard answer to that question is "play it hard and fast." 
Ketchum
Release tool is another aid for quick release. I'm surprised more people
don't use them. I suspect it's because the Ketchum Release tool,
like a net, works best with barbless or bent down barbed hooks. But even
with a barb the Ketchum tool is effective. Once the fish is in
close the Ketchum tool slips over the leader and you just follow down
the leader until it hits the fly - a quick flip of the wrist usually
just pops the hook out and off goes the fish without ever leaving the
water - now that's quick.
Some
have straight jaws, some have curved jaw and some incorporate scissors
or eye cleaners but they all clamp down on a hook and allow you to grab
where your fingers just can't go. After the rod and reel
setup, along with a few flies I tell people the only other things they
ought to have are nippers and a pair of forceps. The rest you can
do without. That's quite a statement coming from a guy who's vest
weighs many pounds. 
like
the one by Oliver Edwards in the Winter 2007 issue of Fly Tyer.
The article titled "Mighty Mites - The Forgotten Stones" was a
top notch article whether you fly tie or not. 
to
apply the GISS (general impression, size, shape) system to identify and
remember your insects so that you can apply proper fishing techniques.
Nice.
are
just plain small. That's certainly not all you get to learn about
bugs by tying. You just can't help but pickup a lot of other good
useful information about habitat, hatch temperature, hatch times and
water preferences. 
light breeze) lots of fish, nice people and good vibes. The kinda
place where you just want to build and stay. That's what Ted Berry
of Maine did. 
hopeful
target ($300.00 per day American if you're wondering). Well, I
only got two days in and they were windy. It was so windy we didn't even
fish the third day. We couldn't risk the boat ride out to the
flats. 
both rained and blew hard. Bring good raingear or hide under the
casting platform like Carlos did when the skies opened up. 
pond
(really it hasn't a name) and what did I see laying on the edge of the
pond - that guy over on the left. Yep - big and real as could be
there was a skull and horns. What a find. 
got
a permit for the skull - January 4th, 2008 that is. If it wasn't for the
call George made I never would have gotten a permit so - Thank you
George.
he
held little hope for me ever getting a permit was that by possessing the
skull I had committed a crime. He told me they just don't give
permits to people who criminally possess a skull no matter how innocent
the acquisition was. And he was right. 
You
must be tired of this story by now - I'm getting tired just writing it
but bear with me just a bit longer - I'll wrap this thing up.
e
lines like the Rio "Grand" and the Scientific Angler "GPX" and recently
the Orvis "PowerTaper" all billed as lines for "today's Tip-Flex or Fast
Action" fly rods. 
