Pike video

Don't laugh. Or, go ahead and laugh. I've been messing around with video. It is pretty shaky and not too creative. But it gives you an idea what I've been up to. I didn't get any big fish this day, but a couple for the camera.

Iowa BWO's

I fished a nice BWO hatch a while back on an Iowa stream. The big browns were doing their thing in the shallows. The little guys were sipping dries.

Iowa Driftless

It's been a mild November in Iowa. Pics from a recent outing. I love the driftless.

Don't underestimate the pheasant tail

Pattern on the left has been the champ

On a recent trip North for Steelhead I was drifting a nice bend without success. I switched my setup to a bead head pheasant tail and hooked up immediately. After two fish my last PT was shredded (pictured bottom left of foam). I was kicking myself for not having more of this great pattern. It's also the only pattern I've been able to fool the local grass carp with. It doesn't really matter what variation of the PT you tie. The point is keep a good supply on hand. It's rarely the first fly I throw but it's a damn good "plan B". 

Late Season Pike

There is a small backwater below my house. When we first moved in, it was less than 2 feet deep throughout. Last fall, there was a large flood on the Black river that ripped through the backwater, cleaning it out. After the flood there were places that were 10 feet deep. If you search through the archives of this blog, you'll see that we caught some nice pike last winter in the deeper holes. Well, they are back and they are taking flies, any fly.

Chrome

My first taste of Chrome. Had an absolute blast with some friends up North. This was my second chance in 10 years at steelhead. Wish I lived closer to these awesome fish. Thanks Tim, Luke and Nate!

November Steelhead

"Where have you been?" I ask, curiously mixed with wonderment. What collaboration of instincts, what fusion of natural forces sends a hundred smolts to sea and returns to me this single adult? -Trey Combs

October Fly Fishing

Fishing the local water in October. Looking for pike, carp, and bass. Not a lot to say -- most of the time I'm catching the skunk. Regardless, I'm loving the cool weather and fall colors.

carp flies

Wisconsin season end

I ended the Wisconsin season where I started it. I've done this the past two years now. I don't think there is a pretty stretch of water in the driftless. Some old habitat work, nested within a beautiful valley and a river that typically gives up some decent fish. On this day, some fish were rising to BWO's but I took mine on streamers. Just a typical day on a WI trout stream. Now, to Iowa.

Conversation at the Lake

A recent conversation with two bobber fisherman at the lake.

Me: How's the fishing?
Bob R: Pretty Good. What you fishing for?
Me: I'm fishing for carp. (they stare at my weird looking fishing rod).
Bob R: (long pause and puzzled look). You cut their bellies and throw em back, right?
Me: No, I'm catching them for fun and I'm pretty sure you can't do that. DNR will write you up for that.
Bob R: Hell no they won't! Them'r invasive species.
Me: You know if I killed the one carp I catch today it isn't going to put a dent in the thousands in this lake.
Bob R: (looks at me with disgust) You know there be walleye in this lake?
Me: Yep. But no walleye in this lake that will bend this rod over like a carp will.

Fishing Maine's Roach River

The Roach river flows for six miles, starting at a dam on First Roach Pond at Kokadjo, Maine to Moosehead Lake. Moosehead lake is the largest body of fresh water entirely contained within a single state, so I'm told. Said lakes holds Lake Trout, Brook Trout, and Landlocked Salmon, to name a few species. Of these, the brookies and salmon ascend the Roach to spawn each fall, making them accessible to the willing fly fisherman. The Roach river is fly fishing and catch and release only.

Under normal to low flow conditions, I'm told that the Roach is considered a small river, easily fishable with a 4wt rod. Along the six miles of river, there are 12 'pools' in which most of the fish congregate during a typical fall. These pools can be nymphed, fished with streamers, or with a dry fly if the situation calls for it. The rest of the river is strewn with boulders and I think typically too shallow to hold a lot of fish. I could be wrong about this because I fished the Roach last week (late Sept) under very high flows. The high flows seemed to spread fish out a bit, and made it impractical to nymph given the faster water and boulder substrate, it seemed I was either hung up on a rock or floating along the surface. It didn't matter, because under these conditions, you'd be a fool not to be swinging a streamer.

I believe the locals call this the ledges. It was the best holding water I found. It was sweet.

First light on the Roach River. Most of the river looked like this, strong current, fish holding in the softer water (not shown)

I took a rental car from Bangor up to Greenville and stopped in at Main Guide Fly Shop. There I got some helpful tips, a couple of flies and directions to free a campsite near the mouth of the river.

One of the flies I picked up is called the Shufelt Special. It is just a simple attractor streamer: orange body with a white wing. It might resemble a brook trout fin, not sure, but it rocked.


The Shufelt Special, wet.

In a day and a half of fishing I landed a dozen brook trout and one landlocked salmon, all on streamers and nearly all on Shufelt Specials. I lost a couple of fish on small soft hackles (suggested by the fly shop). The salmon didn't want its picture taken and flopped away before I could snap a pic. It was a good 16-18 inch fish.

Most of the fish I caught looked like this:13-14 inches and fat.

This was the fish of the trip, a big bright male brookie that took a streamer swung right in it front of its face. I am a bit disappointed that it didn't take a better photo. But that's how she goes. I landed a couple of nice males in bright fall colors.







The Roach River is awesome. It is pretty remote and very hard to get around on, making it easy to find your own piece of water despite the fact that it is only 6 miles long with 12 pools. I'm not sure if I'll ever get back there, but if I do, I'll spend a lot less time searching for water and much more time fishing.

Second Chances

The snake tree pool. I missed a big fish here in April. This could be the same fish. I'm convinced it is. This pool is such a great "big fish" home. It's not the easiest to fish, a high bank on the left is the best shooting point. The high bank leaves you with a sagging line which can often impair a hookset. I made a dozen casts on the left side of the snake tree. Started with a quick retrieve and then some slow deeper retrieves. Nothing... Was about to head to the next run when I decided let's throw one over the snake tree, if I hook up I'll have to run downstream to avoid getting caught in the tree. Sure enough, first toss over the tree and this beautiful brown comes out from under the tree and attacks the brown grizzly bugger. From 8 feet above the water the visual of seeing this fish come out from under the tree rendered me motionless for a second. Those big fish moments turn seconds into minutes. The image of the one I missed in April is still burned in my head but is now accompanied with a thankfulness for second chances. She was full of eggs and taped out at 20".

One thing could have made the fishing better this day. That's if I would have been sharing the exceptional fishing with a fellow trout bum.  The celebration of a nice catch is best with company and watching a friend catch a nice fish is sometimes better than if you'd caught it yourself. Good fishing is best when shared.

October is the start of deer season in Iowa, beginning with bow and muzzleloader. This is one of those spots where you may find yourself in the middle of a hunt. Happend to me last year and makes me weary about fishing this water until the Spring. A tough choice given the quality of fish in this section.

Fall Driftless Fishing

The fall trout fishing in the Driftless region is superb. I tossed a black & brown bugger all morning. The browns were hungry. 

Wenonah Backwater 15

Today, I waited in line with some 50 other people staring at racks of canoes and kayaks before the start of Wenonah canoe factory's annual fall clearance event. I knew what I wanted, the Backwater 15, I just had to find it before someone else.

A few minutes before noon, they let us in and people started scrambling for boats. I found the sweetness and the deal was better than I expected, 65% off! It had one small ding, preventing it from ever being shipped from the factory.


This is the perfect boat for me and my family. It is super wide and stable, no need for stabilizer floats at all. It is ready to be oared (with my outriggers), paddled, or motored. It isn't the perfect canoe as it is a bit wide. Plus, because they designed it for use with a motor, the rear seat is farther forward than a normal canoe, which puts you farther from the gunwales and makes for a somewhat awkward paddle stroke. It also isn't the perfect boat, as it is too small for a very powerful motor. But it is perfect for me. I won't be taking it to the boundary waters, or out on big lakes. I'll be taking it on the Black River and the Mississippi River backwaters, with oars, paddles, or a motor.

I now have room for a 5 foot long gar!

Sale ends tomorrow (9/24), so you better get over to the Wenonah factory in Winona, MN.

Lesson Learned

If fishing a tandem rig and fish takes top fly it is ill-advised to try landing fish with hand. The lower fly may end up under your skin. In-fact there is a good chance it will if dealing with a feisty fish. I don't own a large net and when fishing for carp I typically beach them. The weed jungle wasn't offering a landing pad. Lesson learned. 

Illustrating the "grip-n-rip" method. Note the heavy mono loop prepared for a quick tug. Don't forget to put pressure on the top of fly so you get a good exit angle...