Canadien Shield 'Eyes

Today found me on a lake just miles from the Canadian Border.  Three inches of fresh snow fell overnight and snow continued thru the day at a rate prohibiting views across the lake.  Winds were blowing 25-35mph and the ravens loved every bit of it--riding the winds like stuntmen, swooping thru openings in the forest, and providing all the arial acrobatics one would expect from a flight show (with the addition of joyful raven vocabulary).  The morning temperature was 20 degrees F. and falling rapidly throughout the day.  By the time I was drilling holes in the ice it was hovering just above 5 degrees F with a biting windchill well below zero... a windchill advisory was issued by the National Weather Service for expected windchills -25 and -40 degrees F.

Once arriving at the fishing hole in near white-out conditions the tasks became:  drill shallow hole and set the tip-up, drill holes out from that to find the drop-off, locate magic depth, and erect the portable ice house.  The latter became the most challenging as once erected the ice house became one big sail and the +30mph winds tried their hardest to turn it into a north country tumble weed.  But, with some jockeying, everything finally got set up with nothing (or no one) blowing away.  

Near white-out conditions during set-up that continued to degrade into night.

The deadstick rod...

Old Man on the jigging spoon... 

They're not biting yet...

The first of a whole bunch of 1-2 pound walleyes.

The action hit fast and gave no warning.  The swedish pimple sporting a freshly decapitated minnow head got the first hit.  Swing and a miss.  A slight raise and a few more jiggles and wham-o... the first fish on the ice.  From that point on we couldn't bait fast enough!  The deadstick rod would get hit as soon as it was dropped down and the bobber met its stop.  Next to that, the jigging spoon was good for a few jigs before either getting hit or getting a fish.  The wind pounding the portable shelter was soon forgotten.  Cold hands, feet, and faces didn't exist anymore.  The sound of gale force winds scouring the pines on shore weren't heard.  For the next half an hour it was nothing but a pure walleye orgy.  And then as soon as it started the fish moved on and the action was over.

A few walleyes kept for dinner.  

  

  

2013 Winter Trout Season Starts

The opener started off this morning with a temperature of -11 degrees F.  Brrrrrr..... this meant lots of coffee, a late start, and lots of ice on the fishing guides.

For whatever reason, I decided to start the season by visiting the metaphorical headwaters of my fly-fishing youth.  A river I first learned to cast on as a teenager; and, a river I first started to experience significant catches of trout on (all during the winter season).  But, the river has changed since. The old haunts are filled in with silt from agricultural run-off and soft watershed management.  No longer can you look in familiar pools and see the dark shapes of trout finning and nymphing along the bottom.  Instead, these places look like deserts--ripples of clean sand with a foot or two of water running over it.  The hoards of cars at the access points no longer exist (only one on the opener today and they didn't last long).  In addition, the river experienced a 500 year flood (or something akin) in 2007 which blew out year classes and changed the river significantly--filling in most of the old reliable spots but ever so slowly starting to carve new runs and pools.   

Nonetheless, there are still fish in it.  I've caught them.  And, today had me going to a couple of new spots where I know they reside...  only to find, upon arrival, roughly 30 mallards swimming on them!  As you can imagine, when I approached the pool they burst off the water in a panicked state of splashing, beating wings, and alarm-full quacking.  It was as if a new riffle had formed in the middle of the once tranquil pool!  I can't imagine where that sent the trout (next county?!).  The pool was pretty much toast before I even got started. 

With the cold temps and lack of precipitation lately, I was surprised to see the river running cloudy with lots of weeds, sticks, and organic debris in the water column.  Nearly every drift became fouled and the fly had to be cleaned of debris.  No bugs were observed along the stream which was another surprise.  No rises were observed.  Usually, there are midges coming off and they can be seen slowly crawling along the snow near the stream bank.  Today, nothing.  But, the casting was as good as ever and nostalgia is out of my system.  So, the next outing will find me on a stream which is healthier and with more fish.    

A once deep bend pool where I caught my PB brown trout as a youth.  Now you can wade across it in hip waders.  

Hexagenia Limbata

With the winter trout opener just days away I probably should be padding the nymph box with winter flies (i.e. bead-head princes, hare's ears, pheasant tails, scuds, copper johns, brassies, serendipities, etc.). But, as it goes in fly-tying, once you're in a groove you got to keep running with it. And, that groove today happens to be with hex nymphs.

 Maybe it's the sub-zero temps outside that have me thinking about warm, still, late afternoons and evenings in June/July--the time of year when hex duns are fluttering about and landing on your neck, arms, hat brim, boat gunnels, wherever. When your fishing buddy turns to you and you both see each other covered in duns and laugh at the absurdness of it all. This is when whitefish and tullibee rise with reckless abandon in our northern lakes--leaving the depths, that normally conceal them, to gorge on the mega hatch. The "hex", North America's largest mayfly, starts emerging when the sun is setting on the horizon--a big orange ball sinking behind the pine studded islands. Once it goes down--and it's pitch black--all that's heard are loons, clacking insect wings past your ear, creatures of the night, and fish rises... lots of them. Aside from drawing whitefish and tullibee, the hatch tempts the thought of swimming a hex nymph pattern across the windy side of any shallow reef exposed to the muddy main lake basin for walleyes. An uncommon quarry on fly rod, this time of year can make it more common than ever to nab some 'eyes on fly. But, more practically, the hex hatch brings on the thought of our browns, brookies, and rainbows going absolutely nuts for hex patterns in June and July.

A proven abstract pattern for me is a slight modification to the Bear's Hex Nymph. And these are what I'm cranking out on the Renzetti this morning.  I'll typically fish these on a full sinking line and slowly kick my float tube through the fish.  The action can be fast.

You can tie the fly from the following:

• Hook:  Tiemco TMC 200R, Size 8
• Thread:  Sulphur 
• Tail:  Three gray ostrich herl tips
• Rib:  Gray ostrich herl, over-wrapped with copper wire
• Abdomen:  Sulphur dubbing
• Gills:  Filoplume tied on top
• Wing Case:  Brown turkey
• Hackle:  Brown hen palmered (grouse soft hackle as alternate)
• Thorax:  Tan dubbing
• Eyes:  Black plastic
• Head:  Form with thread (keep small and let the eyes do the talking)  

To see some realistic hexagenia limbata duns, check out this truly amazing display of fly-tying:  http://www.grahamowengallery.com/fishing/fly-tying/realistic_hex_mayfly.html

Itu's Bonefish - EcoTourism at Work

The sportfishing industry removes Itu from his traditional commercial netting operation and trains him as a bonefishing guide--seeing this the way to preserve the small (but world class) Aitutaki bonefish fishery and sustain the local socio-economics. SIP-Films: "From selling five Bonefish for $20 dollars, Itu now runs a successful catch and release guiding business. He has gone on to run two flats skiffs and employs his two brothers, Tia and Rua. This year they have advance bookings of more than 100 days."

Merry Christmas!

Fly fishing beautiful Christmas Island... Enjoy.

Fly Away - Kiritimati (official trailer) from SIP-films on Vimeo.

Stocking Stuffer - Stillwater Trout Flies

Shhhhh.... somebody is getting a new fly box full of stillwater trout flies for Christmas.  Saturday was a busy day tying all these and putting the assortment together.  Cliff's "Bugger Barn" is an excellent fly box to host them in--well designed, roomy, and with a great friction fit system for attaching flies.

 Left leaf:  Purple Woolly Buggers - Size 6, Black Woolly Buggers - Size 6, Red Woolly Buggers - Size 10.
Right leaf:  Red Whiskey Fly (marabou substituted for bucktail) - Size 10, Orange Whiskey Fly (marabou substituted for bucktail) - Size 10, Bear's Hex Nymphs - Size 10, Olive Damsel Fly Nymphs - Size 10, Cat's Whisker - Size 10  

The Sparrow Nymph

I just tied another Sparrow Nymph for the fly box.  This has become a nice fly in size 6 for a number of species here in the Midwest:  stillwater rainbow trout during the summer hex hatch, Great Lakes steelhead, and river carp to name a few.  For stillwater trout, I like to fish the traditional tie on a full sinking line to mimic the active hexagenia limbata nymphs swimming around during the June/July hatches.  This has led to some banner days when trout wouldn't go near a Woolly Bugger.  For steelhead, I like to tie it "low water" style--stripped down versions barely resembling the original pattern--on heavy size 6 salmon hooks.  Dead drifts and deep broadsides seem to be the ticket when using it on steelhead.  The key here is to get it to the fish which means use less material (i.e. floss instead of dubbing, sparser hackle, etc.), a heavy hook, and no line drag when fishing.  The soft materials used to make the fly will undulate in the current, adding all the action you'll need.  But, the Sparrow Nymph can't be featured without mentioning it as a valid carp fly.  I caught my first carp on fly using a low-water style Sparrow and will never forget it.  The powerful fight that 28-inch golden ghost gave on my 8-weight had me tying Sparrows for a week!      



If you decide to tie it, one of the great features of this fly is it's simplicity.  Traditionally, it's only tied from two materials:  dubbing and pheasant. However, in the tie above I've strayed from the original tie by doing a few things differently.  Obviously, you'll see I've added a gold bead head to get the fly to sink better--it also seems to improve the fly's profile in the water. Secondly, I added gold ribbing, which gives a component of flash and increased visibility for fishing our large rivers where water clarity isn't as good.  I could see this adding to its effectiveness as a smallmouth bass fly, too.  Thirdly, I've substituted Spruce Grouse for the traditional pheasant.  Early in my fly-tying career I received sage advice, "Flies tied from materials indigenous to where you are fishing them always seem to out-fish flies tied from other materials."  I've tested this philosophy over the years and it seems accurate... not sure why but it works.  And, it makes the fly more meaningful and fun to fish.  So each fall grouse season, I'll check my grouse feather reserves at the fly tying bench before heading to the uplands and restock if needed.  Hen spruce grouse seems to work best and better than ruffed grouse for some reason.