Ok Finally did some Fishing worthy of posting about
Hit my favorite drive to lake and got some fish. Now it is obvious to me I need help with the camera work need to see the scenery along with the fish jumps and splashes.
Anywhoooo 6 fish in 3 hours the biggest a 17" brown. The air got to +27C and I was catching fish shallow in the mid day that won't happen again!
No Woolly Buggers were used ;-)
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Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
How to Develop New Fly Fishing Spots
The internet is a great resource for finding out where people are fishing but it has also become the downfall of many prime fishing spots. If you are reading about a spot on the internet or in the media so are thousands of others and chances are that spot is already well known and heavily fished.
But what if you want to ‘get away from it all’? What if you don’t want to go to all the places everyone else is fishing? You could hope someone tells you, and only you, about a great spot or you could do something about it.
On top of the fly fishers best but most expensive friend the topo maps(s) two map publications that can aid you in this quest are MapArt Publishings Manitoba Back Road Map
My main interest is fly fishing rivers so I will concentrate on that but many of these concepts can be transferred to finding lakes, particularly helpful if you have a canoe or float tube. The advantage of finding rivers is that once you are streamside many times you can usually wade the river and/or walk the stream’s shore line. The same cannot be said for most lakes.
Why am I writing about this in a fly fishing context? Well, I think we fly fishers like our solitude in general. We can’t fly fish close together as we have 9’ foot rods and are slinging 30-80’ feet of line. As well, the path less traveled is also more likely to be the path less littered.
Ok, so you all are set to find your own piece of solitude. Where do you start? Well I will warn you that this process will involve some wandering, driving and some dead ends. Your precious fishing time may get burned up a bit, but if you find a spot or two that has decent fishing, it will make the sacrifice worthwhile.
So start with an area relatively close to you. Like I said before there may be a few dead ends and this can cut down on the overall driving time. Then find this area on one of the aforementioned back road maps. What are you looking for? You are looking for places where back roads and rivers meet. These are your access points. You are looking for places where something different happens with the river. Where the river is dammed or forked or where creeks intersect with the main river. At this point you might want to look at another resource. Topographic maps and land title maps can tell you a lot more about your destination, like if it is just a swamp or if property ownership might limit access. Topo-maps are also great for showing landmarks, buildings and potential hike in points in the form of cart tracks etc but this is for more experienced map readers and hikers. Besides, nothing beats laying your eyes on it first hand. At this point you can head off with fly gear in tow and test the waters or you could leave the gear at home and just make it a scouting mission. I would advise having a number of locations pin pointed so as to increase the chances that one or more of them are fishable and accessible (not private or treaty property). This can make a scouting day more productive.
You can increase the life of your maps by photo copying the section of the map you are using and writing notes and circling access points. Leave the originals at home and spill the coffee on the copies.
A second way of approaching this exploration (or increasing your knowledge of a spot you are zeroing in on) is to work from a species search. For example, I love fly fishing for smallmouth bass but I do not have a boat. So looking at a well known bass fishery like the Winnipeg River may seem pointless to a boatless fly fisher. But looking at tributaries and creeks that feed that system and knowing the proclivities of bass to move into all corners of a watershed I can see many options accessible by road and more by foot.
Maybe you have found a spot, but you are wondering what fish might be in there. It is merely a process of following where the water comes from or where it is going. Barring any permanent dams, whatever is in the main body will be in the stem.
When you find these places you may find the international sign for ‘people fish here’ that is, litter and specifically fishing litter. I suggest picking it up. That way the next person who stumbles upon the place may not think it worthy of fishing or you might increase the experience for them as well as for yourself. As I try to tell people who ‘won’t clean other peoples mess’, it is harder for people to litter when there is no litter but much easier when there is.
When you find your spots fish them early in the season and often throughout the season. That way you can get a sense of whether it is a high water and/or early season spot or if it can be fished right through to the fall.
I have used these searching tactics with great success and will continue to do so. But imagine how good you will feel when you do the research and find yourself a new hot spot.
Winter tying 2013-14
So after not Tying for a long period of time I have decided to fill up the boxes again.
1st off my favorite small fly for both streams and lakes and my go to new trout water searching pattern.
Not being one to make up selfish names it is just a PTN with a bead head tied on a scud hook.
1st off my favorite small fly for both streams and lakes and my go to new trout water searching pattern.
Not being one to make up selfish names it is just a PTN with a bead head tied on a scud hook.
Second is an easy tie using Micheal's fake Mohair I call a Fo Mo Leach
Just tie in at the bend, palmer forward and brush out with the'hook' side of some Velcro.
Last is a bunch of my favorite pike flies the original tied high EP's
I recharged my bead body flies that you all saw a post or so ago but here is a new eye catcher.
Next up ...bombers. Not that we have salmon here but I have found them to be one of the best smallmouth flies ever.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Back From New Brunswick Pt. 2
Sorry it took so long to get to the 2nd half of my trip (or at least the fishing part). Nonetheless here it is.
I have only been out fly rodding twice since I got back. Basically I was spoiled in NB. Not by big fish or numbers but by accessibility. Now east coast fishing and accessibility may not seem to go hand in hand what with 15 different licenses and heavy restrictions on where you can fish (right down to particular pools). No, the access I am talking about is being able to drive 20 minutes or 2 hours or more and everything in between to get to one's fishing.
Around here you need about an hour to get anywhere, 2 hours to get anywhere decent in terms of an outdoor environment and 3,4,5 etc. hours to get someplace that has it all (scenery, numbers or sized fish etc.)
Fishing the Fredericton area reminded me of fishing in southern Ontario. I could fish in town for trout, salmon bass or pike (depending on the season) OR I could drive any variety of distance to achieve a different goal.
So with all that water around me my favorite thing to do in NB was to fish the (unnamed) creek (trib of the Rusagonis) behind my Brother and Sister in laws place after dinner.
It has trout, salmon parr, bass and fall fish (locally called 'creek chub' and treated with utter disdain).
Here are some fish. Not big but on a 4wt in VERY skinny water stalking, hooking and landing was still a challenge.
I also fished the Oromocto just 25 minutes down the road. Similar fish but more open and miles and miles of it I never fish.
I have only been out fly rodding twice since I got back. Basically I was spoiled in NB. Not by big fish or numbers but by accessibility. Now east coast fishing and accessibility may not seem to go hand in hand what with 15 different licenses and heavy restrictions on where you can fish (right down to particular pools). No, the access I am talking about is being able to drive 20 minutes or 2 hours or more and everything in between to get to one's fishing.
Around here you need about an hour to get anywhere, 2 hours to get anywhere decent in terms of an outdoor environment and 3,4,5 etc. hours to get someplace that has it all (scenery, numbers or sized fish etc.)
Fishing the Fredericton area reminded me of fishing in southern Ontario. I could fish in town for trout, salmon bass or pike (depending on the season) OR I could drive any variety of distance to achieve a different goal.
So with all that water around me my favorite thing to do in NB was to fish the (unnamed) creek (trib of the Rusagonis) behind my Brother and Sister in laws place after dinner.
It has trout, salmon parr, bass and fall fish (locally called 'creek chub' and treated with utter disdain).
Here are some fish. Not big but on a 4wt in VERY skinny water stalking, hooking and landing was still a challenge.
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| A view of the River/creek I spent most of my time on |
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| Through these brambles lay a fork and pool where the fishing was best |
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| Fall Fish (or creek chub) as fickle as trout & fights as hard |
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| A smallie falls for a bomber |
I also fished the Oromocto just 25 minutes down the road. Similar fish but more open and miles and miles of it I never fish.
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| The wading boots that never seemed to get dry |
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Back From New Brunswick, pt1 The Miramichi!
If you are at all like me, you have read a boat load of outdoor, general fishing and fly fishing magazines. Pretty well guaranteed you will have come across an article on Atlantic salmon fishing and probably one, two or a few about the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. 250 kilometers of river with the best salmon numbers of any river in North American !
A few years back I went to Newfoundland. I was psyched and geared up to fish for the 'King of Game Fish'!! When I got there the weather was hot, the streams low and most closed to fishing.
I did manage to raise a few in Grosse Morne (in national parks you can fish w/o a guide) but not a hit sniff or bother.
This year I figured against salmon fishing (though I did bring appropriate gear in my 8 and 10 wts). I checked out the local Fredericton fly shop, Fredericton Outfitters, where I found very friendly helpful owners and staff. They proceeded to tell me that we were in the area at one of the best times, that the river had fish, the levels were dropping and that people were getting salmon.
So we asked about guides and such, when they mentioned Wilson's Sporting Camps who had access to the best pools on the river.
Turns out they had an opening and we could come up and fish the afternoon and evening for a discount rate.
It wasn't a long drive, 1½ hours,by fly fishing in Manitoba's standards, but by the time we got there we considered staying the night.
They offered us ½ of a duplex and almost apologized about it, but the rooms where awe some, clean and classic in design. Came with everything you needed to make food etc.
And our cabin looked out onto the Miramichi.
Now the term 'world class' is bandied around a lot. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate the term in most of its uses. Particularly when used to describe something similar you can get elsewhere in the world and is therefore considered 'world class'. By those standards I am typing on a world class laptop....
But despite the very unassuming nature of Keith Wilson (to whom the camp has been in his family for 150 years) Wilson's is considered world class. If I was in doubt; I found a European salmon fishing magazine in our cabin that wrote about fishing in Russia, Norway and yes Wilson's.
So 1½ hours from an international airport and you are on a legendary river, fishing for a reasonably unique and potentially large fish in a pristine environment...ya that pretty well sums up world class fishing.
So here I am with my wife at a world class lodge (normally $700 per person, per day and not including tip or licenses) getting ready to fish a river that is on most fly rodders life list.
So into one to the jet outboard powered 26' canoes for one of the smoothest and scenic boat rides you'll ever have.
My wife, Adelle, Henry our Guide and yours truly.
Our guide, Henry has been fishing/guiding the Miramichi for 57 years.
The method for hooking salmon is quite simple and either works or doesn't or in the words of our guide, "if they're there they'll bite if they're not they won't".
So you tie on w/e fly you heard works, the afternoon it was the Undertaker, then ¼ cast and drift through the run till the line straightens. Then step up or down the run, strip, t-snap or snake roll your cast and repeat.
It was nice and overcast, raining off and on and a bit cool so perfect for fishing. We didn't feel a single bump but some fish did pop up. One made a big splash upstream and Henry said 'that one got past you'.
We went in for dinner and back out at 6. This time we fish a run/pool just in front of the lodge.
We changed our flies to Green Machines and finally started getting some hits. My wife was killing it with salmon parr and 1 nice brookie. I was getting hits but no hook ups. The light was fading, it was 8:30 and we are supposed to be off the water at 9, I had made 1,000's of casts.
At 8:45 I could finally yell 'fish on'. Put a good bend in the rod, got a coupla jumps and, just before the net and the perfunctory 'grip and grin', the hook popped! Now It didn't matter because my wife was taking lots of video. We have video of the trip up river, down river, our room, me casting, etc. But in the excitement of someone actually hooking a salmon she forgot to hit record.
I won't guesstimate the fish length because as Henry says " that fish'll be 40 inches by the time you get home" but fair to say it was a grilse (1 year in salt and between 5 & 7 lbs July weight)
So a few more casts in the fading light, then the trip back to our cabin, where we had a cup of tea and watched the sun set on the river and then the bats and fire flies come out.
Here is all that other fish free video.
A few years back I went to Newfoundland. I was psyched and geared up to fish for the 'King of Game Fish'!! When I got there the weather was hot, the streams low and most closed to fishing.
I did manage to raise a few in Grosse Morne (in national parks you can fish w/o a guide) but not a hit sniff or bother.
This year I figured against salmon fishing (though I did bring appropriate gear in my 8 and 10 wts). I checked out the local Fredericton fly shop, Fredericton Outfitters, where I found very friendly helpful owners and staff. They proceeded to tell me that we were in the area at one of the best times, that the river had fish, the levels were dropping and that people were getting salmon.
So we asked about guides and such, when they mentioned Wilson's Sporting Camps who had access to the best pools on the river.
Turns out they had an opening and we could come up and fish the afternoon and evening for a discount rate.
It wasn't a long drive, 1½ hours,by fly fishing in Manitoba's standards, but by the time we got there we considered staying the night.
They offered us ½ of a duplex and almost apologized about it, but the rooms where awe some, clean and classic in design. Came with everything you needed to make food etc.
 |
| Our Cabin |
And our cabin looked out onto the Miramichi.
Now the term 'world class' is bandied around a lot. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate the term in most of its uses. Particularly when used to describe something similar you can get elsewhere in the world and is therefore considered 'world class'. By those standards I am typing on a world class laptop....
But despite the very unassuming nature of Keith Wilson (to whom the camp has been in his family for 150 years) Wilson's is considered world class. If I was in doubt; I found a European salmon fishing magazine in our cabin that wrote about fishing in Russia, Norway and yes Wilson's.
So 1½ hours from an international airport and you are on a legendary river, fishing for a reasonably unique and potentially large fish in a pristine environment...ya that pretty well sums up world class fishing.
So here I am with my wife at a world class lodge (normally $700 per person, per day and not including tip or licenses) getting ready to fish a river that is on most fly rodders life list.
So into one to the jet outboard powered 26' canoes for one of the smoothest and scenic boat rides you'll ever have.
My wife, Adelle, Henry our Guide and yours truly.
 |
| Yours truly looking kinda happy |
 |
| My wife thinking that holding the hat that way makes it look better and our guide Henry |
Our guide, Henry has been fishing/guiding the Miramichi for 57 years.
The method for hooking salmon is quite simple and either works or doesn't or in the words of our guide, "if they're there they'll bite if they're not they won't".
So you tie on w/e fly you heard works, the afternoon it was the Undertaker, then ¼ cast and drift through the run till the line straightens. Then step up or down the run, strip, t-snap or snake roll your cast and repeat.
It was nice and overcast, raining off and on and a bit cool so perfect for fishing. We didn't feel a single bump but some fish did pop up. One made a big splash upstream and Henry said 'that one got past you'.
We went in for dinner and back out at 6. This time we fish a run/pool just in front of the lodge.
 |
| The lodge from the river |
 |
| Green machine |
At 8:45 I could finally yell 'fish on'. Put a good bend in the rod, got a coupla jumps and, just before the net and the perfunctory 'grip and grin', the hook popped! Now It didn't matter because my wife was taking lots of video. We have video of the trip up river, down river, our room, me casting, etc. But in the excitement of someone actually hooking a salmon she forgot to hit record.
I won't guesstimate the fish length because as Henry says " that fish'll be 40 inches by the time you get home" but fair to say it was a grilse (1 year in salt and between 5 & 7 lbs July weight)
So a few more casts in the fading light, then the trip back to our cabin, where we had a cup of tea and watched the sun set on the river and then the bats and fire flies come out.
Here is all that other fish free video.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Is There Anything Worse Than Putting On a New Fly Line?
So I haven't blogged on Fly Fishing in a while. I have been out, not much and nothing worth relaying.
I am aiming at my trip to New Brunswick.
So I am putting a new line on a new reel (to go with a new to me rod).
First problem is the backing. Apparently a Cabelas RLS #4 needs 250ft of backing! So I look at the online picture to see how far the backing fill the arbor. Many minutes later I think I am done so I move on to the fly line.
Now the Nail Knot is hard to tie and the tube knot a little easier but they are rarely tied so it took me a few trys just to get it close and a few more to get it right. I carefully start to reel on the new line when it falls on the floor and creates an instant birds nest!
So I untangle the mess, straighten the line multiple times and again reel up the line only to find I didn't put on enough backing!
Off comes the line, blood knot on the tag from the backing spool and re-guess-timate the amount of backing needed. Less grief (from practice) putting on the line with a nail knot, reel up the line and still not enough backing but enough to do the job.
Snake on the loop end. Now I know a lot of you are not fans of these things but I back mine up with a (you guessed it) nail knot! and then the heat shrink.
Of course then I look up rods need for the province and realize that the 10wt might be overkill.
So I am off to Cabelas to buy my 3rd 4wt
Till next til
I am aiming at my trip to New Brunswick.
So I am putting a new line on a new reel (to go with a new to me rod).
Now the Nail Knot is hard to tie and the tube knot a little easier but they are rarely tied so it took me a few trys just to get it close and a few more to get it right. I carefully start to reel on the new line when it falls on the floor and creates an instant birds nest!
So I untangle the mess, straighten the line multiple times and again reel up the line only to find I didn't put on enough backing!
Off comes the line, blood knot on the tag from the backing spool and re-guess-timate the amount of backing needed. Less grief (from practice) putting on the line with a nail knot, reel up the line and still not enough backing but enough to do the job.
Snake on the loop end. Now I know a lot of you are not fans of these things but I back mine up with a (you guessed it) nail knot! and then the heat shrink.
Of course then I look up rods need for the province and realize that the 10wt might be overkill.
So I am off to Cabelas to buy my 3rd 4wt
Till next til
Monday, March 26, 2012
Fairford River Freeze Off
Now leading up to this day we had temps in the high 20's but any other year fishing at the end of March and having a day time high of -1 with no wind would be considered a blessing.
So the Fairford River Freeze Off was on even if only 2 participants from Fly Fishing Manitoba were there.
It was -5 on the wake up in the 'Peg and 5 degrees cooler at our destination.
At Ashern there was icicles on the trees and signs.
With that out of the way we both moved to the south side of the river & I got re-acquainted with my switch rod. (Which means I was fussing about re learning how to cast the damn thing instead of catching fish)
First non cisco of the day, and arguably the best fish of the day, belongs to fishing partner for the day; Stephen Jay.
The blue finger tips you see are the latex surgical glove SJ brought (based on a rarely good idea from Deanne from the FAOL site. Keeping our hands dry and therefore warmer through the day. (Even after dunking my wool gloves!)
Fishing the same spot (as SJ cooled his heels after his nice fish) I proceeded to foul hook some carp. I did manage this fair hooked one.
Giving up the spot SJ was also snagging carp but also landed this fair hook fish
Stephen also manage a bunch more walleyes about the same size as the one I caught
I think this is our 8th year and by far this was the best combination of weather and fishing. On top of the fish caught SJ also LDR'd a pike and we both saw plenty of perch and suckers.
It was also the busiest day we have ever seen on the river.
Apparently there was some sort of fishing derby on. If we were having a derby on our side of the river Stephen would have won hands down!
So the Fairford River Freeze Off was on even if only 2 participants from Fly Fishing Manitoba were there.
It was -5 on the wake up in the 'Peg and 5 degrees cooler at our destination.
At Ashern there was icicles on the trees and signs.
Having seen some earlier reports including walleye being caught I was prepared to catch more than the usual Lake Cisco.
So with my 4wt 'normal' fly rod and 4wt switch rods in hand I we set off.
First to avoid any possible skunking I targeted the Cisco (locally known as 'Tulibee")...that didn't take more than a few casts.
With that out of the way we both moved to the south side of the river & I got re-acquainted with my switch rod. (Which means I was fussing about re learning how to cast the damn thing instead of catching fish)
First non cisco of the day, and arguably the best fish of the day, belongs to fishing partner for the day; Stephen Jay.
The picture doesn't do it justice it measured out at 22½" but the girth and head were enormous!
The crap on the lens is frozen water as I was trying to get some underwater pics/vids of the cisco schools.
I too caught a wally
Fishing the same spot (as SJ cooled his heels after his nice fish) I proceeded to foul hook some carp. I did manage this fair hooked one.
Giving up the spot SJ was also snagging carp but also landed this fair hook fish
I think this is our 8th year and by far this was the best combination of weather and fishing. On top of the fish caught SJ also LDR'd a pike and we both saw plenty of perch and suckers.
It was also the busiest day we have ever seen on the river.
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