Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Fate of the Savage

So there is concern about the health and stability of the Savage River Dam. A few years ago, damage to one of the four valves/gates on the dam was discovered. As far as I know, The Army Corps of Engineers is operating the dam on 3 valves. One valve is damaged. An engineering consultant was called in last year to evaluate the damage and discovered that there was “pitting” on all of the valves. The report suggests that all the valves be replaced. Now, there are liability concerns because of homes down stream of the dam, but I think the engineers who looked at the valves need to cover their “butts” because they are the one’s who signed off on the report. Just remember, the dam can operate successfully on just two of the four valves.

With all of this commotion, there are many rumors about the fishery below the dam down to the confluence of the North Branch. There has been talk of removing the trout with shocking and netting and there has also been talk about “opening” up that section of the river to fisherman so they river is clean before they drop the water levels so that repair work can be done on the valves.

I think this issue needs to be seriously looked at from all sides. The Savage River as a fishery is amazing place and arguably the best trout stream in Maryland. With the river being part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed one would think there would be federal money that can be used. Who knows though, with our country’s economy. There must be an option though, that saves the fishery and gets the valves repaired.

The word is getting around and people are getting involved. I am currently in the process of talking with Trout Unlimited and there are also local chapters that are aware of the situation. As anglers I think the best thing we can do is voice our concerns and keep our thinking caps on. In regards to a timeline, we are probably a few years away from anything happening. Feel free to email me or your local TU chapter if you have any ideas, concerns or remarks.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Has Anyone Seen This Guy?


We have been having a slight issue recently with an unknown character placing signs on our car. He seems to show up everywhere. We have called the police and they have taken fingerprints. Please if you have any information about who this is, or if you see this person contact the proper authorities.
Please don't take this serious. It's a joke.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Brothers In Arms

So a few years ago while talking to good friend and fellow guide, Ken Pavol, he mentioned an archeological dig next to the North Branch of the Potomac River near the private take out for our Buffet Float. As I took clients out on trips over the past few years, I witnessed from a far, the activity that has gone on around the Barton Archeological site in Western, MD.

Archeologists have been finding artifacts that date back to the Paleolithic Indian period (10,000-7,000 B.C.). I wonder how things looked back then. How did the people here use the river? What did the water look like. What kind of fish were here. It’s amazing. You can find more information at the link below. Enjoy!

http://www.mountaindiscoveries.com/images/fw2007/diggers.pdf

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.......

Trying to think of a topic to write about, I thought, “Why not just babble?” I figure I can touch upon things regarding tactics, philosophy, equipment and such. So here it goes.

I think the one thing that has helped me become a successful angler is my sense of efficiency. When I fish, I am going non stop until I am done. I have had people call me the Polish Drift boat because when I wade I never stay in one spot and I cover a lot of water. When I wade fish alone I usually cover 3-5 miles in a day. Most of the time I am fishing streamers and I never cast to the same spot twice unless I get a turn, roll or a strike. When I do fish streamers I usually stick with a flash fly clouser or kreelex type fly. I have never found such a more effective fly for both wild fish and stocked. You can catch just about anything with this fly pattern. Most of the trophy fish on my website were caught with a flash fly clouser. When fishing streamers, I also use pretty heavy tippet. I don’t ever go below 3x and I often fish with 1x and sometimes 0x. You never know when you are going to hook into something big and with larger fish the tend to strike and turn in the opposite direction that the fly is working.

As far as rods, I am a Winston guy. Yes my favorite color is green but that’s not why I like Winston. I like the action of their rods, I like their workmanship, but I have been most impressed with there service. Lifetime guarantee on the rods, quick repair service and at times they have even shipped loner rods for me to use while my other is being repaired. I own a couple Winston WT’s, Boron’s and there Vapor’s. They are simply awesome rods in my book. Reel wise I would lean to Ross as my first choice and Orvis as my second. Both companies have good service and the drag systems on the reels I have work well with anything from small trout to tiger musky. Fly lines are all SA (scientific anglers). You can’t beat the quality, the coating nor the feel. Tippets and leaders are all Rio. Fly wise I tie a lot of my own patterns but also look to Umpqua, Kreel Tackle and a few patterns from Orvis. I will say the Orvis RS2 dry fly is an amazing fly. Often times last year while guiding on the Savage River, that fly was the fly that got clients onto some nice 18” brown trout. I use it in a size #18 in olive color.

When I first purchased my boat (raft) from NRS is was pretty basic. There was a frame with a front seat. There was a seat for me to row. I had them bend and cut bars so that I could furnish a floor so that I could stand in the middle and also place a platform in the rear. Through the years I added equipment trays made of heavy aluminum. These could also be used as casting platforms when fishing to selective trout or tiger musky. They give about another foot of height to the angler when they stand on these and fish. About 3 years ago I was trying to figure out how I can make the support thigh bars that you often find on Hyde and Clackacraft Drift boats. I thought for months how I could make something out of PVC, or Aluminum or anything. I thought I was an idiot when I thought to myself, “Why not just order them.” Dugh! So I did. After paying about $350.00 for two they finally arrived. So I sat in my garage and pondered about how I could attach these things to the frame on my raft. I finally figured out how to drill out some brackets that NRS makes and then they would just slide into these and bingo, thigh bars. That was pretty much the final step to making my boat as close to a drift boat as possible. Mind you, my boat is heavy. Its not fun taking it out at the end of our “Buffet Float”. But it does an amazing job. To be in the front of the boat, perched up, leaning against the thigh bar is something to be cherished and enjoyed. So, when you come on your trip with me, and you ask your buddy if he wants the front of the back. If he says it doesn’t matter. Just take the front. Trust me. I have updated my boat a little more this year. There is a rear casting deck now which is just like the front. I eliminated some other support bars and decking to reduce the weight of the boat. I also added a new aluminum storage box which can hold more equipment. There are also rod holders to keep rods at the ready. Lastly, and guides might go googoo and gaga over this, I have a guide caddy. It’s basically a storage unit that holds tippet material, forceps, hook files, flies and such all at the ready. I have mine located on my cooler right in front of me. This takes away the need of wearing a lanyard all day long.

Knots are fun aren’t they? Practice them. That’s all I can say. It took me ages to consistently make a good nail knot. How did I learn them? I Googled it. The steps are all there. From there, it’s just practice. From fly line to leader I use a nail knot going through the fly line. From leader to tippet I use either a double surgeons, or blood knot. From tippet to fly I use a pitzen knot or clinch. A loop is sometimes better and lets your fly move more freely in the water. One tip I practice is after a client catches a good fish, take the time to retie your knot. Regardless of how long it takes you to tie a clinch knot it’s worth it. If you don’t that next fish could be a 30” Brown Trout that could break you off because of a small abrasion on the tippet to fly knot. It takes me about 15 seconds to tie a clinch knot, and those 20 seconds are worth the time just in case that next fish is a pig.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

2008 Season Begins With a Bang

Wow! What a start the 2008 season. The first trips that I was able to run this year was this past week of June. Usually, my first trips are in March or April at the latest. With all the rains this Spring, the North Branch has been running high and off color until a 2 weeks ago. With the river back to fishing levels, we have been on the water everyday for the past week.

We floated the Buffet section of the North Branch about a week ago and had few numbers of Smallmouth bass caught. The water temperatures were still in the 60's and the fish were still in spawn mode. For now, the lower North Branch needs to heat up a little more before it becomes productive. Flies that were able to produce were, clawdads, the 6th man and rattling sliders.

As far as the middle trout section words can't describe, but I will try. Clients have been amazed and this is probably the best trout fishing we have seen in 5 years on this section of the river. Trout are ranging in size from 12-23", so far. Clients are hooking up mostly rainbows with a brown or two per trip. Clients are complaining of arms cramping at times and needing to take breaks when we are anchored up in our "go to" spots. Catching too many trout is a good thing. Rainbows 16" and up are testing clients skill at fighting fish. Larger fish have been taking flies hard and we have had numerous fish snap clients off on the strike while using 1x tippet. Clients describe this years rainbows as footballs and that they can't even find fishing like this out west.

Flies that have been working are clawdads, squidwords, the 6th man and flash fly clousers. Fish are taking flies in the riffles, behind rocks and up on the bank. We are sticking with no less than 2x tippet and clients are using 6-7 wt rods. Keep an eye on the website for updates and also pictures on both the guide page and the trophy page. For the clients that have floated with me before........."Hit Em, Hit Em"

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Second Annual 2 Fly Tournament

The Second Annual Project Healing Waters 2 Fly Tournament was once again a huge success. We were blessed with great weather, great conditions and great fishing. I was lucky to have my daughter with me and also a close friend, Bobbie Parsons.

This year I was matched up with Army Vet Andrew Hill. I was impressed with Drew’s casting ability having only been fishing one time before. We had section #7 this year in the morning which was the same section we had last year in the afternoon. We had tons of fish to work to and we got off to a good start hooking up about 10 fish in an hour. The last fish of the morning came tough but we worked the water hard and did pretty well. We were able to measure one of three fish for the day during our morning sessions. It was a 19” rainbow which later had dibs for tying the largest fish of tournament.

When fishing this tournament, it’s good to keep your eyes off the scoreboard because you really have no idea who measured their three fish and who didn’t. You also have the luck of the draw also in regards to which section you have and when. Often you will follow a group that did well on a certain section and the trout will be very hard to hook again. Best thing to do is just keep changing your presentation, depth and of course fly.

In the afternoon, Drew and I both had good numbers on the bored hooking 17 trout. Drew did a nice job catching a few trout right when are time was running short which later helped us with our ranking. We measured two more trout which added to our points. We were also able to keep all four flies which gave us some additional points. All and all we had a great day.

In the afternoon, after taking Sarah and Bobbie down river to fish a little we walked back up to the tent. I had no idea Drew and I were going to be even close to placing for the tournament, but we got lucky. We placed second and tied for the largest fish of the tournament. After receiving our awards, we took some pictures and made our way back home. Pictures will be either on the website or here on the blog soon.

I just want to give a special thanks to everyone who was involved. PHW is an amazing organization, not only because of the people involved, but the purpose behind what we do. Bobbie, thanks for taking such great pictures and spending the day with us. Ed, Doug, Tim and everyone else……..Awesome job. Can I come back next year?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Project Healing Waters 2 Fly Tournament 2007

2007 was the first year of the Project Healing Waters 2 Fly Tournament. This coming Sunday will mark the second annual 2 Fly Tournament at Rose River Farm just outside of Culpeper, VA.

Last years event was amazing to say the least. The tournament went incredibly smooth regardless of it being the first year of the event. The weather was amazing. But most importantly it was simply a fun day of fishing with the veterans and volunteers of Project Healing Waters.

Before the event last year, I talked to my daughter who was 6 at the time. I explained to her about how some of the soldiers would be in wheel chairs, some would have prosthetics and many would have noticeable scares and injuries. She seemed to understand and had an incredible amount of sympathy for them.

There was one thing about last year the truly impressed me. There was a vet, forgive me but I don’t remember his name, but he had lost both legs and was in a wheel chair. Sarah was very curious and empathetic about this guy and she whispered in my ear something to the effect that she was so sorry about his injury and that she was going to pray for him. Trying to instill independence in her, when she asked how his prosthetic legs attached to him, I told her to go ask him. So she did.

For about 45 minutes this guy showed Sarah all there was to know about the amazing bionic legs that he was fitted with. To say the least, she was amazed and impressed not only with the courage that this soldier had, but that he cared enough to show her the person he was. That really hit home with me.

The soldier I was paired up with last year, Russel Martin was a pretty good angler. He was mobile and was able to handle the rod and reel pretty well even with slight limitations he had due to his injury. In the morning when we met, Russel basically said he could take care of the fishing, and would only need help, landing fish. It was at that time that we both agreed to set out to try and win the tournament last year. Sarah seemed to be ultra confident in her Dad’s fishing abilities but I had doubts. The morning session went pretty well. We caught a bunch of fish and measured a few. I did manage to break off a #4 woolly bugger though to a pretty large rainbow on the hook set. I was impressed that he busted through 2x tippet. Moments after that, the trout jumped out of the river trying to lose the fly it had in the corner of its mouth. I attempted to search the river bottom for about 10 minutes after the morning session to no avail. We were down to only 3 flies for the afternoon session.

You see, with the 2 Fly Tournament, each angler gets to flies. If you lose them, you are done. The veterans have special powers and always seem to have a fly on hand regardless. They are kind of like super heroes and magically have flies tied on their lines if a team manages to lose all four. But the pressure was on for the afternoon session and we were on stage located at the main pool behind the pavilion. It would be an understatement to say the afternoon was productive. We landed 15+ fish and my partner and I put on a pretty good show. Will I tell you the fly that did the trick? Sure. It was a #12 Lightning Bug. But I won’t tell you what we did or how we fished it. That’s a secret and I plan on using the same fly and tactic this year. My fingers are crossed as I type.

It’s not about winning this tournament though. It’s about spending time with some people who have done so many amazing things. There is one thing that ran through my head last year and will run through my head in the coming 2 Fly Tournaments and that is about the soldiers that didn’t make it home. Regardless of what religion you are, or what beliefs you have, they won’t be able to fish at the 2 Fly but they will be in my thoughts and my heart.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

To Honest to be a Guide?

Before I began guiding years ago, I thought about how I am going to handle myself as a fly fishing guide. Luckily, the guides that I, or my Dad hired, were for the most part, good guides. We had the occasional guide that seemed to be on the water just too many days, but it was still a good day of fishing. We also had the misfortune of just having one of those off days in regards to poor fishing conditions and that was on the Green River in Wyoming. We weren’t skunked, but we caught one brown trout.

Coaching sports for as many years as I have, I knew when I started guiding that I had to be honest. Honesty can come into play a lot when you are a guide. There are water conditions to take into condition. There is the recent fishing report of how the river has really been fishing. And then there is the size of fish that are caught. In the five years of guiding I have always tried to be completely honest with my clients. But sometimes the truth just sucks.

I have called clients from the river the day before their trip letting them know that the fishing isn’t productive or the water conditions are bad. There have been times where the client wants to fish anyway, which is ok with me. I just see it as more of a challenge to put clients onto fish in bad conditions. There have been many times where the clients have been shocked that I am telling them that the fishing is slow. It just doesn’t make sense to lie. If I had a float trip scheduled and was forking out $400.00 you are darn right I would want to know if the fishing was going to be bad. I would want to fish when you are going to catch some fish.

I think the one time that being honest really felt bad was when a younger client at 14 years old really wanted to get on the trophy page. So it was his second guided trip that he was taking with me and he really wanted to catch a trophy trout. So he hooks into a trout while nymphing with a Red San Juan worm. This trout takes jumps, makes the kids reel scream and does everything to slip the hook. During the fight, he kept asking, “Do you think it’s a trophy?” over and over. So after a 5 minute fight we were able to land the rainbow trout and it was close. It was real close. I measured twice, and it was right at 17.5”. Being a half an inch short stinks. But, Chris was able to get on the trophy page the following year with a beautiful 21” brown trout, on his birthday no less.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

New Kid In Town

Sarah is my 7 year old daughter. This past weekend she came with me to her first fly fishing show. I woke up early at 5:30 to load my car with a bunch of stuff for the show. I went to wake Sarah. Like any typical 7 year old she was groggy, half a sleep and a magnet to the bed. After some coaxing and some nudging, she got up. With eyes half closed, she got dressed and asked to be wrapped up in a blanket for the ride in the car to the show. After loading a few more things into the car I hopped in and we were ready to go. The eagles were playing on the CD player softly and as I placed the car in gear, Sarah reached down and turned the volume up, skipped to her new favorite song and said, “I love you Dad.” The song New Kid in Town played and she softly sang along as I drove.After arriving at the show and setting up, Sarah took in the surroundings of the Fredericksburg Fly Fishing show while eating some chocolate doughnuts. About an hour into the show, a gentleman came up to the table and began to talk to Sarah about fly fishing and she mentioned that she had tied her own flies before. The gentleman offered his material box and vise for her to tie to kill some time. Her face beamed and she accepted the offer.With a vise, hooks and materials she rushed to get started. In minutes she had a streamer type fly tied up and laying on the table next to the DVD’s for my company. Within minutes she started asking patrons, “Would you like to by a fly? It’s only two dollars!” Partially embarrassed and proud at the same time, I attempted to talk to her about how she needed to be a patient sales person and not so pushy. Within two hours there were 12 of her flies that she freshly tied laying on the table. She had a small crowd consisting of a few kids and a kindly interested Mom who she proudly told the names on her freshly tied flies. Names ironically mimicked some of the flies we use on trips yet with a kidlike charm to them, like White Feather Butt, The Walking Dog and Purple Butt Fly. Sarah was always amazed at the name of the Yellow Butt Monkey which is a real fly but tends to be more of a conversational fly than one that anglers fish seriously. What impressed me was the names she had given to each of the flies remained unchanged throughout the day. I will say the whip finish knots were done by me. I would like to personally thank Pete, Susan and the gentlemen who each purchased or traded for the flies she tied. Pete (I hope I remembered your name correctly) what you did was simple yes, but truly meaningful. I have a mad salesperson on my hands now. Future show will not be the same when she is there. Sarah still promised she wasn’t like Mr. Krab the owner of the Krusty Krab Restaurant on Sponge Bob Square Pants who seems to only be concerned about money. The $24.00 she made at the show was spent quickly. She purchased a few poppers, bracelets and such and also managed to cover herself with free fishing stickers.All in all it was a fun show and memorable to me because it was Sarah’s first. After packing up we began our drive home. Sarah was at my level and smiling her head off because she got to sit in the front with me because the back of the car was packed with show stuff. As we pulled out of the parking lot, she reached to the stereo, turned up the volume and forwarded through to her new favorite song by the Eagles, New Kid in Town.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Surprise in 2008?

We are currently investigating a possible "hatch" of a major insect for this up coming Summer fishing season in Western MD. Keep your fingers crossed. You might just be in for some fun like we had a few years ago. UFB's may return. Once we obtain more concrete information we will inform you. Brood XIV.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Spinner Fall brings a New Hatch

I will never forget the day the I went for a typical “run” to the Angler’s Lie this past Fall. After parking my car in the parking lot, I approached the fly shop only to see Anne Steele walking out of the front door with a coat rack and some other shop items. I said, “Anne, What are you doing?” Her reply was simple. “We are closing William.” My Reply, “You have got to be kidding me!?”

As I walked the 20 feet to get inside the front door I immediately had the feeling like I was punched, better yet dumped by a high school crush. When I walked into the shop, it looked picked at, barren and devoid of the plethora of materials that had always covered the shelves and racks of the shop. Grizzly, didn’t look himself when we talked with me for the first few minutes that day. Through the conversation, he would voice out percent discounts to shoppers for the few rods they still had there, “all rods are 40% off.” My selfishness sank through briefly as a thought to myself, “I should get another Winston.”

As I roamed around the shop like a dog who’s family was packing up to leave him behind, I thought of all the memories I had of the shop. Most of all the help that Anne, Newell and Grizzly gave me through the years. 10 years ago, Grizzly used to laugh at me when I would talk about starting a guide business. “You don’t’ want to be a guide. ........You won't have fun. You won't be able to fish much.” I was stubborn, but I also knew what I really wanted to do. That was about 10 years ago.

Through the years, I probably spent more money at that fly shop than anywhere else. Trips to the fly shop rarely resulted in a receipt of less than a $100.00 being spent. Often it was $200.00-$400.00. But it felt like home. It felt like a place where you could shoot the breeze, talk about fly fishing and have a good laugh.

After talking to Grizzly, I roamed around the shop for another 15 minutes or so, Grizzly, behind the counter, said, “Did you hear about John?” My heart was already hurting. But when he spoke those words, my heart sank to as low as it could go. I walked out of the shop to keep my composure and to try and maintain a sense of everything that just happened in the past 30 minutes, but most of all about John. The news of the Angler’s Lie closing was miniscule to the news that John Had passed. After about 5 minutes of standing outside the shop and gazing at the afternoon traffic on Glebe Road, I walked back inside and was told what happened.

John Fergusen, was a client, a close friend, but most importantly and incredible person. I won’t go into details about how much he accomplished in his life, or how he was a United States Marine or how he was the smallest football player to ever play for the University of Notre Dame. I will say this though. John died when he was fly fishing in British Columbia. He often spoke of his close friend, Tom Skerrit,the actor who played a Presbyterian minister and Father to two sons in the movie A River Runs Through It. John and Tom were fishing the day he died. Apparently, as I have been told, that morning as they walked outside to see the magnificent sunrise, John said to Tom, “Today would be a beautiful day to die.” John died, that die while hold a 30”+ Steelhead that he had just caught. When I die, I hope I go quick and I wouldn’t mind holding a fish that I had just caught. After I was told of John’s passing, I did buy a Winston. It was a “tribute” kind of purchase. I will always think of John, not only when I fish with the rod, but at times throughout my years that I will spend on water fly fishing.

With the Angler’s Lie closing, we can all relax. There is a new shop in its place. It won't be the Angler's Lie. I don't think anything will be like that. Its kind of like the great Diners that always seem to be near the good trout rivers. They have character and a feel to them. The new shop is scheduled to open mid March. Jeremy is the head guy and after speaking to him on the phone a few times I look forward to the new shop and have confidence it will be a great place to go to for all us anglers and to get all the stuff we might need. Grizzly will still be there, just like an old bear who kept his den through a stormy winter. I would like to thank Anne, Newell and Grizzly personally for all of their help, guidance and advice over the years. Eastern Trophies would not be what it is today without them.

Friday, February 15, 2008

To Fish of not to Fish?

Each angler has his or her own morals when it comes down to fishing. Some aglers fish when the spawn is on. Some anglers don't. Some anglers fish when water levels are low. Some anglers don't. When it coms down to the health of fish or even the a fishery itself, one needs to seriously ask oneself if they should be fishing. Two cases come to mind. One is the brook trout spawn in the Fall. I hear every year from anglers about how they had a terrific day fishing for Brook Trout in October. It makes me wonder if the persons are uneducated or if they just don't care. Being undeducated isn't a bad thing. Each time I float a river I learn something new. I am still being educated not only by the river, but by my clients. Anyway, the second case is when a river or creek is very low. Mossy creek often gets low in late Summer and right now the Gunpowder River is very low. Fishing at times like these just puts more undue stress on trout. So why fish? As a guide, I try to be as honest about conditions, answers to questions, sizes of fish, etc. Shoot, if the North Branch isn't fishing well, I tell my clients. There have been atleast a half dozen times where I have called clients while I was on the river the day before a trip to let them know the fishing is bad. I think as anglers we all need to be honest and open about when its not a good idea to fish if its hurting the fish or the fishery. Just a thought.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Rapidan Show

I just returned home from a long day at the Rapidan Trout Unlimited show. It was really good to see all the fellow guides and vendors and also see our clients again. We booked 8 trips at the show which is a pretty good showing. As always, our musky anticts tended to hold everyone's attention. Unfortunately, my DVD player decided to break this morning so we weren't able to show our DVD's on our tv, but the laptops did the trick for the day. Another mishap, was our S-video cable was also on the fritz. Just shows that you can never be too prepared. Regardless, its always good to go do a show to help that cabin fever. Our next two shows are going to be the Frederciskburg Fly Fishing Show and the National Chapter of Trout Unlimited in March. On that note, I am going to get some sleep because I am up at 5:30am tomorrow to teach.

Friday, February 8, 2008

First Blog

I figured it was about time to begin a blog to give people an idea of what its like to own a fly fishing company, to be a fly fishing guide and all the other stuff the relates to Eastern Trophies Fly Fishing. I welcome any comments or suggestions regarding either the blog here or the main website www.easterntrophies.com.