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.

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"