Trout in the Classroom

Last year, I got myself into a corner. It was probably the coolest corner I could have been in. I had heard about Trout in the Classroom projects before, but I never really thought about doing it in the school I teach at until this past year. Now mind you, I am busy. I teach, I coach two varsity high school sports, I own a fly fishing company and I have an 8 year old daughter. Taking on another “project” like TIC would just be adding to a plate already over flowing with stuff.

Trout in the Classroom is a joint effort between Trout Unlimited and Fisheries Departments in many states. In Virginia, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries donates eggs to classrooms and schools that have the required equipment and set up to raise trout. Students and teachers raise trout from eggs. They take care of them throughout a normal school year and release the fingerlings into an approved watershed.

At my school, we have a 4th grade class raising the eggs. There is a lot to worry about with a TIC program. I am still a little paranoid about doing something wrong. The setup consists of a 55 gallon aquarium, a filter, a chiller, rocks, air stone filter, egg basket and lots of water. Our aquarium is surrounded by sheets Styrofoam in order to keep the water at about 52 degrees F. The kids in the 4th grade class created background art that decorates the back and side of the tank. They drew rocks, wood, fish, frogs, bubbles and plants to make our little guys feel at home when they get bigger. Mind you, our trout will be 2-3 inches long when they are released in the Spring.

Last week, at 10:45pm I picked up about 200 brook trout eggs from George Paine who is the Vice President of Northern Virginia Chapter of Trout Unlimited. George and his were kind enough to help with the transfer from Richard Landreth and the Verona Office of the Virginia Department of Game and Fisheries. If you can picture coolers, ice, zip lock container, water bottles filled with stream water and lots of care you have a good idea of what it was like. It was kind of like caring for a very small newborn and delivering an organ for transplant. After I got the eggs in my cooler and I was driving home I even drove differently than normal. It was like I was driving with some sort of explosive device that could go off at anytime. I took curves slowly, I went easy on the breaks and I even drive the speed limit.

So we are about a week into our experience and we have about 130 eggs that have hatched into the Alevin stage. Pictures are located to your right. Video on youtube is soon to follow. Pretty cool stuff. Imagine what the kids are thinking.

Got Video?

Search EasternTrophies on YouTube.Com and enjoy. Find everything from Musky to Trout to Smallmouth and more. Also look for fly tying videos in the near future.

The Sex Dungeon

So it seems that most of my clients are deciding to do extended day floats. Days are long and arms get tired after actively fishing streamer patterns for the day. But with the extra time on the water, clients are into many more fish, especially in the hours after 5pm.

Today’s float produced one fish before lunch. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and a front was going through mid morning until about 12 noon. After lunch, the wind calmed and fishing picked up. Many rainbows were hooked on Hellgrammite patterns including a trophy 20” Rainbow. But the day was owned by the new and already notorious Sex Dungeon streamer pattern. No I did't name the fly. Its a fly of Kelly Galloup's. The author of "Moderon Streamers for Trophy Trout."

You see, big streamer patterns come a dime a dozen, so to speak that is. Most streamer patterns are tied to look pretty so they hook the angler with its’ looks. Few streamers produce large fish and good numbers of fish. There are some though. The Kreelex, the CK Baitfish, the Zoo Cougar, the Clawdad and others are examples of patterns that produce good numbers of trout but also large trout.

The Sex Dungeon is the type of streamer that when you fish it, you know something is going to happen. Something is going to happen soon, fast and big. It’s as simple as that. Mike fished the Sex Dungeon for about two thirds of his extended day trip today. His fiancé, also fished the fly once she saw how the fly produced.

To put things bluntly, Mike landed two 20” Brown trout, numerous other rainbow trout and also 3 nice smallmouth bass. Carin, Mike’s Fiance, also landed numerous rainbow trout and also one solid 16” smallmouth using a Sex Dungeon. This fly is one to have in your fly box. You fish it hard. Long casts, hard foot long strips and 1x tippet. The strikes you get are solid and are even more exciting than using a topwater fly.

The pictures to the right are of the sex dungeon and some of the fish that were caught today using it. We do not have them on our website yet, but they are available for $5.00 a piece. Just give us a call or send an email with how many you would like and s shipping address. It is an articulated fly with two hooks, hackle, legs and a deer hair head. This fly is a true trophy magnet.

Extended Day Floats

I have fly fished many times out West and I always wondered if the guides would float until dark to and fish the entire day. No mind you, I am the type of angler who begins casting as soon as I get in a boat and I don’t stop until I get out. Use of the facilities is of course a temporary pardon during this time. But seriously, the hours from 5-9pm are usually one of the more productive times to fish. Why do floats stop around 5pm? I do know some guides that hold their start times to fish those better hours of the day, but why not fish for the entire day?

Last year I began offering Extended Day Floats where clients fish from early morning until dusk. A few clients took the offer and really enjoyed the added time on the water. Paying an additional $100 seems like steal when you are fishing during the best times of the day. I wish my guides had done that when I floated in Montana. After each float trip I used to go and fish after the trip was done. Once again though, I am a fly fishing wacko. Forgive me.

We have had a bunch of “wacko” non stop fly fisherman this year. There have been over 10 trips so far this year that have fished the Extended Day Float Trip. Young, Middle Aged, Older, it just doesn’t matter.

Last week, I had a float with Eric and Mike and we floated a 16 mile combination Trout Buffet Float. We started at 7:00am and we didn’t get off the water until 8:45. Talk about covering some water. The fishing was fair that day with a bonus 21” Brown Trout that was holding in a 2 foot deep run. Mike and Eric hanged in and fished well for the entire 16 miles. Fishing double fly rigs all day with #4 and #2 crayfish patterns is tough work. Hands cramp, arms get tired, and many a fly is donated to the river gods. But, all in all, the bonus time spent on the river is well worth it.

The three pictures to the right are from recent Extended Day Floats. If you have a float trip coming up, feel free to ask about options of turning your normal float trip, it a full blown, fish all day event.

The Country Cafe

Over the years I have put many hours on the river. Whether it was guiding clients or fishing it myself, I have always enjoyed the time. Good trout rivers often have a diner where good food and atmosphere can be found. I had that special place.

The Country Café off of rout 135 in McCool, Maryland was that special place. I don’t think you could get 2 eggs, home fries, bacon and home made toast for $2.99 anywhere else but there. Yes, $2.99. That was the “Breakfast Special” and I had many of them. The home made bread was better than my Mom’s. Yes I said it because it’s true. Don’t hate me Mom. The home fries were real and cooked in bacon grease. I could go on and on about the food and the simplicity of the “Country Café” but if you are a client who ate there or an angler who stopped in at some point you know what I am talking about.
I don’t know why the “Country Café” closed, but I miss it. Denny’s just isn’t the same and there is a sense of emptiness to my morning routine now. Maybe someone will purchase the place and it will open up again someday.

New Flies for 2009

Eastern Trophies will be reopening the fly catalog on the website soon. Featured will be the fly patterns used to take big fish, really big, 2x tippet type, often toothy fish. Some patterns offered will be Galloup's Sex Dungeon, Butt Monkey's, Zoo Cougars, Blondes, Articulated Monkeys and Articulated Flatheads. These patterns and others will be available in many colors. In addition, there will also be fly patterns for Muskies. Eastern Trophies will also have it's own successful patterns offered on the site like The 6th Man and Flash Fly Clousers. If you have any questions about the flies we will carry or placing an order just send us an email or give us a call.

Ummmmm Murphy.......He's Into My Backing!!!!!!!

So on a recent float, Chris Murphy and I floated the middle section of the North Branch to see what kind of trout we could hook into. Chris had some recent floats and the fishing has been on the slow side up there for the past week. It's always a good time to float, try new patterns, joke and around and to just spend the day on the water with a good friend.

We hooked some trout early on some flash fly clousers and smaller streamers both with floating and sinking lines. But still, we caught nothing on any size. The fishing was slow. Being in the front of the boat, I hit every spot I could in the first few miles of river, but the fishing was slow and the takes that I did have were soft. So we eased into a "go to" run that has always produced fish and Chris had just anchored up the boat when I made my first cast high into the run. Thats when I saw the flash.

By the time Murphy had anchored up as was moving to the back seat in the boat, I was hooked into what I thought was a pig. I saw the fish roll in about 3 feet of water on one of the two 6th Man flies I was fishing. The brown took off down stream hard and within seconds I was into my backing. Yes backing. Yes I have the regular length fly line also. Grizzly, good knot buddy.

At first when the backing to fly line "bump" went through my fingers I thought I had a cross over in my line which would cause huge problems. About 20 yards into my backing I told Chris that we were going to have to chase this one because I couldn't get any line back.

As we pushed down river to get my fly line back the brown began to roll on the surface and that's when I knew he was foul hooked. After a long drawn out fight of about 10 minutes we finally got the brown in the net. It wasn't some huge, goliath brown I had hoped for, but it's still a solid trout on the North Branch.

And the trout say...."Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....."

So with the North Branch high and cold, I took some clients to fish on the Casselman River, expecting to have a productive day. As a guide, I am constantly trying to figure out what the fish are doing. Factors such as clarity, flow, temperature, pressure, and such can really change how the fishing is going to be that day. Hence the phrase, "thats why they call it fishing."

The Casselman usually fishes well in the Spring. The hatches are good and the trout that are stocked are usually very healthy and often huge. Spring rains and snow melt keep the river at levels between 150 -250 CFS and the river is a god card up your sleeve when the other rivers just aren't fishable.

With snow in Western Maryland a week or two ago, that really changed things along with the cold nights. With temps in the mid 40's to start the day, we were looking at tough conditions. In the past, I and my clients have been able to move fish using larger streamer patterns. But this day, little luck. With few bugs hatching and low temps fish were deep and out of site. I also think that some of the higher flows pushed some of the stocked fish up unto PA. We were able to hook up two nice trout though. One Brook Trout took a Flash Fly Clouser fished deep and another Brown Trout took a 6th Man being worked back upstream through a nice run on the lower river near the PA line.

But as any fishing day goes, its always a good day to be out on the water helping clients improve their skills, give them some new techniques and at least give them something to take home at the end of the day besides the thousands of cast during the day.

First Trophy of the Year

So every year there is always that first day out on the river after the long Winter. Chris Murphy and I spent that day on the water a week or so ago. It was good to be out on the water regardless of catching fish or not.

Fishing was slow in the morning but did pick up in the afternoon. We fished deep and slow but only managed to pick up about 6 fish throughout the day. I did manage to land a 20" brown which was the first trophy caught for the year. The browns on the North Branch are pretty notorious for being fiesty and active in the Months of January, February, March and April. This is the post spawn time when they are looking to put some weight back on after their spawning activity in November and December.

The brown I was able to hook took a #2 6th Man being stripped back up through a riffle from about a 60' cast the straightened out off of a good 5' deep run. Basically, after the fly swung through and straightened out I would strip about two inches and let the fly flutter in the riffle. Chris Murphy who was on the oars that day was laughing at me because I made the strip retrieve into a song. As I was counting the seconds on the pause and humming along, I was hammered by something. It felt big what ever it was. After a few seconds on solid pull on my rod, it crested to the surface and boiled. Chris and I both saw it. It was big, but we weren't sure how big.

Every time someone hooks into a big fish, I always have the split second thought about this fish possibly being huge. I am not talking 20-25" huge. I am talking 30" plus huge. Some day, someone is going to hook into a pig like that and it will be a very fun day.

Regardless, that thought went through my head as I fought this fish. It held strong. It turned into the deeper run which flows beside the riffle. I coulnd't budge her one inch. I could feel her head shake and pump the rod. There was no doubt this would be a trophy fish. But, would it be that true monster that I know swims this river?

No, it wasn't. But the fish I did hook, was solid, beautiful and was the only fish I hooked and landed that day. It was a good start to the year.

I will end though, with some thoughts about the huge browns that swim the North Branch. We have seen them. These are the 28-30"+ fish that roam deep. We have caught 26" fish, but not 30" and longer. As an angler that targets trophy trout, when I fish, this is what I am after. Some day, someone in my boat is going to hook into a massive fish and when we do, that day will be a very good day.

VOLUME V

Dunh.......Dunh.............Dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnh! Volume V is now available.