I must admit, I am having trouble focusing as I attempt to type this blog post. If you ask my boss he may say a similar statement as I struggled through the work day today. I returned yesterday from a trip to north western Pennsylvania to fish for Steelhead in the Lake Erie Tributaries. This trip actually started over 2 years ago when myself and a couple of friends attended a seminar given by Greg Senyo at the Reading TCO fly shop. After seeing the presentation we talked on the way home and decided to book a trip. Originally scheduled for November of 2014. If you remember the Great Lakes area was POUNDED with snow last winter. We kept an eye on the weather and the day we were supposed to leave our fishing spot was covered with 7+ feet of snow. A quick call from Patrick Robinson of Steelhead Alley Outfitters and we realized there was no way we could pull this trip off. We tried to reschedule a few times, but schedules just would not allow it. Fast forward to this year. Wanting to stay away from the snow we scheduled earlier in the season. Snow was not the issue this time. Rain, both not enough, then too much were the challenges this go round. In the weeks leading up to the trip the area, like most areas in the east, had received very little rain. The rivers were low and throughout all of the communication with our guide one theme rang true, "we need some rain"! You have all herd the phrase "careful what you wish for" the day we were supposed to leave the Great Lakes area received the remnants of Hurricane Patricia and several inches of water were dumped in a 24 hour period. Now, rain is usually a welcome sight in Steelhead fishing as it usually gives a push of fresh fish into the river system. That much rain that fast can be an issue. I was literally walking out the door when my phone rang and it was Dustin, our guide. "Can we move the trip back a day"? First 7 feet of snow. now a bunch of rain...I was beginning to think the Steelhead Gods are against us! A few quick calls to my buddy "One Boot" Ed and the Hotel, arrangements were changed and we were set to leave a day later and stay a day later. As mentioned we were fishing with Steelhead Alley Outfitters. If you are looking for a premier outfitter I would highly recommend checking them out. Our guide for the two days was Dustin. A young kid full of piss and vinegar with a drive to catch fish rivaled by nobody I have met in the recent past. Our goal was to catch our fish on the swing during this trip. "Swinging" for Steelhead is a term used to describe a type of fishing where you position yourself above the fish. A cast is made down and across the river, usually with a two handed rod, and you allow the current to sweep or "swing" the fly to the fish. With the water coming down after the heavy rains we decided I would swing and the Ed would Nymph. We worked the first run for about an hour with no joy. We moved up river into a sweet looking run. Dustin positioned me in the middle and had me to fish down to the bottom. Ed started up a little higher in the same run and started Nymphing his way to the top. about 15 minutes into the second run I saw my first sign of life. A boil in the vicinity on my fly. Did I imagine it? Was it real, or was it wishful thinking? These thoughts were going through my mind when I got my first bonafide Steelhead tug on the next cast. Nothing snaps you back to reality and makes you focus like that jolt of lightning in your rod hand. The very next cast a fish (I have no idea if it was the same one or not) hit the fly at the end of the swing with a violence that can not be described with words. I threw the steel to him and got a solid hook set. One hard run and three aggressive head shakes later the line went limp. I was cussing myself thinking I had broke him off. I soon realized the fly was still there and a quick inspection and I realized what happened... bad ass fish! As Dustin and I were looking at the straightened hook I looked up and saw my buddy's rod doubled over and he was yelling "fish on! " With the Skunk out of the boat our confidence continued to grow throughout the first day. By the end of the day we had hooked 12, landed 8 (4 on the swing and 4 on the nymph) with the best fish being 32 inches and estimated over 10 pounds. It was truly a great morning and one neither of us will soon forget! That night at dinner the discussions centered around the days events. The one thing we were both amazed at were how thick the fish were across the shoulders, and how strong they are. One thing was for sure, it would be hard to sleep that night and we could not wait for tomorrow! The next morning brought sunny weather and low clear water, not ideal conditions. Dustin was out early that morning scouting water and after a few texts it was decided we would fish the same area we fished the day before. While gearing up at the truck we decided to take one 2 hander and two nymph rods. I was amazed at how much the water had dropped over night. I "swung" through the first run and I did stick one and after 5 on the swing I wanted to get a few on a nymph rig. Imagine you are nymphing for Trout with an indicator rig. Now imagine the indicator going under and you come tight to the fish, only it is not a 13" wild Brown, it is 26 inches of fired up Steelhead that is as mad as a Bald Faced Hornet! I can say I don't think I would want much more fish on my seven weight NRX, and this is the first time I can remember seeing the backing on this rod. I finished out the day with the nymph rod as did Ed. We managed 8 more fish on the second day with Ed landing 5 of them. The 2 day totals were 23 hookups, 16 landed, 5 on the swing and 2 fish estimated over 10 pounds by our guide. Here are some of the pics from the second day. I sent an email to the operations manager for Steelhead Alley Outfitters to thank them for a great experience and to let him know they created a couple of monsters. If you are interested in booking a trip check out the SAO website here. I have been toying with the idea of hosting a trip through Irish Flies to fish Steelhead Alley next fall. If you are interested please feel free to contact me. Till next time...
Tight Lines
3 Comments
We are getting close to the day...have you registered yet? I am talking about the Irish Flies Nymph Fishing 101 seminar. the class will be held at the Christiana Cabelas store If you have ever thought you might want to up your game or if you would like to learn a few new Nymph patterns this class is for you! The seminar will start at 10:00 am with a coffee and doughnut style breakfast, A Power Point presentation lasting approximately and hour to an hour and a half followed by (I hope) a spirited question and answer session with detailed discussion. The presentation will discuss Indicator Nymphing, Tight line Nymphing and Dry and Dropper fishing. Segments on fly patterns, reading the water and presentation will also be included. After the discussion period we will break for lunch provided by Irish flies. After lunch we will tie several of the patterns highlighted in the presentation. The seminar will be held at the Christiana Cabelas store and the dates for the class are; Class 1 Saturday, October 17th and Class 2 will be Sunday October, 18th. As mentioned we will start at 10:00 am, depending on the length of the discussions and tying portion, I estimate we will wrap up around 3:00 in the afternoon. If you have struggled with Nymph fishing in the past Irish Flies “Nymph Fishing 101” may be just what you need to up your game. Remember, Trout only feed on the surface about 20% of the time. After this class you will be better equipped to deal with the other 80% o the time you are on the water. I look forward to seeing you in class If you would like to register for this class please click the link here. Please fill out the form on the page and submit it. I will respond with an email with more information and payment arrangement options. Price for this event is $125.00 If you have had trouble catching Trout in the past or you would like to up your game, give this class some serious consideration, you will be glad you did. The class is filling and I am going to close the registration early next week. If you are interested please use the link and register now. Tight Lines... Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending a day on the Little Juniata, or "Little J" as said by the locals chasing wild Trout. I have been looking forward to this trip for some time as I was to be spending the day with my buddy Eric Stroup. Eric is the owner of Stroup Fly Fishing, a full service guiding operation located in the quaint little town of Troy, Pennsylvania. The plan was for me to leave my house early Saturday morning and make the 3 & 1/2 hour drive North West and meet Eric at his Gorge View Lodge. We would meet and fish the day, I would spend the night in the lodge and drive home Sunday morning. The ride out was uneventful as it was dark the entire way (I left my house at 3:45 am) and the only sounds were the songs coming out of my I-Pod and the occasional prompt from Siri telling me which route to follow. I arrived at the lodge at about 7:45 after a stop at one of the coolest little diners I have ever been in. It was about 5:45 in the morning and I was ready for breakfast. I decided to stop at the next place I saw where I could get something to eat. Well, it turns out that place was Yetters Restaurant. At quarter of six in the morning the parking lot was full. I figured this must be a good place so I pulled in. The place was full of older gentleman, all with camouflage hats and work clothes on. Obviously these guys must meet here every day, because they all knew each other and the conversations moved from table to table. Everything from the Pirates are playing good ball (it took me a minute to realize I was closer to Pittsburgh than Philly) to politics, to what was going on this weekend. Each time somebody walked in it was like the scene from the TV show "Cheers" when the character played by George Went walked in the bar and everybody would yell "Norm" Everybody knows everybody and it was fun to be a part of their group if only for 20 minutes. As mentioned I got to the lodge at about 7:45 and had a little time to look around. The lodge is absolutely beautiful! Rustic on the outside with a view of the mountains in the distance. Crab Apple and Pear trees in the front yard make for good Deer snacks as there were several in the yard later that night and when I got up the next morning. As cool as the outside looks the inside is even better. 10 beds, 2 full kitchens, 2 bathrooms, a huge deck, washer / dryer, fly tying station and just the right amount of fishing decor to make you feel at home. I wish I had remembered to take pictures of the inside. I will make it a point to to take some the next time I am there, and trust me, there will be a next time. This trip was for me to work on my "Tight Line" nymphing techniques. I wanted to get polished up, shoot some video and get ready for the Irish Flies Nymph Fishing Seminar. We met up at around 8:00, talked for a bit and after a tour of the lodge we headed out to the river. The Little "J"The Little J is a tributary of the Juniata River in the Susquehanna River basin. Classified as Class "A", the Little J holds a healthy population of Wild Brown Trout. The regulations on the 14+ mile section we were fishing are all tackle, catch and release only. Similar in size to the main stem of our White Clay. A true Central Pennsylvania limestone river, the rivers beauty is matched only by its diverse bug activity. I fished Penn's earlier in the Spring and the Little J in the fall. I can absolutely see why true Trout nut's relocate to this area! We fished the morning with Eric doing as much instruction as I did fishing. We didn't have much success as far as fish go, but I learned more in that first 3 hours than I have learned on a river in a long time. I think people sometime get lost in the "numbers" of our sport and don't realize guided fishing trips are not only about how many fish you catch, but how much your guide can teach you so you can catch fish EVERY day thereafter. We had worked a ton of pocket water hard without moving a fish, it was around 11:30, the biscuits and gravy I had for breakfast was working overtime in my gut, so when Eric said "lets get the hell outta here and get some lunch" he didn't get any objections from me! After lunch we headed to a different section of river. I asked Eric to take a rod with him in the afternoon as I wanted to watch him fish. Artistry on the water is the only way I can describe it. I stood behind him for about 10 minutes and watched Eric systematically tight line a run. No fish were hooked, but to see how it is supposed to be done really hit home with me. Every seam, pocket, and current line was giving at least two drifts. No movement was wasted as I watched him stalk through the run. One thing that really surprised me was the accuracy of the casting. Eric spent a while showing me his version of the Tuck Cast, the secret of good Nymphing. It took me a little while, but by the end I think I was getting it. We were 1/2 way through the afternoon when the first fish was landed, an absolutely beautiful 13" wild brown. Ever the optimist (a quality all guides must have IMO) Eric kept saying "we are gonna find em, sooner or later we are gonna find em" Well... He was right! The quality of fish in this river is amazing! As you spend more time on the water certain days or trips stand out in our memories. The day I got my first brown over 20", the day my brother got the big rainbow up at the camp, the day we flipped the canoe in the Brandywine. All of these trips stand out for one reason or another. I am sure in time this trip will carve out a spot in my mind. It was an awesome day and I was very fortunate that everything came together! October Bronze & BrownThroughout the day Eric was telling me about a promotion he was working on for the month of October. Bronze & Brown is a special for 2 anglers consisting of a day fishing the little J for trout, a day in the drift boat on the big J for Smallmouth and one night Lodging in the Gorge View lodge. Streamside lunch and all tackle are provided. This is a great way to cash in on two of this areas best fishing opportunities. If you would like to book a trip feel free to contact me at tim@oneillsirishflies.com or contact Eric directly at epstroup@gmail.com or call (814)505-4568. If you have ever thought about fishing this area check Eric's operation out, you will be glad you did! If you want to expand your knowledge about Nymph fishing click here and register for the Irish Flies Nymph Fishing Seminar. If you want to expand your horizons and fish some of Central Pennsylvania's fabled Limestone rivers click here and check out Eric Stroup Flyfishing. You can't go wrong ether way. Till Next time...
Tight lines “Nymph Fishing 101” “A practical approach to Nymph fishing” A pod of rising Trout is the Holy Grail of Fly Fishing. It is why we do what we do. I love to fish to risers as much as the next guy, here is the issue; what do you do when the trout aren't rising? If you are going to be consistently successful as a Trout fisherman, you better learn how to fish below the surface. Being a proficient Nymph fisherman is a “must have” tool to have in your fly fishing tool box. Some people, including me, would say it is the most important! My goal with “Nymph fishing 101” is to teach beginners new techniques and maybe polish the techniques of some veteran fly fishers. The seminar will start at 10:00 am with a coffee and doughnut style breakfast, A Power Point presentation lasting approximately and hour to an hour and a half followed by (I hope) a spirited question and answer session with detailed discussion. The presentation will discuss Indicator Nymphing, Tight line Nymphing and Dry and Dropper fishing. Segments on fly patterns, reading the water and presentation will also be included. After the discussion period we will break for lunch provided by Irish flies. After lunch we will tie several of the patterns highlighted in the presentation. The seminar will be held at the Christiana Cabelas store and the dates for the class are; Class 1 Saturday, October 17th and Class 2 will be Sunday October, 18th. As mentioned we will start at 10:00 am, depending on the length of the discussions and tying portion, I estimate we will wrap up around 3:00 in the afternoon. If you have struggled with Nymph fishing in the past Irish Flies “Nymph Fishing 101” may be just what you need to up your game. Remember, Trout only feed on the surface about 20% of the time. After this class you will be better equipped to deal with the other 80% o the time you are on the water. I look forward to seeing you in class If you would like to register for this class please click the link here. Please fill out the form on the page and submit it. I will respond with an email with more information and payment arrangement options. Price for this event is $125.00 If you have had trouble catching Trout in the past or you would like to up your game, give this class some serious consideration, you will be glad you did. What a great week the first week of September was. My wife and I spent the week on vacation in Rehoboth Beach. Since both of our kids are getting older and starting lives of their own we have been vacationing solo for the past few years. Some will say it is too crowded, others will say the traffic is unbearable, both of these statements could be considered true. Over the years we have really come to enjoy this quaint little beach town. Now, this was not a "fishing" vacation (my wife would say it is never not a "fishing" vacation). It was also not a "working" vacation, but I did plenty of that as well. The point is with just the 2 of us it is not hard for me to sneak in a morning or two of chasing some Saltwater Speedsters with the fly. I haven't fished the salt on a regular basis for some years. The decline in the salt fishing coupled with super high gas prices (remember when gas was over $4.50 / gallon) forced me to stay more local with my fishing some years ago. Things are different now and I plan to, at least in my fishing, live the "Salt Life" a little more in the future. It took a little planing, but I hooked up with my buddy Shawn Rakes of Sussex County Fly Fishermen for some early morning (or was it late night) fishing from his 20' skiff. Saltwater fly fishing is all about the tides. The fish typically feed at the peak of the tides and kinda go dormant during the slack portions. The tides have no clock so if you want to chase them you better wrap your mind around the fact you will be keeping some strange hours. So the alarm went off at 2:00 am and I was up and out the door in short order. The wind was absolutely howling so a quick text to Shawn to bring an extra 9 weight. As mentioned this was not a fishing vacation. We took my wife's Mustang for the trip and space was limited. The car is awesome, but the trunk is the size of a postage stamp! I took one 2 hander and one 7 weight rod, as soon as I stepped out of the door I knew the seven weight NRX was gonna stay safely in the tube. We met at the boat ramp at 3:00. The rods were rigged, the boat was launched and we were on our way. This boat is set up perfectly for fly fishing. The tunnel hull rides dry and it sits just above the water. All of the cleats are recessed so there is no danger of catching your line and there is a huge casting platform on the bow. The 115 Mercury brought her up on plane with ease as we motored to the spot we were fishing. This type of fishing requires precision and teamwork. One guy maneuvers the boat while the other casts to the structure. When fishing structure while the tide is running at it's peak is not for the faint of heart. Driving a 20' boat within fifty feet of hull ripping structure requires a skill set, and for 3 hours straight Shawn kept me within comfortable casting distance of the fish. What fly are we fishing?I asked Shawn what bait is in the water and what fly we would be using. He kinda smiled and said we would be fishing the "Rakes Dock Light Special" Sean developed this adaptation for dock lights Striper after many years of this type of fishing. Many years of experimentation and "tweaking" have gone into this pattern, it is a spot on match for the 3" Silversides and Bay Anchovies that congregate around the lights and shadow lines that form when the sun goes down. We were a little early for the tide and it took about an half hour for the water to really get going, once it did it was game on! The picture quality is a little suspect...it was 3:00 am, dark and misty but I think you get the idea. I guess we landed just south of 20 Bluefish up to 5 pounds and 3 Striper in the mid 20 inches. A good morning for sure. The beauty of living where we live is we have legitimate fishing opportunities available to us 12 months of the year. The Fall Salt run is just getting started! Be sure to get out there before Ole Man Winter tightens his grip. Till Next time...
Tight lines P.S. Irish Flies has obtained the recipe for the "Rakes Dock Lights Special". If you are interested contact me if you would like me to tie you a few. If you fish where there are Silversides or Anchovies you will be glad you did. Just don't ask me how to tie it...I have been sworn to secrecy. Hello all. I would like to take a minute and ask a favor of everybody. I am working on a lot of things for the upcoming winter show season. Many of the details are still being worked out at this time. I have several presentations on the books as of now and my goal is to do as many of these events for as many local clubs as I can. I will be hosting 5 seminars, similar to and including the Shad School we did last year. After seeing the success of the Shad Class and all of the positive comments I received afterward I knew I had to do more of these type of seminars. I will be doing some appearances at the Christiana Cabelas store during events they are hosting throughout the Winter. The point is after the banner first year "Irish Flies" has had I will not rest on my laurels and I hope the second year is even better. In order to communicate all that I have planned I have set up an Email marketing account. If you would like to keep up with all of the news coming out of the "Irish Flies" camp please sign up to receive my newsletter. There are 3 easy ways to sign up. You can click the "Join My Mailing List" button at the bottom of each page on this web site. You can go to my Facebook business page here and look under the "Apps" section for the "Join My List" toggle. You can click the button and fill out the form, feel free to give my page a like while you are there. The third way to join is to text irishflies one word, all lower case, no spaces to 22828. After you receive a message from me you can put your email in and you are all set. You will receive a nominal amount of mail from me. This is not an attempt to spam your inbox, you will not see 10 things a day from me, I promise. What you will see is all the news and information about the things I am working on. So if you are interested in taking a class, seeing a presentation or just want to keep up with news and events please feel free to sign up. As always your support is greatly appreciated. Till next time... Tight Lines Well, It has been a little over 2 weeks since my last blog post. My buddy Ed and I have been floating several rivers in our area in search of the elusive trophy Smallmouth bass. We have been having a spectacular year so far, it seems every float one (or both of us) wind up with at least one fish that eclipses the 18" mark. For the record I believe any Smallmouth over 18" is to be considered a trophy and a true 20 incher is the holy grail of Smallmouth fishing. We have been doing a lot of fishing floating 3 out of the last four weekends and 5 out of the last seven. Our Outcast "Fat Cat" float tubes have really been getting a workout. I am just about to declare the float tube the most effective way to catch big Bronzebacks! The top water bite has been good and the Boogle Bug, size #4 has been the top producer (maybe because that is the only popper I have fished all year). By and far the more consistent fishing, quality and quantity, has been dragging the bottom with heavy Hellgrammite and Crayfish patterns. The 2 top producers have been the Crittermite and the Clawdad from Eastern Trophy Fly Fishing. Simple patterns that are easy to tie and catch big fish...what more could you want? This video was shot all with my GoPro Hero 4. The more I use the GoPro the more comfortable I am getting shooting and edition the video. I hope you enjoy "Floating for Smallies" Comments are always welcome. till next time... Tight lines Well, as you can tell from my last post I am a true Smallmouth junkie. I just think they are the coolest fish that swims. I have said many times "pound for pound no true freshwater fish fights harder than a Smallie". When you get them in your hand their body feels like the flexed bicep muscle of a Mr. Olympia contestant. They never stop fighting weather in the net or while you are trying to UN-hook them. The colors are absolutely beautiful, and under the right conditions can grow quite large. Smallmouth are very receptive to flies and fly fishing, I have heard it said that the Smallmouth Bass were made for fly fishing! With several Blue Ribbon Bronzeback rivers near my house, it is no wonder that the Smallmouth bass season is my favorite time of year. I have been shooting a lot of video with my GoPro camera over the past month. Anyone who has ever done any video work will understand when I say shooting the video is a lot easier than editing it. I now realize for every minute of finished video there is about 45 minutes of editing! The video I am going to show tonight was shot about 3 weeks ago. I spent that Sunday walk and wade fishing 2 of my favorite Smallie rivers. In the morning I was with my buddy "One Boot" Ed. The morning started out a little tough, but by the early afternoon we managed to scratch out a pretty good morning. I was fishing the Crittermite seen here and was fortunate enough to have a few decent Bass eat it. IN the afternoon I was on one of my favorite sections of the Brandywine with my buddy Joe G. Joe is a customer from my days at the fly shop and this was the first time we were able to get on the water together. We had a great evening and I think my buddy has been bitten by the Smallmouth bug. I used a new mount for the camera when I shot this video. The angle was a little off and you can't see the fish as I UN-hook them. I didn't notice this until I had downloaded the video and I have since corrected the issue. Also, at the behest of my mother I toned down the music a little for this one. I guess she is correct to a point, you cant have '80's hair band music (the best music ever incidentally) in EVERY video...I hope you enjoy "Smallmouth Sunday" The past few weeks have been busy around the Irish Flies camp. My wife and I took a mini vacation to Atlantic City for a few days of rest and relaxation. We did get to see the Eagles (the band, not the Philadelphia Football team) for the second time in less than a year, and they were awesome. If you are a fan and you can catch "The History of the Eagles" tour I would highly recommend it! I have been tying flies, filling orders and I have started the preparation's for this winters classes. I also have several videos I am working on and will be posting them soon. The past two weeks I was fortunate enough to get out on the water with my good buddy "One Boot" Ed. We floated both of the last 2 Sundays, the first on the Brandywine and the second on a tributary of the Susquehanna flats. Smallmouth season is in full swing right now, the water levels and temp's are good and the fish are attacking our flies the way a Hobo attacks a Bologna sandwich. As mentioned we floated the Brandywine 2 weeks ago. We put in at the Brandywine River Museum and floated down to Smith's Bridge. Ed had recently purchased an Outcast "Fat Cat" float tube and he used it for this float. My Fat Cat had not come in yet so I used my IR-10 single man pontoon. You may ask "why if you have a pontoon would you need a float tube" more on that later... We floated for about 9 hours that day landing a fish here, a fish there, a decent day, but nothing to get real excited about. Several hours into the float my buddy connected with this solid, shouldered up, Bronzeback. His personal best out of this river and a respectable fish any where in the country. We had just finished taking pictures and releasing this brute and Ed started to fish the next hole. Within 3 casts I looked down and saw his Sage Method bent over and bouncing. He looked up and said two words "good fish"! Ed worked the fish out of the hole and brought it to the net. Not as big as the first one, but the colors speak for themselves. This is truly a beautiful Smallmouth. After taking two good fish in a row on a stretch of water that is notoriously tough to take big fish on I had to ask..."what fly"? Ed was fishing a fly designed by Chuck Craft and sold by my friend William Heresniak of Eastern Trophy Fly Fishing called the Clawdad. You may remember my last post was a step-by-step of a my version of a ETFF fly called the Crittermite. If you missed it you can catch it here. The Clawdad is another simple but VERY effective pattern. Kinda like the fly fisherman's answer to the "Jig and Pig" of hard tackle fame. You can dead drift it, strip it, twitch it, or let it lay on the bottom. After these 2 fish Ed gave me a few to use and I am an instant believer. Here is how effective this fly is. EVERY FISH IN THIS BLOG POST WAS CAUGHT ON A CLAWDAD! We fished out the day landing several more smaller fish until about 2:00 when we were mobbed by tubers. When I say mobbed I don't mean we had a few around us and we had to let them pass. The heat index that day was 107 degrees and everybody must have had the same idea. At one point I was completely surrounded by tubers as far as I could see. I stopped fishing (I couldn't cast) and just floated down the river for about an hour. I have floated this section for the past 25 years, probably over 125 times and I have NEVER seen the amount of tubers I saw this day. Next time better planning is in order. Maybe this is why this section of river doesn't give big fish easily! All in all it was a good float. I got to get out on the water, get my pontoon wet, catch a bunch of fish and spend time with a buddy. What more could you ask for? Pontoon vs float tubeAs mentioned I have a single man pontoon and I just received my "Fat Cat" float tube. I am sure people are asking "if you have one why do you need the other"? As much as I love fishing out of my Pontoon, and I do enjoy it, they are not without issue. My boat is on a trailer, that is the easiest way to transport it IMO. Trailering a boat has its own unique set of challenges. First off you need a vehicle that can tow a trailer. The boat / trailer combo is very light, so you don't need much horse power, you do need a vehicle with the proper equipment to tow (ball hitch, light hook up's etc). You will also need to register and tag the trailer. I don't know about you but, if given the choice I would rather get my teeth drilled than go to the Delaware DMV! The other thing to consider are boat ramps. The Brandywine is not like the Schuylkill or the Susky, there are no true boat ramps on the Brandywine. This means carrying your boat, sometimes great distances, (a 2 man job) to the water. All of these are challenges that can be worked through and my pontoon will remain a staple in my fishing program. Combine these with the plan to fish some smaller rivers in our area this year and this makes the choice to invest in a float tube a no brainier. Enter the Outcast "Fat Cat" Basically a floating reclining chair, these tubes are light, easy to travel with, and extremely comfortable. They fit easily in the back of a mid to large SUV, and with the optional back pack straps you can hitch the tube to your back and down the road you go to the fishing spot. Ed calls it the "Mummers Strut" when he has the tube on his back...those of you from the Metro Philadelphia area will understand. I got my tube mid last week and Sunday morning we were on the water by 7:00 AM It is gonna be a long float...Here is an Irish Flies tip...If you are floating a river for the first time err on the side of caution when setting up your first float, It is better to set up a float that is too short than a float that is too long. Why do I know this???? Read on. Ed has been fishing this tributary of the Susquehanna Flats for years. He introduced me to it a few years ago and we have had some great days wading this river. A quick check of the map and some scouting shows this trib flows a long way, but the upper reaches would be extremely hard to wade. We decided a float would be the best way to attack it. Pontoons were out of the question. Getting to and from the river with the trailer would be a logistical nightmare, not to mention the distance and terrain we would have to carry the boats over to reach the water. The river is narrow at some points making passage in a pontoon difficult. It is just not a "pontoon" river. Today, this river, this float was the initial reason for the investment in the float tubes. We talked back and forth all week all the while looking at Google Maps. Ed scouted the put in and take out on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning we met up and headed out for a day of new discovery. As we were gearing up Ed said "you know this is gonna be a long float" Irish Flies tip #2 when your fishing buddy says something like that pay attention!!!! I think I said something like "more fish to catch" Yeah, OK. We put in at around 7:15 and started down. 20 minutes into the float I hooked a good, possibly a great fish! Three head shakes and one STRONG up river run and the line went slack and the pole limp. I stripped in the line and the brand new Fluorocarbon leader was snapped at the tippet. 1X tippet. 12 pound tippet! I don't know what it was, could have been a Carp. I do know he ate the Clawdad like he was starving and I will never know for sure what it was. We continued floating down having a great day catching many solid Small jaw's. About 3:30 I decided to check the GPS. To my shock (and horror) we had been on the water for nearly 8 hours and we were only about 1/2 way! We knew we needed to pick up the pace and as the day got longer we fished less and paddled more. The last 2 hours of this float were what I akin to hell in the river. About 3 miles of the nastiest, rock infested boulder field you can imagine. I bounced that Fat Cat off of bounders, drug it over rock and gravel bottom, blasted through dead falls, you name it I did it to that tube. It is hanging in my garage a little scratched up, but non the worse for wear. A cheap tube would not have made it through that stretch of river, I am confident of that because one cell phone, one swim fin and one rod did not make it through! An epic float indeed, we just need to come out with a better take out spot! What time did we make it to the lower end did you ask...8:30 pm! That's right, 13 hours on the water. Was it worth it? You be the judge, because I am still not sure! As mentioned every fish in this post was caught on the Clawdad. If you are a serious Smallmouth junkie like we are, you owe it to yourself to check William's stuff out, it is as good as it gets! Check him out here. He is also on Facebook under William Heresniak as well as Eastern Trophy Fly Fishing. To check out all the great products from Outcast Boats click here. I am proud to have Irish Flies affiliated with both of these great companies.
We have about two more solid months of Smallmouth action this year. Get out there and stick a big one before it is two late! Till next time... Tight Lines Well, this past weekend I finally got out on the Smallmouth river after 3 straight weeks of storms, blown out rivers, or just plain poor timing. I had a great day on Sunday spending over eight hours on two of my favorite, local Smallmouth rivers. I had some good luck with the pattern I am going to share with you today. I also shot some great GoPro video which I will edit and post shortly. I love fishing Hellgrammite patterns for Smalljaws. Even on rivers that don't boast a good amount of these prehistoric looking bugs, they always seem to produce! I don't know if it is the profile and shape of the pattern, the dark color or the action (probably a combination of the three) the Smallies can't seem to resist them. My guess is it is in their DNA. Much the same way Trout eat eggs, or I eat Bacon, I believe a Smallmouth's brain is programmed to eat Hellgrammites so, they eat em. I have used the Clouser Hellgrammite for years with good success, and believe it to be an exceptional pattern. Lately I have been using some products from Eastern Trophies Fly Fishing and let me tell you William's products are awesome! Before we get too far into the fly lets take a look at the Natural. Hellgrammites are the larval stage of the Dobson Fly. Hatching from an egg sac deposited on a rock ledge or a low hanging branch, the young larva fall into the water where they will spend the first 1 to three years of their aquatic life living among the stream bed. Growing to a length of about three inches, the adult Hellgrammite is an ugly dude with powerful pinchers on his head, a hard shell and spines running down the sides of its body. (the spines are actually gills for breathing underwater) Hellgrammites live under rocks, logs, river debris in swift river currents hunting and feeding on other micro-invertebrates and small forage fish. As mentioned I believe Smallmouth are just hard wired to eat these things. The pattern I am going to share with you was modeled after the original Crittrmite pattern tied by Chuck Craft and also drawing inspiration from Jake Villwock's Taramite 2.0 fly This fly is simple to tie, effective, and just plain looks bad ass! BTW, if you think the larva looks crazy do a search for the Eastern Dobson fly...yeah, that is real! Here you go... Thread ; Black flat waxed 6/0 Hook ; TMC 5263 size 4 Under body ; 20 wraps of .020 lead wire Eyes ; Lead dumbbell size medium Tail ; Eastern Trophy Fly Fishing Crittermite Tail #2 to order click here Body ; Black Estaz Legs ; Black Life Flex Head ; Eastern Trophy Fly Fishing Game Changer Tail to order click here Put the Crittermite tail on the hook and place the hook in the vise. There is a hole pre punched in the tail. You can use that one or use the hook to punch another one to get the desired length. Tie the Game Changer tail on the UNDERSIDE of the hook. This pattern will ride hook point up and this will eventually be the top of the fly. Tie a medium lead dumbbell eye on the top of the hook shank (this will eventually be the bottom) For a cool way to tie in dumbbell eyes that won't move check out this link. Dumbbell eyes Put 20 wraps of .020 lead wire on the hook. Build a thread dam at the back of the wire and force the wraps up against the back of the dumbbell eyes. Tightly spiral wrap your thread over the lead to bind it to the hook shank. Don't be afraid to use a little Zap-A-gap here. Tie on a strand of Life Flex in front of the dumbbell eyes for the pinchers. Tie on a piece of Life Flex on both sides of the body at about the mid point of the hook shank. A real Hellgrammite has 3 legs coming out if each side...I don't think the fish will count them. Move your thread to the rear of the fly and tie in a piece of black Estaz. Palmer the Estaz up the hook shank in tight, successive wraps. Cover up all of the under body being careful not to catch the legs underneath. Wrap all the way to the eye of the hook. Tie off and clip the Estaz, position the tail so you can tie it off just behind the hook eye. After tying off the tail whip finish and clip your thread. Coat the top of the tail section with Zap-A-Gap, fold the "head" section over and glue it into place on the top of the tail section. Here is the side view of the finished fly. This is a very durable pattern that will withstand many angry Bronze Backs. The fact that it rides hook point up allows you to crawl it along the bottom of the river just like the natural.
|
Archives
May 2017
Categories
All
|