Saturday, October 9, 2010

Spreading the word.

I have seen many people, avoid even the mention of the term "fly fishing".
Literally, hold up their hand, and turn their head away.
Closing the subject before you can get started.
I don't blame them really.
Those that participate in this sport seem to speak in tongues.
Some vibrate with so much excitement, you worry whether your CPR skills are current.
Others spew Latin to the point, you wonder if English is their second language.
The occasion for water influenced philosophy/poetry seems to increase per capita as well.

After a few years, you learn not everyone is crazy about the subject.
You figure out when it's OK or not, to share the good word (FLYFISHING).
Here included are a few examples from my travels.

Generally, a dissertation on rise forms and their correlation to insect activity,
will not work as a pick-up line at a party.
If the guy checking, at the grocery store fishes, try to keep the conversation short to prevent bad PR in the lengthening line of shoppers behind you (especially if he's a steel-header).
Fly rod brand, loyalty oaths loudly stated, can cause a fight in the right/wrong company.
Always establish subtly, who owns what kind, and, how many there are of them.
Having a stated preference for a fly, or fly style can generate heat too.
For example, never suggest broadly in mixed company, that an indicator is the only way to fish.

Although I get out quite a bit, my shakes (somewhat lessened over time) can still flair up.
I have learned a few terms in the dead language, but only take them out for special occasions.
One can learn to choose an audience wisely.
If you notice the listeners eyes kind of glaze over, or eye lids slide to half mast, segue to the weather.
Of course if it's overcast, that could lead back to the epic Blue-wing-olive hatch that day.
Come to think of it, there is no safe topic, everything leads back to fly fishing.
But, don't think for a moment that this sport falls into the category of an obsession.
This activity is just incredibly broad, deep, as well as fun.
So, spread the word, just be careful who you tell .

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Fish Ninja's

Sitting by a bush, watching fish the other day.
Slow movement out of the corner of my eye, caught my attention.
Creeping up the stream was a fish Ninja.
I could tell, because he was dressed like I was.
Camo hat, Olive shirt, darker waders, and a very low, stealthy approach.
He carried two rods held low, one rigged with a dry, the other rod rigged for nymphing.
Dropping one rod in a bush, he crawled towards the water.
He made a short cast, sidearm, and dropped his bobber into the foam seam and did a quick mend.
A nice fish immediately ate his offering, and he directed it downstream.
I laughed, and he saw me for the first time.
With a smile he nodded, and continued to school the fat rainbow he had on.
After the release, he waved and crept off through the bushes for the next one.

When you come here to fish, remember, there are people who spend a lot of time around here training fish. The fish dislike all the attention, and raise the bar on the entry level of fishers.
I constantly see people who wear a white shirt, and stroll up to the water, make a few ill considered false casts, and then splat something (not on the menu), on the head of a spooky fish.

If you burn to catch the best fish anyone has seen (or you've seen), you may consider improving the game you use.
When you hear 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish, this is a big part of it.

Most importantly, don't let them see or hear you coming.
Next most important, get the drift, the first attempt. No flailing please.
The bugs have a scedule, the fish follow it, so should you.
Do some research, seine the water, turn over a couple of rocks, just sit and gaze into the air.
If you raise your game, fish stats will improve.
When you do land a fatty, get your hands wet first, before you handle them.
Leave them in the water, tell the fish how beautiful it is, how well it fought.
When they go to school next time, it just might put in a good word for you.
"That guy with the camo hat was cool."
Every little bit helps.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Fishiness

We've got some Fall color starting to show.
Frosting more often at night.
Water temps are dropping, fishing is picking up!
Seeing some isonychia swarms, and I found an October Caddis house yesterday.
It was sealed up. I popped it open, and the tenant inside was almost fully developed.
Won't be long now.

Not everyone likes fly fishing, lakes, but I do.
Spent a few evenings on the water recently.
The inlets are going off!
Fish of dreams, in shallow water.
What more do you want? An invitation?
The little guys are rising, and macking on midges, caddis, hoppers on the surface.
Big guys waiting for a distracted little fry.
Try stripping a bugger with a midge off the back.
The best of both worlds.

Kokanee are running up now.
One great seasonal joy, is to walk the inlet streams.
It's like a mini Alaska. Eagles in the trees, spawned out salmon on the banks, bear tracks,
big fish chasing each other around.
Once in while, even a mackinaw, comes up to eat.
Everything seems to be bulking up for winter.
Must be coming a little early.
October is the "norm" for this.
I don't really care when it happens, as long as I'm there for it.

The evening window is the best, but if we don't get windy, you can catch them all day.
Come on up!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Dippers and such.

I watch birds. They often convey info that is beneficial to my fishing, and add pleasure to my time on the water to boot.
After all, many eat the insects, that the fish eat as well.
Birds often help me determine what's hatching, or what stage of insects the fish might be eating.
Since the different varieties of birds feed in different ways, once you learn what their normal style is, you can spot changes in feeding behavior.
Much like fish, birds will adopt the easiest feeding style, for the most food possible.
When a ground feeder like a Stellar Jay, is acting like a Gnat catcher, (Perching on a strategic limb, flying up, nabbing a bug, then returning to the limb.) I can safely bet that there is a large emergence of a flying insect like Termites, or Carpenter Ants.
I've seen ground feeding Brewers Blackbirds crash the surface of a stream to catch a green Drake. A risky business, since they aren't water birds.
I've seen Gulls, and Geese swimming together in aimless circles, sipping Callibaetis Spinners on the surface of a lake.
American Dippers, are my local favorite. I've heard that they mate for life, and since they stay here year-round, I see them most often.
They mostly feed subsurface, walking on the bottom of a stream.
One day this winter I was standing in the water, wondering what fly to fish.
I absently watched a Dipper.
It took a moment for me to realize, both Male and Female birds were feeding on freshly hatched midges dotting the snow bank like pepper.
Tree Swallows will chase emerging Mayflies near the water, or forty feet up during the bugs mating swarm. Once female Mayflies return to the waters surface to ova-posit, the Swallows will disturb the surface tension, leaving rings when they make a grab.
The up and back feeding style of a Gnat catcher, will change to a hover style, with the May's return to the water as well.
A birds, feeding frequency, will closely indicate the numbers of insects available to them.
An infrequent feeder reflects a sparse hatch, where as, busy birds indicate a feed is on!
As a fly fisherman, I need insights into insects of the watery realm.
Birds can give me an edge.
Spend some time watching our feathered friends, and you might catch more fish.

Friday, September 3, 2010

I thought I hooked the bottom.......

It's feeling more fallish all the time, a beautiful time to be alive and on the water!
No color change in the trees yet.
Seeing a small surge in bug hatches on slightly overcast days.
On the bright/hotter days it still slows a bit during midday.

A guide-friend and I were gentleman fishing a few days ago on the local tributary.
We traded off on each hole, in the intermittent rain and wind.
The flow was up a bit, and we needed more weight to get down near the bottom.
Suddenly my friend raised his rod in the middle of a drift.
He pulled hard for a moment or two, then started making one roll-cast after another to get his fly off of, whatever was holding his fly.
After the third hard cast to the spot where he was hung-up, the spot started moving across the water.......
He later uttered the near famous cliche for waters around here.
"I though I hooked the bottom...and then it moved".
A chase down-stream a-ways, finally produced a fine colorful wild rainbow 17"+.
I get to travel around the west fishing/guiding a bit, but I hear the this phrase used more, around here, than anywhere else I fish.
Nothing makes me happier, than to hear a client say this. But it's a hoot, to see it done by someone who knows how to fish, and fishes often.
On our local water, the fish get a lot of pressure.
Many of our best fish won't rise to a dry-fly.
Feel free to add some weight, be bold enough to risk losing flies, fish down where they hide.
Try this style, and you may also "hook the bottom".*

Edit* Same thing happened to me a couple days later.

Monday, August 30, 2010

First frost

It won't last, but fall arrived over the weekend.
Crispy mornings, fish enjoying the cloud cover, feeding all day.
Smoke rising from the rivers, and lakes at dawn.
I don't think there is anything that gets me more motivated to fish,
than the visible mystical union of air and water.
The two "elements" are always interacting, but now... I can see it happening.
It seems to move me, as much as the fish.
Over the years I've caught some of my most memorable fish, under futzing skies.
Soothing beams of sun, punctuated by spiting mists.
Waving grass, golden in the the meadows.
Clear low flows murmur hypnotically,
The cooler temps trigger the hatches that we impatiently await, all.... summer long.
Stare at a shadowed background, and a large array of bugs, back lit by sunshine will fly by.
Thousands and thousands of bugs, over many miles of water.
All these insect multitudes, giving it their best to reproduce.
For them, it's now or never.
Living a year or more underwater, hatching for this one Fall day.
To fly, mate, deliver ova to the water column, is their mission.
Many are food for fish before they can ever reach the water's surface.
Many more are slurped by surface feeders, trout large enough to hear.
Trout swirling like sharks, taking the future of these bugs, with remorseless regularity.
Recently I saw a heron stalking a largish rainbow, that was stalking some baby fish,
who were in turn sneaking up on midges.
I'm feeling the need to get in line too.
I'm feeling the need to stalk a large wild fish, stalking his dinner.
It's that time of year.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

BE HERE NOW

Geese taking off at dawn, headed south. Coolish temps in the high country at night.
Smoke on the water in the mornings, and squirels dropping lots of pine cones.
Fall feels just around the corner.
I teach people to see the water they visit as a new expirience every time, even if they visit it everyday.
Most humans search for the consistant patterns to capitalize on, even when they fish.
If Fly Fishing has taught me anything, it's that there isn't a constant, only change.
Those that fish well, are immersed in this moment.
Work in a fly shop for a while, and you'll see a fisherman walk in, straight to the fly bins, pick out a Royal Coachman (or whatever). The story you extract from him will run along the lines of
"Fourth of July back in '76, I caught a monster, on the RC. from that rock by the bridge."
" It's the only fly I use."
Talk about stuck in the past. Does he relly think fish follow habits like he does? A script?
This year in May, "normally" a muddy water month, we had clear water and an amazing Skwalla emergence.
June was mudded up, and our green drake hatch fizzled.
Fish live in a flux state. It is different everyday, every hour, every moment.
We live in this same state, but continue, for comforts sake, to seek predictability.
It makes our life easier , if we know the market's going up, or Tigers going to win again.
Life doesn't always go according to plan eh?

Raise your fishing odds, and overall awareness, "BE HERE NOW!"

Friday, August 13, 2010

Truckee Challenge

The consensus from many fishermen polled, is that the Truckee River isn't an especially easy piece of water.
I know a guy who fishes it a bunch, and figures he catches a fish for every ten hours he fished.
Fishing this river year-round for a few years now has led me to believe, that's close to true.
You have to wonder why so many are loyal to a river that doesn't let us look like "fish hero's" very often.
For me, I like the bar set high. Doing the easy thing, has not had a large appeal in my life.
But, guiding the Truckee is really raising the bar.
Taking someone who rarely fishes, or is a total beginner, to a fish here is one of the hardest things I've attempted.
When we do get lucky, the river gives it's best. Wild colorful fish with the ability to leave you standing there wondering what happened?
I call it, "A short meeting with Walter".
A good fishing friend called me to share a fish tale yesterday.
He told me, he'd been fishing down in the deepest darkest heart of the canyon, and he turned a fine fish. The fish made the jump to warp speed, and headed downstream to Reno.
Realizing he needed to run to keep him on, my friend followed as fast as he could over broken slippery boulders. Glancing up to see where the fish was still going, he missed a step.
A hard fall followed. He tore his waders, got seven stitches in his leg, lost his nymph box (Tragic), and broke off a twenty+ incher (More tragic!).
He called this morning to ask if I wanted to join him fishing the Truckee.
The next time you go fishing here, and feel like whining about the spanking you received from the river, remember how bad it can be.... then, suck it up and go fish.
They are in there*.

*Edit note, My friend called to say, he got blanked the next day, the day after he landed a 25" brown, the next a 23"brown.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Fishing seasons

Guide season is in full swing, so, I've had little time for blogging.
I apologize for slacking.
August is apparently the high point of interest in fishing. Folks lining the banks looking for fish love. Where were they in March (BWO's), or April (march browns), or May (SKWALLAS!!!!)??
Funny, how when the fishing gets toughest, some people feel the need most.
Since I fish/guide year-round, I get consistent feed-back from the fish.
"They" appreciate the time fishermen are distracted by other activities.
Ski season seems to be their favorite. Baseball/Football season figures in as well.
Slowly it's dawned on me, that there are two kinds of people in life, fishers and
seasonal-fishers.
The former has a full blown case of fish mania that they just can't shake. These folks do what they need to do, and go where they need to go, whatever time of year, to speak with fish one-on-one.
The latter approaches the activity mostly as a consumer, getting in line, buying the "stuff" necessary to participate, and playing during "the season".
I'm not saying everybody should put on snowshoes and attack at dawn in Dec.
Just that, the shoulder seasons are kinder to the fish, and fishermen as well.
Right now, we have a small hatch window in the morning, and an even smaller window in the evening. The pm water temps on the Truckee River near town are disturbingly high 70+.
That leaves just mornings to hit the water with hope of a meeting with Walter, and not doing him harm in the process.
The hot tip right now, if you see a bug on land, in the air, or on the water, drown it.
Few to no noses rising right now. Nights are already getting slightly cooler, soon the temps will start dropping and "fishing season" will gain momentum again.


Jim

"Take care of your fishery, and it will take care of you."

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Scheduling a fish.

Blog #4 Truckee River Tips


I guess because we can drive to a store 24-7, we think the same thing works for fish.
Not so....
If you want to do well with the finny guys, check their schedule.
Right now, it is get up very early, and stay out very late if you want the love.
High noon is a good time to nap, or spend some quality time with family.
The fishing pressure increases, and the bite diminishes as the sun slides high across the sky.
It's not just the fish either, all the critters lay low when the day is at it's hottest.
I'm not saying a fish can't be had at all, during the day, just that the bugs and fish have a different schedule than ours.
Don't tell me fishing is tough, if you won't adjust the way/time you approach them.
The value of Fly Fishing may be finding out about how the rest of the universe lives,
not just about "the color of the sky, in your world".

Jim

Monday, July 5, 2010

Truckee River 7-7-10

Delight!!! The looong spring has moved on.....
It is officially summer, high temps 70+, massive radiation exposure. Man this feels good.
Flowers blooming, critters running around, birds singing arias.
Fishing has picked up too.
The bite has shifted to earlier and later.
Lots of bugs!
Grass hoppers, PMDs, little yellow sallies, small goldens, and midges both cream and black.
A smattering of drakes.
A streamer may do some good too.
The flows are down 6" in the last three days.
Clear and fishable. H2O temp 63.
Large raft hatch this weekend. The last wave of them floated through by 7:00pm.
That leaves 1 uninterupted hour to say hi to walter.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

More Profiling!

Don't assume this profiling thing is a one way street!
Walk heavily, cast a shadow on the water, wave your fly rod around, wear white, and do that silly "Shadow Casting" thing, and you will have a hard time catching a fish.
The fish know what these things mean.....
I've watched fish, as dog walkers stroll by. They don't quit feeding. Walk up with a fly rod and they'll slide to the other side of the stream.
Fish don't think like we do, but they do learn.
Fish can live six or more years, and some are caught and released dozens of times.
This "bad practice" teaches them how to avoid us.
If they get better at the game, you need too as well.
If you don't believe me, try being in their shoes, so to speak.
I always say, we wouldn't be an obese society, if we had to check every fork full of food, for a hook.
Maybe I should publish Bigflys' "Hook Diet"!
(Lose twenty pounds in a week! Just stir a couple of hooks into every dish.)
Next time you seriously go fishing.
Try holding up a mirror up to profile yourself.
I bet you start catching more fish.

Jim

Friday, May 14, 2010

Blog entry #1
Confessions of a profiler.
I spend my days profiling fish, bugs, and fishermen/women.
Every living thing has an operating profile. Can't be too cold or hot. Must get food periodically.
Reproduce, find shelter etc....
When you know the parameters of a critter, you can predict, to a large extent, where it will be at a given time, and what they'll be doing.
We all do this to some extent, (whether we know it or not.), because this works on a level beyond normal thinking. We glance at something, and decide what it's about in a second.
Good, bad, interesting or not. One's personal motivations, experience, comes into play.
I think this is related to fight or flight responses, and has been expanded to everything else.
In my case, it's all about Fly Fishing. Does this place have fish? If so, what are they eating, what is they're activity schedule.
A policeman's experienced judgement has held up in court cases.
Mine holds up almost every day.
Sure a policeman uses a tail light out, as an excuse to pull over a person while driving late at night, but it was a momentary glance that told him things didn't look quite right.
Whether you are trying to catch a "bad man", or a fish, the process is much the same.
The better I get at profiling fish, the better a guide I'll be.
Hope the fish don't lobby to stop this. Fishing would get a lot harder.