Adventures in Fly Fishing

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Flyfishing in Quebec

Quebec Sporting
Seen ad in the Atlantic Salmon Journal, Spring 2005

Flyfishing in Norway

Norwegian Flyfishing Club
Seen ad in the Atlantic Salmon Journal, Spring 2005

Fly Fishing Travel Agencies

Sweetwater Travel Company
 • Livingston, Montana


Travel Adventures
 • Pittsford, New York
 • Saw ad in Mid-Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide, August 2003

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Streamer Fishing for Big Trout

Flies
Zoo Cougar
Deer Head Rabbit
Madonna
EP Fiber Rainbow
Wooly Bugger
Rabbit Strip Leech
Baby Rainbow

Setup
Class IV or Class V full-sinking line (Courtland 444)
3' leader of 10 lb. mono (Maxima)

Technique
Use Jerk Strip

ONTARIO: Small Stream fishing for Brook Trout

Upper Saugeen and Nottawasaga riversheds

Rocky Saugeen near Markdale

How To Organize A Fly Box

Unknown
box 1 - nymphs, he had 2 or 3 of his favorite patterns in a variety of sizes. He only uses a couple of patterns that are generic, like copper johns, hares ear nymphs, that sort
Box 2 - dry flies. again, using only a couple of patterns that are productive to your area.
Box 3 - streamers
Box 4 - bass/pike flies
box 5 - specific to your trip. do some research ahead of time and find out what is working and tie up some of them.

Keith Weeks
BASS
- Streamer box (2-12)
- Popper box (8)

TROUT
- Mayfly box
- Caddis box
- Streamer box (2-12)

Greg Herring
BASS
- Nymphs (6-14) & Wooly Buggers (2-12)
- Bugs (2-4) & Streamers (2-12)

TROUT
- Caddis & Mayfly Nymphs (10-16)
- Wet Flies (rising and drowning) (6-14)
- Small streamers
- Dry flies (caddis and mayflies): based on hatch (10-18)

STEELHEAD (2 or 4-8)

William Gerrard
I simply organize them by the species I'm targeting -- flies for brown trout in streams, for rainbows in ponds, for smallmouth bass, for pike, and for brook trout in lakes. A couple of boxes overlap more than one species, but generally it works well.

Best Advice Ever for Shopping

Experience should be the hand that writes the shopping list.

Flies

Rusty Usual #16-#18

www.easterntrophies.com
Zoo Cougar
Butt Monkey

Small Stream Dry Fly Fishing
The Usual #12-#16
Elk Hair Caddis

Nymphs
Zug Bug (#6-#12 for bass, #10-#16 for trout)
Kaufman Stone, black (#2-#8 for bass, #6-#10 for trout)
Kaufman Stone, yellow (#4-#10 for bass, #8-#14 for trout)
Caddis Pupa, green, #12-#16
Caddis Pupa, orange, #14-#18

CARP
From Field & Stream:
Crayfish Imitations
Woolly Worms
Woolly Buggers
Trout-style nymphs size 6-10

Brown, olive, tan and black

Umpqua
Rainey

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Tips from Ken Collins

I visited Grand River Troutfitters in September and Ken Collins gave me these tips:

1) Make sure the fish sees the fly first. If the fish sees the line first, he'll swim away.

2) Presentation and Position are very important.

3) Learn bugs by temperature of the water


That day, I bought these flies:

Copper John
Foam Ant
Psuedoclown
Isopdo
Black Caddis

Saturday, December 23, 2006

The New Fly Fisher: Fortress Lake Brookies

Episode 8 from the second season, featured Phil Rowley fishing for Brook Trout on Fortress Lake near Golden, BC.

Recommended gear:
6 weight rod
6 foot intermediate line
9 foot tapered leader

Flies:
Streamers and Woolly Buggers
3 1/2" strip leach with one split shot above

Presentation:
Put rod in water 3-4'
Pull slack out immediately

Retrieve behind hand
Strip tease: 6'-8' pulls gives nice undulating action to the leech
Hand twist: Rotate line around hand gives slow retrieve, great for scuds

You can imitate anything that swims in stillwater.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

ALL ABOUT FLIES: Everything the Fly Fisher Needs to Know

by Chuck & Sharon Tryon

Beadhead Nymph
Polar Shrimp for Steelhead (p.169)
Weedless Hairwings for Bass (p. 198)

Double Haul Forum '98

Opening Day 365 Days A Year by Ian James
"When you look through the Ontario Sportfishing Regulations, do yourself a favour. Don't look through wishing a season was open or feeling depressed because another season closed too early. It's better to ask yourself which species I can legally fish and how can I catch them?"

A Basic Fly Box by Ted Knott
Woolly Bugger
  • Sizes #10 to #6, 4X long
  • black and/or olive
Stonefly Nymph
  • Sizes #10 to #8, 3X long
  • brown, yellow or all black
Hare's Ear Nymph
  • Sizes #16 to #10
Light Cahill Dry
  • Sizes #16 to #10
Elk Hair Caddis Dry
  • Sizes #18 to #12
  • tan and olive
Caddis Emerger
  • Sizes #18 to #12
  • tan and olive bodies
Muddler Minnow
  • Sizes #10 to #6, 4X long

Double Haul Forum 2003

I'm a 'Nyphomaniac' by Bill Spicer


  • Get the fly to the bottom

  • Use an indicator

  • Keep the line off of the water

  • Fish all seams

  • Fish all rocks or any break in current

  • Keep casts short

New Fly Fisher: Stillwater Techniques

In this episode, they are fishing for brook trout in Fortress Lake, BC. They are demonstrating fly patterns for stillwaters with Phillip Rowley. They were using an indicator and a near static presentation. It looked almost like fishing with a bobber.

They were using small leech and scud patterns.

In 15' water use a 15' leader.

Fish are selective on their depth but opportunistic on what they will feed upon, so they'll eat what's best at their depth.

Hang a leech from a strike indicator and strip 6-12" at a time.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Quote of the Day

"If you can't cast, you can't fish well. It's that simple."
- King Montgomery, Guide Talk, Fly Fish America, Sept. 2006

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Redfish fishing in Texas

I routinely tape Fly Fishing with John Barrett. It is very much a travel show and this episode was typical. There was no mention of flies or tackle nor much on technique.

But it did look like a nice place to fish. They were based in Harlington, Texas and fishing for redfish off San Padre Island.

They stayed at Arroyo Lodge, which looks like a nice place. At $1,235.00 for three Days and three Nights (3 full days fishing), this is doable.

New Fly Fisher: Spring Steelheading

This episode (Season Two, Episode 3) was about spring steelhead in Conneaut Creek in Conneaut, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border.

It was stressed that there are lots of steelhead and affordable accommodations here. And that was about it. They never discussed flies nor tackle nor really much on techniques.

I did get a couple of tips:
Trout are a current-loving species and are usually facing upstream.
Remember to vary weight according to conditions

The editor of Fly Fisherman was featured.

Overall, it was a disappointing episode as there was more of a focus on travel (go here and catch big, pretty fish) than the usual education.