New Fly Fisher: Whistler Fly Fishing

This is the second episode of the second season and features fishing for steelhead and dolly varden with Brian Niska from www.whistlerflyfishing.com/.

I didn't get much out of it except that March-April are the times for the best runs. Remember to let fly swim to the end of the swing and slowly strip. Don't jerk back on a strike. Start rod tip high and follow fly, lowering the tip.

There was a nice tip on how to cover the river in an efficient method:
Make several casts from the same spot, each farther out than the last, all 45 degrees downstream and let the fly move to it is perpendicular. Then move a few feet downstream and repeat.

New Fly Fisher: North Platte River

This is the first episode of the second season. It was based out of the North Platte Lodge near Alcova, Wyoming and was about nymph fishing on the North Platte River.


Brett Van Rensselaer was the guide. He said the key was to change rigs to match condition. You can change the weight, which changes depth or change the length of leader, which changes the depth. Only after that do you change the fly.


Brett was upstream nymphing and stressed that the key is to keep the slack caught up. He prefers one big mend to many little ones and loves large arbour reels.


Brett used a 9 1/2', 6 wt., fast action stiff rod. I didn't fully understand his rig, so I wrote him and his reply explains better than I could figure out from the TV show.

Yes, that was the rig. Basically, when nymphing decide whether you wish to fish the bottom or not. If you want to fish the bottom your length from indicator to lead should be 12" longer than actual water depth. First fly should be 12-14" below the split shot. I typically tie a blood knot to add 12-14" of tippet and put the split shot above that knot to eliminate sliding. First fly at the end of the tippet. then 6-8" of tippet connected directly to the bend of the hook on the first fly and place the second at the end. The deeper the water the longer the gap between the two flies.


Your rig should look like this:

6" of Butt section from fly line
5-10 foot leader (depending upon conditions)
12-14" tippet to first fly
6-12" tippet to second fly

The rig I was fishing was designed to fish 3' of fast water. The extra length (5' leader instead of 4') was due to the speed of the water. I like the second fly close (6-8" ) in faster shallower water. In deeper slower I would lengthen everything out!

Sounds like a cool guy to fish with.

2006 Fishing Trips

I made a resolution to fish in every month of the year. So far I have kept this resolution.

January

• Jan. 1 - Credit River for steelheads alone


• Niagara River for steelheads with Matias

Febuary

• Credit River for steelheads with Greg and Matias

March

• Leslie Spit for pike with Matias


• Trout Pond for pike alone


• Ontario Place for pike alone

April

• Four Mile Creek Pond for carp with Jean-Guy and Matias

May

• Springbrook Creek for brook trout alone

June

• Grand River for trout with Roland


• Coldwater River for trout with Pat

July

• July 1- Trout Pond for bass alone


• July 3 - Grand River for trout with Pat


• July 8/9 - Jack Lake for bass with the gang

3 wt. Rod

I have a 3 wt., 8' rod I bought at Grand River Troutfitters a few years ago. I never use it. So I wrote them about it.

The reply came from Josh who said it was the perfect rod for this time of year. It is best for small flies and dry flyies giving a nice delicate presentation. He cautioned that nymphing is a little harder with a shorter rod, thus a 9' is preferred. It would be a good crappy/sunfish rod too, but I am focused on trout this year.

New Fly Fisher: Advanced Nymphing Techniques

This episode started with Bill Bullock from Orvis fishing the English River near Awesome Lake Lodge in Labrador. He was suing a 9' 5 wt rod and line. It was a full-flex rod.

His method was to us a size 12 caddis is an indicator with floatant applied. To this he added 3 feet of 5x fluorocarbon tippet as a dropper to a size 14 stonefly nymph. This allowed him to fishing at two levels. He was casting only 30' of line and using drag-free drifting.

Colin recommended six nymph patterns that work everywhere:

• Prince Nymph


• Zug Bug


• Hares Ear


• Pheasant Tail


• Red Fox Squirrel Tail


• Muncher

You can use them with beadheads or add weight to bodies.

Next up was Ken Collins from Grand River Troutfitters fishing the Grand River near Fergus. He was drifting nymphs around boulders. He stressed that it was key to match the speed of the river to stay natural looking. He said that nine-tenths of the Law of Succcessful Fish Catching is presentation. So take time at good at it he added.

He said that it was important to move quietly through the water and not like an elephant.

He would roll cast upstream 30 degrees and raise rod tip as the fly floats down river. Match your fly to the oxygen bubbles to make sure it is moving at the right speed. At the end of the drift use a "Kick and Feed" technique to extend the drift downstream. Basically, just give extra line at the end of the drift. He was using orange strike putty as an indicator.

Then came Jeff Blood from Spring Creek in Pennsylvania. He said that fishing under the surface increases your chances of catching fish but your approach to the water is critically important. He uses a grid system to fish. Creep into where the fish are lying. Start at the head of the pool and cast a couple of times close and then farther out. Then move downstream and start again.

Finally, there was an interview with Gary Borger. He said it was important to eading the water to plan your strategy.

He talked about three lies:

• Shelter - fish don't feed from there but go there when hooked


• Feeding - shallow water with no shelter edges of riffles and pools, fish are shy here. You'll find them here if there is a hatch.


• Prime - offers food and protection, top of pool, under a bank, riffle water, on a seam. Fish are here if no hatch.

Getting flies deep

I struggled on the weekend at Jack Lake to catch fish. I was fishing near the surface and the fish were deep.

I was using Ian James' straight leader method -- 4-pound Vanish -- and so I asked him how to get flies deep with his method.

He quickly suggested three plans as options.

Plan A
Use a wee bit longer leader, step it up a bit from say 4 to 6 pound and then put a bit of split shot onto the leader about 6 inches in front of the fly. You need to step it up so that you can still turn over the leader with split shot.

Plan B
Switch to a full sinking line, or a fast sinking sink tip line, and then cut the leader back to about 24 inches or less.

Plan C
Go to a very heavily weighted fly and step the leader up from 6 to 8 pound. Again, you need to step up so that you can turn over the weighted fly.

Remember that with a sink tip or a full sinking line, you almost need to get all the line back into the rod before you can make the cast. The deeper the water, the faster the sinking line you need.

So a few choices here. I keep learning.

Fishing Report: January 1, 2006

I wanted to go fishing on New Year's Day and so I did. It really was more a scouting trip and I did some real casting.

I decided to go check out the Credit River.

I started at the mouth, which is J.C. Sadington Park, Marina Park and Port Credit Memorial Park. A big sign said, "August 15 - October 31 No fishing"

I noted that I must learn basic knots and pack only the essential gear.

2:46 p.m.
I decided that Saddington is not fishable.

3:08 p.m.
Mineola Road has perfect access but the Credit River is frozen over.

3:23 p.m.
Memorial Park is under construction, so I cannot scout it out.

4:10 p.m.
I was casting a white wooly bugger but I lost it in snow.

4:15 p.m.
Yellow Yummy is impossible to lose in the snow!

4:30 p.m.
Water is 32.4 F. That's cold!

5:08 p.m.
Ready to Roll!
It was a fun trip but the Credit River is not really suitable for fly fishing unless you wade it at the mouth.

Fishing Bass Flies

After a weekend a bass fishing, I read this article by Dave Whitlock. It was published by Fly & Field but it looks like their site is offline.

Dave has the Whitlock Straight-line System that he is very militant about.

He gives four basic actions: no retrieve, twitch & pause, strip & pause and panic strip. Unfortunately, he doesn't really say when to use which method. On the weekend, I was using the no retrieve action too much. At least at Jack Lake, the panic strip is recommended.

He writes about striking and hooking and I struggled with that. He recommends reacting quickly to any sense of a strike with a line-hand pull, with your rod tip still low and pointing at the fly. I was using the trout method of pointing the rod to the sky. He stresses keeping the rod below 10 o'clock. He also says that sharp, barbless hooks are better than barbed hooks. You'll lose fish that way.

So there are some good tips that I should have read last week.

Pike On The Fly

p. 28 Temperature is important, mid-50s to 68 max
p. 20 Daylight is good but overcast is better
p. 23 Pike are sight feeders
p. 26 Pike are cruising fish. They move around a lot.
p. 36 Pike love to eat in mud lines
p. 37 Pike fishing is usually sight fishing
p. 37 Cast in a complete circle twice then move 20-30 feet and repeat
p. 37 Cast to the shadows
p. 40 Fish from 10 a.m. until sunset in the spring
p. 41 If you catch a fish, keep focusing on that area as there might be others
p. 46 Spring Flies: Bunny Bugs & Deceivers. Umpqua's Barr 'Bou Face and Swimming Baitfish. Weedguards are essential. Black and white if clear water. Yellow, orange, chartreuse if the water is discoloured.
p. 54 Use a sinking line with a floating fly
p. 55 Weedguards are a must.
p. 63 Fish in 5 - 12 feet of water
p. 67 Fall Flies: Subsurface flies. Large flies 2/0 and 7". Bright colours.
p. 73 Pike need big lies and slow water on rivers
p. 79 Pike don't care about drag in presentation
p. 119 Rod: Sage 996 RPL
p. 121 Reel: Ross G-3
p. 122 Line: Courtland 444 SL
p. 123 Leader: Mason & Rio mono
p. 131 Bunny Bug fly
p. 133 Lefty's Deceiver
p. 135 Whistler
p. 138 Edgewater Slider
p. 139 Edgewater Wiggler
p. 143 Edgewater Popper

New Fly Fisher: Bow River Hopper & Dropper Fishing

The Bow River is divided into three sections:

1. Rocky Mountains


2. Foothills


3. Prairies - near Calgary

David Blair & Terry Johnson
from Fish Tales Flyshop in Calgary

Hoppers come in four colours: Yellow, brown, olive and green
It is important to match size and silhouette.

Hopper Dropper Rig
9' 3X leader
Blood knot 4x tippet: nymph 90 degrees
18-24" and 6-8"

Rod
8 1/2' - 9 1/2', 4-5 wt rod is fine but 6wt for double hopper or streamers is recommended

Large trout are in current breaks created by weedbeds

Versatility is important. Switch to streamers if nymphs are not working.

Splatting is okay when presenting grasshoppers.

Reach cast
Need to be able to cast far, accurately to fish the Bow.

Cast a bit upstream and mend.