Friday, December 3, 2010

Broken Bow

The Winter trout addiction is sort of a voluntary beat down. The feet freeze and the fingers go numb until the line goes tight but the river is void of other fishermen and the trout are active. Winter trout were calling and Phil and I answered the call. Broken Bow, Oklahoma was just 3.5 hours away. We fished 1.5 days. The first .5 was more of a scouting mission and a reintroduction to a river I used to fish rather regularly. It was good to see trout again and even better to see them rising to dries. Well after the sun went down and we had both landed a few trout we called it quits and set up camp.

The morning came quickly and we woke to frozen boots and waders and a herd of deer that didn't like our camp intruding on their forest. As soon as the ice was broken from the boots and waders, and we were able to get our feet in them ,we hit the water. Started the day throwing wooly buggers and swinging them through the tailouts. This was deadly. The fish couldn't stand the swing and I would have continued to fish this way but I lost my only two boogers. One to a super sloppy backcast, the other to a nice fish that headed downstream much faster then I could. I was then forced to remember how to nymph. After casting to the same fish for 15 minutes, and probably as many fly changes, the fish ate a size18 pheasant tail. This produced a few more fish before we high tailed it to zone two.

We arrived at zone two to the slow water and fish rising, dimpling the water. I had talked to other fly fishermen that were just leaving zone two and they mentioned swinging soft hackles. To keep with the theme of the trip I tried this and gained confidence in the technique when my first 5 casts were met with trout. This continued until the sun started to set and the fear of not being able to see where I was wading set in. It was a long drive home but a very successful trip. Thank you fellow fly fishers for the technique.


Monday, November 22, 2010

Back to the Old Drawing Board.


Sometimes you have to steal pictures to draw (ducks unlimited cover shot).



Saturday, November 6, 2010

New This Is Fly


Dear This Is Fly,

How is it that you always have such good music on your audio player. I have been listening to Arcade Fire's - "Suburban War" almost nonstop since my Darling got "The Suburbs" for me when it came out. Arcade Fire still has it. Keep making good music. On a side note, Monica just went to see Deerhunter and we tried to see The XX but the show was crazy expensive and way sold out. Maybe Monica is making the audio player for This Is Fly.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Kayak Rack


This is what we came up with to solve the problem of storing the yaks. It is built with pvc piping and old fire hose that had been taken out of service. It has held up reasonably well.

Trinity River (CA)

September Steelheading is different from November Steelheading.


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

NORTH DAKOTA


The season opener didn't disappoint. This trip had many firsts. The first time the a/c was needed during the hunt, the first time to pheasant hunt in a t-shirt, the first time my shotgun malfunctioned and became a single shot, and my first sharp-tailed grouse (of 4) and the first time our group brought their own dogs. There were lots of birds, great food and wine and great deserts.
Grouse hunting is a special type of hunting and the badlands is the perfect backdrop. You earn every bird you get and each one is special.