February Fishing

I just realized a little while ago that I really didn't post anything about fishing for the whole month of february. Sad. Where did the month go?? Mostly I just didn't fish very much due to the sporadic weather, high flows and too much time in a desk chair. But I did make it out a few times and made quite a few quick stops to look at the water and to see what was happening bug-wise. Here's a quick synopsis of the month.

The beginning of February had some great BWO hatches with winter conditions still in effect and the slow water was producing BIG, healthy rainbows on small princes and bwo nymphs in gray in olive. Overcast days were epic-- these were the type of fish that could be expected regularly:


Sometime in the middle of the month I decided to get serious about this fishing thing.

No more fooling around:

By no more fooling around I mean tying up a bunch of articulated patterns with size 2 hooks (and a bunch of slumpbusters for droppers) and fishing them with a sink tip. But mostly it meant I got skunked a lot. I did catch one 20" cutthroat on a baitfish pattern but it was an ugly looking stocked fish that doesn't really count as a stream-born native being fooled into attacking my fly.

The end of February was hit and miss with the fishing. There were some serious bugs at times but finding the right conditions and fly to get at 'em was tough (at least I thought so). In fact the last day I fished the Truckee in February turned out to be an epically bad one. I started out fishing a new sculpin pattern I've been experimenting with in some water I rarely fish. I thought I got a few taps but maybe it was just the bottom... who knows. Then I met up with Justin and we hit a few spots around town. The water was muddy and nothing was rising and Justin caught one small whitefish. I slipped in the mud and fell on my fly rod. *snaapp* Damn.


But, as they say, a bad day of fishing is better than the best day in the office (or something like that) and it was cool to see some skwalas come off towards 3 or 4pm. I had to admit defeat at that point though and accept my losses. Justin stayed and caught a couple of fish (of course) on some skwala nymph patterns. However the significance of the big bugs turned out to be an important event for that guy-- the next day he stuck an absolute monster of a brown with a skwala dry fly. And it's all on video. Someday we may even figure out how to edit it. Until then you get a crappy screen capture that doesn't do the fish full justice.

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News

Well I've been a slacker here lately, simply posting random crap until I can get it together to write something about fishing that might (but probably won't) have some substance to it. But the real news is that I've been commandeered to create and contribute to a blog for the Reno Fly Shop! This is pretty exciting as this could end up being a great resource once the reno fly shop guides start putting up some content (I'm secretly... or not so secretly... hoping for fly tying competitions, giveaways, fly tying videos etc.).

So check it out, add it to your RSS feeds and tell me what you think!:

www.renoflyshop.blogspot.com

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spew.

This is the best thing I've seen all day. Thank you moldy.

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Blog shout-out: The Jersey Angler

I've been tying and fishing on a small scale but haven't taken the time to upload any pictures. I don't have any excuses, I'm just lazy-- but hey, you get what you pay for.

Anyways, I thought I'd give a shout out to The Jersey Angler who has been putting up some really cool fly patterns on his blog -- here's a quick sampling-- I especially like this first one and will probably tie some up for the spring:


All images taken from here: http://thejerseyangler.blogspot.com/

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EW in winter

I probably shouldn't give this river any publicity. I've been there twice in the summer months and it's been angler after angler after... you get the idea. But a river flowing at 20-something cfs in the middle of winter with action on dry flies? Awesome:

I haven't been there this winter but fly fishing cohort Justin (above) stuck some nice fish this past weekend. The game was a stealthy approach, casting from a crouch to visible rising trout. Sounds ok... I guess. :-)

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Saving $$ - part I

So I've wanted to blog about a certain subject for quite a while now -- money. Now don't get me wrong-- I love this sport-- but I'll be damned if the "rich white-guy's sport" stereotype doesn't hold a bit of water. Ok probably more than a bit -- I remember reading somewhere that the majority of fly fisherman are middle aged, male, white, and have college degrees (assuming from that we/they are career oriented folks). The demographics themselves don't bother me (I will fit them someday - though I think diversity is better) but in general the prices on fly fishing equipment reflect the target audience. And as someone who started fly fishing during college-- those price tags hurt.

So I'd like to start a series of posts (and hopefully receive suggestions) about how to save money in this sport. I will also mention where I think it's NOT worth it to skimp on the price tag. Here Goes.

PART I:
Shaving Money.

Beads, and hooks are expensive. Razorblades are cheap.

Every so often I go through all my flies and re-organize my fly boxes. Usually I come across dozens of poorly tied flies, odd experimental flies, and fish-chewed flies-- the likes of which I will probably never fish. I take these out and put them in a box labeled "cull." Then after the box has 50 or more flies I will get the razorblades out and shave off all the glue, lead, feathers etc to save any quality hook that is unbent and sharp and pretty much all the beads as they are almost never damaged. I salvaged these about a week ago:


This is where I mention something that isn't worth skimping on-- quality hooks (in respect to trout fishing).

This last go-round I used wire cutters and clipped the eyelets off of 20 or so hooks to save time removing the bead because the hooks were cheap. Time on the water is precious and if I'm going to invest the time and materials to tie a fly it's worth it to use a hook that won't let me down. My main nymph go-to's are the TMC 2457, the TMC 3769, and the TMC 2499spbl for a barbless hook. These are stout wired hooks with small barbs, sharp points and wide hook gaps. For streamers I generally use TMC or equivalent hooks-- anything that looks stout and feels "sticky" sharp. Confidence is a precious commodity-- you will catch more fish if you are confident in your fly-- so buy good hooks and if you mess up a tie-- shave it and get it right-- it's worth it. (The only reason I go back to my stash of cheap hooks is when I have a left-field fly idea I want to try.) Just remember that fingers are also a precious commodity when using a double sided razorblade-- notice the band aid? Yep, don't cut towards your own fingers.

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Sunday Snowy Sunday

I'll try to keep words to a minimum this time-- simply stated, I had a magnificent day of fishing last sunday. It was horrendously cold and my guides iced up numerous times. However there was an awesome hatch of #22 baetis underway due to overcast skies. It was very surreal to see a bunch of bugs swarming over the water amidst flurries of snow flakes. The most productive fly was still the prince nymph-- though my bwo nymph in gray and olive put a few fish on-- including the biggest fish of the day. I saw quite a few fish rise and I'm positive you could catch them with super small baetis dries. I covered a lot of water by hopping parking places in my truck and I caught nearly a dozen cutt-bows all in the 17"-20" range (gotta love winter), and one whitefish. Happy fishing all.

Fish of the day--
another fat, colorful 20" cuttbow:

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