Sometimes

Sometimes you get lucky.

As we mentioned in the last post, we found a new bit of water that had really been worked over. We persevered and made it up several km of water to where tracks faded. Then, we walked up to a nice pool on this 8 yd wide stream. In the tail out, in 6 - 8 in of water this fish is holding. It looked much smaller in the water. It swam freely as it fed, left to right. Funny, the cast was so bad it deserved to spook the fish, but sometimes you get lucky. The fish swam over and walloped the dry fly. The realization of its size came when it came time to try to net it. It just wouldn`t turn to come to the net. Not a bad way to land a 9lb brown.

Kia Ora

We are officially in New Zealand! The flight was great. We left Calgary, flew in to Vancouver, literally walked across to International and stepped onto our flight to Auckland. We flew all night, landed in Auckland at 6:30, walked upstairs and down, and stepped onto a bus taking us to an awaiting jet to Christchurch, arriving at 8:15 am. Nothing like leaving the afternoon of one day and arriving 1/2 way around the world with easy connections the next morning! In case we needed a reminder why we chose to travel to NZ for the winter months, we arrived to this kind of weather by 10:30 am.

We'll keep this update short. AJ checks in with a few trout. This one was sitting in a nice little seam on what was our favorite stream. It was feeding freely on nymphs and it took the dropper.

This 7.5lb brown was hugging the bank, sipping caddis and mayflies. The back cast was hindered by that willow, but a good drift took the fish. Once hooked, this fish went 70 yards upstream, jumping several times. HOT!

Another trout taken by an emerging mayfly along a good out turn on the river.

A frustrating moment as AJ did a good side arm cast. The back cast was a mat of overhanging willows and the fish was feeding under the upstream overhanging willows. Tough on both ends. The second drift through, however, the cast got perfectly into the seam, the trout rose to take the nymph. The dry went down but the hook set saw the rod smack the willow behind her. The fish shook its head and no hook set. Bugger as it was a great bit of video.

AJ checks in with a heavy fish, just at the 8lb mark. We stumbled into this reach of water after having seen it briefly last year. We decided to make a go of it and struggled most of the day as there were multiple sets of fresh tracks and a well defined trail of tracks from the season all the way up this tiny water. But, we pushed up many km and found a few fish that weren`t so picky. We saw a nice trout holding against a white rock against the far bank. AJ stepped up and first cast this came to the dry. A good bit of video with this one. It was interesting as, having just let the fish go, we were again waling upstream when we looked back to the same white rock it held on. There was another trout feeding freely. It was a much darker fish and not the same. Dave`s turn. The first cast a good take on the dry but the fly set was quick. Two casts later the fish took again and a 6.5 lb brown landed. 14.5 lbs of brown from one rock in a foot of water. Sometimes you get lucky.

Wild Rivers NZ

I don't often post too much political/issue posts here because this is a fly fishing blog, meant to be light hearted and fun as much as possible. I post the link to the recently launched Wild Rivers NZ website, to further the awareness of threats to wild trout rivers in other areas of the world, and what lobbying styles/tactics are being used:
http://wildrivers.org.nz/

Of mice and men

A short time to go, and the tying got serious recently. It's a mouse year in New Zealand and the word is that the fish are fat, healthy, and will give a ride to the rod. It's funny, reading the hype of beech mast years in New Zealand, how the trees give rise to masses of rodents in beech forests, there's a certain level of skepticism in my head. Sure, the entire ecosystem in the beech forests are heavy with nutrient right now, but how many fish are actually eating mice voraciously? Part of me wonders if a few foreign writers hit the waters looking for one fish here or there that will engulf a mouse pattern, and then write a long tale of the moment. Not every writer will tell the whole tale, leaving dangling bits out of the story that would actually tell the whole tale.

I do suppose that in a short time we'll find out about this New Zealand mouse year thing. Will we find fish for the 2 dozen mice patterns I tied this morning? Of course, our entire 2 1/2 month trip won't be spent in beech forests, but many of our favorite waters are. We'll cast at different times of the day and night just to be sure fish want these furry beasts. The excitement of the prospects of fat trout are making the next week a tantalizing wait. Just a little longer...

Orvis Catalog Cover Contest

Get your best photo ready, Orvis is opening the contest to everyone with a camera and fly rod. Amateurs, pros, or anyone in between is invited to enter the cover photo contest and win $1000 worth of gear or a Helios rod outfit. Worth the submission!
http://orvis.com/fishphoto

How to hook fish on tiny flies

A great article by Phil Monahan in the MidCurrent

"Question: How can I better set the hook when fishing size 20 and smaller hooks? I have such a hard time getting small hooks into fish—even small fish, especially when swinging emergers. I get frustrated feeling the tug, only to set the hook and pull the fly right out of the fish's mouth.

Joshua B., Belgrade, MT

Answer: THIS IS a very common problem, and I threw the question out to some guide friends who regularly fish with tiny patterns.

Jackson Hole-based guide, tier, and author Scott Sanchez notes that Joshua is facing more than one problem:

“There sound like two issues: Small hooks and swinging flies. Swinging soft hackles and wet flies is deadly, especially on fish that are feeding on caddisflies. Unfortunately, you will always get some strikes without a hook up. I think fish are following the swing and hit the fly, pushing at the hook bend and not the point. The point is away from them, and the fly is moving the same direction as the fish.

On small hooks, the hook-up rates goes down exponentially with size. The solution is to use hooks with bigger gaps. A Dai-Riki 125 or TMC 2488 are big-gap emerger hooks, and you can tie a size 20 fly on a size 18 hook. Tie the flies sparse, so that the body doesn't block the hook gap. Beadheads can block the hook gap on small flies, as well. Use a bigger gap hook or a longer shank hook, to keep the hook point available.”

Brant Oswald—a Livingston, Montana, guide best known for his mastery of the Paradise Valley spring creeks—addressed Joshua’s question so fully that I won’t even try to paraphrase him. This is brilliant stuff:

“As I guide, I find that teaching people how to hook fish more effectively makes a big difference in the number of fish landed. Even experienced anglers who are well above average in overall skills have rarely thought much about this part of the game. Somehow, when clients measure up their success at the end of the day, they tend to forget the fish they missed or lost right after the hookup. I feel I have done the lion's share of my job when I put a client in position to get the fish to eat the fly, but I won't get credit for any help until the fish is in the net..."

Click below to read the rest of the article by Phil: http://www.midcurrent.com/flyfishing/tinyhooks.aspx

This is Fly

Another issue of This is Fly is out. Check out the link below. Page 73 has one classic video, and I mean classic. Great to see the old footage. Page 103 has a good permit video too, pretty good stuff. And if you are young enough to ogle over April Vokey, she dispells the stripper rumors, reveals that she does have a boyfirend, and can patch a raft.
http://www.thisisfly.com/

Manitoba Rainbow

This fine rainbow is sent to us by a Fortress Lake guest and Manitoba fly fisher Andrew, who has been fishing the Parkland region's lakes extensively the past few years and watched many of the lakes develop astounding trout. This fine rainbow came out of a lake in its 4th season of growth.

If you haven't had a chance to check the area out, the SW corner of Manitoba offers something nowhere else in N America can - a vast variety of lakes with hellaciously large trout. The best part is that it really isn't too far to travel for lake fishing for incredible rainbows, tigers, browns.

Latest Issue of Catch Magazine

Looks good as always:
http://www.catchmagazine.net/