Mustad C49, Superfly HKP... and other hooky thoughts

I started out on the cheap in fly fishing. When you start fly tying and fishing at age 5, you take what you are given. You get a newspaper route (do they still have those?) and buy stuff at the Fishin' Hole in Edmonton, Christmas and birthdays and grade 4 report cards add to your tying collection. You do the best you can in your blissful ignorance. Having stuff is great, and you do with what you can afford. My uncle taught me enough about fly fishing to make me obsessed - actually I was born obsessive, he just directed my OC nature.

I've always used Mustad hooks. I loved the little cardboard boxes with wax paper wrappings and was sad when they went to the plastic clam shell packaging: it weakened the imagery. But I've never had issue with Mustad. Sure, I've read some on the internet go on about how poor quality the hooks are, etc. I always wondered why I'd never lost a fish to a bad Mustad hook but a few people are so anti the brand. Forward many years of fishing. I've broken points off some hooks in canyon/gorge settings. You can't always miss the rock walls behind you. That was never a big deal. The old, standard hooks always served me well. Through my teenage years, I got into tying small stonefly patterns on the fine wire, extended shank dry fly hooks. They worked well, floated, added thorax length to my patterns. I still enjoy the patterns and they hold up for 6 to 16" cutts in open situations, no issue.

It wasn't until 3 years ago on our third trip to New Zealand that I ever had any kind of issue. We'd started to tie more exclusively on Mustad C49 hooks, thanks to chironomid fishing influence up at Fortress Lake Retreat, with some brookies to 7 or 8 pounds landed on the hooks. They are great little hooks that offer a lifelike curve to chironomid patterns. I began to tie my stream nymphs on the hooks and really have loved the appearance of the patterns, and the and performance on our home waters with cutts and browns that tended to be less than 4 pounds (24") has been satisfactory. It got to the point all of our nymphs were being tied on C49s, but we'd not used them on larger river fish, and not yet in New Zealand.

So, what happened on our third trip to New Zealand? It was a mouse year. Imagine your local waters and taking the fattest trout in the river and doubling its weight, the fin muscles Popeye-ing in strength. It was my first NZ mouse year brown of 8 lbs that opened my eyes. The fish didn't do anything special. It jumped and ran in an open river situation. I was well into my backing a few times in the heavy current. You simply don't just reel large fish in when in heavy water. By the time the fish was to hand, the hook was bent out completely. Garbage. Fair enough, I'd given it a work out, I thought. But what I didn't know at the time was that trip was to become a one and done exercise. After every single fish, the C49 was completely bent out.
Every fish.
It got to the point on that trip that I'd hook up a 4 lb spring creek brown and do the usual fight, and either lose the fish for a bent out hook or land it and have to tie on a new fly. Of course we stopped using those patterns on fish that we really wanted.

It was the first time that we'd ever had any issue with Mustad. We haven't stopped using Mustad. No, we still love it, maybe because of habit, maybe because there is no need to change something that works for you. We're happy with Mustad in every other situation, likely always will be. I can only say good things about every other Mustad experience. Those C49s are great chironomid hooks and never failed us fishing lakes. But on bigger fish in moving water, I wouldn't use it again. I wouldn't risk the time and $ of a trip to New Zealand on that hook.

Now, forward to this year's trip to New Zealand. Obviously no C49s were on board. But, we took a flier on Superfly HKP hooks. Same idea, short shank, curved hook. Just Superfly's in house brand. The result was probably 50% better. Not perfect, but encroaching very reliable. There were some flies that lasted 1/2 doz fish, some that lasted not one, and some that went 3 days of fishing - it's all so subjective, from scenario to scenario, person to person, etc. When I hooked into one 7 1/2 lb brown from a spring creek on one particularly tough day of fishing toward the end of our trip, as I set the hook I said an "ah, shit" to myself, remembering instantly that I had a #18 curved hook nymph below my caddis. Being the first fish any of the 3 of us had hooked into that day I had to fight it less aggressively and be ginger-gentle as it came to net. It was the lingering negativity of our Mustad experience that had me so cautious. We got it, but when you have to adjust your fishing due to hook psychology, you wonder why you did that to yourself to begin with. But, the Superfly hook performed admirably.

If I was to give Mustad C49 an F for large fish in heavy water and a C for stream nymphs on other sized trout, and as close to an A for lake fish on chironomids... I'd give the Superfly HKPs a C+ for big fish in moving water and a B+ otherwise. But that's with the caveat that our/my top end is 12 - 14 river browns. No report on the Superfly hooks on lakes yet. That's just my/our experience.

My friend Nick recently wrote a blog post about hooks in his 8 cents a fly. Make sure you read his blog The Drag Free Drift, it's a great site. We've had the same discussion previously. Why cheap out on hooks? Now, I'm obviously not as strong in my views of that discussion, however, there are times to look at what we're doing. For us, for me, I'll always be a Mustad tier. But, I'd encourage you to look around at some of the reviews of various hooks and various hooks for the fishing scenario you plan to or could be exposed to. Most of the known brands will work well. To take a flier on an unknown? Not always a great idea. Again, for 8 cents...

Now, back to that #1 rule of the internet: to express an opinion, view, perspective, or experience is to invite one back! :)

Top 15 Canadian Moments 2012 - #1 - Floating through Heaven

When you have a vision, a dream, it is vivid.

Dreaming in Technicolor... hadn't heard that one for a while.

What about living in Technicolor?

If you are lucky, your vision, your dreams, and your life... they once in a while meld together a moment.

Or a day.

And blow you away.

Our last day of the Fortress Lake Retreat season this year... magical. We closed up and waited for the plane. Not a cloud. Not a breath of wind. Not a worry. Everything went smoothly. After our 7th season, with the hiccups, hurdles, the big recession, the reconstruction, the learning lessons, the completion of the 2011 season had us in a place of knowing our business fully - who to allow involvement, what it takes exactly, what we are, what the facility is about... all those key identifiers in a business. It took some time to mature to this place, and that last day truly reflected everything and offered perspective. A wonderful thing. The interactions have rounded some sharp edges off us as well. By no coincidence, through it all, we've grown.

After catching a few more brook trout to end the season, it was time for the flight home. Simply... 50 minutes of floating like a cotton-ball cloud in a land of giants. Every one of the tallest peaks in the Canadian Rockies stood tall against the blue skies. It was awesome.

 

Top Canadian Moments 2012 - #4 - Ice Age

Every fishing season brings something new. If you fish a water regularly or are a keen observer in fishing it only once or twice a year, you'll notice little things change. Sometimes they are big things. I recall logs moving, new log jams forming, the massive amounts of gravel moved after the 2005 flood on the Red Deer, new channels open, islands form, or subtle things like an undercut that forms after high water. Lots of little or major things can change in a river.

You don't think much changes in a lake that doesn't have a big inflowing water. Sure, some trees can fall in, or dead heads can move around, but, really, it's status-quo.

Every year at Fortress Lake, we arrive and the same sequence of hatches occur. We're very thankful for the opportunity to own & operate the Fortress Lake Retreat, especially in years like 2012 where Alberta rivers were in high, generally unfishable condition for much of the prime summer months. Fortress Lake has some excellent chironomid hatches about the time high water kicks in back home.

Add the above, and it's consistent. Reliable. Gorgeous. Somewhat static but in a valley that compares to any other valley for beauty, even after 7 years of owning the Retreat, you can't help but see something different at every turn, be it time of day, angle on the lake or to the lake from a hiking vantage. There's always something different to see in a manner you hadn't.

This year, upon arrival, the differences were pretty obvious. It had clearly been a heavy avalanche year before we arrived. Along the two rock faces that come to the lake (well away from our location - we're more than safe where we are), massive avalanches had come right to the lake. In fact, one such avy covered the outlet in about 30 feet of ice and snow. The Wood R cut its way through the avalanche, but it was a winter wonderland as we drove through the ice slice, then got out to walk about the top of the avy pile. It was one of the coolest things we've experienced.

 

To go along with that pile, new avalanche chutes had come into the lake, dropping piles of trees (3 foot diameter) into the lake. New, great structure (not that the lake isn't full of wood!). It was awesome to see the sizes of trees simply snapped like twigs and either pushed aside or dumped into the lake.

To go along with all the above, it was one of the most impressive years for avalanches coming off the two shaded peaks to the south of the Retreat. Off Chisel and Sadlier peaks, avalanches rumbled and roared down the cliffs and into the spruce forests. June was perpetually alive with avalanche viewing.

And if that weren't enough, the spin-off of the cool weather, this little ice-age effect, the hummingbirds were amazing! It took time for the vegetation to get going. So, for the month of June, the hummingbird feeders were electric.

While not any one specific moment, the entire series of scenes and moments of Fortress Lake this June were spectacular. Add in the amazing chironommid hatches and a stunning rainbow event, and it was stunning. Here's a couple of videos from this June.

Sight Fishing Fortress Lake

You might have heard me / us talk about sight fishing Fortress Lake's brook trout. We finally put a short video of it together for you. Forming the basis of an upcoming sight fishing lakes dvd, this video shows how successful an angler can be at given times of the year sight fishing Fortress Lake. You need a boat to sight fish - which thankfully guests at our Fortress Lake Retreat get to use. :) See the video at the top right of the blog.
http://www.fortresslake.com/

The Wonders of Winter at Fortress Lake

It's hard to believe that it's mid March and the mounds of snow outside our front door are still 6 ft tall and the temps are ever so slowly getting closer to average for this time of year. Winter seems to have stayed on longer this year and despite most of us wanting to see it melt, the snow itself has brought some beauty with it. A few weeks ago, we headed into Fortress to do our annual winter trip to shovel snow off the roofs of our cabins and Yurts to keep them safe and secure.The day we went was cold. The temperature was -32 to start our day and it only got up to a balmy -26 as a high. It was cold, but the sun was shining and the wind stayed away for most of our day, which made it bearable.
It was the flight in and the flight back that made this day so memorable. We left from the Springbank airport this year in our friends Cessna 185, and proceeded to fly west towards the Rockies. The path our pilot, Steve took was incredible. The mountains were looking the most dramatic I've ever seen them in the winter. Over the course of the day we must have flown over 80% of the tallest peaks in our Canadian Rockies and some of the largest glaciers in the parks. Some of these mountains seem like old friends, for the number of times I have either driven past, seen them from the air or hiked them. To see them so heavily layden with snow and to get the birds eye view above them on such a winter day was  a treat for the eyes. Mt. Columbia,Clemenceau, Tusk, Assiniboine, Storm, Alberta, McCarthur, Temple, etc. Many of you who have spent time in the Rockies will be familar with many of them. Seeing Storm Mountain Lodge from the air bought back some old memories from the summers back in my 20's when I used to waitress there. The other neat memory came when our pilot few us past Abbots Hut, which is highest mountain hut in our Rockies.
We arrived at Fortress to find a fairly typical snow load on the cabins, so our shovelling efforts went smoothly, which gave us some extra daylight hours and time to sitesee from the air. Steve, our pilot was keen to fly over the Clemenceau Icefield and a few of the other major glaciers that hang in that same general area, and make his way to Golden to fuel up before heading back to Calgary. Turns out, this little side trip involved a stop on a glacier at about 10,000 ft. Amazing stuff. The video tells the story well of our day. More fun with our fish eye lens.

Siding

A neat photo of the side of a small, 3 pound male brookie swirling in the deep blue water of Fortress Lake, as it's netted. Amelia landed this spectacularly coloured brookie last week. The brookies spawn later in October at Fortress, into November. The colors begin developing sometime early August and continue to develop and heighten through the spawn. Some wonderful colors are dsiplayed.



To the net!

An incredible day of fishing at Fortress Lake culminated in a wonderful moment for our guests. A brilliant, sunny day with no wind and not even a wisp of a cirrus and the sight fishing was epic. The fish were glowing in the crisp, clear water. Of the two following shots, I'm not sure which I like better, each for different reasons. The last shot shows just how crisp a day we had and how marvelous the weather, and a happy fellow gets in touch with his beauty!

Stewie Little checks in again

It's a lot of fun to watch. But it doesn't happen until the sun goes down.

A rod is readied...

Little furry critters soon to meet their doom...

A great moment as a different kind of splat & twitch presentation happens.

If we could only keep the mice out of the cornflakes...

this one seemed to love the muffins.

Doctor Stewie Little checks in.

Oral inspection time.

Rear molar #2 needs a filling.

Mousing

Recent hot summer nights at Fortress Lake have probably brought some of the most enjoyable moments of fishing I've had yet. We've had the odd brook trout caught at Fortress on a mouse pattern over the years, but nothing quite like our  recent experience. Our guide Dustin, myself and our guest decided to cruise the lake that holds a large number of good brook trout along woody structure. The sun was setting and the lake was glass calm. Our night began with some great success on an elk hair caddis pattern as the fish were rising steadily in a particular spot. We could sight cast to them and watch as these dark figures appeared from the glacial blue waters to engulf our flies. Hardly enjoyable :)

The thing to keep in mind when reading this post is that dry fly action at Fortress Lake is random at best throughout the early season. The brookies will come up from time to time (water conditions dependent) for a variety of different food sources on top, but knowing exactly where to put one's fly without a consistent rise within in a castable area is very tough. Even with a ton of patience, you can wait for hours without anything happening - that is - until this time of the year.
Our guest, Mike had brought a couple mice patterns with him for his trip and was eager to try. He insisted we all take turns with the rod, so Dustin and I had no problems agreeing to his request. The caster would get a good cast, while the other 2 would watch intently as the mouse was twitched along the top of the dark, silvery shadows of the lake, leaving a rather large wake in behind it. The first good smack at the fly brought on the biggest uproar of excitement from us all as it manged to be only a few feet off the log, and well within our limited viewing. This fish got off, but we all proceeded to hook one and land it that night.The anticipation of the rise out of the approaching darkness and the explosive takes in the stillness of the warm night was amazing. It's hard to beat the feeling of a large brook trout taking your mouse pattern on the surface when you are situated in the midst of the remote Canadian Rockies. As it turns out, Mike ended up catching the biggest trout of his life on a dry fly at Fortress Lake, so I'm pretty sure Mike went back to Ontario a happy man.

Flight Time

It seems every flight we take through the mountains reveals a different scene. Last night's flight out was magic. Fortress Lake, fresh from ice out, went completely still as the sun set, mountains glowing. I did something a little different, getting AJ to sit up front so I could video tape the take off from a different vantage. It didn't work out as well as I hoped but the film shows well of different aspects. As we flew home the light continued to amaze, coupled with a snowsquall near Roche Miette that provided both a halo rainbow below us and wonderous reveals of the peak itself. As we neared the landing on the outside world, the sun wrapped along the spruce and aspen laded foothills, low enough angle to cause dark understory, yet wrapped in the canopy enough to glow the early spring leaves. As always, the flight provided moments not experienced previously. After 13 years of flying through the mountains as a fly fishing guide and 5 years prior that with the Alberta and BC Forest Services, there is always something else to see, observe, and enjoy.