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! :)

Alberta Fishing Guide Magazine

Just spent a couple of days with Barry again and this year's Alberta Fishing Guide Magazine is now available at the Canadian Tire Stores in the Calgary - central Alberta - Edmonton areas, as well as the Fishin' Hole Calgary. The fly shops and the southern region will have them starting Monday.

 

Excellent article by Clive regarding Quality stocked fisheries. Like he, Barry, myself, and all the fisheries staff continue to repeat to those who just aren't getting it yet: they are a work in progress and we are further along the path to some great fisheries than the day we began not too long ago.

 

And hope you enjoy the cover. Last year Amelia's photo of a brown was on the cover, this year I was lucky enough to get this photo of a nice brook trout.

 

Cheers!

 

Red Deer R Fisheries Mgt Survey

http://srd.alberta.ca/FishWildlife/FisheriesManagement/RedDeerRiverFisheriesManagementSurvey.aspx

Please take the few minutes to complete the survey regarding the management of the Red Deer River fisheries.

Quietly Into the Night

We return to Alberta tomorrow. We leave New Zealand, with the leaves drying and willows turning yellow at the first signs of the changing season, late Feb eerily similar to late August at home - the warm, dry weather taking its toll on the trees. The rivers are low and warm. The nights only now cooling quite noticeably. The afternoons are calmer but take just a touch longer to warm. The highways are quiet. All is peaceful.

So it was on our last foray into the back country, to explore a new road and a couple of new valleys, mostly for the fun of it and definitely for next year's trip. The salmon are in many waters and the trout are a little more than just put off - they aren't happy their big, distant cousins are in the small habitat, and certainly aren't keen to share a bath tub.

So it was we were driving out from that last jaunt up a remote, lonely valley that we thought of a fish I'd missed on 3 successive rises to my mayfly. I stood above it high on the bank and each time it rose to my mayfly I struck early. The optics from above were starkly different to water level: from above you saw the head pop but you strike too soon often, as the large headed trophies need to turn or return to the water prior to striking. I missed each take back 6 weeks or so, simply pulling the fly out of an open mouth prior to that turn. It was at the end of the 5 weeks of high, muddy, miserable weather and water and that moment more frustrating because of the negative run of conditions.

But on this drive out the water was low, cold, clear. And there was enough time to walk over to the pool and see if it was there. We were close by and it was worth a look. And as we walked over and peered over the bank, the mayflies were popping and my fish was popping like mad.

It was epic. And I got him this go 'round. And it was the greatest moment and memory we'll both take with us from this trip. Me for being so engaged in the fishing, Amelia in the video. And it was epic.

Of Stauffer Cr and a thought to a True Biology opportunity in Alberta

Some thoughts of not just the state of Stauffer Cr, but also an idea to the future of how biology might be able to be performed in Alberta... the following is a posted reply to a thread on the Alberta Outdoorsman forum.

I'm by no means saying this is the way or that I'm 100% right - the idea is the discussion. If you have any thoughts, it would be great to hear them, either as a reply here or at the thread on the forum. This is something I've long wondered why doesn't happen (obvious budget concerns aside).

 

"Don, with full respect to the time you’ve spent on, in, and thinking of the creek, I say the following (and I am typing this from New Zealand with not a lot of time to proof this reply and re-read it to ensure that my thoughts are positive, clear, concise, and that I’m saying not only all that I hope to but not leading your mind the wrong direction... and that much of what I type you know and isn't at you rather, to add to the bigger picture)

I’ll get to this later in this post, but can you tell me what numbers are missing from the following data set?
236; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; 85; ?; ?;? ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; 300; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; 150; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?; ?
I do NOT want to argue the semantics because we are largely on the same page, but until you can prove that there is a problem, there is no problem, scientifically speaking. Gov types simply will not do anything lest there is a need displayed. I would strongly suggest that the data set above, or something very eerily similar, is the actual data set that the gov has for population and population dynamics through the years on Stauffer. AND, any bio worth any salt wouldn’t touch a guess on the true value of the missing numbers in the data set because so many factors, cycles, environmental conditions, etc could see the #s go either to 1000 or 2. The trouble with truly inconsistent data sampling in relation to natural processes is that unless you have consistency, you have NOTHING. I do not see things as dire as you do, but that’s ok. The point is that gov has ultimately done the statistical equivelant of NOTHING when it comes to population observation. That’s where we need to focus, regardless if you & I agree on the here and now. To take a snapshot sampling at random, irrelevant intervals is terrible and actually can be detrimental –> the 1000 trout/km survey could easily have come at a peak recruitment phase of the creek when the population was rebounding thanks to habitat restoration, thus giving false positives and false hope of what the creek actually can carry. Hence, for 27 years after such a # was achieved, statistically, the population has been going downhill. False positives are a horrible thing, made worse when the gov wants to ride the PR horse to show how good a job it’s doing when in fact the stream was simply responding to the band aids, rest, and ice given the chronic injuries it had suffered since homesteading came to central Alberta.

Next - and this is NOTHING personal, not at all about your knowledge or ability, but much of your data has holes so big that you can drive a Mac truck through it. I suspect that you know and can see this. The insect sampling size and anecdotal evidence of fish numbers declining for the ‘past 27 years’ means nothing scientifically (and I think to my own experience and tracking and say the same thing –> we’re anglers who care and our own circumstance can only hold so much water, clout, and pull in the larger picture of things). I know that you know this and addressed it in the desire to have professionals do what you are doing to a level that needs be done in order to determine what is going on, so hair on you for that. And yes, it sucks when we know there is something going on and we only have our own incomplete, lone fencepost on a grassy hill data set to reply upon.

I have to say the title of this thread –> IMHO is untrue and irrational in the bigger picture of things (I know what you mean and your intent to draw attention, so fair enough). Ecosystems are evolutionary, be it a forest or your front lawn, or a stream. Right now it appears that Stauffer has simply had a long, prolonged, repetitive hair cut. So much so that maybe we don’t know what she looks like with long hair anymore. All the facets and factors discussed here have impact, and cumulatively compounded over time take their toll. I relate it strongly to several estuarian river mouths here in NZ. The onslaught of dairy farm conversions here has seen an incredible toxic build up in the estuaries – to the point that the build up of toxic sludge is feet deep in many cases and nearly impossible to get rid of. You can clean up all you want upstream, but it will still take 1000 years for the force of water to wash out the 3 – 5 feet of sludge that has built up and is leeching out, either killing or mutating what life there is. Even at that, where does that sludge go once flushed but to another watershed (ocean). In the case of Stauffer, it is likely in the same predicament. The stream, however, is not dying. It may be enduring a responsive successionary stage that we don’t like because Alberta has become the sacrificial lamb to feed N American energy. Do we know if suckers and pike #s have changed at all? I digress because we know the answer is “I don’t know” from everyone because of the spaggetti to the wall mgt we’ve had in Ab for so long. But, we do need to accept that Alberta, as an engine to N America, is going to suffer environmentally. It is real and all we can do in our generation is attempt to keep a few pieces together until the oil/natural resource lusting ceases.

We need to stop thinking in terms of 20” trout. I’ve caught many 20+” trout in Stauffer through the years and some 24” trout from Stauffer in recent years would be outweighed by an 18” Ram cutthroat. Some streams in central Ab have simply seen their quality of fish dwindle since the flood. We need to start looking at the health of our fish like the QSF program looks at its fish –> snakey Fiesta fish vs MB Parkland trout. How do/can we get there with what we have? Better, given the insults, heavy use, etc, etc –> can we get healthy again? I was shocked at the Red Deer R last spring –> the males all had big heads and skinny tails; the females nothing more than snakey tubes. I’ve caught some skinny 25” browns on Stauffer the past few years that simply would have been more fiesty if they’d been willow branches. Where is the biomass going? Have we reached carrying capacity? Has carrying capacity gone downhill or have other species taken over? We’re asking the same questions, albeit it slightly differently.

Fisheries Mgt in Alberta has been a ‘thrown it against the wall until something sticks’ program since its inception. This is nothing to do with the people in the system as the system itself. There is no consistent stream specific biology occurring, even on the province’s showpiece (Bow). If that isn’t being managed with true biology thanks to budgets (and while the fishing is good the biology is truly suspect with spot/snapshot data sampling and little public involvement, etc), how do we go from there to stream specific biology? We’re still in the Wild West, but I strongly suspect we’re coming to the end of that era. You might not see it, I might/not, but the day is coming where river specific plans with true biology, enforcement, etc are to be done to ensure long term viability of our waters. This is where the merit of European waters management is positive. It will still be a long struggle, however, as the reckless ‘I’ll use whatever I want whenever I want’ attitude prevails along our eastern slopes. The slope to the bottom and the pinching of good trout waters is noticeable. The new wave will likely initially follow the template StreamWatch had –> private anglers and lobby groups coming together to do the gov’s job. Eventually such an entity will brow-beat the gov into either doing its job with proper funding or that entity will become an arm of gov that manages things. The time is likely right for a pilot project whereby private individuals, orgs, groups, etc come together on a (relatively) controlled environment such as Stauffer. Funds to be raised privately and works contracted out; in stream works co-ordinated by a central entity. And consistent, true biology carried out. Most importantly, if I can inject, that if you had an unlimited budget, time, etc, the term I suspect that is needed for what you/I etc would do for the stream is a Watershed Mgt Plan with a subordinate Fisheries Management Plan that carried out this true biology. And subsequently, annual surveys would be performed, enforcement carried out throughout the year, watershed concerns would be addressed and funnelled through the proper channels, etc. Stauffer would be a perfect scenario for this.

Before you come back and say it’s too late or that will take too much time, or how do we set up to do the above... recall that grass, trees, and yes, fish all grow. While we might not like where it’s at now, the only answer that the present gov fisheries mgt system will listen to is to show proof, to study things. So, I say, let’s get an arm reach entity set up and start doing some real biology on a stream in Alberta that combines some of the facets of Streamwatch (enforcement); some of the facets of SW that I wanted but never materialized (public inclusion and angler participation encouraged); annual sampling (angler use by reach, population dynamics, water quality, etc); determination of carrying capacity and biomass calculation; among the other things listed in this thread. To start something like this on Stauffer would be the ultimate legacy to your & Barry’s works through the decades and ensure that – while you aren’t happy with where it is presently – we can get the ecosystem stable in everyone’s mind. And, if we can get such a pilot project off the ground on Stauffer, it could then easily be duplicated to other waters or tighter regional fisheries (south, central, and north cutthroat stream management rather than managing the Torrens with the same brush as Daisy Cr, for example).

Again, while you & I won’t agree on the exact present condition of the creek (I’m moderately concerned, I see you as gravely concerned both for now and the future) that is immaterial in the bigger picture of where things are headed. If we could all come together and do something like the above over the long term, it would honor not only yourself, but every angler in this resource heavy province into the future. I think that the time for something like this is coming soon, if not now. This is essentially how Streamwatch started and something like this might be the next new wave.

Respectfully,

Dave

PS - Amelia just had a good idea that there are uni/college programs that could easily do a lot of this work as a curriculum addition. Given the proximity of Stauffer, it's a perfect hands on stream for the U of A; U of C; NAIT; RDC. And go from there...

This Tar Baby's Got No Rhythm

If you know the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby, you can appreciate that sometimes the harder we swing the worse it can get.
A month prior to flying to New Zealand Amelia & I were doing some hill sprinting in the snow at a golf course back home in Red Deer. We like to try to stay in shape. At the end of the work out, the last hill of course, I felt a blast of pain shoot up my right calf, like a zipper of pain coiling up. I couldn't walk. I tried my best the next  month to walk, but it hurt to do a lot of different motions. When we arrived in New Zealand, the first few weeks were brutal. My right knee doubled in size and the calf was still sore. Whatever I did was not getting much better. I simply couldn't walk the distances we normally do, but I tried. And the knee was simply just there to swing my leg... kind of a jelly feel. Some days were simply hopeless for the pain, others for the numbness and weak feel.

About the time I finally clued in and had the means to do so - I started icing and taking Voltaren (thanks to our friends here who happen to be in the medicine field) Amelia took a nasty tumble while crossing a paddock. She was putting the electric fence back up, turned, and took a step. That step landed in a grass covered hole that had a hidden, old post. All I know is that I turned around to hear her writhing in pain. She was hurt pretty good and the bruise just kept getting sexier to look at over the next week or two.

We fished, we made do, we struggled physically to keep going, but we did. The fishing was ok those first few weeks. Actually quite good but when you are struggling physically, you know you just aren't on top of it all.

AJ got better, the ice and Voltaren started to work a little, and just as we were ready to roll, the weather hit. For a month. Literally 4 weeks of every 18 to 36 hrs a major front of 100 - 600mm. 2 vertical feet of rain in 20 hours is stunning to see the effects of. But this is New Zealand and there is always a place to fish, and we did quite well. But the trip continued to be a Brer. We kept swinging, kept taking a best stab, best jab. Never quite on top of it. The trip was going well, it just didn't have the feel of any rhythm.

It was during a big rain event that we decided to take a couple of days to hike and raft with our friends. And that's when my big break through came. We hiked to a mountain top one day and I had been stretching out my knee, my calf, and trying to get loose. On our way down the mountain I decided to give my knee all it could handle. I ran down the mountain. Literally. And my knee loosened up, big time. It was ironic: I hurt my leg sprinting up hill in the snow at home; my leg instantly felt better running down hill in summer in New Zealand. And it has been pretty much 100% since. Who knew?

We set out for our latest jaunt 3 weeks ago from our friends' place. We left in a heck of a rain storm that turned to a dump of wet snow as we drove across the tops. The rivers were high, muddy. 2 days later, it was 30C and the past 2 - 3 weeks have been an amazing run of weather. The trip that had zero rhythm changed that day. Like any good cutthroat trout stream at home, these New Zealand trout need a good run of fine weather to get going, to get in their rhythm. And in turn, our trip has a solid rhythm to it. So much so that today, a cloudy day (dare we say finally!), we're back at our friends' place. Amelia's baking banana bread, we'll have a jug of coffee, and sometime after lunch we'll head down to the local river to fish a 2km side channel for a soft, 'off' day. Tomorrow is a heavy rain day so we'll finally take a day off the water and maybe do a little more blogging, sharing more shots like these. Of course, if you want to see more photos and are on Facebook, check out our Jensen Fly Fishing Facebook Page.

A Red Deer River Look - Alike

We finally had things line up, so we could get the raft on the water. Its first voyage of 2013 was great. Both Dave and I have been itching to use our boat since we got to the south island, but the weather has dealt us some big blows this year with rains turning many floatable rivers off color and high for extended periods. The last 2 days the stars aligned and gave us blue skies and some decent water conditions to head off and explore a west coast river. It turned out to be a really relaxing float with only a few spots to drive hard with the paddles, although we welcomed the new exercise.One of the highlights was watching our friend Serge get a smash of a take on top for the first time pounding cicadas from the front of the raft as Dave and I lined him up on banks to fish the edges. Another highlight was beaching the raft on the side of the river and exploring feeder streams and spring creeks that join the river - waters that you wouldn't otherwise be able to fish due to access. The main river we chose to raft  reminded us so much of our home water, the Red Deer river. For those of you familiar with the Red Deer, you'll see what I mean. Same banks (full of left over logs and beaten down bushes after high water), same long glides, some similar sized fish and even a few poplar stands on the side of the river to boot! Pretty neat to feel so at home in so many ways here.