Solo: Part 2

Solo: Part 1

My first fish of 2015 was stunning... 

~ "My absolute best days are when I see many fish and none take.. ..That is fascinating, for that means I have much more to learn… I really like that." - Göran Andersson, A Drift Inside

As a hopeless addict and guide, fly fishing never leaves my mind. My time off the water is spent pondering topics such as fly presentation, speed of the swing, and how flies are affected by subsurface currents and different ways to correct for it. You know, the usual stuff… This season I decided to experiment with my confidence fly, with the variable being color. I enjoy designing these experiments. It makes paying my student loans easier knowing that I’m getting my money’s worth. HA! Long story short, I designed an experiment that includes multiple unknown variables that will still yield conclusive results. It was easy, but it took many years on the river to be able to do this. The key was eliminating the unknown variables with the knowledge that I personally gained over the years. Sometimes I think I should have gone to grad school…  

A Steelhead Gathering

Got chrome?

A steelhead gathering was conceived in the Fall to spend a few days fishing with some friends whom I have not fished with in quite sometime. Ben had just switched jobs and didn't have to work a weekend for the first time in my living memory. My other buddy Dan moved to Miami last year to take up a job with the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust and never got to truly use his first two hander for steelhead. Another friend Eric, fished with us last year with a single hand rod and left the river wondering "what if". Upon realizing he could come on this trip, he immediately dropped a $1,000 on a brand new spey rod, reel, and line. Joined by two new converts and Ben it was a swing or go home type of time...

The Fish of 2014

Stripers...

2014 was another fine year for TRIW and our friends. A lot of nice fish were caught and some of them were downright beautiful. The year brought big time stripers with Tyler Nonn of Tidewater Charters, cobia with Kyle Sawyer and Ben Sheppard, tigerfish on the Zambezi, and Adam's first year guiding in Alaska. I held down the home front with the typical trout, carp, steelhead routine. If you happened to fish with us this past year, thanks for all the memories and cheers to 2015!

Enjoy...

Players

Colors of GL steel...

With the thought of several fishless days on my mind, I eagerly anticipated a day when everything would come together. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long because of an extended weekend. Adam had a few days off from guiding and we were able to reconvene for our first steelhead action together in almost a year. The last time we swung the river together, it produced one of our best days of fishing. This particular trip did not disappoint and we were able to find quite a few willing participants...

The Stinger Missile Fly

Steel on the stinger missile...

During a winter storm in 2009, I concocted a fly for one of my first sessions ever swinging for steelhead. It is heavily influenced by John Barr's Slumpbuster, but is much larger and has a few key differences. At the time, I was learning on a switch rod with a 510 Airflo Skagit Compact and I was tying and throwing some seriously heavy stuff. Needless to say, it was not pretty. On a late November outing, Adam and I did really well for ourselves. My fly was able to pick up my first ever fish on a legit two hander setup. The brown pictured below crushed it in a very fast section of water and I was hooked. The fly became my "go to" pattern for the next few years as I learned the ways of the skagit. I started calling it the "stinger missile," and it accounted for most of the steelhead from the Salmon River in my early days of swinging flies. 

The fly needs to be fished with a heavier skagit setup with proper technique because of the weight of the cone head and how waterlogged the rabbit gets. The larger the fly is, the slower it will sink because of the rabbit strip. You can also decrease the speed with which the fly sinks by using a magnum bunny strip for the tail or bunny bou for the body. This will increase buoyancy. Using a regular rabbit strip and crosscut, the fly will sink like a rock. Therefore, it needs to be fished in deeper pools and fast pocket water. I prefer to fish it broadside with some speed. The profile entices some vicious strikes to aggressive fish.

Good luck.

Money in the Bank

A Mid-November Winter Wonderland

A planned retreat brought my girlfriend and I to the shores of Lake Ontario. We met up with some friends to stay at a lakehouse and fish the Salmon River for a few days. Faced with the first lake effect snows and plunging polar temperatures we had our work cut out for us, but our trials and tribulations were money in the bank for future steelhead trips…

Lifeline

First of the season...

Super high expectations always tend to be quickly disappointing. Such was the case with the beginning of my steelhead season. The steelhead gods were not too kind to me and they made me wait and truly work for my first fish this Fall...

Getting into the Swing of Things...

Amped would be an understatement. Winter and my last swings for lake run salmonids seemed like a distant memory but the thought of hooking into a chrome steelhead fueled a few weeks worth of anticipation and the straight five hour drive north. The icing on the cake was easily the autumnal peak that surrounded us around every inch of river...

Rhea Steelhead Muddler

For steel...

Over the years, the flies in my steelhead arsenal have gotten progressively smaller and I fish them in the middle to upper column. For the Salmon River, I've settled on flies in the 2-3 inch range as my preferred size because thats where I've had the most success. With that in mind, I am always tinkering at the vice with new patterns. This is one I am confident will produce this fall and winter. A little twist on a classic I'll call the Rhea Steelhead Muddler...

Long Overdue, Winter Part 2

For the first half of Winter I primarily fished the upper river. After awhile the crowds and drift boats became a bit too much. I spent the latter half of the season in peace and quite covering the lower river in search of willing participants.

This was probably my most enjoyable time on the river. Long periods of casting interrupted by violent grabs followed by ridiculous laughter on my part to be witnessed by no one but myself.

Good times were had...

Ice, Snow, and Steel

After a personally disappointing Fall Season on the river the steelhead gods began to show me some sympathy. My winter season proved to be one that I’ll never soon forget. As the flows began to stabilize so did I. I spent some of my time on a stretch of river that I'm quite familiar with, it’s only drawback is that 10,000 other anglers are too. Swinging flies in a combat scenario can be unnerving at times, but the reward is there for the taking if you keep your head in the game.

Winter Jaunt

A solo mission north for two days of swinging flies was met with unseasonably warm temperatures. With freedom from ice in the guides, I took advantage and fished a skagit line for a little more fun casting and some much needed practice. I kept the tips on the lighter side and flies in the 2-3 inch range hoping to entice a fresh winter chromer into taking a fly. In the shallower sections, I switched it up to a scandi and went with a mono leader and a small wet fly. The lower temps resulted in a few periods of snow intermixed with sleet and freezing rain. It had been awhile since I fished gloveless on a steelhead river, so I enjoyed the two "warm" days…

Fall In Full Swing

As I sit and write this it’s currently January 27th. It just so happens to be one of three weekends I went without swinging flies on the Salmon River since the last week of August. The only reason I’m not there is because Mark had persuaded me to attend the show in Somerset NJ. Between a full-time job and swinging flies from sunrise to sunset two days a week I rarely get to open a computer.

Back in August through the first two weeks of October I fished for Kings on the DSR. In my time spent there I befriended a season pass holder who also believed in “swinging or going home”. The last weekend I fished the DSR there were steelhead pouring in from the estuary and we stepped down a few runs together, both of us were rewarded.

The Fish of 2013

2013 was another great year for my friends, family, and I. As 2014 begins, enjoy this photo montage of the best moments we had on the water catching a wide variety of freshwater fish...

A Confidence Day

Outside of one day swinging for king salmon in early September, I didn't get to fish with one of my best friends. Different work schedules have a way of making that happen and so we fished individually for a few months. Those few months were filled with a complete void of pictures from the photographer in the pair, and a lot of selfies for Adam, who was able to spend more time than ever walking the snow covered banks of the Salmon River swinging for steel. In late December, the stars aligned and we had the river mostly to ourselves. It ended up being quite the day, as several new variables in our approach produced one of the best days we've had in quite some time. 

Los Quatros Amigos

Three buddies and I traveled north to Pulaski for some true winter steelheading in typical Great Lakes conditions. The temperature was low and over the course of two days, it rarely stopped snowing. Each morning we awoke to 6-8 inches of snow that added onto the few inches received throughout the day. The temperature and wind resulted in frozen reels, lines, and flies, but we overcame that to have a successful trip. For my three buddies, it was their first time on the Salmon River chasing steelhead and they were able to experience some scenic conditions. Two of us focused on indicator fishing, while the other two swung flies. Both methods worked and we were able to get into a few slabs in the midst of a snow covered landscape.

A Big Fish Tale

In 2008, I made my first fly fishing trip to the Great Lakes tributaries to target steelhead. I began with 7 hour trips to Erie and later branched out to the equally far Western Ontario tributaries near Oak Orchard. When I finally fished the larger water of the Salmon River, I knew that it offered a lot and was close enough for multiple trips. As the years progressed, the number of excursions began to increase into the high single digits. My fishing techniques began to vary as I branched out with switch rods and later spey rods. In the past two years, I haven't fished any other water besides the Salmon, and almost exclusively swing flies or go home. Fueling my inspiration and sleep deprived ventures, was the thought of catching the "one," a large steelhead of my dreams, which can be hard to come by in the non-native hatchery stocks of the Great Lakes.

Single Digits

As the alarm sounded and we began to wake up from our two day fishing comas, we quickly realized that it was a little different outside. Arriving from Canada was a cold front that erased the 30-50 mph winds and snow from the day before and replaced it with single digits. In addition, the river was raging around 1300 cfs. We decided to head back to bed for a few hours. 

When we arrived the lower fly zone parking was pretty desolate save for a few locals gearing up. Not one to drive away from a prime location, we decided to give it a try before heading home. For a few hours we had solid action on the inside seem at the head of cemetery pool. With the high water, the seem was a little swirly but an experienced mender of line can get a long dead drift if he plays his cards right. 

One of the reasons we decided to spend the third day on the river was to get Dan and Ben their first steelhead on fly. Dan knocked the door down halfway through our morning session with a nice fish. This occurred after losing several. It's always interesting watching the steelhead win those first few encounters. It takes me back several years when I was experiencing the same things. I had flashbacks whenever Dan and Ben would lose a nice fish downstream, on a jump, or simply from applying too little or too much pressure. I hated whenever I lost one, but it happens. You just can't land them all. As we left the river, Dan was super pumped. Meanwhile Ben was less than pleased. Considering the circumstances, I could only offer sympathy and the hope that the next time he hooks up, it will be his time. 

Meanwhile, we overstayed our welcome fishing well into a system of lake effect snow. The snow left I-81 south looking more like an ice skating rink full of spun out cars, trucks, and fender benders. It was the longest drive home from the SR I could remember. Good job driving Ben. Surely the steelhead gods will be in your favor next time. 

The Hunt for Winter Steel

For various reasons and excuses I've fished more on the tributaries this Winter than I did in the Fall. After putting in some extended time, I have come to enjoy the experience more. There are less people, everything is usually covered in snow, and the fish are still willing. The big variable in the equation is the weather, but every now and then, windows of opportunity present themselves.

A few friends of mine decided that they wanted to experience some winter steelhead fishing on the fly. We settled on an extended weekend and before I knew it, I was a passenger on someone else's planned fishing trip. I can't say that very often and I didn't even have to drive (thanks Ben). I even got to sleep for an hour on the ride up. On the downside, my tributary routines that had been honed and established over the past five years were challenged, but I excepted that fact and rolled with it.

On day one, we fished unfamiliar water between some familiar sections of real estate. With the temperature reaching into the high 30s, we had high expectations for some increased activity. It ended up being our least productive day. While Ben and Dan actively nymphed the runs and pools, I split my time evenly between indicator nymphing and throwing a skagit line and a medium sized intruder in brown. After day one, we all hooked up with nothing to show for our hard effort.

On day two, we experienced a hellish day on the water. Temperatures in the mid-20s with snow showers and 30-40 mph winds, gusting to 50. In other words, it was really cold. Despite this, we were able to find a few fish in some overlooked nooks and crannies in the lower fly zone. If you can even call them "overlooked".

That night, Dan and I were content and wanted to head home. A cold front was moving in and the temperatures were dropping into the single digits. Ben wanted to stay so we did. We headed back to the Mike's Mid-river Motel, and tied a new set of eggs for the next morning. Ben's decision to stay and freeze ended up being a wise one.