Tips and Tricks for Traveling Fun

John Garrett: Traveling Fun

Traveling Fun

One could certainly wax poetic and become mired in philosophy while trying to channel your inner Norman in order to understand this obsession with fly fishing. But at the core,fly fishing is so much damn fun. And we spend thousands of dollars for travel fly fishing because it’s really really fun. Last month, I covered what to pack to remedy our medical woes when abroad, and this month, I’d like to suggest tips, tricks and gadgets to maximize the fun aside from the fishing aspects.

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Find the rest of this story and future articles in our Travel section at Gorge Fly Shop.

Trout Streamer Tactics: Slow and Low

One of the nicest brown trout I ever hooked on the Madison River in Montana came while I was trying to untangle my line from around my feet. We were drifting down a stretch of water that I had fished numerous times over the years upstream from the town of Ennis. I was casting out the back of the boat when I realized my line was coiled around my legs and somehow hooked on damn near everything else. It was a real birds nest back there so it took a long time to pull myself back together and bring my attention back to the sculpin that had been lazily trolling along behind the stern. Feeling a snag, I thought, Dang that figures, I hooked a rock. Serves me right.

We were still drifting downstream but the line seemed to be leaving the reel faster than the rate that we were moving. In fact, a lot faster. I’ll never forget that fish, but perhaps the reason for that is not the fish, but because I learned a monumental lesson that day. The irony is strong here, for as I was struggling to get back to fishing how I thought I should be fishing, the fly was fishing exactly how it should have been fishing. Looking back, I don’t think I could have found a brighter silver lining tangled up in that web of frustration.

One Guide Tip to Reign Them All

Slow down, you movin' too fast You gotta make the MORNING last Just kickin' down the cobblestones Lookin' for fun and Feelin' groovy.  -Paul Simon

Originally this article was going to list my top 5 guide tips. The plan was for a distillation of wisdom that I have received from fly fishing guides the world over. After all, this is the time of year that our existence seems to be whittled down to a parade of top ten lists so we can reflect on the year gone by. I've been keeping a list of tips on my smarter-than-me phone to help determine the finalists. But the basic tenet of each tip seemed to hinge on one core philosophy, SLOW DOWN!

Cheers

Steelhead Flies - Which Fly is Best?

Does fly choice really matter for Steelhead? Will one particular pattern hook more fish than another – granted that both patterns are tied in an enticing manner? Hard to say… What never happens is the chance to fish a piece of water twice, at exactly the same time, with precisely the same presentation, but with 2 different flies. It’s just not in the realm of possibility. So we can only offer up insight about what flies might work or those that have worked in the past, right? Anyways, putting that mumbo aside, here are a few things to keep in mind about fly choice from anglers who have spent many hours on the water, albeit, while operating under human limitations. We might have heard, “steelhead will eat your car keys if presented correctly,” but do we really want to try it? Probably not. When digging in for the next pattern here’s a few thoughts to consider while standing in a river scratching your head.

Steelhead Fishing Tips - Winter

Now that it’s getting cooler and fish are a little less willing to chase flies way up in the water column, I thought I would pass on a few notes about cold-water steelhead presentation. Of course, steelhead are a mysterious lot and at times they shatter expectations. When the planets align they will certainly rise up to flies on floating lines. It happens, however if this is the way you choose to fish, then you must accept the fact that it might take you a very long time to touch a steelhead. As we move into winter, here’s a few things to bolster your chances while seeking these fish.

Steelhead Tips - The Importance of Fishing Short

You’ve got your spey in hand, that rod that can cast great gobs of line, and you can hardly wait to start bombing casts way out to that place where the fish are. You step into the tip of the run and start haphazardly tearing off line and while you do, your fly is swimming not more than 10 feet away from you and it gets hammered by a fish. Chances are, you lost that one because it could not have been a bigger surprise. Does this sound familiar? If not, just wait… It happens with some regularity.

Fish are not always way out in the river. In fact, there are portions of the river, usually in the middle, where the current is most rugged, that are mostly void fish. Fish don’t want the struggle of fighting that type of current. And remember, people have been catching steelhead on single hand rods for many generations before spey took hold in this country. So what’s my point? Well my point is to fish short before trying to cover an entire run with long casts.

Read More of this article on SteelheadBum, our go-to steelhead resource!

Riffle Hitch - Skating Flies for Steelhead

A little how-to on how to keep those skaters riding high.  Still working on that new camera.  Really...



Have a good time,

Duffy

Building Loops for Sink Tips - Quick and Easy Style

Just a little blurb about building loops into your sink tips.  This is a pretty convenient technique especially for repairing broken tips while out on the river.  Sorry, still working on the cinematography skills!

Have a good time,

Duffy

Hopper Fishing for Trout

It’s deep summer, and you pull up to the river with your windows down low and you hear a very distinctive click click click… click… click. This sound gives you a warm feeling inside because you just know that the hoppers are flying and you can hardly wait to get at your terrestrial box to pick out a bug.

Grasshoppers. Trout love them. I love them, dearly. They don’t bite and they don’t really crawl all over you. They just hop around, make music and occasionally fall in the river and get gobbled up by trout. All this in deep summer, when the mountains hide behind a smoky haze and the prairie grass is nearly all brown.

Easy Hook Removal

We were on the Aroostook River in that dense Maine country. Andy and I were casting flies into a shaded, foamy pool when my Elk Hair Caddis blew off target and dove into my finger. I pulled on it but it held firm and so I really reefed but to no avail, that fly was in there good. We were both green fly anglers at the time so he was as amazed as I, that it wouldn’t pull free. My eyes watered and I muttered those angry words that teenagers do as I struggled with this frustrating little prick in my finger.

Andy’s Grandpa was down around the bend and more than likely, catching fish. That’s probably what one did on a river after having spent more than 60 years on them. I wondered about the price of knowledge as we continued to catch none and me, dutifully lassoing the air with a fly stuck in my finger.

Later on, I swallowed my pride as Andy’s Grandfather took my hand and freed the fly. As it turned out he knew about this sort of thing.

That was about 20 years ago and since then, I have repeated this technique many times on myself and others. And it’s also something you can easily talk your buddy through when you need that third hand or another set of eyes. Want to know how? Ok, It’s easy.

Let’s say you stuck one in the top of your leg and the point is no longer visible. So what you are left with is the metal that just starts it’s ninety degree bend, the shank and then the eye of the hook. Now it’s better to pinch those barbs down but regardless of barb or no barb, I’ve never had this technique fail. Anyways, clip some strong tippet from your spool. I like to work with a long piece, so I’ll snip off about 20 – 24 inches of strong, yet supple tippet (Maxima 10 lb, Powerflex 0X, or whatever you have on hand). Then double it over (not necessary to double it if it is stout enough) and slide it around the bend of the hook and grab a hold of both ends. Wrap your index and middle finger around the line and then draw back pressure lightly so the line naturally seats in the deepest part of the bend. Next, pull ever so slightly against the hook to find just the right angle of entry (This should be real close to a 180 degree from the eye of the hook). Then, using the thumb on your other hand, depress the eye of the hook firmly down into the skin (This dislodges any bumps or barbs in the hook). Snug up the tippet and then yank abruptly on the angle that you have lined up with the hook shank.

Was gonna stick myself, but thought better of it

Like I said, I’ve never had it fail. I should mention that when you are pulling one out of somebody else, it helps to inform them: “Ok, I’m gonna count to three and then I’m gonna yank.” But instead of yanking on three, yank on two and boom, it’s already out by the time you should have said three.

I had a buddy call me up one time and said he wanted to come by so that I could pull a fly out of his face. I said that of course, come on by. So later, he walked through the door with this giant Sculpin stuck sideways in his nose. He seemed a bit unsettled, so I asked him if he wanted a beer before we got to the task and he said that that would be good. But after a few minutes of sitting there and trying keep a normal conversation going, I just came out with it:

“We got to get that out man, I just can’t look at your face anymore.”

It was out on two and we got back to the task of drinking some beer.

Have a good time out there,

"The Gorge"

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Back on the Lakes

Walking across a lake has its benefits but it can be disturbing to the fly angler. So close – all that biomass swimming around under a veil of ice – but so far. Our lives keep on, waiting for the day when the ceiling melts and settles into holes of blue and green. For still water anglers, floating atop or walking the edge of a newly-thawed lake means entering a fresh new world, where opportunity flourishes on the palettes of the living - Where life loses its subtlety. That place has returned.

Travis Duddles Photo

Still waters are home to leviathans. For most of the warmer months these large beasts roam the depths where temperatures are cool and comfortable. However, when the ice peels back, they will be cruising the shallows looking for snacks. Anglers fishing from shore might do well to find a point and cast to cruising fish, as these are high traffic areas. Now is a perfect time to cast small streamers, like wooly buggers on intermediate, full sink lines and strip them back to you. Why intermediate? Well because the fish aren’t overly deep and one can retrieve the line slowly without the fear of sinking below the fish. Why full sink lines? Well because full sink lines help to keep the entire line at one depth during the retrieval. Depth is key while fishing lakes because often feed will congregate at certain levels and so will the fish. Much has to do with temperature, so when you find the right depth where the majority of strikes are occurring, you want to keep your presentation there during the entire retrieval. Anglers who count –off the seconds needed to achieve the best depth in the water column are really using those kindergarten-level skills to their advantage.

Yup, It's Streamer Time

For those of you who read my earlier ramble about tying flies and getting out on the river, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news: We got out on the river and it felt really good just to be on the water. The fly that morphed at the vice that particular morning actually provoked a few. I hooked two browns on this haphazard creation. The bad news: I didn’t land either one and promptly after hooking the second fish, I snapped the bug off on a willow branch. We tried to retrieve it. It was a valiant effort on rowers part but the current was a bit stiff and the growing blisters (first row of the season) added to the impossibility. That’s the way it goes but I can’t say that it didn’t hurt to witness this bug become a dangling ornament. From high to low - a full half hour it took me to tie that sacrificial wad of history.

You can play it safe and stay somewhere in the middle. You probably won’t hook many, but at least your fly box will stay full. Great. Is this where you want to be – floating into semi-hibernation?

The Reward

Maybe I should tell you why I love streamer fishing. Ok, first the grab is a very good sensation. For many of you swung fly enthusiasts, this is a common, joyful theme. What do we say, “The tug is the drug?” Yup, the immediate jolt of tension just feels good. It is distinct and vibrant. Often these patterns are attacked with a vengeance. The response is usually not docile and witnessing this explosive reaction is far more than simply entertaining.