Slow it Down…

I haven’t posted in a while, wish I could say it was because I’ve been busy fishing, or working, but mostly it’s just been winter time laziness.  You see, when the weather gets cold my metabolism slows down and I won’t even move very far to eat, my girlfriend actually has to dangle my dinner in front of my face for a few seconds or I’ll just sit there waiting on someone else to do it.  Okay, so this is a little bit of an exaggeration for me, but not for our slimy quarry.

Trout do have a slower metabolism in the winter and can become quiet lethargic, much like myself in January.  The colder water temps as well as lower dissolved oxygen levels will typically keep fish holding right on the bottom in deep slow pools, and even when it’s dinner time it’s rare that they will venture into that fast riffle water where they so love to feed in the spring.  Instead, they will sit there and inhale anything that drifts within a few inches of their face, or occasionally they will move up in the water column for a brief BWO or midge hatch, sometimes they will even slide over to the soft pockets and eddies below the riffles to munch out, before inevitably sinking back to the bottom where they will spend most of the winter.

To make the most of this situation, the best advice I can give is to make like a trout and slow down.  Everyone knows to sleep in and to fish between ten and two, but I’m talking beyond that.  Take a few extra minutes to locate fish and see where they are holding, because fishing blind in the winter can lead to a very long and unrewarding day.  Winter is the perfect time for sight fishing with the low clear water that normally accompanies it, and of course if you see fish feeding up in the water column you’re better off to target these fish as opposed to the tank sitting in the bottom of the pool.  Regardless of whether you are sight fishing or not, you will likely need to make numerous drifts before moving on, so a run that I may only make ten drifts through before moving on in the spring, will instead get 20 to 40 drifts and maybe even a smoke break followed by 20 more drifts, because 9 times out of 10 these fish are not gonna move far for a meal.

I don’t change bugs quite as much in the winter unless I’m matching one of the sporadic hatches.  Instead I usually fish  a two nymph rig, one small, dark bug trailing off a larger, lighter bug with a hot bead.  I prefer orange hot beads to snap them out of their winter slumber and more times than not this combo will work just fine, but occasionally I’ll fish eggs or streamers if the nymphs aren’t getting it done.  My logic behind this is that trout are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything this time of year provided that you take the time to bump them in the nose with it.

Winter fishing can be very rewarding, if it’s peace and solitude and the occasional big ass bow that you’re looking for, then winter is the season for you.  With that being said, I love winter fishing, some of my largest trout have come in the snow, when my fingers were so numb I couldn’t tie knots and my toes were so numb I could barely wade.  Not that I don’t eagerly await 70 degree temps and size 12 mayflies, but for the next few months I’m just going to slow down and enjoy having the river to myself.

Dukes Creek 1-04-12

A few weeks ago I had managed to snag two spots for Dukes Creek in Smithgall Woods, which are pretty hard to come by these days given the way this little creek in Georgia has been producing big fish lately.  The thermometer read 15 degrees at my house that morning and with the blue bird skies overhead, I knew it was going to be a tough outing.   None the less, I packed the truck and headed over the mountain, which was still snow and ice crusted from the few flurries the day before.  I arrived at the parking lot around 11 a.m. to find my fishing partner for the day, Pat Brechbill of  Team Dead Drift, already rigged and ready to go.  I wasn’t in any particular hurry this morning, my thinking was that the fish would be waiting on the water temp to rise a few degrees, and that sounded like a good idea to me.

We decided to fish section one, since it was the closest walk and Pat had never fished this section.  Arriving at the first hole I gave Pat the nod and a half dozen drifts later he landed his first Dukes pig.  I had actually caught this same fish a few weeks earlier and it was nice to see him again, and after a quick Kodak moment, we watched him swim back to his deep liar to be caught another day.  This hole has always been good to me, often producing several trophy fish with each visit, but not today, instead we caught a few dinks and moved on.

The next hole, which was waist deep, fast moving water with some big boulders, was not as kind to us as the first.  We must have re-rigged a half dozen or better times a piece, some due to trees and the rocky bottom, but mostly just looking for what these boys and girls wanted to eat.  We could see at least five or six bows over 20 inches stuck to the bottom among the boulders, but they weren’t the least bit interested in anything we were selling.  Finally, Pat ties on two huge Hares Ears with 4 mm beadheads and gets a take and shortly thereafter and empty leader.  Yes it was just one of those days at Dukes.

We basically hole hopped the rest of the day, looking for deep water with pink stripes.  We only landed dinks after the first fish and nothing pisses me off more than hooking dinks on a trophy stream, well not really, but I wanted a bruiser.  We decided to hit one last hole that was occupied on our way in and after a few drifts I managed to hook and break off what could’ve been my best fish to date on Dukes, Pat said it was 25 inches or better.  I later found out that we had been fishing behind a guy that had a pretty good morning.  This could be part of the reason for our slow day, but more than likely it was just one of those days.  No matter what the reason though, it was one of those days that will keep me coming back to the best little creek in Georgia.

The Fly Fishing Trail

Fly fisherman are a rare breed, some of us constantly seek out new water to fish, always looking for that new gem of a stream.  For some this can be a time consuming and sometimes life long quest that we pursue with reckless abandon, throwing all caution to the wind, from spending money we don’t have, to neglecting other things and people in our lives.  On the other side of the coin, we have folks that spend entirely to much time behind a desk, browsing trout forums and day dreaming about that next hall pass from the significant other.  Then there’s the guy who is looking to get his family out of the rat race for a week long family vacation to the mountains, and yes he too will be packing his fly rod, even if he can only slip away for a few hours the entire week.  I probably fall into that first category myself, but no matter what your current level of fly fishing insanity is you need to check out the fly fishing trail.

In the summer of 2011 Joe Street and Keith Jennings launched theflyfishingtrail.com to promote fly fishing in the area surrounding Spruce Pine, North Carolina.  With over 500 miles of trout and Smallie waters within an hours driving radius of Spruce Pine, this area is one of the top destinations for avid fly fishermen in the southeast.  The website provides area information, regulations, maps, stream detail,  information on accommodations, and things-to-do for the family while you go fishing.  Whether you are looking for catch & release waters, wild waters, or smallie waters, the fly fishing trail provides fly fishermen  information on the fisheries, including GPS coordinates, how’s that for service.    The website covers Avery, Burke, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, and Yancey counties which are situated between Mt. Mitchell, Grandfather Mountain, and Roan Mountain.

This area is well known for large brown trout such as this beast from the North Toe pictured on the right, as well as rainbows, and of course the much sought after southern Appalachian brook trout pictured below.  Of all the trout fishing forums that I frequent, the question that I see asked most is, “Where can I catch wild brookies?”  Well folks grab your GPS and go.

In addition to this website you should also stop in at Rivers Edge Outfitters in Spruce Pine for up to date information on what bugs are working, or to pick up those extra little things that we are always running out of.  If you need to make the best of your time in the area, you might also want to hire one of their guides that are always on staff and very knowledgeable about this area.

If you have never fished in this area of North Carolina you owe it to yourself to make the trip.  This is some of the most beautiful country in the southeast, period.  There is a rushing stream around every corner and the surrounding mountains are some of the biggest you can see east of the Mississippi.  The fly fishing trail is a valuable resource for you to help plan that next trip that you so badly need.  Give it a look and go fishing!

From the Vise

My go to anchor if I’ve gotta go deep fast, better than split shot, in fact it’s better than four.

Hook:  Size 12 TL400

Bead:  4mm Copper Tungsten

Underbody:  Lead Wire

Thread:  Uni 6/0 Yellow

Tail & Legs:  Amber Biots

Dubbing:  UV Light Golden Brown

Back & Wingcase:  Mottled Thinskin

Rib:  Copper Ultra Wire

 

Protect that Tippet!

This past week I met up with our Team’s newest youth member, Mason Simms, to fish the lower Nantahala and we had a discussion about fishing light tippets that I thought would make an informative post.  He was fishing 5x tippet, which I’m not going to say is a bad thing, but he said that he couldn’t land fish on anything lighter than that.  I’ve also heard Lance Egan, 2011 National Champion and creator of the Rainbow Warrior, make this same comment and after watching him land an 18 inch fish in 2.6 seconds I understand why.  I think we narrowed part of Mason’s problem down to a spool of bad 6x tippet, but the truth is a lot of guys just won’t go any lower than 5x tippet.  I used to be one of those guys and I never thought of it as much of an issue, because I always caught fish, until I actually made myself fish 7x for a month.

The one biggest thing that helped me to fish lighter tippet was to get control of my Bill Dance hook set, while that looks really good on TV with a bait caster and 20 pound test, it’s very ugly with 3 pound test on a fly rod.  I would break off fish left and right and I still occasionally get excited and pop one off on the set.  I alleviated this issue by shortening my stroke,  I still set the hook fast, but I limit the movement of the rod tip.  All but the fastest action rods that are made more for casting than fishing (Sage TCX) have enough give in the tip to protect light tippets.  Keep in mind, the stiffer the tip is, the shorter the stroke needs to be.  I’m now fishing an Echo Shadow 10 1/2′ 3 weight, which has the tip of a 3 weight and the butt section of a 5 weight.  This is a really forgiving set up and allows me to fish 6 and 7x with virtually no problems thanks to the ultra soft tip.  I now only fish 6 and 7x for the most part, unless I’m fishing streamers, and after gaining a little confidence in my setup I can and do regularly land trophy trout on light tippets.  Of course larger fish will have their way with you for a bit and you might have to chase them up or down the river for a minute, but you can land them if you’re patient.

The second thing is to check your tippet frequently for frays.  Big educated fish will always try to rub you off on rocks and logs not to mention the damage a toothy brown will do during a fight.  Always retie after landing a big fish, especially browns.

Fishing a lighter tippet will put you on more fish, I am convinced of this.  I’ve seen it many times, particularly on pressured fish, 7x will produce fish when 5x won’t get a look.  I think this actually has more to do with the way flies drift on 7x than the fact that it’s harder for the trout to see.  Smaller tippet, simply put, cuts through the water faster than thicker tippet, thus bugs not only drift more naturally, but they hit the zone faster as well, which can be a huge difference maker in shorter faster runs.

Not to say you have to always fish 7x, but next time you’re on the water and you can’t seem to get it dialed in after changing bugs, colors, depth, etc. try dropping down a size or two on that tippet.  Often times it is a difference maker that many over look.

From the Vise

I’ve been fooling around with a lot of thread body nymphs lately and the fish seem to dig ’em!  It’s a very simple bug thats fast to tie and sinks like a rock through the water column, but it’s not an overly heavy bug, so it drifts very naturally with the current.  The bugs pictured are tied using a tan thread body with a dark brown thread rib, then the whole body is coated with clear finger nail polish.  This step is the secret to not only helping it cut through the water, but it also has less water resistance than the dubbed collar, which causes the bug to flit around in the current much like the naturals.  Tie a few up and give ’em a whirl!

Hook:  Size 16 Trout Legend Nymph hook

Bead:  2.8 mm Tungsten

Tail:  Pheasant tail

Body:  Tan 8/0 thread

Rib:  dark brown 6/0 thread

Wing case:  Flash back

Collar:  Arizona Synthetic Bronze

Dynamic Nymphing – George Daniel

George Daniel, two time Fly Fishing U.S. National Champion, has a new must own book for all fly fishermen.  The title is “Dynamic Nymphing” and this may very well be the best instructional manual of all time and he’s a hell of a nice guy to boot.  This book contains advanced tight line techniques, dry dropper, curly, and conventional indies, it also features 62 nymph patterns, as well as leader formulas.  If you want to up your game give this one a look.

BWO Life Cycle Rig

Years ago I read an article in Fly Fisherman Magazine about life cycle rigs and it was like turning on a light bulb.  While the article wasn’t about BWO’s, I instantly thought of all those times on the river where there were tons of fish rising everywhere and no visible hatch going on.  I fish a lot of tail waters with good BWO hatches and often these little mayflies are so minuscule they are hard to see with my aging eyesight and, so are the bugs necessary to fish these hatches successfully.

I came up with the rig pictured specifically to target these hatches of tiny mayflies.  The first dropper is the BWO parachute adams, this will serve as our indicator, the second dropper is the BWO comparadun, this is our emerger, and last, but not least is the olive zebra midge, the nymph.  I use the parachute fly mostly as an indicator because I can’t see the tiny comparadun, which is pulled just under the surface by the zebra midge.  Nine times out of ten rising trout will take the middle dropper, but all you have to do is watch the parachute.

Of course this system is highly adjustable to your needs, by changing the sizes and color of the flies and by changing tippet sizes and lengths, but more times than not this is my starting setup for those mystery hatches that are to small to see with the naked eye.  Give it a try sometime and let me know what you think.

The Tuck Cast

The tuck cast is very likely the nymph fisherman’s best friend.  It’s one of the best ways to sink nymphs and eliminate drag all before those bugs even hit the water.  Check out the tutorial on Midcurrent and enjoy the banjo music.

Fly tying 101

I started tying my own flies not long after catching my first fish on the fly.  Some how I just knew, even at that early stage of my new found passion, that I would be better served tying up my own menu.  Not that there’s anything wrong with the commercially available flies, but I wanted just a little more control over my presentations.  After learning the basics:  knots, dubbing and material techniques, I started churning out large numbers of single bugs that I just came up with, more or less, for testing purposes.  Many of them still sit in my boxes today, untested, too many in fact.

I’ve found over the last few years that there is a reason the hares ear and pheasant tail  have been around forever, and that reason is this, with changes in the size and color of these two patterns and you can mimic almost any bug in the water.  Since this relatively simple revelation of mine, I’ve started to really concentrate my tying efforts on simple, easy to tie patterns, that I will generally tie in three sizes and colors.  To briefly break down my thought process on this for you, all my flies are basically built one of two ways.  Type one is a slender bodied fly with a thread, biot, or pheasant body with a rib, and a simple dubbed collar for a thorax, ie the pheasant tail.  Type two is  a fly that is dubbed, ribbed, and tapered from the tail to the head, ie the hares ear.  My midge box is very similar in the fact that all my bugs are either a generic WD-40, type one, or a zebra midge, type two (without the dubbing.)  All these bugs are basically tied in olive, brown, tan, and black and in sizes 12-16 for the nymphs and sizes 18-22 for the midges.

One of my favorite type one patterns is the Baron, this is a simple fly, that’s fast to tie and similiar in profile to the pheasant tail.  I tie this pattern in sizes 12 through 18, and in olive, dark brown, and amber.  The Baron is one of Loren Williams’ flies and his website is worth a look if you want some ideas for really simple, fast patterns that will put fish in your net, complete with step by step tutorials.  If I could only pick one fly for the rest of my life it would be the Baron, it has brought more fish to hand for me over the last year than any other pattern.  A good example of my type two flies is Loren’s Hare and Copper, yep, it’s just a good old hares ear, but the different possible variations on this bug will keep you busy for a while, such as using a contrasting color for the spiky collar.

My dad, on more than one occasion, told me, “Son, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”  I’ve applied that statement to a lot of things in my life, most recently my fly box.  So, if you’re just starting out tying flies don’t over think it, because what it boils down to is this, trout food basically consists of two things, hare ears and pheasant tails.  Until next time, tight lines!