Three Day Road Trip to California



Today I am watching a light snow fall the first week of March in Jasper Alabama. That kind of weather is a little odd for this part of the country this time of the year. The temps never got out of the 30’s all day and for me that is stay inside weather. It gave me a chance to put together a collection of flies for my son to use when he moves to California next week. I will be making the trip with him to help out with the driving. It is a 3 day trip from Jasper to Marysville California, where he will be working as a travel RN for the next 3 months. After that assignment he will move to Oregon to do another 3 month stint. I am hoping he will find Dad some good streams to fish when my wife and I make the trip out there this summer. He will work a four day week so he said he will have time to explore. One of the flies I put in his fly box was the Auseable Bomber by Mark at Fishing Small Streams.  

A great dry dropper setup--I will have to give it a try as a stand alone dry also



 

Another pattern that I will put in his fly box is the Bomber pattern that Alan of  Small Streams Reflections fishes. I consider Alan and Mark experts when it comes to fishing dry flies--so any dry they are fishing I am on!!!



I have actually fished Alan's  Bomber this past season and landed a number of rainbows using it without a dropper fly. In fact my profile image is one of the best rainbows I landed last year using Alan’s Bomber.

Alan's Bomber worked magic with this bow.

I couldn’t end today’s post without sharing a clip using the dry/dropper setup. This will be one of the first setups I use this season

 

I plan on taking lots of photos on the way out, and hope to share some with you guys when I get back next weekend-----

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View Cabelas New Fly Fishing Curriculum--"Fantastic"

I was on Cabelas website yesterday and discovered that they were featuring a fantastic curriculum dealing with just about anything one would want to know about fly fishing. This gets even better guys, after you have read the curriculum, you have the opportunity to register and join the Federation of Flyfishers; which in turn will entitle you to get their free online FlyFisher Magazine for a year along with all their E-news. I have gone through the Curriculum, and found it extremely helpful. I have also received my first edition of the magazine which has a ton of information dealing with fly fishing. The following topics below are covered in the curriculum:

Fly Reel Training

Fly Rod Training

Fly Line Training

Fly Casting

Leader Tippet

Entomology

There are numerous subtopics covered under each main topic above. Cabelas has hit a home run on this one, when it comes to educating one on the art of fly fishing.

Orvis Fly Reel and Framed Streamers

I am sure all of you are familiar with the Orvis Battenkill fly reels. I have been searching for the Battenkill II Reel for some time at a decent price. Well, I found the reel the other day on Ebay for the unbelievable price of 65.00 used regular price 145.00 plus tax. Just goes to show if one has patience when shopping for fly fishing equipment, good things will follow. I bought the fly rod that I was going to used with the reel some months back when Cabelas had a clearance on their Redington Trout Classic fly rods for 75.00, regular price at 150.00.

With this 5 wt reel/rod combo I’m ready now for those 14” to 15” rainbows on the tailrace and some huge bluegills on the lake. 

  The Poudre Canyon Special & Yankee Smelt by Alan at Small Stream Reflections --Alan does a fantastic job creating fly patterns that he has tied. I gave my son these streamers for Christmas and he had all four streamers framed.

The Brown & Grizzly with the Red Baron both by Alan--Sorry for the distorted frame size in the image; I have big-time trouble keep the glare out of the picture when shooting anything that has glass in it--any suggestions how to avoid that? Many thanks to Alan for tying these great streamers--my son has a special place on the wall for them.

Rivers, Streams, Water Falls, Food and More

I got an email the other day from Benton Gibson a viewer who had watched one of my video clips on stream fishing. He said he loves to use the fly rod to fish streams and rivers in his home state of Mississippi. He wanted to share a few images of the Bogue Chitto River in the Pearl River Basin off the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is an area he fishes often for bass and sunfish.

Easy to fish with the fly rod--wet wading in the summer months

I can see my fly drifting by the root system near the far bank. Benton has offered to take me on a trip down this river later in the year. He even offered to film the trip. I am considering his offer. I will keep you guys posted.

I also received an email from another viewer commenting about my Natchez Trace Post, where I featured Jackson Falls along the Trace.  I only showed you an image in that post; well I thought I would share the live video of Jackson Falls. My wife and I will make a trip here this summer. I will have to toss a fly below the falls while we are there.

This is another reason I love fishing in general, which is the food aspect. My wife and I had an awesome meal last night which consisted of baked bluegill fillets, baked french fries, coleslaw, and tomatoes. Notice I said baked, that is the route both of us have to go when eating fish or meats. Sorry, I can't share the meal with you guys, but trust me when I say it was delicious!! 

Five Different Wet Fly Patterns Ready For a Take!!

I just got my new shipment of wet flies in today from Flydeals and can’t wait to get on the water with them soon. The guys there do an excellent job tying up any pattern one might come up with. I placed an order for 60 wet flies in five different patterns. The minimum order one can place with this company is five dozen, but for 31.00 bucks including shipping, I think I got a pretty good deal. I want to use them mainly as a dropper off some of the dries I will be fishing when the tailrace water recedes. There are more dries and nymphs used on the tailrace as opposed to the wet flies, so these patterns might give me an edge. The rain has caused the lake to rise above the full pool, causing the generators to practically run 24/7. The five patterns below are going to be my go-to wet flies come Spring. Flydeals included a quote with each fly pattern for this order; I thought you guys might enjoy the widsom.

Black Peacock Spider size 14

Quote: Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout. Irish Proverb

Brown Hackle Peacock size 12

Quote: Standing in a cool stream with a mountain range or meadow nearby, fly rod in hand, is the way God meant mankind to live. Jon Margolis

 Hawthron size 10
Quote: Calling Fly Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job. Paul Schullery

Partridge Orange size 14
Quote: If people concentrated on the really important things of life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
Doug Larson

Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle Wet size 16
"To him, all good things"--trout as well as eternal salvation come by grace, and grace comes by art, and art does not come easy. Norman Maclean
Please feel free to offer any other patterns you think might work on this pressured tailrace

Learning How to Fish Streamer Patterns on Small Creeks and Large Rivers

The streamer post I did this past week really got me fired up about this fly and how to fish them. For those of you who don't remember or didn't see it, check out this link. I must admit that I have used streamers very little trout fishing. I recently read an article about how to use streamers on small and large streams wading. The article went into detail on how to select the correct size streamers and weight rods for a particular stream you might be fishing. Instead of using a link to refer you to the read, I will display the article below. If you have anything to add please feel free to offer suggestions. 

Fishing Streamers While Wading

Fishing streamers while wading a river or stream isn’t as specialized an endeavor as fishing from a boat, but an angler should watch for the appropriate situation for streamers. The size of the water will dictate the size of the rod. A five weight will suffice on smaller streams and rivers, but a six weight is more appropriate for larger waters with larger trout. The size of the flies and the distance of the casts are the primary considerations.
Flies used on small to medium size waters should be a little smaller than those used on big rivers. The main reason is that there are fewer fish capable of eating a huge fly and a smaller size will get more action.
Streamers seem to perform best on streams when water conditions are high or off-color. As a result, this type of fishing might be effective when conditions are blown out for dry fly and nymph fishing. Tight line nymphing skills will certainly help though.
Many anglers tend to cast across the river and let the fly swing before or during the retrieve. This is fine in big holes and long runs but becomes less effective in broken water. Be sure to look at the water under your feet. Some of our best success has come from flipping a streamer just off the bank, letting it sink, and staying in contact with a tight line as it drifts downstream. This is usually accomplished with only a few inches of fly line out of the rod tip.
Unlike fishing from a boat you are certainly grounded so you can spend as much or as little time as needed on each spot. After a few retrieves, you should change where you’re casting or move on. If you see a fish flash the fly wait a minute before casting back to the same spot. Chances are good the fish will take another swipe if it didn’t get the hook on the first attempt. Keep the fly in the strike zone as long as possible by casting downstream and holding the fly in the current. Give the fly action with the rod tip, letting it fall with some slack, then twitching it back to life. Repeat the process several times before pulling the fly out of the water.
Open, meadow streams often provide the most opportunities for streamers. A fly fisher can proceed quietly along the stream bank and fish both sides of the creek without getting in the water. Again, be sure to give plenty attention to the water under your feet.

The size of the streamer fly you choose will depend on your goals. Pick a smaller size like #8-10 if you want more action. However, the average size trout will be in line with the river’s average size. Pick a larger size if you’re willing to trade action for quality. Most average size trout won’t respond to a larger #2 streamer but a larger fly will often stir larger fish

I also viewed a great video that really incorporates some of the tactics described above in the article. Take a look and see if this clip is as helpful to you as it was to me. The video is a little over 5 minutes long and worth the wait for the big trout he will land towards the end of the clip.-----enjoy!!!
The link for the video---http://btrussell-fishingthroughlife.blogspot.com/2013/01/learning-how-to-fish-streamer-patterns.html