Been Tying!

I hooked on with a buddy doing some commercial fly tying.  We've got orders comming out our ass and any extra time is spent at the vise.  My fly photography is definitively lacking, but you should be able to get the gist.  These two are for Alaska.

ND String Leech

Blairs King Smolt



Blue Pancake!

We headed down south to the big city for the weekend.  Weather was cold, blustery, and rain and snow mixed for the duration of the trip.  We didn't care, we needed to do it, we needed to float the boat and have some hot action!  The hits started quickly and were seemingly syncronized in 15 minute intervals.

The action was hot with these smallish Carp.  We were having a blast hooking these little monsters and wrestling them away from the brushpile we were tied to.  It felt nice to have some consistant action in open water...........its been awhile.  But then something really cool happened, somthing I was really hopeing for; I got a Smallmouth Buffalo (Blue Pancake)!  I've caught them before, but not in like 15 years or so, so it felt real good to get another one.  I just love the bluish/grey color to them; grey ghosts.

It was cold as hell out there today, but it was well worth it.  All in all we caught 21 fish in about 6 hours.  The smallest fish was about a pound and the largest maybe 3-4 pounds.  It was a blast!

North Shore Prospector

The N.S.P. as I call it has proven itself over the last couple years.  I developed the pattern after fishing a real early season on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  The meltwater was dumping down the streams, it was raging and muddy as chocolate milk. The only thing working was large and bright egg patterns.  The N.S.P. uses the 4 "good" colors for egg patterns on the North Shore all tied into a very "babine-esque" pattern.  Hot pink, white, baby pink, and green trimmed in a row trailed by a white maribou (milt) tail.  It works wonders in the fast water and has landed fish each season for me.  Give it a try, the Steelhead should be hitting up there this week!

Musky CHAMPagne!

The left over champagne cork from last new years really tied together nicely with the moose hair and flash.

What? It's 2013 already?

Wow, it has been a real long time since I've posted......almost a year!  Anyone out there still lurking?  Hehe, just kidding, probably not.  I hope to tune in and share more often as I had been before.  Over the last year I've actually caught a few new species and had a small handful of decient fishing trips.  Rather than bore anyone with a bunch of mumbo jumbo, I'll just post a bunch of pics.

Sunburn, Poison Ivy, and Mooneye!

Well it was "that time of year again".  Time for another Roundup!  I met up with a few fellow roughfishers on a multi-species fishing adventure down in the driftless region.  Many species were caught, I ended up with 5 species: Mooneye, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Largemouth Bass, and a sweet Shovelnose Sturgeon.

I saw several snakes and most were large Fox Snakes; heres one of the bigger ones.

A nice Bow for dinner.

The Mooneye are very cool fish and were everywhere.  I swear you could signal a plane with their reflections; very shiny fish.

This is my largest Mooneye to date, a real scrapper.

I love visiting the driftless area.  Theres very diverse fishing and beautiful scenery, all surrounded by beautiful hardwoods.

Cyprinus Carpio

Carp are uncommon in my area.  In the last 12 years I have only ever caught one by accident.  On a whim I decided to check a new spot in the hustle and bustle of the city.  To my surprise and enjoyment....

This fish was like fighting a bulldozer.  Its not a huge fish, but a good size.  It took me a good solid 20 minutes or so to land the beast.  I definitively need to find good fly Carp waters!

The place above, and down below

This year has been a bit strange to say the least.  I was only able to schedule one Superior North Shore trip which was a major bummer, but worst of all its already at the tail end of the run, maybe.  I met up with Adam and Derek in Walker, transferred three days worth of camping and Steelheading gear for the three guys into the Tahoe and started our journey.

We got to Beaver Bay around 1am and slept in the truck at the Superior Hiking Trail checkpoint.  7am on Friday we were streamside on the Toxic Cesspool and things couldn't have felt any better.  We fished The Tox for the better half of a day and came up short on fish other than a couple small Brookies.

Friday afternoon and evening was on the Thermonuclear Waste Pond lookin' for da Loopers up in dem streams der. Da Loopers were dare jus not hittin'.  I did however connect with a couple fish from a species not yet caught by me.  Trying to catch da Loopers, I noticed a small pod of Longnosed Suckers milling around the tail of a pool.  I immediately cut off my globug and tied on a nymph and slammo; new species, and actually quite a sleek fish.  I ended up catching 2.

 Their behavior seemed similar to the White Sucker, but these Longnose seemed more agile.  They definitively love flies!

Day 2 saw us heading north; further up than I've ever been.  The lower shore had really low water conditions, so we figured the upper shore would probably have more runoff; and we were right.  We fished the Spittoon in the early half of the day. Derek picked up 2 small Steelhead, smolts.  We did see many nice fish in here, but they've been fished hard and just wouldn't hit.

Afternoon finds us on the Septic Dump.  This is my favorite North Shore stream I've ever fished.  Eddies, current, undercuts, deep pools, riffles, snag piles, and boulders galore.

I found a sweet little trickle of a feeder stream with a narrow canyon and very fairy tale feel.

When I worked my way up it to the headwater pool, it felt like a enchanted place with toadstools, trolls, and fairies.  The magic was in the seven foot diameter pool.  Beautiful little Brook Trout.

Adam caught a nice sized Steelhead, but was alone and didn't get a picture.  Guess, we just gotta believe him!

Day 3 was a slow start as our bodies where wearing badly from the intensitity of our adventure.  Sleeping folded like a pretzel in the truck.  Next night sleep in a fishhouse that leaks and waking up in a puddle of water.  So day 3 we slept in a bit.  When we got up we decided to pound the Septic Dump and work it as hard as we could.  The fish were there, they were just preoccupied with spawning and would pay no attention to flies.

I was happy with my Longnose and the couple Brookies.  I fished new waters and enjoyed the scenery every minute.  I can't wait to get back up there again.