The way to my heart is through a great rod!

Well, it's official!  I will be streamer fishing with my new Kelly Galloup's St. Croix Bank Robber 6 wt 9' rod on May 8th!  In case you weren't aware, I'm giving you the heads up, it's Mother's Day!  It should also be the peak of the Hendrickson hatch that weekend on the AuSable River. What better for a mother of 4 to do, other than spend the day with her kids, than to spend the day doing what mother loves most - fly fishing!


Scott Smith - Do you think it's big enough?!?

As you might recall, I was the very lucky winner of Au Sable Angler's raffle for a full day guided trip and lodging from the AuSable Valley Inn .  My guide will be Scott Smith, Bob Linsenman's partner in the fly shop. He is going to be at the oars for my float down the AuSable.

Besides being a fly shop owner, he is a full time dentist in Adrian, Michigan. He had been a client of Bob's for a number of years before becoming his partner 8 years ago. It has worked well and they have become dear friends. Imagine!

When not repairing teeth or working in the shop, Scott is the Coordinator for the State Council of Trout Unlimited Fly Fishing School held each year in Traverse City. He has been teaching there for 22 years now and is the lead instructor for the "Advanced" section of students. His special love is streamer fishing. Looks like I just hit the jackpot!

Pounding Mary's Hole...okay maybe tapping



Farmington River - Satan's Kingdom



It was the end of summer 2008 when I last fished the Farmington River in Connecticut. Above is a picture of Satan's Kingdom where I had fished many times. Since then I've had a few portable GPS's stolen from my vehicle.  The greatest tragedy was not the loosing of the devices themselves, but all the fishing locations I had been to and saved with their own special names to remind me.  And...those who know me at all, know that I am so severely directionally challenged that, finding my way back home without a GPS is questionable.  Trying to remember the way back to fishing holes years ago - are you kidding me?

So returning for the first time to the river (not Satan's Kingdom, by the way) where I started this incredible journey was filled with fond memories and much anticipation...

Day 1 - Oh, but of course, as to be expected, the weather chose not to cooperate.  It was very cold and terribly windy.  Trying to get a decent drift was all but impossible.  I was flipping into the wind and rather than starting my drifts upstream, it was more like even with me. Then the next gust would pick up the line and blow it so fast downstream, I'm sure the flies looked like they were propelled by rocket jet engines.  Certainly not at all suspicious looking and it's a wonder that I even got the maybe five bites that I did.  The one that I did actually hook, you guessed it - broke off!  It was not how I envisioned my first day back on the Farm.

A pheasant tail Frenchie

Day 2 - With great hopes for an improvement upon the day before, I licked my wounds, armed with Fred's (the one who got me hooked on fly fishing) specially tied Frenchies, and headed back to the Farmington. The Frenchie in this photo uses a gold bead head with darker pheasant tail, and bright orange thread for the hot spot, although the standard is usually a lighter color pheasant tail. Fred also adds lead wire to weight them, prefers brass or black beads, and sometimes uses hare's ear dubbing as a variation from the pheasant tail, with hook sizes ranging from #18 - #12.  I also found variations that use all dubbing or for just the hot spot as in the photos below.



Frenchies with thread hot spots and dubbing hot spots

Frenchie with dubbing

 

Fred was determined to make it a great fishing day for me. He knows the Farmington like a childhood friend, since he grew up with it;  every riffle, every seam, the hidden shelves, the most productive feeding lanes, the hidden logs and rocks. Even with his warnings, I still managed to get snagged on them - yes more than once! In short, he knows all the great holes!  It had warmed up slightly and the wind had died down just enough to make the fishing conditions better.


Fred with his first catch

Our first stop, I didn't even get a nibble, at least that I could see or feel.  It didn't take him long to land a couple of really nice browns - Show Off!  So he graciously gave me his hot spot and I did finally get some bites, but missed them.  Fred, on the other hand, ventured elsewhere.  Then he caught a rainbow and another brown.  At this point, I'm really hating him and tell him so, as I'm attempting to untangle my 3 - fly mess.  I can't remember the exact timing, but I did actually hook a few, but lost them before they were netted.  Slightly better, the fish were biting, but still nothing to show for in my hands.

 

Fred with another brown



Fred with yet another brown!

Fred, finally took pity on me, gave up fishing, and let me use his rod, which by the way was awesome! It was a Grey's 4wt 10' rod that was so light and made it much easier to see a hesitation or movement than mine.  I think I'll blame it on the rod - not! My rod is a great rod too (Sage Z-Axis 4wt 9'), but the leader was giving me grief.  It just never straightened out well and it was very hard to see changes with the wind still slightly blowing.  He helped me really work on my drifts and had me checking on everything.

A couple of times I checked and wasn't really expecting it to be a fish, maybe bottom or a leaf or twig (which I caught my share of), and wouldn't you know, it was a fish.  I didn't set the hook on those checks well enough or lifted the wrong direction right out of it's mouth.  But yes, I did finally learn from all my mistakes and set the hook into a nice brown.  He took the weighted Frenchie (that I had never heard of before Fred showed them to me) out of the flies I was desperately slinging.  Anything to increase my odds, right?  Yes, I am the tangle queen and especially with 3 flies.  At last, to hold that beautiful brown in my hands, made it all worth it.

 

Finally a nice Brownie in my hands!

Tiny stocked rainbow

I was able to catch a stocked rainbow, but lost many more along with one more memorable opponent that kept jumping, flipping, and fighting until he escaped downstream.  But the last trout of the day, was the one I'll never forget.  It had been a hard core day of non-stop fishing - no bathroom breaks, no food, no water - just nymphing!  We were finally working our way back to the bank, when Fred says, "Most people just get right out of the water, but I like to fish this before I get out. There's usually bigger browns here."  I looked at the barely noticeable difference in coloration, sandy bottomed shallow waters right before the bank in between slightly faster water.  It was just as Kelly Galloup had described in his streamer fishing class.  Bigger trout are lazy, hang out in calmer waters that don't take a lot of energy, no more than a couple feet deep, and most of the time you're standing or walking right over them.  A couple of drifts and bam, there he was!

The BIG Brownie that would make my day!  All else had been in preparation for landing this big guy and the fight was on.  He immediately took the line and started running downstream.  It didn't take much to get him on the reel as he sped away.  I kept the rod up, feeling it severely bending to the strength of his resistance, doing it's job, as I tried to get him turned back upstream. He was a brute and was intent on breaking free. He shot in every direction twisting and turning upstream, the far bank, then straight towards me, and then immediately away from me, around and past Fred, while Fred's yelling at me, "Do the dance! Do the dance!"  I had to turn full circle and keep the line away from Fred as he tried to get close enough to net my impressive opponent.  Many times he was maybe only a foot or two just out of reach and I could feel this bruiser was tiring.  It looked as though Fred was seconds from netting my worthy rival, but he suddenly regained his will to not be caught and took off in a flurry.

Oh the sound of the reel....zinging as I watched that elusive brown head away yet again. Once more, we played the game and it was exhilarating as I would slowly bring him in closer, gaining line on the reel and then having it stripped away less and less.  I was moving him back towards me. This time would be the moment I had awaited. Just as he changed direction and went the other way around Fred, and I was doing the turn around dance again, with my rod as high as I could reach to go over Fred, the line got caught on him. The battle was lost to that beauty of a brown as he broke the line and headed straight to freedom downstream. It wasn't going to be a Clint Eastwood day after all.  It would be the day the big one got away. The end to a great day at Mary's Hole on the Farmington River. 













 







  



MidWest Fly Fishing Expo 2011 - ORGASMIC!!! (number 3)

oooohhhh!  I love surprises, even ones I know are coming!  As promised, I received my saltwater flies.  But, I also received a 5% discount on a trip and MORE than a dozen flies.  Thank you again to Mud Dog Saltwater Flies and Life on the Fly Outfitters!  I have no idea what these flies are called or where they are best used.  Help!!!  If anyone knows, please feel free to comment on them individually.

Mike "Dog" Rice was good enough to provide me with the following descriptions for these flies! Also, Mike advised me to not worry about trying them out in fresh water - they work there too. Thanks so much, WOOF!

Brooks Blonde

The Blonde Series was developed by Joe Brooks back in the 1940's. The Blonde is the "chassis" on which many flies are built. The Clouser, Deceiver, Grocery Fly and many, many more are really just extensions of the Blonde. The Blonde is responsible for numerous record fish both in salt and sweet water. Mike catches striped bass, bluefish, snook, jacks, 'cuda, shad, smallmouth & largemouth bass, pickerel, and yellow perch on the Blonde.



   

   



 

Cichetti's Sand Eel

A simple 2 feather flatwing pattern designed to imitate sand eels. Olive over white for daylight/clear water, black over purple for night time and dark water conditions.



 

    

  

 



Dazzle Bait

This is one of Mike's favorites, designed to imitate sand eels in the various sizes on the east coast. Tied from Deadly Dazzle (from Just Add H20 products), the body is overcoated with Anglers Choice Soft Body to prevent fouling and allows you to pick the fly up quickly and re-cast to moving fish without the fly fouling. He uses them to fish for striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and school sized bluefin tuna.

 







 

Fur Strip Half & Half

Half Deceiver, half Clouser, Weighted fly for fishing deep structure and punching down through surface feeds to the fish below.



Strakele's Popper

Pattern given to Mike by his mentor Capt Bill Strakele. Simple popper for topwater. Body is actually made by coring out lobster pot buoy's.







Whitebait

A utility baitfish pattern with epoxy over EZ Body. It can be used to mimic sand eels, silversides, juvenile herring, and pretty much any small bait.







MidWest Fly Fishing Expo 2011 - ORGASMIC!!! (number 2, and still more coming)

Another surprise raffle winning was waiting in my email the other day!!!  HAA!  You thought for a minute I won another trip! No, I didn't win first prize, which was 10% off any Saltwater trip with Life On The Fly Outfitters - that was Fraser Keith.  Looks like he's going to have some decision making in his future. 

Nor did I win the second place prize of a handmade American Leather Fly Wallet from Fly Wallets.  Just to see what I didn't win, I went to their site and it's functional art! Really beautiful stuff.  That lucky winner was Michael Schmidt.  Wherever you are Michael, better hang on to your wallet!

I was the very lucky and grateful 3rd place winner of.....

        drum roll please....

1 Dozen American Made Saltwater Flies courtesy of Mud Dog Saltwater Flies!!!!

When I receive them, I will take some pics and add them here.  And then, I guess, since I have the flies, I will have to take a saltwater trip.  That is how that works right?  Kind of like when a woman finds a pair of shoes on sale and then she HAS TO buy the outfit to go along with them.

MidWest Fly Fishing Expo 2011 - ORGASMIC!!! (number 1, there's another coming)

Ah...where to begin, I have so much in my head that it is just exploding!   It was the greatest abundance of fly fishing knowledge, experience, and addicts I have ever encountered all in one gathering.  Okay, so I was also a virgin Fly Fishing EXPO attender, which I can now no longer say.  Since I have no means of comparison, the bar has been set pretty high because of this experience. 

What an amazing group of non-egotistical people, intent on sharing their incredible wealth of tricks, tips, advice, guidance, stories, and love of fly fishing. The special guests were Kelly Galloup, Simon Gawesworth, Brian O'Keefe, Ed Engle, and Eric Stroup.  I was able to meet and speak with each one at length and will give more details later. There were so many others as well, sharing their expertise unselfishly for the betterment (is that a word?) of all. Come on - really!  Could you see Rapala giving classes on how to make your own lure so you didn't have to buy their lure anymore?  NO WAY!!!  And yet, there were so many free fly tying classes with all the secrets just given away. Where else can you be a groupie and really be able to ask anything you wanted to know and learn so much more?!?

In addition to picking all these wonderful fly guy's brains, I actually WON something BIG! YES, BIG Is Better! And YES, you should have been there, because it could have been you...maybe next year!  I won a full day guided trip, with accomodations at the AuSable Valley Inn on the Au Sable River from Bob Linsenman's Au Sable Angler.  I was told I'll be doing some dry fly and streamer fishing!  WoooHOOOO! 

When it comes to streamer fishing, it will be a first for me!  Good thing that I have watched Kelly Galloup's DVD on Articulated Streamers repeatedly, sat through his hysterically funny and over the top informative session on streamer fishing, took a class on tying the Sex Dungeon and Barely Legal, and purchased the book Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout, co-authored by Kelly Galloup and Bob Linsenman. Incidentally, you're probably thinking - oh that's why she won.  No, I can assure you, they had no idea that I purchased this book or any of the other stuff.  I do hope to get Bob to autograph my book when I am there for the trip.  I feel that the stars have aligned and the Big Fly Fishing God in the sky wants me to learn how to streamer fish!!! If I don't get an opportunity to practice before my trip, I know I couldn't be on better waters or with more accomplished company to learn how it's done. Be sure to stay tuned for pictures and stories on that trip - probably mid April - May or September timeframe.

And to top that off, I will also be fishing for Arctic Grayling in Michigan!!  YES, not Alaska - MICHIGAN!!! I know it sounds crazy, but if you know a little Michigan history, Arctic Grayling were native to the Au Sable River. The grayling — known for its slate blue color and sail-like dorsal fin, absolutely gorgeous colors with pink (had to throw that in because everyone should know it's my favorite color!) — vanished from Lower Michigan around 1915 and from the Upper Peninsula in the 1930s. Their habitat was destroyed due to the logging era and overfishing.   Adult Grayling seek shallow areas of rivers with fine, sand substrate and moderate currents for spawning. Logging destabilized the river's flow patterns, tore up stream banks, and caused tremendous sedimentation spoiling their spawning environment.

Brookhaven Lake is a private lake that has over 20 springs feeding into it. It is cold enough to sustain 20" and above trophy Brook Trout and soon the addition of hatchery raised Arctic Grayling. They just have to be large enough so the Brookies don't eat them all. They grow much slower than the Brookes, so timing is everything. Other than the phenomenal fish in this lake, can you imagine no one else on it but YOU! It's true! Only 1 fishing party is allowed on this entire cold clear Lake at a time.  It has up to 14 feet of visibility.  Time to practice my site fishing. I will have 5 hours of fishing bliss all to myself and a guide...hmmm.  If you are interested or know someone who would be interested in fishing here, I can hook you up!  Since it is private, no fishing license is even necessary. 

After my casting lessons with Brian O'Keefe and Simon Gawesworth, Kelly Galloup's advise on cripples and spinners and streamers, Ed Engle's insights into nymphing, and Eric Stroup's tips on common sense fly fishing, hopefully I will be able to get out and actually fish somewhere!  Please let the fishing god stop this insanely awful weather in Ohio!

Virgin Blogger

I just hung up the phone with my best friend from childhood, Karen.  She is the reason I am embarking on this new wonderful adventure!  She, and all the rest of my friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and strangers alike, have all been subjected to my fish stories.  My blackberry has a picture of me with my silver Lake Erie steelhead and on my laptop a fat goregeous rainbow.  So what better way to share my obsession with the world than to write about it here! 

Today is a grey, cold, ugly day ending a disappointing weekend.  I had great hopes to be able to fish all day Saturday and Sunday, but the weather didn't cooperate. It had rained like monsoon season for days so the water was much too fast and high at the Mad River in Ohio. So instead of being out in the water attempting to land a beautiful trout, I watched the World Fishing Network (WFN) last night, just "wishing" it was me traveling to all of those awesome locations with killer guides fly fishing to my little heart's content.