The Bream Bum

Christmas in Austin

2012-01-04T16:11:00.000-06:00

I spent several days last week at my mom's house in Austin. There's a great little creek about 5 minutes away from her house that I always fish when I'm in town. It was also a special treat that my nephew, Peyton has become interested in fly fishing and tying so I got to talk fishing with him and 'guide' him on this creek as well.
I got to town Wednesday at noon and after lunch with family and getting settled I had a little while to fish. I grabbed my newly built rods and ran off.
It was crazy to me to think about wet wading, but it's December in Texas and you never know what the possibilities are!

Even though since the last time I was there the creek had experienced extreme drought the water looked great and there was fish activity all over the place.

My first fish was a redbreast sunfish, which happens to be my favorite fish, on my new rod to boot!

This creek has some huge carp in it and I hooked into one but it broke me off right away.
I caught several crappie too. I've never caught any of these in here before so this was a nice surprise.

Thursday I had a great day with the family but when the afternoon lull happened I took my opportunity to try a different section of the creek.

I caught my first Guadalupe bass in a while. Small, but fun and satisfying - another one of my favorites.

Friday we were headed to Sea World in San Antonio so I decided to wake up before the sun to hit the water before we had to leave.

I caught a nice little spotted bass, some more redbreasts, bluegill and a longear:

And a surprise red ear:

Saturday brought the day I was most excited about. After a large family breakfast, I had the honor of taking Peyton and brother-in-law, Kenton fishing. Kenton had to leave early so Peyton and I kept on. We didn't catch anything at the first spot but decided to head to another area.

I caught a few more crappie, redbreast and bass here.

I was about to head over to see how my nephew was doing and made one last cast to where I saw something disturbing the water. I let my beadchain soft hackle rest for a little bit. I lightly twitched it then got a strong strike. I set the hook and hung on.

I yelled for my nephew to come over because this was a big one. The fish surfaced after a few minutes and I saw it was a good sized carp.

It was a really strong fish and I ended up having to wade out to keep it from wrapping around an underwater tree. I finally landed it after about 10 minutes - we were both pretty tired by then. My new Superfine Touch 8' 2 weight had enough backbone to fight it and control it at times which really impressed me. I didn't know about my 4x tippet and knot though so I tried to be gentle.

I think it taped out around 26-28".

Not a bad way to end 2011, I'd say!

I built a couple of rods

2012-01-04T14:45:00.001-06:00

Just before Christmas I finished my first two rod builds, a Superfine Touch 802 and 704. A friend in Chile now owns my Orvis custom 802 and when I sold it I vowed to own another built by own hands. I built the 704 because I wanted a small stream smallie rod.

My goal was to copy the old original Superfine aesthetic and simplicity and I built the two rods identically except for the exact shape of the grips. I didn't even put on a label on it. I may change my mind on that aspect.

Here are the specs for the 802 (the 704 is similar with the guides being slightly different):
Guides: snake guides are Snake Brand and the stripper is American Tackle Titan Ring Loc
(2/0), (2/0), (2/0), (2/0), (2/0), (2/0), (1/0), (1), (2), (8mm)
Grip: reshaped Angler's Workshop cigar
Seat: from AW too (though it came with HUGE pits in it and I'm going to replace it with a better quality one that AW sent me to replace it).
Reel seat rings and matching end cap: Lemke aluminum anodized nickle
Thread: Fish Hawk medium brown size A
Finish: U40 Permagloss

Here's a link to my album of excessive amounts of photos: http://s730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/CBarclay/Rod%20Building/Superfine%20Touch%20704%20and%20802/

Overall, I'm very happy with how they turned out. There is a lot of room for improvement so I'm already planning for more. Other than fishing itself, I haven't had this much fun in a long time.

I ended up deciding to replace the reel seat on the 802. The quality of the cork really bothered me but what bothered me even more was that when I tried to fill the pits (with Titebond III and cork dust) I made it worse. When I sanded it down, the diameter was reduced so much that the rings wouldn't hold the reel on without me needing to use my daughter's hair band.

Peeling/scraping the reel seat off was easy and only took a few minutes. Reaming and slightly reshaping the new seat was simple as well. Overall it took about 1 1/2 hours (with interruptions) to replace the seat and now I feel I can rest easy feeling I have a completed rod.

The finished product:

First fish pics to come...

The Smokies trip: refined

2011-10-31T20:40:00.001-05:00

You know how I posted on my recent Smokies trip? Well, Will just finished his write up too and you need to read it. Here: The Riparian Corridor.

Orvis 2 weight's: old and new

2011-10-21T16:22:00.001-05:00

If I were to choose a single line weight to fish for the rest of my days, it'd be a 2 weight. It's light weight, helps to provide subtle presentations which I feel are of utmost importance, and is a lot of fun in the small water situations I usually find myself in. I can also cast as far as I need with a 2 weight.
I have fished several different 2 weights but I've found a rod to compare all other 2 weights to. A benchmark.

I've had an Orvis Superfine 'Ultrafine' 792-2 (7'9" 2 weight 2 piece) for a while now and it has been my 'go to' rod ever since I got it. I use it for bluegill and light bass fishing as well as small to mid size stream trout fishing. It bends deep and is the smoothest rod I've ever cast.

When Orvis came out with the Superfine Touch line of rods with initially only a 6' in the 2 weight range I was a bit disappointed as I fish longer rods more than shorter rods. Then in the early summer they came out with the longer 8' 2 weight and I scrambled to figure out how to afford one. My main issue with this newest generation of Superfine rods is the new style of reel seats (which I've found that most people prefer so I understand why Orvis made the change). I prefer the old style cork and rings reel seats of the early generations. I've never had an issue with a reel falling off or coming loose. I also like the simple and classic aesthetics. It also lightens up the butt section and allows me to use a heavier and more versatile reel to achieve the balance I prefer.

A good friend had previously ordered a customized Superfine Touch 763 with a cork and ring reel seat and it only took a few weeks to receive it with no extra cost to make the change.
So after saving up some cash and selling some gear I talked to my friends at Feather-Craft and placed the order. It took exactly 2 weeks from 'go' to 'in my hands'. I was floored by the speed of which I received it as well as the quality of work. I have no complaints.
Before ordering the 802 I asked Jim West, rod designer at Orvis, what the differences were between the two rods. He said they were different rods from taper to type of graphite. So I didn't expect the 802 to be the same rod but newer.

Physical differences and similarities
The 802 is 8' and the Ultrafine is 7'9" - duh.
The 802 is 4 pieces while the Ultrafine is a 2 piecer. I actually prefer 2 pieces because I usually don't need a rod to pack down small and it's less to mess with when aligning the ferrules.
The Ultrafine is a staggered ferrule design meaning that the tip is longer than the but section. The 802's sections are symmetric. The Ultrafine has a sleeve ferrule while the SFT 802 has a tip over butt ferrule.
Both are unsanded graphite.
Guide placement was basically the same compensating for different lengths.
Both weigh 1.5 ounces (the factory stock SFT 802 weighs 2 1/8 ounces)
Butt half of SFT 802: 1.3 ounces (39 grams)
Butt half of Ultrafine: 1.1 ounces (33 grams)

Fishing the SFT and Ultrafine
The first thing I noticed was that while the Ultrafine seems a bit tip heavy without a reel, the 802 seems a bit butt heavy. They weigh exactly the same (1.5 ounces) but have the weight distributed a little differently.

The first time I fished the 802 I could tell immediately that they were completely different rods. The 802 has faster action and recovers faster from being flexed.

The casting differences are pretty obvious. I'd describe the Ultrafine as more of a parabolic flexing rod while the 802 is more progressive. I could get more sensitivity, accuracy and distance from the 802 but felt the Ultrafine was marginally more fun to cast and play a fish with.

The lines I have fished on these rods include: Sage Quiet Double Taper 2, Sage Performance Taper WF2, Orvis Spring Creek DT2, Monic Freshwater Clear WF2, Scientific Anglers WF2, Scientific Anglers Mastery Trout DT2. While both rods are not finicky about which line they perform best with, the SA Supra line surpasses all of them. The Mastery Trout was a good option as well but it turned out to have severe memory and sinking issues so SA is replacing it.

If it came down to making a choice between the two rods for all eternity, after much toil I'd choose the custom Superfine Touch 802 over the Ultrafine because I could do more with it. I feel that the SFT 802 is a superior and more versatile rod and if I never fished an Ultrafine I wouldn't know that I was missing anything.

I have to clarify that I did recently sell the 802 so I could afford the trip I recently took to fish in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I did this with with plans to buy an 802 blank this winter so I could build one myself. It may seem that my logic is a bit off when hearing this but I'm okay with that.
If I had absolute control over all that is unknown and unseen I will never be without my Ultrafine, or an 802.

(The last time I looked on the Orvis website the 802 still isn't listed in the regular line of Superfine Touch rods. You'll find it in the 'New Fly-Fishing Gear' section under rods and reels.)

GSMNP October 11

2011-10-20T22:50:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned a little while back, Will and I made plans to spend some time in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to fish for brook trout. We talked our good friend, Joe, into flying down to meet us there. Well, it actually happened. There were several points in time that we thought we wouldn't be able to make it. But it actually happened. We had a few months to plan and do some research about where and how to fish.
We made a trip there last spring we - learned quite a bit (meaning we caught one fish between the two of us) and had a fun but difficult time. This time was a bit more successful but still fun and difficult.

Like last time, we left St. Louis in the evening and drove through the night to arrive in time to take a short nap before getting in the water.
The beginning of the trip mirrored our days there. We packed as much as we could in to each day.

I can describe the small mountain stream fishing as full contact commando sniper fishing. You have to sneak up on the fish. You have to hide from the fish while casting to them. You cannot reveal your shadow or cause a ripple. Most of the time you can't see them because those beautiful little brightly colored fish are also perfectly camouflaged and hide in and under the most amazing things - namely rocks. They would sometimes reveal themselves in a defiant act of showmanship. Almost as if they were saying "yeah, look at me while you can because you aren't going to catch me!".

My rod of choice was my old Orvis Superfine 'One Ounce' 6'6" 2 piece 2 weight paired with an old Orvis CFO II with half a Scientific Anglers DT3 Supra line on it. It was perfect for that type of fishing -nice and light, full flexing and accurate. I couldn't have wanted anything else. Will mostly fish his 7' Lamiglas 3wt but also used a 9' 2 weight he recently built that was surprisingly adept at handling the tight quarters and reach casting.

Some of the time I was thinking 'why the hell am I doing this!?' then I'd catch a fish, rise a fish, make a good cast or mend, or even just look, listen and smell I'd remember why. It's amazing there. Beautiful trees, water and fish. Occasionally we'd catch a whiff of some sweet mountain smell. Which was more than welcome by day 6 of no showers and spending all day in waders. You don't even want to know what the tent smelled like.

The first half of the week was wet. It was hard to have a good attitude about it. Especially when we made a 4 mile hike, in waders and wading boots, gaining 2500' of altitude, only to find that the water we hoped to fish was a steep valley of boulders-the-size-of-your-kitchen with a little water flowing through it. After trying to fish and realizing that one of us would be killed or maimed if we kept on trying we tucked our tails and hiked back down (still in waders and wading boots - lesson learned) to find more hospitable water.

Wednesday morning before we drove to pick up Joe in Knoxville we fished a larger river nearer civilization.

I caught my first brown trout ever there. I have never purposefully fished for browns but have wanted to catch one for some time. I caught him on my current favorite fly - a partridge/orange soft hackle.

Not long after that fish I slipped on a rock and broke my tail bone (in the easiest water we fished all week, go figure).

We also fished a little creek that was supposed to only have brookies but we only saw and caught rainbows.

**please note that allowing trout to rest on the ground isn't good for them - this fish flopped from my hand when taking a picture and I quickly took the pic and released him**
We hit a wall one afternoon (I honestly don't remember which one) and decided to just hang out and take a break from fishing (ironic, huh?). It was a nice respite and prepared us for a good time the rest of the trip.

The last day we ended up finding the best water and having a great time before needing to drop Joe back at the airport and beginning the drive home.

There were times during the week where we were convinced we were crazy for making the effort and sacrifices necessary to make the trip happen. And 6 days is a long time to spend in close proximity with another person who hasn't showered and who isn't perfect (finger pointed squarely at myself). In the end, there were no regrets and many great memories.

I'd make the sacrifices to do it again for sure.

Please check out Will's account in his video here.
You can see more pics in my photobucket album here.

Let the planning BEGIN!

2011-08-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

It looks like a trip to the Smokies is in my future!
This fall Will and I will be making our way to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park area again to spend some time with the locals for a few days.

We went there in early spring this year and had a mildly unsuccessful time of it but we have been determined to make it back to redeem that trip. We are better educated and connected now so I'm sure we will catch more than one fish between the two of us. Regardless, this is going to be fun.
Stay tuned as the trip plans come together...

Exploration

2011-08-12T13:00:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite parts of fishing is finding new places to fish. So a few weeks ago I decided to take 'the boy' on an adventure to follow a hot lead I'd gotten on some smallie water.

This was his first scouting trip and I don't know who was more excited - him or me. Complete with sand shovel, bathtub net and plenty of water and snacks we headed out for the hour drive. He requested to listen to Johnny Cash for the theme music and I gladly complied.

We got to the packed parking lot and he was ready for the quarter mile hike to the stream. He wanted to lead the way.

He was absolutely amazed that we actually found some water at the end of the hike and even more delighted to be able to walk right into the water to see fish swimming around.

I was able to fish a little (at his request) and caught a small bass that he wanted to hold. It flopped out of his hand which made him pretty mad so he asked me to catch another one.

After a little while it was time to head home. What a great time we had! He talked about his adventure all the way home and couldn't wait to tell his mom and sister what he saw and did.

I think this is only the beginning of many more adventures with him and bonded us like never before.

Desperation

2011-08-11T18:59:00.001-05:00

It was in the middle of this unusually hot and dry summer when Will and I had an opportunity to drop everything and go to our favorite spot and catch some wild trout.

We were both desperate to get out and get away. We had an open afternoon and we took the green light to go recharge.

We knew there was a chance for rain but had no idea of what was to come.
When we got closer to the main turnoff some ominous clouds popped up. We saw horizontal sheets of rain ahead and soon the truck was rocking with 60+ mile per hour winds and golfball sized hail. The only wise thing to do at that point was to keep on and head to the shelter of the put in.
We waited out the worst of it and got geared up.

Fishing the first half of our time in the water in rain that we hardly noticed. Just wading in the water provided refreshment but catching the beautiful wild trout was absolutely serene.

After just a few hours it was time to go but we felt ready.

I sure do love the Ozarks.

The Riparian Corridor trash contest: DO IT!

2011-07-20T12:16:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't already know, my buddy Will of The Riparian Corridor blog is doing the greatest blog contest I've ever heard of. Read about it here. Very profound stuff on conservation.
Go do some practical conservation.

Man overboard!

2011-07-18T20:41:00.000-05:00

I decided to go out to Busch Wildlife yesterday afternoon to get some relaxing time on the water. I rented a $5 Jon boat, loaded my little bit of gear I chose to take on this simple afternoon excursion (only one trip needed to get from the car to the boat is the goal). I rowed my way across the lake to a spot that produced last year and dropped anchor and started to set up a rod. The wind had died down enough so that it was not a nuisance but was refreshing. I thought to myself, "Self, why haven't you come out here since last season? This is very nice!".
I noticed some fish hitting the surface near some pads so I tie on a slow sinking fly that does well in this situation.

I cast for about 15 minutes and decide to upanchor to move myself into a different position. Then KERSPLASH!!! I somehow lost my balance and did nearly a full back flip into the water.

The first thing I think is "I can't believe this is happening!". Then I remembered my iPhone is in my pocket. Then I said a few bad words that I'm sure the fish haven't heard in that manner before.

With my pipe still in my mouth (a la Popeye), hat on my head and my rod in my hand I swim to the transom of the boat and flopped myself in. I noticed that my rod is still intact and that my pipe went out but am generally thankful and completely surprised that I'm okay and kept my composure. I guess those times back in Boy Scouts practicing swamping our canoes finally came in helpful.

When I sat down to collect myself I realize that the world is blurrier than normal. Yup, my glasses and fitover geriatric sunglasses are swimming with the fish now.

Supremely frustrated I cast a few times and realize that I have enough time to fish before it gets too dark to drive home without glasses, so I did.

I caught several small bluegill and left unable to see clearly and call anyone because my phone had officially died a soggy death.

This was the first time in my 33 years of fishing that I have pulled something like this and hopefully I've learned my lesson. We'll see.

Carps are strange fish

2011-07-16T17:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening on a whim, Will and I hit a local creek that confluences with a large river. We were just innocently tossing flies hoping to catch a few longears. In fact, he was mostly shooting film and I'd hand my rod off to him when I wanted to drink my beer.
Toward the end of our outing we stumbled upon a somewhat stagnant pool that was absolutely STACKED with large carp. As Will put it "more fish than water".
Thankfully we were in waders because the mud was up to our shins, and stinky. The water was not see-throughable but the fish were at the surface swimming in formation sucking in what seemed to be nothing but was probably an algae bloom or oxygen. They took no flies we offered them. We cast to them for 2 hours. Dropping nearly everything possible into their feeding lane or directly into their mouths. The takes we had were inhalations and the flies were exhaled as quickly.
We were dehydrated, unprepared nervous wrecks. By the time we left my right leg was numb and floppy and I thought I was going to pass out.
Honestly, I don't know what would have happend if I hooked into one - I was fishing my little 6'6" 2wt Orvis Superfine "One Ounce". The poor thing was literally covered in nasty, stagnant, carp water mud from tip to butt.
Boy was that fun!

Fishing as being

2011-07-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned before, it's been way too long since I posted last. It's been quite an interesting summer so far. I've fished quite a bit but never enough. I've stayed local and stolen moments when I could to get on the water. None more than a few hours at a time.
I've trash fished with Will and caught a freshwater drum.

We discovered a hidden quarry pond on public land. Caught a few bluegills and lost a gar.

I've gotten to know my favorite little bream pond a bit better - seeing it change from late winter to spring to full blown summer. I've caught the same fish over and again and I've recovered one of my experimental flies from a fish that broke me off. It was a lot smaller than I remember. I've seen some of the small trees lining the waters' edge fall due to the intense weather we've had. I've tried to upright those trees and when they wouldn't stay upright Will and I repurposed them into fish habitat.

I've developed some flies that really work, and really don't work. I've fished some newly developed flies that absolutely blow my flies out of the water (thanks Evan!).

I have not kept up with my goal of fishing cold water consistently at least once a month. I have not caught a trout since March. I have an itch though. I hope to scratch it soon. My wife and kids are going out of town next week. I'll have some house work to do but I think I can also fit some cold water work in there too.
Over the next few months I hope to go explore some new waters fishing for stripers in the North Fork of the White, maybe some more trash fishing, and maybe another trip down to Texas. I will, however, not forsake my home waters. They bring me great comfort and help me to start my day well when I'm able to visit them before work.

One thing that has really settled itself in me over the last few months is this: fly fishing is more than just a healthy distraction but it does not solve all my woes. It's a way of being and thinking and can help to make sense of things. It's not salvation but it's part of salvation, part of sanctification and redemption. And for that I'm thankful.

Waaaaaaaay behind...

2011-06-08T13:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, I am way behind on my blogging, and most everything else. I have had a few great outings to my favorite local warmwater hole and had my first successful foray into trash fishing. I hope to update in the next day or so. Stay tuned.
Here's a taste of what's to come...

Invasion!

2011-05-22T12:13:00.000-05:00

The cicadas are coming, the cicadas are coming!

I don't know that much about it, but apparently a '17 year' cicada invasion is starting. The fish are supposed to go nuts over these juicy morsels too. Apparently they taste like peanut butter - just ask Justin at Feather-Craft. He knows first hand.

I went out to my favorite secret bream spot Friday afternoon to see for myself. Walking up to the pond I noticed them hiding on the stalks of nearly every available plant. The birds were going nuts in the air and the bushes going after them.

I did not see many of them near the water though I know they were there. Every now and then I would hear an explosion right at the shoreline where one would slip into the water and be devoured by a waiting bass or bream. After watching the water for about 10 minutes I tied on a medium brown foam bug with rubber legs, about a size 8 (I think I got this fly from my friend Gene down in Texas).

I had to let the bug sit on the water for almost a minute before a fish would strike. But when they did strike, it was VIOLENT - sometimes knocking the fly clean out of the water. No holding back at all. Most of the time the fish were swiping at it with their dorsal fins to kill it then they would come back around immediately to eat it. It was fascinating to watch and it took all my restraint to not set the hook at the first swipe. There were several times when I'd bring the fly in and the hook had a scale on it from the first attack.

The brown foam bug was working okay but I wanted to try something else so I tied on a cricket imitation that had a deer hair wing on it. On the first cast it was immediately annialated by a big bull bream.

Several casts after that the hits were instantaneous. I guess the cricket was a little more life like even if it was smaller than what I was trying to imitate.

I switched back and forth from a bead chain bream killer on my 1 weight to a cricket on my 3 weight and caught fish fairly steadily for a few hours.

One thing I'm learning about this pond is that the fish are extremely smart and aware of their surroundings. In order for me to do well there I have to pretty much have to sneak up on the pond so as not to spook the fish. I've noticed the bait fishers (who generally catch more fish as a rule) that fish there do not do very well. I think the reason is that they rush up to the waters edge and make a lot of commotion. I've literally seen the fish swim to the depths when they ramble up to the water. I think Friday they may have been looking up for the cicadas falling in the water and not as spooky as normal. I'm not sure but I'll be back soon to try it out again and I hope to watch the progress of those big bugs.

Stripping guards are not for sissies

2011-05-16T11:18:00.001-05:00

Last week I had the opportunity to fish quite a unique place with my friend Evan from Feather-Craft. We went to a hunting and fishing resort kind of place called Trophy Country that is about 3 hours from St. Louis, north of Columbia, MO. It was purported to have monster bass and many acres of water to fish.

We fished from about 1pm to 8pm and we caught good fish almost non stop. We didn't keep count but I estimate that we caught well over 100 decent to huge bluegill or bluegill/green hybrid, a couple dozen crappie and couple dozen bass. The biggest bass was about 4 pounds but we caught several and saw many VERY large bass. Sight casting to them was tricky but fun. There were several times when we could clearly see some large bass cruising some of the weed beds and when we cast to them the small shadow of our line would spook them – it’s difficult being stealthy sometimes.

Right after I caught my first big bluegill, Evan asked me “So tell me, would you rather catch a bluegill like that rather than the bass you’ve been catching? It’s okay, you can be honest.” My answer was a solid “Yes”. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to catch a nice bass but catching a nice bluegill is so rare and fun that I would rather catch a 10” fat bluegill than an 18” bass most any day.

I mainly used my 2wt Ultrafine but also threw my 9' 4wt MHX when I wanted something different and to throw one of my Bassinators to the big ‘uns.

I really enjoyed watching Evan cast. He’s a machine and can do these fun casts that were basically like flipping the fly under the overhanging trees accurately from 40’ away. I came away from the day really wanting to practice my line slinging.

An hour or two into the fishing my index finger was raw from stripping in fish and Evan offered me a stripping guard. I have always thought they were for sissies until that point. I’m now a believer.

The weather was very nice with thunderstorms a few hours before we got there. It was a little breezy but not bad and it was probably in the mid-80's. The landscape is very remarkable since the area was an old coal mining area. Steep banks and nice deep sections with adjacent flats that were pock marked with bream beds as well as shallow weeds. Water clarity was typical of 'pit' style lakes - 4' visibility or better.

We fished only one of several dozen lakes. The lake varied from about 20 yards across to a few hundred yards across and is about 4 miles long. This made for excellent castability as each person could comfortably cast to either side of the boat at almost any time.

Evan used his Echo 7wt the whole time primarily casting big streamers. He was dialing it in for an upcoming smallie trip in Canada. He did have the privilege of casting my Ultrafine and hooked up with some nice bluegill with it. I think he was pleasantly surprised.

We used a variety of flies and most of them worked very well. Evan threw big streamers such as the Big Muddy from the F-C Fly Tying Contest fame and I used mainly small #12 bead chain bream killers. There were several times of the day where we had doubles and had a fish on with every cast.

We got back to St. Louis around midnight completely toasted but feeling very good.

Bluegill before work

2011-04-29T16:32:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to discipline myself to wake up early to go fishing before work (I have to be there by 8). It hasn't been easy though. I made it one morning this week to my favorite little secret pond and tried out my new to me Orvis Superfine 6'6" 2 weight rod.
To my delight, the big bream were still there.

This 9 1/2"er put up quite a good fight.

And another.

I usually don't catch that many bass from here but this one was looked to be quite healthy.

The cast before this fish I hooked into a HUGE bass (yeah, yeah, another 'one that got away story...). She pulled out line for about a five seconds with two attempted jumps and finally spit my little size 12 Bead Chain Bream Killer (that's what I've decided to call one of my flies in a previous post) out. I say attempted jumps because in my experience catching bass above about 6 pounds, they usually can't get air born very easily, around 5 pounds can sky rocket out of the water with relative ease - bigger fish can't do it that well (that I've experienced). I was very shaken and my return cast to the same spot brought me the nice bass above. After that fish I just stood there and looked at the water shaking. Yet another fish to haunt me.

I've never even seen a HINT of large bass in this little one acre pond so this was a big and pleasant surprise.

I now have a little more incentive to wake up early to begin my day the way God meant me to start it.

Musical fly tying

2011-04-25T18:28:00.001-05:00

Something I have noticed over the past several months about re-learning how to tie flies is it's similarity to playing an instrument. As in tying flies, in playing music there are practically no original ideas only repeated notes arranged differently. I have been doing a lot of tying lately trying to come up with something that works that came out of my own experience and brain. I think I finally found it but the more I look at it, the more familiar it looks. I think I've basically taken an idea and expanded on it, just like when I try to compose a tune on the guitar. So is it original? Maybe, maybe not. The fish seem to like it.

Here are a few flybox photos:

Not long ago I caught several bluegill that threw up something that looked like what is in the bottom row.

These represent one of my all time favorite 'catch anything, go to' flies, the Briminator.

Yes, I have a beadchain addiction. Preferably black ones. They look buggier to me and they help the fly to ride hook point up. That gives me more confidence to fish the flies in heavier cover without getting hung up as often.

Here's a very slow sinking idea that I got from a friend of mine.

It's got a squirrel tail 'wing' that helps it to ride hook point up and serves as a weed guard. Sometimes it just sits in the surface film and the leggies (technical term) move a little and trigger strikes.

I have no idea what to call any of these so for now, I'm just calling them 'one of them' as in, Passer by says: "hey man, what are you catching all of those big fatties with?" I say, "Oh me? I'm just using one of them." Get it?

Texas fishing in April

2011-04-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

This past weekend Will and I took another epic trip this time we went down to my homeland: East Texas to fish with on a private lake with an old friend.

It was one of those get off work, drive through the night and start fishing when you get there sort of trips.
On the way there, almost to our secret destination, we hit a cicada storm. Those things are juicy!

The forecast for Saturday basically said "90 degrees and windy". I thought, "okay we've handled some wind before so we'll be fine." It turned out to be some very serious wind. Wind with a capitol C. Sustained winds of 25mph gusting in the 40's. Not exactly hospitable to the long rod and feathery hooks. We fished anyway. Will had just completed my 4wt 'heavy hitter' - a 9' MHX blank that I was planning on being my bass rod. That thing is sweet and fits the role perfectly. My first cast with it hooked me into a nice bass but I lost it after a jump because I was also trying to control the boat. Will fished his newly finished 5wt 'glass rod and his 3wt Lami. I also fished my 2 and 3 wt Superfines. All of our equipment did well in the winds but it was certainly a challenge to get the flies to the fish and detect strikes. The first day was frustrating partly due to lack of sleep and partly due to the wind. We coped and were determined not to let it get in the way of our fish catching though.

Will with a healthy little bass.

The second day brought more fish. We found an old abandoned dock that harbored some huge coppernose bluegill.

We caught dozens of them and at times had doubles.

One of my goals for the year was to catch a 10" bluegill and most of our fish hit that mark or surpassed it. My best for the day was a 12" bruiser.

Will caught a very nice spawned out 5 pound bass that he fought like a pro.

It nailed his streamer when he was retrieving it in and that fish put up quite the fight with several jumps and dives for the brush and weeds.

Later in the afternoon we went back to the abandoned dock to see if we could catch a few more fatties.

We did. (the one that got away alert) After catching a few more fatties and some warmouth I hooked into the biggest bluegill I've ever seen. I fought him for a few seconds but he broke me off. We both got a good look at it and confirmed it wasn't a bass but a bluegill. It was about the size of a serving platter. I was in shock and I needed to sit down and recollect my wits. I was shaken. That fish was BIG and I am now haunted by it. I have a mission now.

We fished several flies that I tied for the trip and I was able to mentally tweak the designs a bit (I'll do a post on those soon too). Along with some VERY healthy fish, the lake was filled with lots of brush and lily pads so we lost an amazing amount of flies.

We ate better than on any of our trips due the generous hospitality of my friends. We stayed in more luxurious accommodations than ever before. We will definitely be back.

Texas March extravaganza

2011-04-15T14:28:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago my family took a trip down to Texas to enjoy the finer F's of that wonderful state: family friends and food. Oddly enough, Texas also holds some very nice fishing opportunities so I decided to add that to the list of F's and fish at every moment I could.
My Mom (and sister with her family) lives north of Austin near some great sections of a beautiful creek that I enjoy fishing when I'm in town. This creek holds largemouth bass, Guadalupe bass, bluegill, redear, redbreast, Rio Grande Perch and many other species. My goal was to catch as many of these as I could.

I woke up early before family activities to get an hour or two in the water and would take a few hours in the afternoon while others were resting. I caught dozens of fish each time. None were huge but it was fascinating to me to learn how each species would take the fly and and fight. I began to learn what kind of fish I had on before I saw it. There were also dozens of carp swimming in the waters that I tried sight casting to. None of them were interested in what I offered but it was a lot of fun watching them feed and chase each other around. I was using my Superfine 1wt and I wasn't exactly thrilled about getting spooled by a carp so I was happy to catch my targeted bream and bass. The water was pretty clear so I imagine the carp saw me but several times one of those 2 foot monsters ran into my shins then would slap me with their tail as they sped off. Made me laugh.

Of all the sunfish out there I think the redbreast is on the top for me. For some reason I just love them - their aggressive feeding and fighting and their natural beauty really stand out. I'm on the hunt for these here in Missouri but haven't found them yet.

After a few days in the Austin area we went up to Dallas to visit my mother-in-law, brother-in-law (and his family) and several friends. I arranged an opportunity to fish with two guys I know from the Ultralight Forum. Les and Jerry are two guys that i have enhanced my gear acquisition abilities with and are both outstanding fisherman. We fished Les' home creek and had a great time.

Fishing started out slow but picked up. Roll casting is a must and I got a lot of practice in. Les is a roll casting machine and I learned a lot just from watching him - he's a terrific teacher and host/guide too. I bet he could practically fish his waters blindfolded (that would probably level the playing field a bit too!).

Even though I had only known these guys virtually, we hit it off quite well an were ribbing each other like brothers. We caught a ton of greenies, bluegill, longears and bass.

This was definitely a highlight of the trip.

Smokies: conclusion

2011-04-15T12:08:00.000-05:00

(I've tried to post this report in full two separate times but it got deleted somehow when I published it. Hopefully I will succeed this time.)
Saturday we woke up refreshed, had our usual breakfast of Clif Bars, tobacco and campstove coffee (you ought to try it - very tasty) and got ready to hit the roadside stream in search of brookies.

When we got to the stream and got set up we noticed the stream did not have the volume of flow as the water from the day before though it was still pretty swift.

I watched Will wade ahead of me while I lit my pipe and took the surroundings in. I soon discovered that the big boulders were quite slick and much care is required to navigate through them. I fell in up to my pits but somehow didn't fill my waders. That was the first of too many plunges.
Half an hour into it I hooked my first brookie. I let out a few shrill yodels to get Will's attention but by the time I got the fish to my hand it flopped off. I got a good look at it though.
This fishing was stealth ninja commando fishing like I've never done before. Very challenging with the rhododendrons and other vegetation reaching out to grab the flies and the huge boulders to hurdle over.

Will was using his freshly finished Lamiglass 7' 3 weight and I was using my Orvis Superfine 7'9" 2 weight. Both tools well suited to this kind of fishing.

A little bit after our lunch break of summer sausage, cheese and pita bread I hooked into a nice little brookie while I was sitting on a rock trying to blend in.

This fish was every bit as beautiful in the picture. A really unique fish that I felt it was honor to catch.

A little later that afternoon we decided to pack it up and head back to the campsite. Before arriving at the campsite we decided to hit a stretch of water just outside the campground that looked quite good to us. At the outset, we knew the water was swift but we didn't realize how deep it was. Will - who is quite a capable wader - made it across with some difficulty and I decided to follow. I've never been so scared and stuck in my life. I honestly didn't know whether to back track or keep going but decided to keep going. After we made it across safely a trio of whitewater kayakers paddled by looking at us while we were either crazy or stupid - the answer is yes. We fished there for a while and just continued our frustration with our bad timing and decided to call it over and go back to the campsite for a relaxing evening. When we were de-wadering and taking down the rods a ranger pulled up to us and asked for our licenses. Not long before this I realized that I had probably left my license in the previous day's shirt in the tent but wasn't certain. I looked through every pocket I had and discovered that it in fact was not with me. I told the ranger that I bought a license but that it was in my tent. He was kind enough to follow us back to the tent and said that it's not a far drive and the it's better than a $100 fine. I agreed.

That evening we got to experience our overcrowded neighboring campsite. They were apparently having a great time in some other language and had spread their stuff every where. When we were sitting by our fire about 8:30 we noticed them driving away. The next morning when we were packing up to leave a ranger came up to me and asked if we were with them. I said 'no'. He said 'what's up with THAT!?' Motioning over to the campsite next to ours. There was an immense man made mess of food and trash, chairs and grills. He said that he was surprised that mess didn't draw in a bear and has never seen anything like that in all his years of working there. Several other rangers showed up to clean it up and they said the same thing. It looked like a teenage girls room but with camping food and debris everywhere instead of clothes.

What a way to leave this crazy weekend but it seemed somewhat fitting. It was a great trip and was extremely frustrating at times. Frustrating because our timing was so bad. Would we do this again? Probably so.

Fly Fishing Film Tour coming to St. Louis!

2011-03-17T19:01:00.000-05:00

The Fly Fishing Film Tour is coming to St. Louis March 28th at the Tivoli. Tickets are available at Feather-Craft. I'm planning on going and bringing my kids as I heard from the source that it's somewhat kid-friendly.
Should be a great time - hope to see y'all there.

GSMNP: the beginning of non stop adventure

2011-03-15T23:06:00.001-05:00

This past weekend Will and I went on yet another epic adventure. I don't use the words 'epic' and 'adventure' lightly, much less in the same sentence and this trip was certainly both.
We set out at 9:40 pm Thursday night. Will had a full day of work that started at 6am while I was able to rake the day off. I was able to take care of some familial responsibilities, play with the kids, finish up last minute trip preparations, and take a nap before shoving off that night. I was a bit nervous about the drive because I'm tremendously dependent on sleep and when I don't get much I don't do well on many levels.
Will took the first leg and we switched off somewhere in TN around 2am. I tried to sleep during that time but only got about half an hour of sleep but rested fairly well with intermittent conversation of anticipation and excitement. When it came to my turn to take the wheel, Will curled up in a ball and was sawing logs almost immediately. I lit a pipe and sipped my coffee to help me stay alert. Even at these late hours that I haven't seen in a very long time I was so freakishly alert that I surprised myself.
We made a few stops during the wee hours along the way. One notable stop was about 4am when I had to make a necessary bladder stop. At the selected exit, all the gas stations were closed so I chose am closed and abandoned station and decided it was safe and secluded enough to relieve myself around back. Will 'woke up' suddenly when I put the truck in park and said in a very loud and alarmed voice "WHERE ARE WE?!" and I told him I needed to pee. He said in the same voice "OKAY!". After I came back from making my mark he went in the same direction for the same purpose but came back quickly and said "WHAT DID YOU DO?!". He looked very confused, kind of like a lost puppy. I told him and then he wend back to finish his business. As we pulled away we fell into hysterical laughter about the absurdity of the whole situation. We continued the drive and Will didn't wake up until we hit Sevierville. We stopped at the Orvis store there to get some data on the fishing in the area. Somehow we didn't connect that with the change from central to eastern time they weren't open at 7:30 am so we continued to our campsite at the Elkmont campground.

The campground was supposed to open the day before our arrival but due to inclement weather (first hint) the rangers delayed the opening to a day later - the day of our arrival. We were told that we could walk back and choose our site but that the road needed to stay closed so the maintenance guys could clear the fallen trees from the roads and campsites. We did so and then went back into Gatlinburg (which we determined was the complete and mind boggling antithesis of such a beautiful park) to think through re-planning of our day and grab some food. When we got back to Elkmont, the maintenance crew was just finishing up so we parked at our site and continued with our plans.

Still feeling rather alert we forewent setting up the tent (since there was still lots of snow on the ground) and drove to the trailhead so we could hike to some water.

We followed the trail for a little while then continued to hike along the stream. We lost the trail at this point. 'Lost' being a very important word here. I grew more and more concerned here but I tried not to show it. Knowing my alertness was wearing thin I kept asking Will to show me roughly where we were on the map - which he did rather patiently and convincingly. After what seemed like an eternity, we jointly decided that we didn't really know where we were. We then looked up the mountain - way up - and saw what we thought was a trail and bushwhacked our way to it. It was indeed a trail and we were very much relieved. We followed the trail for a while and discovered we were on an entirely different trail, stream and mountain than we originally figured. We decided to back track - on the trail - and were back at the truck within 20 minutes.

When we got back to our site the majority of the snow was melted and set up the tent. I then confessed that I was hankering a real responsibility-free meal in town - not the freeze-dried chicken dinner we were planning on.
We made it to town in time to talk with Brad at the fly shop (Orvis in Sevierville) and got some helpful information for the next day, enjoyed a drive along the road where we were to fish the next day, grabbed some food at the Happy Days diner in Pigeon Forge. We were back at camp and asleep by 9 pm.

There ends day one. Total fishing time = 10 minutes. Total fish caught = 0. That's okay though.

There are many, many more details that I passed over that will come out in the days to come.

Please check out Will's blog, he fills in some of those details.
.

I've 'gone Orvis'

2011-03-05T12:30:00.001-06:00

Okay, so maybe I've gone a little overboard. Obsession is okay in small degrees, right?
So a little while back I jumped at an opportunity to buy an older ('97) Ultrafine 7'9" 2 weight. I fell in love. Then I found an older ('88) Superfine 7'6" 1 weight. It's perfect. Then I won an auction for a '00 Superfine 7'6" 3 weight. It's sweet and exactly what I was looking for in a 3 weight. This past week I was offered a 6'6" 2 weight Superfine for a good price and I sent the payment off yesterday.
I'm especially delighted to say that all these purchases were covered by prior sales of equipment so no new $$ was put into these purchases.
Up 'til recently I've always had this back of my mind thought that Orvis is waaay over the top and lousy quality for lots of money and have lost touch with their fly fishing roots. I've since repented of that way of thinking and have become very impressed with their way of business and customer service. With the reports of others' experience with getting custom builds in 2 weeks and getting repairs back in a reasonable amount of time and general communication from them when I've had techno-weenie questions about their older rods. I've learned that they have certainly NOT sacrificed their fly fishing quality for expanding all their other 'lifestyle' lines. I find that very respectable.
These older Superfines really click with how I like to fish. They certainly aren't for everyone. But when my friend and main 'fishing buddy' (as my daughter calls him) Will - who accused me of 'going Orvis' - cast my 2 weight Ultrafine he said he would never make fun of me ever again (on this issue). He had the same prejudices as me pre-enlightenment and has now changed his tune as well.
I have no idea where my preferences will lie in the future but for now I like where I am - besides, it's only a recreation and meant to be fun and restful.
This got me to thinking more about how snooty all of us fly fishers can be when proclaiming what we like and don't like when it comes to equipment on down to the fish we pursue. I've often said (somewhat pridefully) that I'm a 'warmwater only' fly fisher but will occasionally fish for coldwater species if I have to. Well, I've been humbled by learning that fishing for coldwater species is just as fun and challenging as warmwater. They are each very different and present different challenges and enjoyment.

Making my mark

2011-02-21T21:51:00.002-06:00

Recently I took a solo day to my favorite wild trout water. The place Will and I were kicked off of previously but a different put in behind a locked gate (access is legal by foot) that we didn't know of before. It was one of the first days of warmer weather and it was so refreshing. It was like a baptism.
As I walked into the water I felt as if I were being rejuvenated instantly. Water is really something special.
I caught a dozenish decent little wild trout. Lost several largish trout as well just because I was day dreaming - which was fine by me.

The water was a little milky from the snow runoff but I could still see what I needed to see.
I tried several fly combinations. First call was a #16 pheasant tail soft hackle. Nothing. Then I tried a #14 Stimulator with a red ass soft hackle and caught several on the red ass. Then I changed the order and dropped a #16 brown hairs ear nymph off the red ass and caught several more trout on the red ass and a minner on the nymph. I think I saw some of the minners (bleeding shiners) spawning but I'm not sure.

I was using my recently acquired 1988 vintage Orvis Superfine 1 weight with a Sage 3100 reel spooled with an older generation Sage Quiet Double Taper DT1 line. (I plan on a gear post very soon so look for the details then.)

One of the most exciting parts of the day was when I was getting ready to make the walk back to the car. There was an unmelted patch of snow near a downed tree nearby. I felt it necessary to relieve myself before the walk back so I thought that it was entirely appropriate to write my name in the last little bit of snow that was left. Besides it was safe, secluded and private right? Wrong. Right after I finished my masterpiece I heard some voices and they weren't the ones inside my head. About twenty yards away a man and woman were innocently taking a hike along the trail by the stream. For some reason they didn't say hello or make any sort of eye contact but just kept on hiking by. Oops. It seemed the right thing to do at the moment. And it also seemed blog worthy.

A few of my goals for the upcoming year

2011-01-30T14:44:00.001-06:00

I thought I'd share a few of my fishing related goals for the upcoming year. Some are broad, some are narrow and some may be impossible, but what is a goal without a little resistance?

•teach someone how to fly fish
•catch a 12" redear
•catch a 10" bluegill
•catch a smallmouth bass
•catch a brook trout
•catch a brown trout
•catch a warm water and a cold water species each month

The smallmouth goal is a leftover from last year that I did not accomplish. I came close but didn't land any.

I'm curious what some of my friends out their are hoping to accomlpish?

A flop, but not a miserable one

2011-01-17T21:37:00.000-06:00

First off, I didn't really want to write about this 'trip' but after thinking about it I feel I need to get it off my chest. And there's no better way to process the whole thing than to do it publicly on a blog - besides, that's what blogs are for, right?
Last weekend was to be this amazing journey with my main fishing buddy, Will. We were going to leave at noon Friday to go to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to fish for brook trout - exotic, crazy, and irrational so it was perfect. This was to be a 'birthday trip' for me as my 36th had just passed. Leading up to this when we were making plans we noticed there were many road closures within the GSMNP due to bad weather and snow but thought we'd go chance it. I woke up Thursday morning with a massive ear infection. Strike one. We started to rethink the goodness of the idea and decided to reroute to a more local water in southern Missouri. After thinking about it further we decided to make it even more local and go to our favorite wild trout stream and fish it 'dark to dark'. We decided at the last minute to leave Saturday afternoon and sleep in the car to get a jump on things early Sunday morning so the whole thing wouldn't be rushed. On the way there we decided to stop by the Current River and night fish for brown trout. We were skunked but had a great time regardless. Then on the way to the access on the stream I got pulled over by the State Highway Patrol for going 79 in a 60. Not good. My first speeding ticket in over 17 years. I blame it on a new to me car that drives much better than the previous one and told the officer so. We arrived on the banks of the stream around 11:30pm and get in our sleeping bags agreeing to wake up at 5am to be in the water by 5:30. I didn't really sleep due to ear pain and general discomfort though Will claims I snored something fierce. I woke up around 6:30 to all the windows of the car being covered with frozen condensation on the inside and extremely frozen toes and turn on the car to try to both thaw out. I think was about 25 degrees in there. We stumbled out of the car and slowly assemble our gear (at least we didn't have a tent to pack up). Will made us some camp stove coffee that ended up being the highlight of the weekend. When we were all wadered up and stepping into the water I noticed a 4-wheeler driving toward us on the other side of the creek. A lady started to yell something at us but we yelled back that we couldn't hear her. She then drove around to us and explained that we were trespassing on her land and that she didn't allow any 'feeshin'. We were quite dumbfounded as we have fished from this spot a dozen or more times and have never had any problem and we actually knew with certainty that this particular spot was public access. We kindly asked her a few questions and explained to her that we've fished here many times before and didn't realize that we were trespassing and apologized for the misunderstanding. She paid us the compliment that we were much nicer than anyone else she's run off her property (so we've got that going for us). We walked back to the car with our tails tucked and decided to try a few other accesses that we've heard about. Strike two. I de-wadered because I couldn't drive all wadered up like that and Will kept his waders on in hopes of finding our water. We were denied another two times at the other accesses being closed off to us. We looked on the map and saw another little creek we've heard about and tried to find it. After driving on roads that turned out not to be the roads we thought we were on we stopped on the side of another road to make a decision. Strike three. Will stepped out and de-wadered right there in front of someone's house and we headed back to St. Louis. We laughed about it and we cussed about it.
It'll take quite some time to put words to all of what happened this past weekend but we both agreed that we'd do it again. We knew we were in the right and we both agree that we dealt with a potentially rough situation with grace even though it really sucked at the moment. We got out of town into the quiet. We technically got to fish even though we couldn't actually see anything. And we got to hang out. Not bad if you stand back and look at it.

Whoa, it's been that long?

2010-12-31T15:12:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been since 15 November when I last posted. I knew things have been crazy but not that crazy!
Any, I have been fishing a few times but not nearly enough. I got the flu (probably due to not fishing enough) as did my family (probably due to me not fishing enough), had car problems and got a new to me fishing mobile (basically the same thing just newer with fewer miles and fewer problems).
Anyway, here's my last report of the year from my most recent trip.
This past Tuesday, I went to explore some new water. A little (and I mean little) creek that holds wild trout.

When I got there my new car told me it was 14 degrees outside. I got out to scout and liked the skinny water I saw.

I was there for about half an hour then I heard some gun shots. Very close gun shots. There was a hunter that got there after me and didn't know that I was there and was shooting in my direction. I wasn't comfortable with the situation so I decided to go to my favorite creek that's not too far away.
I'm glad I did. I ended up having one of my best days there. I saw one of the bald eagles that I 've seen here before but it was flying at the tree tops about 50' above the water. I could see that it was missing a few feathers as it was examining me. Those birds are truly beautiful.
The last time I fished here was a few days after Thanksgiving. I lost more fish than I caught and lost my favorite pipe. This time I caught about 45 wild trout mostly on a #14 partridge/orange soft hackle wet fly. I looked for my pipe but didn't find it this time. There were periods of time that I caught a fish on every cast. These fish aren't huge but are tremendously fun and rewarding to catch.
Most of the fish I caught were about 5 inches long.

But I also caught a couple 10 inchers.

One of the most rewarding fish of the day was a 13 incher that gave me quite a fight.

I used my Sage SPL 8'1" 1 weight rod with my Click III reel. It is a great softer ultralight rod but the grip is too bulky for me so I'm thinking of re-forming it to work better for me.

Here are a few more shots from the day.
Those are 3" thorns. Amazing.

Happy New Year everyone!

A quick outing for some MO wild trout

2010-11-15T19:49:00.001-06:00

Yesterday afternoon a couple friends and I drove an hour and a half to what's becoming our favorite wild trout hole. Wild trout in MO are fairly rare - these are McCloud strain stocked by rail car about a hundred years ago.
The biggest one we've caught there before is about 16" but I've heard about some bigger. My biggest yesterday was about 11". We usually catch a few dozen each time out. Yesterday was a bit more brief than usual but still had an amazing time.
I love the colors on these fish - especially the white tips on the fins. I am quickly becoming a fan of the cold water wet-slimeys. Though I won't forsake my beloved bream.

A very nice day off

2010-11-09T08:57:00.001-06:00

Last Friday I took off work to go chase some wild trout with Will (see his account here). The day started out at our usual meeting spot at a very cold 5am. We got to the water a little over a hundred miles later and a little groggy but ready to fish. It was about 30 degrees when we hit the water and the water was about 50 degrees when it hit us. Perfect.
Not five minutes after starting to wade upstream we saw a bird that looked suspiciously like a bald eagle. We thought outloud that it couldn't be. After it passed by again with its mate we determined that it definitely was a bald eagle pair. Perfect.

Then we started to catch some wild trout. Not huge but that's not the point.

We didn't catch anything larger than about 10 or 11 inches but they fought with strength and hit with enthusiasm (they were probably hungry).

We ended up catching a few dozen beautiful little fish each.

Will was using his Sage 386 ZXL with his trusty Lamson Konic 1.5 and I was using my Sage 2710 TXL with Click III. Both seemed to be perfectly matched with the water and fish. Will fished dries only and I fished a mixture of soft hackles and nymphs with a Humpy thrown in for good measure. There was only one small fishless stretch that was more like a wind tunnel than a trout stream.

I've been chewing on this report for several days partly because I haven't had much time to write something up and partly because I enjoyed the outing so much I wanted to be able to capture all of it just right. I finally realized that I wasn't going to be able to perfectly capture such a terrific trip with my words so I thought I may as well go for it.

Overall, this is an outing that others will be compared to. Not because of the huge fish but because of the overall scope of the day. It was just right in every way. Even down to clarity of mind amongst days of immense confusion and business. Truly restful.

And the flies met some fish

2010-10-27T14:01:00.000-05:00

I had about 20 minutes this morning before work to try out one of my new patterns I tied last night. It was a little gusty this morning with 20mph winds but my first cast confirmed two things: fish are still in the pond and are eating and my fly is effective. I guess that's three things, but who's counting?
This is what I started with:

First cast:

Subsequent casts:

I was extremely pleased with the results (the fly didn't even fall apart!) and am excited to tie up some more.

A new era, again

2010-10-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

Several years ago after I first started fly fishing, I got a fly tying kit as a gift. I tried to tie big bass bugs to help me catch huge Texas bass. I didn't really enjoy it because it took me a very long time to put one fly together and I sold the kit.
Well, now I've gotten back into tying with a renewed interest. Last night I sat down to look through the materials and tools I recently got from a friend at the Ultralight Forum. I decided to start tying some ideas I had and this is what I came up with.

I wanted to get out to test them out this morning but I overslept and had a kitchen full of water that delayed my progress. Maybe tomorrow.

Camping with the family

2010-10-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

We finally made the efforts necessary to make a successful family camping trip to St. Francois State Park this past Friday night. It's hard for me to believe that we haven't taken our kids camping when it was such a big part of our lives pre-kids.

We arrived at the park with plenty of light left to set up the tent and get the fire going.

Before we left, Maren asked me if there would be any leaves there for her to pick up - I told her that there probably would be. When we arrived, she exclaimed that "there's nature EVERYWHERE!!!" (meaning stuff to pick up and examine, and apparently put in the car to take home). I set up the tent to Graeme asking me every 10 seconds "what are you doing Papa?" while his task was to clear out the thousands of 1" diameter acorns and bois d'arc apples from the tent area.

I cooked bratwursts on the fire and we showed the kids the wonders of s'mores.
We looked at the stars and the full moon rise.
We heard owls and coyotes.
Valerie and I cuddled by the campfire while the kids settled in and "frickets" (as Graeme calls them) kept them awake for a while. We caught up from our busy schedules.

We had a simple breakfast before we went to look for the playground. While at the playground we heard from someone that the river was a short walk away so we went to find it. I thought we'd go check it out to see how fishy it was and then maybe come back with the proper equipment to examine the fish population. Well, the hike turned into a two and a half hour expedition down the wrong trail.

We saw the river and it looked very fishy - it's supposed to be a great stretch of smallmouth bass water - and we also saw a cave and stunning fall colors.

I ended up carrying Graeme most of the way and when not carrying a 25 pound two year old, I was carrying a very tired nearly 6 year old.

We had a great time despite. the detour but were pretty exhausted when we finally made it back to camp.

After having a snack and taking down the tent we hit the road back to St. Louis. On our way out I stopped the car to look at another section of water that looked promising. Without any prompting from me, Graeme said "we go shishing now?" and when I said that we weren't going to be able to he said "please?" (saying once again what I was thinking).
Overall, a great little outing and a setup for many more.

No shishing this time around but that's not everything (did I really just say that?).

Fishing the Fall

2010-10-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

Fishing has been a little strange lately. I've had a hard time figuring out the patterns of bluegill. At first I some of my favorite spots had been fished out bit I don't think that's the case any more. I think they are biting so gently that it's hard to detect. I've used poppers, nymphs, fast sinking briminators, slow sinking briminators, slow sinking bream killers, soft hackle wet flies, dry flies, boogers, streamers, corn - pretty much everything I have.

It seems like they will hit any of them but the main caveat is to be able to detect the strike which is more subtle than ever. Just a very slight 'tick' of the line and that's all you get to indicate a fish is there.

Even on surface flies they are not busting the surface - it's more like a gentle sip. With the changing of the seasons and the increased wind this adds to the challenge.

(I loved that this fish was a textbook bluegill even down to the spot on it's rear dorsal fin)
I've been finding that a shorter fluorocarbon tippet on a 4' leader has helped me to detect the strike but at the same time I have to be able to cast smart enough so that I don't spook the fish by casting over them and "lining" them. You have to be creative and thoughtful about cast placement. That's a challenge in the wind.

Yesterday it all started to come together for me. I was at the secret monster bream pond that has skunked me recently. I caught six very nice fatties on a variety of subsurface flies. They put up an extraordinarily good fight on my recently bought 2 weight. It made it hard to go in to work but I did anyway.

I love fishing in the Fall - one of the four best seasons to fish.

It takes a lot of patience to love a fisherman

2010-10-06T17:50:00.001-05:00

Today is my mom's 70th birthday and I got up early before work to spend an hour fishing and thinking about her. I have to credit her with my love for fishing. She and my grandma taught me how to fish as a small child. I don't think she knew what she was getting in to when she was starting me out! She would take me to fish various ponds and lakes as a kid. Waiting on me while I made that last cast. She took me to fishing shows and walk around with me for hours as I looked, dreamed and drooled over the latest gear. She took me to fishing shops to spend my allowance on lures. She encouraged me to dream big and follow my dreams. I think that my mom is one of the most patient people alive - it takes a lot of patience to love a fisherman. Along with her, my grandma, my wife and my big sister (and now my daughter) I have been surrounded with some quite amazing women - each in their own way. I am truly fortunate.

I didn't catch but a few fish this morning (but it certainly was nice to break the dry spell). It was more about remembering the times fishing with my mom than the fishing.

When do we use what flies?

2010-10-05T21:30:00.001-05:00

A recent comment by my friend Bill has me thinking. He asked a very good question that's worth repeating. "At what temp. do you stop using poppers as surface flies. I will be going this weekend and I figure the temps will be around 70."
First of all, I think everyone could learn something from Bill's questions. My impression is that he's an accomplished angler but asks such good and basic questions that gets you thinking. He's humble and humility is the best way to learn something. You don't jump in thinking you know it all and therefore close the gate to learning a profound truth that can really help you because you're blinded by your own pride.
On to the question.
Truthfully, I mostly fish subsurface flies. For some reason it makes the most sense to me. But I can't argue against the excitement of a topwater hit. The explosion and the anticipation of the pull to tell you when to set the hook is matchless. I think fishing topwater takes more patience and restraint.
I've caught fish on topwater flies in 40 and 50 degree weather even though I've caught more on subsurface at those times. When the surface temps are in the low 70's it seems the warmwater fish are most active and willing to take the chance to hit on top, showing their vulnerability to whatever predators are out there. Bass and bream are different feeders but they both seem to really ramp up their feeding patterns in 'comfortable' weather.
My friend Ron N responded to Bill's question by saying, "I know you didn't ask me, but my 2 cents would say that temps in the 70s will still be good popper weather. I've fished poppers down into the mid-60s."
That sums it up well.
In the end, and all things being equal, I think a fisherman/woman will catch more fish on a fly they are most comfortable fishing. I know that I have my 'comfort flies' that I automatically go to when I don't know what else to do. We all do. Start with those then branch out of your comfort zone to what the fish will prefer. So, Bill, tie on your poppers this weekend and catch some of those beautiful gills and spots that you catch so well. And tell us all about it!
Thanks again for your great questions and comments!

In withdrawal

2010-10-05T13:06:00.001-05:00

It's been a week since I've seen any fishable water. I've reorganized my fly boxes, leader containers and fishing bag several times. The weather has been beautiful and extremely fishable. Still no fishing. I've been down to help a friend frame up some internal partition walls in his building project that is only half a mile from a beautiful stretch of the Meremac River. It was really good to help him and it took all my strength to not just go take a look at the water (I did "accidentally" take a wrong turn on my way there and it just so happened that I saw the river then).
I have experienced cold sweats, hot sweats, dizziness, depression, blurred vision, and generally bad moods. When I was giving the kids their baths, I found my mind wandering and thinking about what would make better fish habitat: armpits or toes. Just today I finally connected my fishlessness with these symptoms.
I have, however, spent more time with my wife and kids and have been able to do a few things around the Albatross (my house) which is worth not going fishing as much. It's a delicate balance to maintain a healthy level of family time and fishing time. I'm learning. Thankfully, I have a loving and understanding family that understands my need to get out on the water. I just hope that I can understand their need to have me be truly present with them. That's something I have to learn since my innate selfishness usually gets in the way. Like I said earlier, it's a very important and delicate balance of taking care of the ones I love and finding the time to be rejuvenated so that I can care for them.
Maybe that's twisted logic, but even so, there's a bit of truth to it.
I was planning on fishing for an hour this morning before work but my son was awake most of the night with a bad cough so I ended up sleeping in and getting to work late. Honestly, I'd rather lose sleep comforting my son than go fishing any day.
I DO hope to catch a fish tomorrow morning before work though. We'll see.

Last week's wild trout outing pictures

2010-10-05T10:27:00.000-05:00

My first fish of the day.

Not many fish pictures, I know. But maybe when I get a waterproof camera I will take a few more...
There are a few more in my photobucket account here

Still life in moving water

2010-09-29T22:13:00.001-05:00

John Gierach wrote in Still life with brook trout "I like to think that fisherman eventually absorb the pace set by flowing water and end up going through life in a more or less relaxed way: so much so that at times the rest of the world might think we're a little dim-witted. Maybe that's true (I hope so), but it always amazes me that as soon as we climb behind a steering wheel at the end of the day, we're right back going balls to the wall."

This is an accurate description of what I recently experienced. Will (see his excellent post here)and I just got back yesterday evening from a couple of days hunting wild trout in the Ozarks. We were at one of the few streams that contain a self sustaining population of trout in our state of mostly warm water fishing (which is nothing to sneeze at) and stocked/synthetic trout. We took a couple days off for this little adventure and it didn't materialize until the last minute - hence the reason a few more friends (the Rons) didn't make it. Next time we'll make sure they can make it as they would have been in heaven.
Our tent was about 50 feet from where we waded into the stream and where we caught out first wild Missouri trout. Monday held nearly 40 trout for me -
mostly 6-10" fish with a couple 12"ers mixed in. Will caught less but he also caught a very nice 18" fish that put up a very respectable battle on his 3 weight. I was using my new 2 weight and even though we had some stiff winds I never felt under-equipped. Most of Wills fish came on dry flies and most of mine were on nymphs. The water temperature the first day was about 55. Tuesday further upstream it was around 60. The weather was nearly perfect with highs in the lower 60's Monday with the lows in the low 40's Tuesday we were comfortable in the upper 60's. Tuesday we inadvertently fish the smallmouth/goggle eye section with only a few chub and bluegill to mention for our efforts (Will did actually catch a trout in that section). After realizing my impeccable sense of misdirection had once again reared it's ugly head, we turbo-waded upstream to catch another couple dozen trout before heading home. While heading back to the trusty Subaru, we both remarked that we could spend a lot more time there but that we were able to go back home and to work well rested and renewed.
We ran into several significant obstAcles while out there and blood was drawn more than once, we'd do it again a hundred times over. We had some laughs and serious conversations and felt true rejuvenation which was deeply needed. Even though a warm water angler in the deepest corners of my being, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
Today I'm back at work as busy as ever but feeling more rested and somewhat capable of handling the stresses of whatever comes to me.
Pictures to follow soon.

The two weight

2010-09-20T20:14:00.002-05:00

A few days ago I received a 2wt Sage TXL and Sage 3100 that I bought for what I feel is a terrific price from one of the esteemed members at the Ultralight Fly Fishing Forum. A few weeks ago I was given a 4wt TXL and Click III to demo by my friends at Feather-Craft. Well, even though I felt like the weight was a bit much for what I normally do I was entirely smitten with the way the rod fished and cast. The reel was one of the most amazing pieces of machined aluminum I've ever handled - the quality and weight (lessness) was truly impressive.
While I couldn't afford a new TXL or Click I started to look around and through conversations with someone on the forum I was able to strike up a deal for a rod and a 3100 reel. I was able to sell some stuff I didn't need, do a small woodworking project and fold a trade into the deal. After what seemed like forever I received the rod and reel a few days ago.
Enough about the process. I was able to get out yesterday afternoon to fish a local urban pond. Fishing was horribly slow but I didn't really notice as I was having so much fun casting the rod. The only bite I got was by this little white bass (I think it's a white as I don't remember what the difference between a white and a hybrid).

I fished it again this morning at a little 'secret' pond at a local conservation area before work. This is the place where Will and I have always caught very nice, fat bluegill. Not a single bite. I'm curious if it has been fished out by others who've found it and thought it was a secret pond with an endless supply of fish. It's only an acre at best so it's entirely possible for the significant population of fish in there to be caught and taken. I didn't realize until I was driving to work that I didn't catch a single fish or get a single bite - which both bothered me and delighted me. Bothered me because of my concerns mentioned above. Delighted me because I felt that 2 weight was such a joy to cast.
Tomorrow morning I hope to fish another little pond on the way to work. Hopefully I'll get some fish on to see how well it performs with a live 'fish test'.

Something you have to see

2010-09-15T22:16:00.001-05:00

It's not fly fishing, it's not freshwater but it's pretty amazing.
Check it out here
(sorry I couldn't figure out how to embed the video)

And now, something completely different...

2010-09-11T09:51:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, my almost six year old daughter Maren called me at work. She was evidently quite distraught and had recently recovered from being freaked out. You see, when she was eating her granola, she bit on an almond and it immediately loosened a bottom front tooth. To say the least, she was quite startled, and freaking out ensued. Each day after that we expected it to be loose enough to pull but it wasn't and I wasn't allowed to use my pliers. Last night, we agreed that today was the day and after breakfast we'd make a go at the extrusion. Well, during breakfast today everything was relatively uneventful with anticipation of the pending removal. When Maren took her bowl to the sink after she was done, she stopped dead in her tracks and exclaimed "TOOTH!" (sometimes she prefers to use single words to explain the most profound truths). Apparently her tooth came out during breakfast consumption and went the way of all breakfasts. She was quite upset that the Tooth Fairy would not come now. But I assured her with a story from my childhood. The short of it: when I was in kindergarten I lost a tooth and never found it but the Tooth Fairy still came. I told her that we would work on drawing a picture of her tooth and put it under her pillow tonight for the Tooth Fairy.

The ultimatum

2010-09-04T14:38:00.002-05:00

I've been given an ultimatum by She-Who-Does-Not-Want-To-Be-Called Mrs. Bream Bum. Bring home some fish to eat or no more fishing for the month of September. A little harsh, right? Not really. If I calculate it right, I'll just keep one or two keepers and space it out until we have a meal, with some decent fishing in between.
Will and I braved the 25 mph winds yesterday evening to fish at a lake in Busch Wildlife Area. We fished for an hour and a half trying to brave the winds and dodge the flies (see previous post). We decided to look at the map to see what another lake would be that would not be a wind tunnel and decided to head over there.
Fishing was a little slow but I ended up catching a very nice 15" white crappie and a 9" redear to bring home. The funny thing was that after I unhooked the crappie and dropped the fly in the water - while we admired the fish and had a photo op - when I picked up my rod to start casting again the huge redear was on! When I unhooked the redear and put it in the ice chest and picked up the rod I had another, smaller redear on! Pretty fun night, and it was a start toward my fulfillment of the deal.
Another crazy thing was that two bats started to fight right in front of us and they fell into the water but only one flew away. Did a huge bass to come up and eat the remaining bat? No, but we hoped that would happen while we were watching. Maybe next time.

We felt some of the cool fall air start to make it's approach and were very excited to begin some fall fishing patterns. I'm really looking forward to this fall's fishing events. Hopefully we'll get into some 'native' (wild, self sustaining) Missouri trout, huge bass and bream - which are my goals for this fall.

Caught one

2010-08-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

This morning, as is my usual Tuesday morning ritual, I stopped by Des Peres Park to get in some fishing before work. I had a demo rod from Feather-Craft that I was excited to try out. It's a Echo Carbon 7'3" 2 weight. It was a little breezy this morning but the rod did quite well putting the fly where I wanted it, most of the time. There was this one time, though, that the wind changed directions suddenly in mid cast so I tried to power through it. It didn't exactly work, as you can see below.

Yep, that's the back of my right hand with a #14 soft hackle fly lodged in the back of it. Yep, I'm right handed. I'm still not sure on the exact sequence of events but I do know that this was one of the only flies I have that I have not crimped the barb down on. Surprisingly enough, I was able to back the barbed fly out without too much kicking and screaming. I ended up catching a few bass and 'gills on the bloody fly after that.
I've been fishing regularly since I was four years old. I'm thirty five now. This is the first time this has happened. Just two weeks ago I told Will that I'm surprised that I've never sunk a hook into myself past the barb (a bone has stopped the progress in the past). I don't believe in the superstition of 'knocking on wood' but guess this goes to show that ironic things can and do happen after an 'I've never...' sort of statement.
The Echo 2 weight was a blast to fish. I was a little trigger shy after 'the incident' but I felt that I started to get the feel for it, as well as a hankering for a nice two weight rod. There's a great description of it and other two weights on the Fly Fish Ohio website in their Two Weight Shootout.

The Glamour Species: part two

2010-08-31T20:54:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday I went down to Montauk with Will and Ronnie. We fished for trout in the Current River. I caught fifteen of my first rainbow trout ever. I had a great time. Wet wading in 55 degree water that's always pushing against you trying to knock you over is exhausting. I experienced 'thermal shock' when I waded deep enough, if you get my meaning. I didn't take any pictures because I don't have the waterproof app for my phone yet so I left it in the car. You can see pictures of Will and Ronnie here.
I experienced two spin fisherman descending upon me to fish 'my spot' standing less than ten feet away from me casting on top of my line. I understand this is the trout park mentality. It really made me want to go find wild, secluded populations of trout some day.
I also came to the realization that I still honestly prefer fishing for bream. Trout fight hard and can be tricky to catch but I still prefer the fight and elusiveness of a big, fat bream.
I've been lamenting that my favorite species are viewed by most fly fisherman as a second rate beginners fish. Today I read an article written by non other than Dave Whitlock that summed up exactly what I have been wanting to say about how I feel about fishing for bream. You can soak it in here.

Well, that's fishing!

2010-08-24T08:54:00.000-05:00

This morning before work I spent a little time at a local pond. I was casting my new-to-me one weight rod and caught a nice bluegill and a nice bass but that's it. Didn't get any other bites (that I'm aware of). I ended up bouncing one of my favorite pipes off a rock and watched it plop into the water. Thankfully it floated long enough for me to grab it. No real harm done.
When I got there I saw an older gentleman that I saw last week at the same spot. We ended up walking back to our cars at the same time and ended up having a nice conversation. It turns out that he's been fishing at Busch Wildlife Area for about the last 40-50 years and has seen a lot of changes. Mostly for the good.
I asked him if he caught anything today and he said about 8-10 decent bass with a three pounder mixed in. He asked me the same and I said that I just caught two but that I usually catch a lot more and that the fishing seemed a little slow. He said, "Well, that's fishing!" We laughed and talked a little more and went on our ways.
I hope to see Mr. Carter again soon.

The glamour species

2010-08-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been feeling the pull of the Glamour Species. Trouts. Will has too though his pull has been both figurative and literal while mine has only been figurative.
It may be in part due to reading a smattering of John Geirach books lately. But it's probably Will and Ronnie's influence going to, and taking me to, some localish stocked trout waters. I didn't catch anything but it was fun.
I've been thinking about going to more remote areas to fish for them.
I'm been conniving ways to buy a pair of waders/boots so that I won't freeze to death this winter.
I've thought about trying to figure out a way to move to Montana or Upstate New York or Eastern Tennessee.
I've even been thinking about learning to TIE FLIES!
Does this ever end?
I hope not. But I still love my bream and I always will. I guess I'm just thinking about preparing for winter.

Fishing with bendy sticks

2010-08-15T15:14:00.003-05:00

My fishing has been a bit off lately. I've still been fishing everyday possible but those days are decreasing. Heavier work load and heavier home load. The school my wife works with is about to start up and the school I work at is gearing up as well and this combined is getting in the way of my alter ego: a fly fishing bum. I've had a few good and very hot outings along with my regular half hour to hour pre-work excursions.
I've been trout fishing for the first time ever. And didn't catch any trout (a few beautiful longears though). That was on Will's birthday - and I met another guy who seems to be just as nuts as we are.
I was jurer #149 in the St. Louis civil courts and watched boob jobs and pap smears on daytime tv while I tried to read about fly fishing and waited to be dismissed. I was fly fishing in my heart. I earned $12 for that.
I've caught another huge 25" catfish on a 3 weight.

I've gone on an epic day long outing with Will that started 4:30am at a conservation area near Columbia, MO that ended only after visiting 3 other conservation areas on the way home. That was day 32 for Will by the way. We were both toasted after that day.
I've decided that I will most likely start back to tying flies this winter too.
I'm now sitting on my front porch smoking my pipe typing this out on my fancy new iPhone drinking a cold Shiner Bock. I'd rather be on some water some where but this isn't all that bad. After this I'll probably read a little in Gierach's Sex, Death and Fly-Fishing which is a great book. It's great to know that there other bums out there that think about fly fishing the way we do and have been somewhat successful with their lives (at least in my view).
My daughter just told me that I'm typing too much and that I need to go fishing. I like her logic.

A new fly

2010-08-04T13:06:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I stopped by Feather-Craft to show a friend there a fly that I've been using. The Bream Killer. I asked him if he could work up a flipped version that would ride hook point up. I gave him an intact version and a few that have been molested by fish to take apart and experiment with. We walked around looking at materials for a little bit then he sat down at the vise and tied up a couple for me to try out.
This morning I had about 30 minutes to try them out on some of the 'gills on a lake at Busch. On practically every cast I hooked up. This 'gill went 9".

The fish absolutely love it. The fly was similar to Jim's Bream Killers except he added a scud body to it and a marabou tail. They just wouldn't let go of this one! The other one he tied had a blue sparkly body, feathery stuff for a collar and no legs. The fish didn't hold on to the blue one as well as the leggy 'killer but I still got lots of hits but ended up losing the blue one to a fish that got stuck in the wood I was fishing around. At first I thought the sink rate was too much but apparently not. He's going to work on other versions.
All in all about 25 fish in about 35 minutes. Not bad I'd say.

This past week...

2010-07-30T18:29:00.000-05:00

I couldn't really think of a catchy title so I just defaulted to the obvious.
This past week I was able to get out every day before work.
Monday: secret pond - small handful of nice fatties, nothing huge but nice beauties and a few bass mixed in
Tuesday: Busch C&R lake - About 35 nice gills while a man and four boys he had with him murmured at me catching all the fish (I didn't catch ALL of them)
Wednesday: Des Peres Park pond - 20+ fat gills and gill/greenie hybrids, and I proved that there are bass in there with a 6" and a 13" bass. Hard fighters too.
Thursday: Busch Lake - only two gills but really hit a casting groove
Friday: a few moments at Klondike Park - I'm on 'vacation' until Tuesday and took the wife and kids to this nice little county park in St. Charles County that has a quarry pond. We hiked around for a while. After some time at the swing set I was able to wet a line and caught a really fat little 6" bass. The kids thought is was the greatest. After about ten minutes it proved that fishing just wasn't a great idea for the day so I rolled it in and we continued our walking and playing. Very muggy but fun.

We were supposed to be on our way to Broken Bow, OK today for my family reunion down there but our 12 year old beagle, Emma has had some health issues and is in some pain so we decided it was best not to leave her behind. We're pretty sad not to be able to go. We love our family. They have quirks but they're tolerable and we always have a great time with them. Besides we were going to get into some decent fishing down there. I was going to be able to do some actual cold water trout fishing! We're going to try to make the best of our time. I didn't tell the folks at work that I was actually staying in town. I've learned that's a necessary thing to do...
I don't have any pictures this week because during a downpour running from building to building my not so trusty Blackberry spy phone flew out of it's holster and into a small intermittent stream. That was it's soggy end and the end to my picture taking for a little while.
Oh well, it's nice to be out of touch for a little while.
I'm not sure what the next few days look like for water time but I'm sure I'll fit a little in here or there.
Until next time...

A storm's a comin'

2010-07-26T20:06:00.000-05:00

John Gierach said in Standing in a River Waving a Stick "Bass or panfish are acceptable as long as they don't involve more than an hour's drive." when talking to his fishing buddy A.K. Best about where to go on their next outing. I clearly disagree. But he lives in Colorado and is surrounded by trout waters to distract him.
Later in the same breath he says "in the long run, a trip is more about who you're traveling with than where you go or what you're after." This is absolutely right. Will and I had a terrific little 4 hour outing this past Saturday. We had an absolutely great time. I've never laughed so hard while fishing in my life. The boat shook we were both laughing so hard at times about little things and big things alike - most of which I don't remember what the subject was.

On to the fishing...I caught a record amount of redears. Like this nine incher.

And this three incher.

Will got the big fish award with this solid ten incher on a hopper.

There were a few other fish mixed in like some bass and bluegill as well as the token catfish. About a fifty fish day overall.
Toward dark we saw some fairly ominous clouds in the distance. Will called them Jesus Clouds since it looked like the Apocolypse was coming. He asked me if my affairs were in order and I answered "I'm here aren't I?"

The cloud was complete with lightening and thunder. It seemed pretty far away so we kept on fishing. Besides, the bite was getting better and as Will said, loosely out of context, "I haven't seen what the fish that lives over there looks like." We were both in the zone. Making good casts. Then all of a sudden I noticed that Will's backcast was getting a little too close to my head. Then WHACK!!! I was nailed in the forehead with his size 10 hopper. Being in the zone, I was least expecting to be attacked so I let out the most heinous sound I've ever uttered and that's ever been uttered on this particular lake. It was a combination of grunt, squeal and trying to continue to hold my pipe in my mouth. It was a full 30 seconds of all out laughing, crying (very manly crying due to laughter), and general loss of a few key bodily functions before I could explain to him what had happened. Needless to say we didn't see the other clouds begin to surround us when we got back to fishing.

At that time we decided it was best we get going as the lightening was closer and it was also about time to get the boat back. About halfway across the lake (we were at the exact opposite side of the lake to the boat ramp) we heard the trees start to howl. The water had been glass smooth but all of a sudden huge gale force winds came up. We started to secure our gear but missed Will's lucky Tilley hat. It flew out of the boat and sunk before we could circle back around to pick it up. Honestly, I thought that the size of the waves was going to capsize our little jon boat. Before we knew it we were blown to the far shore but we eventually made if back to the ramp. We were able to get our stuff to the cars before it started to rain. And rain it did. Will was wise to make the comment "I can't believe it's not raining yet" just seconds before it started to pour. Literally. There was not time for "see you laters" we just got in our cars and took off. Turns out that when I returned the boat key there was some extra food leftover from the day's earlier Outdoor Expo. I thankfully received two cold leftover bratwursts and called Will so that I could share one with him.

Gierach was right. Fishing alone is fine. Fishing with no catching is fine but not exactly the point. Fishing, catching and laughing with a good friend is what makes an outing worthwhile and memorable.

Friday morning fishing funk

2010-07-23T21:44:00.001-05:00

This morning before work I hit a C&R lake at Busch for a little bit. Caught a few small bass and missed several good solid hits. You know the kind where you see your leader twitch a few times and then start to swim off by itself. The first time it happened I just watched it and forgot to do anything about it. The next few times I reverted back to my tournament bass fishing days when you're fishing a plastic worm and you haul back like you're trying to rip the lips off the fish. When you do that with a fly rod, you're likely to lose the fly in the veggies behind you or hook your fishing buddy. Good thing Will wasn't with me or he would have been a goner.
My casting was out of whack too. Or, more like it, I was just whacking around. Whatever it was, I hope it's temporary. It probably has something to do with the moon being nearly full and my pants being too tight this morning.
More than likely it's an issue of feel and timing with the hook set and casting. Regardless, I was glad to be out on some water and I'm sure I learned something.
Tomorrow I'll wear looser pants - I bet that'll help.

Mid week water time: thoughts on leaders and tippet

2010-07-22T19:54:00.000-05:00

I was able to find a little water before work the past few days. Wednesday was at a C&R lake at Busch and today was at Jefferson Lake in Forest Park.
Busch produced a handful of decent bass and bluegill. Jefferson gave up one small but feisty bluegill.

This week I've been thinking about my casting connections more. I've been using Feather-Craft furled leaders for the past few years, mostly in the six foot configuration but I also have a five footer and a six foot fluorocarbon from F-C for a sink tip configuration. I really like their simplicity. They require very little thought and cast very well. Just choose a fitting tippet and tie a few feet on and you're set. I have also used a few other furled leaders made of nylon fly tying thread and monofilament like the ones from F-C. I'm not sure what the differences are between them but I've found that the F-C leaders work really well for me.
Anyway, I decided to dust off my five footer and tie on some Maxima Chameleon mono 3x and give them a shot. I've been using Feather-Craft fluorocarbon 4x for the most part this season and have noticed that my loops aren't what they should be and it seemed more like an equipment thing than a casting mechanics thing. (In reality it's probably a combination of issues: me, rod, line, leader, tippet, underwear, moon phase, etc.) I'll give it some more time but since the change my line has laid out much smoother and I'm more accurate. We'll see.
I'll probably go back to Busch in the morning.
Hopefully this weekend I'll get to have a little more time on the water than an hour like I've had before work lately. I have to say though that it sure is nice to be able to begin some tremendously hectic days at work with some time on the water. I think it helps me handle what comes to me better I think, almost like a good beer.

So far this week...

2010-07-20T20:59:00.001-05:00

Since I 'took' Sunday off I decided to get back after it on Monday. After work Will met me at the C&R lake at Des Peres Park (pronounced "da pair" for you out of towners) for a little while after work. It's loaded with nice solid 8+/- inch bluegill and bluegill/green sunfish hybrids along with some catfish. I caught a few nice hybrid green/bluegill.

Before work this morning we visited our favorite secret pond and caught some nice bluegills and a few small bass.

I caught them on a size 14 grey foam popper that Gene sent to me. There was a pretty significant storm system coming so I figured a top water fly would be a good idea. Will caught a bunch of nice ones on a hopper imitation. I love it when hopper season gets going!
I don't think I'll ever get tired of catching these scrappy, tenacious and extremely intelligent fish. Though I don't think it's quite fair to call them scrappy because that word reminds me of Scooby Doo's little sidekick. These fish are anything but a little second rate, iritating, go-get-em sidekick. Alright, maybe I'm taking myself and my little obsession too seriously. That's okay as long as nobody gets terribly hurt. Anyway, what I was trying to say was that I won't get tired of them. Especially since I always seem to lose a few nice ones each time out and that keeps me coming back for more.

Will is still going with Day 9 under his belt. He's going for 30 consecutive days. By the way, he chose a couple of my cherished (and apparently coveted) Briminitors for his bounty. Well deserved I might add.

Day seven: When spousal priorities don't line up

2010-07-18T22:36:00.000-05:00

Well, we have a winner of the first ever Will and Chris fish-a-thon and it isn't me. I had intended to slip out this afternoon after church and before some friends came over for dinner. One thing I forgot to do was to check with the wife to make sure she didn't have conflicting plans. She did. Will suggested that I try to cast a bit in the back yard to qualify for day seven. I didn't feel right about it. He said that he'd give me a pass for a day when things are out of my control but I don't feel right about that either.
Will got out today and hit a favorite pond after he got off work. He's officially the winner and my hero. I'm going to push him to see how far he can go and I'm still going to try to fish every day. My wife said she could tell a difference in my attitude when I went fishing and when I hadn't gone yet (it was positive after fishing). Maybe that's just the spoiled little boy in me not getting his way?
One thing I learned from fishing consecutive days is how much I enjoy casting and improving my casts. I could tell a difference from day to day how I was doing and making small improvements each time out. It's definitely a very enjoyable part of the fine sport of fly fishing. I'd say casting ranks in the top 5 behind catching fish and being on water. I'm still amazed that with all that line slinging through the air more naturally occurring knots don't happen. Don't get me wrong, I am able to tie quite a few knots without using my hands but it's more infrequent than before.
Tomorrow I have to meet an electrician early so I have to try to figure out if I can get out during lunch or on the way home...another week begins.

Day six: it's HOT

2010-07-17T19:45:00.001-05:00

This morning I drove to Busch and got a boat on Lake 38. This lake has never produced for me in the two other times I've fished it. It didn't today either. I hooked a small bass and a small bluegill but didn't get either of them to the boat. Lost about 133 flies on underwater timber.
At 10 am I decided it was best to go somewhere else so I turned in my boat key and decided to go to a pair of catch and release lakes that are walk-in access only.

First cast produced a nice little bass.

Subsequent casts produced several similar bass.
Then this:

I think it's a shiner but I'm not sure. It's definitely the biggest minner I've ever seen and I have no idea what it's doing in that lake. It's a artificial lure, catch and release only lake and I'm guessing that someone released some contraband bait in there at some point.
I walked over to a shallower section of the lake and stood on a bench at the water and cast to some weed beds and caught nearly a ton of smallish redears.

With a few small bluegill mixed in.

While I was catching these fish an large catfish swam by and hung out right in front of me. It just circled the area for a few minutes not paying any attention to the fish I was catching. I think it sensed me and was looking for my fly to make me catch it. I wised up to what it was all about and walked over to the other lake nearby.
This lake is not nearly as clear as the previous one and I've never heard any positive reports about it - purporting that it's not as pretty. I figure that may mean that the fishing there would be good. I had about fifteen minutes to go so I tried to choose a spot with an easy get away. Every cast caught a bluegill. Sizes ranged from a solid 3 inches to about seven inches. The fish had nice colors too for cloudy water (I usually associate clear water with more vibrant colors but that was not the case here). I broke two fish off on some underwater brush. I saw one of them was a very nice sized bluegill.
As I was walking back to the bluegill mobile (that rhymes if you say it right), I noticed that I was not tracking straight. I didn't realize that I was so exhausted by the heat even though I had kept a steady stream of water going in me. Could have been a combination of the air quality index being orange today and the 350 degree heat index.

I just got a text from Will saying he's headed down to a local smallmouth river. I hope he gets into 'em.
Day six over and survived.

Day five: close call

2010-07-16T23:34:00.000-05:00

Will nearly won the bet today. I woke up this morning with a bum back due to unnecessarily rigorous work yesterday. So I didn't get to work until 11:30 and couldn't hit any water on the way in. After the kids went down to bed and after the wife (she no longer wishes to be called "Mrs. Bream Bum") got back from running an errand I high-tailed it to Carondelet Park. Aside from Old Man River, that's the closest water to my house. I was able to fish for about 45 minutes until I got one of the most unreal "night knots" I've ever had. A night knot is very similar to a wind knot only you get them at night. I called it quits after that.
I was fishless but happy.

Day four: casting practice

2010-07-15T09:14:00.000-05:00

I fished a pond at Busch Conservation Area that I haven't fished in a while this morning. Lightly overcast and a gentle wind and it felt a little less humid than the past few days which is surprising because the heat index today will be around 109. There were a few insects dimpling the surface and a few large rises but not much. Apparently it was a good day to practice casting to work on getting that 'J' out of the end of my cast. I caught one 3" greenie when I was dangling the fly in the water to look at the action. Not even worth a picture. On a "last cast" I got a solid hit but nothing materialized.
Still, it was nice being out.
That was Day Four.

Also, as an addition to yesterday's report, I looked up species information and I think what I caught yesterday is a longear and a redbreast. The redbreast is the smaller one and smaller fish tend to be harder for me to identify and the longear is the more colorful of the two.

The gauntlet is going down...

2010-07-14T13:29:00.000-05:00

So Will just challenged me to a duel. Who can fish more consecutive days.
The rules:
•No fish have to be caught
•An outing can be 30 minutes or a fish caught or a tippet change (but that is a necessary change).
•Begins 12 July 2010
•Conway road park (across the street from my work) does not count (this is a bummer as it definitely gave me an advantage)
Winner pays for gas on the following long trip and has his choice of 2 of the losers flies.

Who will win? It doesn't really matter.

Hump day creakin'

2010-07-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

As a continuation of proving my bumness I fished a small, healthy creek this morning.
The first fish I caught was a small tarpon or a minner. I couldn't decide which it was.

I saw some smallies but didn't catch any. I caught this nice little largemouth though.

I caught probably 15 green sunfish but somehow forgot to take a picture of any of them.
I also caught what I think is a pumpkinseed sunfish. I get confused between longear and pumpkinseeds so it may be a longear. Whatever it is, it's stunning.

And my first Missouri longear, which helps me meet my goal of locating a healthy population of them.

It was a very muggy morning and I'm glad I chose a creek because they tend to be cooler than stillwaters. I'm also glad I brought an extra shirt because I ended up sweating so much I was soaked through by the time I got back to my car and needed to wet wade for a little bit which made me glad for my extra pair of shoes and socks.
I'm not sure what tomorrow will hold as I have to be at work extra early. It may be a lunch time or evening outing.
I'm not sure who I'm trying to prove this to. Probably just myself. I probably just chose the wrong words to begin with and felt that I needed to continue the wording. Regardless, I'm having fun and I'm catching good fish.

Bumness proved: day two

2010-07-13T09:27:00.001-05:00

This morning I went to Will's sectret spot for an hour. Second and third casts produced a couple of nice 8 1/2 - 9" gills.

I also caught a few small bass:

Stunted bass tend to be a sign of a good bluegill fishery so I was happy to see the little fellas.
Toward the end of my time, on one of my "this is my last cast" casts I hooked this nice 9 1/2" fattie:

Check out the colors on this guy! Absolutely stunning , even to a colorblind guy like me. This fish fought like a freight train. I tried to get a picture of the bend in my rod but I needed to concentrate on the fight. It would run then give up a little then barrel out to the middle and took a few courageous jumps like a largemouth bass.
What a great way to start a Tuesday.
I'm really looking forward to see what the rest of the week holds.

Bumness proved: day one

2010-07-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

I got up early this morning before work and hit a catch and release pond at Busch Wildlife. This is part of my goal to fish every day this week.
It was sunny, muggy and warm and with a slight wind. Last time I was there it was overcast and I caught twenty+ fat bluegill 7-9" on a bream killer at some submerged timber. It was slower today but I still caught a few bass and bluegill.

I think in the morning I'll go to a little 'secret' spot Will recently discovered.

Sick day

2010-07-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday Will and I took off to go to Hartell Conservation Area. He had a day off and I called in sick. I consider it a 'mental health' day that I needed very badly. In fact, I need them about once a week. Hartell is somewhere northeast of Kansas City and northwest of Columbia, MO. It's managed to be a trophy catch and release bluegill and bass fishery which is what lured us.
We started out at 3am and got there a little after 7am and we didn't get lost. Will brought his campstove and percolator for us to have fresh coffee in the boat at all times. Which we needed.

We didn't catch enormous fish but they were good sized and lots of fun.

I hooked and lost a huge bluegill though. It must have gone over my desired 10" and very possibly could have been a new MO state record. We'll never know. It's funny how the one that got away is the one you remember most.
Will caught a decent bass and a crappie.

It was a terrific time with a good friend on some nice water. We had some terrific conversations and we actually made it home awake after only a few hours' sleep. We were dead the next day but it was definitely worth it and I'd do it again any time.
We'll definitely be back. For now we may be concentrating on a few 'projects' around our home waters.

Proving my bumness

2010-07-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

My goal for the week: to fish every possible morning before work. I've done it before. Some days I'll have to meet contractors at 7am so we'll see if it works out for those days - maybe on the way home or during lunch would work out. But for now, I'm going to prove my bumness by hitting a few ponds and maybe a creek here or there.
My wife calls me fanatical. I think all fisherman can be called fanatical. I prefer to use the term 'dedicated'. Sometimes when a person is under a lot of stress, an activity that helps to redirect and recharge them is worth losing sleep over. And if a person enjoys doing something and goes out of their way to do that thing, would you call them a fanatic or dedicated?

On another note, I have have some catching up to do on my trip reports - see Will's blog for his side of the story. I hope to post my thoughts tomorrow night.

Papa's got a new murse

2010-06-30T07:41:00.000-05:00

As a belated Father's Day gift Mrs. Bream Bum got me a new murse/man bag/fishing bag. I'm now the proud new owner of a Recycled Waders Big Fanny. It's pretty sweet. Those of you who know me know I've got a thing for 'needing' the best way to carry my stuff whether it's just my daily stuff (my murse), stuff to and from work (backpack), my tools or my fishing stuff. I've been using a reproduction army surplus shoulder bag for the past year and have been somewhat pleased with it. It was cheap, decently sized and it generally worked pretty well. This season I've been feeling the need for something a little better and that didn't soak in water when it got wet. I sprayed some rubber roof patch on the bottom to help, which it didn't. It only lasted a few weeks until it started to crumble off.
I first heard about Recycled Waders from a blog that I follow called The Fiberglass Manifesto. A few of the folks on Warm Fly and the Ultralight Forum started to get them and the reviews were all positive. Made entirely from recycled wader material and extremely reasonable pricing for what you get. I contacted Pat at Recycled Waders to ask his advice on which of his bags would work and he suggested the Big Fanny. I thought it was just a fanny pack but he told me it's also a shoulder bag which is what I prefer. I dropped a hint to the Father's Day Fairy and exactly a week after Father's Day it was in my stocking! I haven't had a chance to fish with it yet but I've worn it around the house filled with my gear and it feels just right. It's also won Daughter Bream Bum's approval as she helped me load it up. I think she's inherited my fascination with containers.
I'll be sure to post more thoughts on it when it sees the water.

Weekend adventure

2010-06-29T21:16:00.001-05:00

My good friend Will (soon to be dubbed "Bluegill Will") and I left at 9:15pm last Friday and headed to Hunnewell Conservation Area southwest of Hannibal, MO. It's a 150 mile drive from home and is just under a 3 hour drive, normally. We stopped at Mac D's in Bowling Green, MO for a coffee and a burger (all epic fishing trips start out this way, right?) as we were planning on hitting the water for a little night fishing when we got there around 12:15. We got the the area around 12:15. You see, we were to take Highway 36 to County Road Z. We didn't realize that there were two County Road Z's parallel to each other within a few miles of each other. We ended up driving around on various roads that looked vaguely familiar each time we drove them. Every few miles there was a pair of signs that said "Fresh Oil - Loose Gravel" then "No Center Stripe". The funny thing was that there was no oil nor gravel and there was a center stripe. A little confusing at 1:30am. Through our navigational prowess we finally arrived at our destination a little before 2am.
We were revived when we saw the water. The moon was full, a gentle breeze, exhaustion gave way to lack of inhibitions and we went to the water to look for life. We saw crawfish scurrying, baitfish burrowing into the rock slime, mayfly, dragonfly, damselfly, and midge nymphs doing their thing underwater. And we actually saw a midge emerge! It was swimming forward then all of a sudden is started to swim backwards and it shed it's hull at the surface and took off! It was absolutely amazing. We both felt like the biggest dorks of all time but we were happy, and exhausted.
Did you know that dragonfly nymphs actually shoot water out of their rectum to propel themselves forward? Fascinating.
We went back to find a campsite and set up the tent. After setting up the tent and were about to settle in a huge gale wind came up, the stars disappeared along with the moon. It looked like it would storm so we hurriedly put the rain fly on at 4am. We were both asleep by 4:02:33am. We woke up, ate a Clif bar and had a few coffees and hit the water by 8:30.
It was pretty windy and very hot. The water temperatures were between 85 and 89 degrees on the surface. Some of the best action was in about 1-3 feet of water on some bedding 'gills. Very hard fighters too.
First off I caught a few small bass.

We caught some nice bluegill too.

At 2:00 we broke for a shore lunch of coffee, beer, summer sausage, hot dogs, more coffee and more beer. Near the end of lunch we were visited by a friendly hound dog. He looked to be a German Shorthair mix with some sort of large hound covered with ticks but sweet as can be. His collar had a phone number and 'tie up and call'. We didn't tie him up but we did call and feed him some summer sausage and some water. Five minutes later Rufus' (our name for him) owner drove up in a truck, picked up the hound and put him in the truck said a countrified 'thanks' and drove away quickly. I was hoping that he would reward us by showing us to his trophy bluegill pond for the afternoon. Nope.
One thing about this campground is that you have to supply your own fire ring. We thought and discussed the possibilities and Will came up with the idea of a galvanized tub.

It worked like a charm.
This is the point when my spy phone lost power and I took no more pictures.
After lunch we mustered up every bit of energy we had and took to the water. We wanted to make the best of our time there but were so completely exhausted all we wanted to do was nap. We pressed on and fished until about 7. Will caught several more nice bluegill and a nice redear as well. I didn't catch any catfish. We were able to round out our catch for our dinner of fresh fish, peppers and onions.
We dragged ourselves ashore and began to prepare for dinner aboard our handy galvanized tub/fire ring with pieces of flat steel to support the cast iron skillet. By 9:30 we were feasting better than anybody at the campground, and we weren't the only ones there.
We both concur that neither of us had been so exhausted in all our lives, or at least recent memory and we were asleep by about 10:30, I think.
We were 'awakened' by a pretty severe thunder/lightening/rain storm shaking the tent like crazy pretty early. I say 'awakened' that way because we didn't really wake up at all, we just knew what was happening around us and didn't get up to go fishing. By the time we really woke up, it was clearing up and we probably had plenty of time to fish a little before needing to leave around noon. It was 11:30am. Unbelievable. After a quick breakfast of Donettes and Clif Bars we took down camp and were off. Stopped by the same Bowling Green Mac D's and got home without getting lost.
Overall it was a terrific trip, though not as successful as either one of us expected. It's not the last trip and only sets us up for success later on. Maybe my next purchase should be a camera?

The Day of the Catfish

2010-06-20T22:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I went out to a new to me lake at Busch Conservation Area. I'd read online that it was a good bluegill and redear lake with some bass in it too. I seriously debated as to whether to go to a known lake or a new one. I was feeling lucky so I got the ice chest ready for taking some fish home for a Father's Day Fish Fry For the Family.
When I woke up it was still storming outside but since I knew that it was supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far I figured the rain wouldn't last. It started to clear up about halfway there and I decided to look up the weather on my phone (while I was at a stop light, of course) to see what was in store for the morning. I noticed that the temperature was supposed to drop before sunrise then get up to around 95 before noon. COOL FRONT, CRAZY BAROMETRIC PRESSURE CHANGES! I felt a little discouraged going into the day thinking I'd have a tough time finding the fish and getting them to bite.

When I got there I did a drive by to check out the potential of the new lake. It looked like it had good structure, islands, weedbeds, and points though the water was a little sedimentary looking from the rain. I thought it'd be worth trying out. I went back to the Outpost office and rented a boat and then went back to the lake.
I paddled not too far to the nearest weedbeds and in the first five minutes, I caught a 14" catfish on a briminator. I changed flies to a bream killer so that I would not catch any more catfish. Five minutes later I caught a 16" catfish so I decided to change my plan. I threw both back as I remembered that the limit on keeping a catfish was 24". Neither of the fish stabbed me so I thought that was a good sign.
I saw some rises in a different area and I figured those weren't catfish so I went there.
About two hours later and across the lake, I got another bite. I cast back to the area and I caught a four inch bluegill.
The fourth fish of the day came about thirty minutes later and it was a two inch redear that I didn't realize I had hooked until I started a backcast and it flew back and hit me in the arm. I'm not sure if I should really count that as a caught fish. After thinking about it, and out of respect for the little fella, I felt like it was only fair to give it the benefit of saying that I caught it.

Right about when it was time to go and I had about one more cast left I hooked a nice fish. At first I thought the fish was hung around some timber that was nearby. But then I realized that I had hooked yet another catfish. I could tell by the rolling action it was doing and getting caught up in my tippet then unrolling itself. I hate it when they do that because they get their nasty, tenacious slime all over the line. This fish fought really hard. It took a few minutes for it to come up to the surface but then it would dive down again and stay on the bottom. My arm got tired of keeping pressure on it but then it finally started to relent. When I finally got it to the boat, I felt a little respect for it since it gave such a tremendous fight. I hoisted it into the boat and then my line broke and it flopped by my feet. I squealed a little and did a little side-step action because I was wearing sandals and didn't want to be stabbed in the foot by a catfish. I got it stabilized and was able to measure it. 22". Again, I remembered that the limit on catfish there was 24". Too bad I thought, it would have been a tasty one.

During the fishless intervals I had a good time experimenting with different tactics. I thought about my old bass fishing days when I used to have ten rods in the boat each with a different lure on it so I rigged up my other fly rod with a surface fly. I picked it up every so often to see if I could catch a fish on top. It makes sense as long as there's room in the boat so I'll keep doing that.
I also practiced my multitasking skills. I've heard that multitasking causes cancer though so I need to be careful. I practiced casting, smoking my pipe and rowing at the same time all while standing up. It was kind of like having a trolling motor. Maybe I'll do an instructional video some time.
After I rowed in and turned in my boat key (they're locked with a padlock) I still felt like I had a few good casts left in me so I stopped by one of the small ponds by the entrance. There were several families fishing there so I walked up to a point where no one was and looked at the water. I saw about half a dozen bass and bluegill around some spawning nests. I cast out and saw a decent sized bluegill completely change course about 8 feet away to chase down my fly for a closer inspection. I didn't think bluegill swam that far to inspect a possible food, but it was clear water. It got within an inch and turned away. I thought that was strange so I inspected my fly and decided to rub it in the mud a little to get any undesirable scents off (an experiment I'd been wanting to try). I cast back out and caught the same fish immediately. The next ten casts produced ten under 7" bluegill. I also observed a few small male bluegill fanning the nests preparing them for the females. Others were chasing off larger 12" bass who were stalking the area - I guess they had already made their nests and were awaiting the females. It was quite fascinating and I was more fulfilled by catching and observing those little fish than by catching the large catfish. I decided to leave the spawning fish alone and walked to a different area. I saw something that looked like a large fish shadow in the water near an edge of a weed bed. I cast to it a few times then I saw that it was not a huge bass after all. It was a very large catfish. I stopped casting to it right away and decided to call it a day and head home.
A fun and hot day overall. I'm glad that I was rescued by a few small bluegill at the end. By the way, the 24" length limit is for flathead catfish not channel catfish. D'oh! I'll know better next time.

Before work

2010-06-16T19:49:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week I got up early to go fishing before work. I had a few techniques I wanted to try out as well.

This was the first time I have been able to fish my new Rio Gold line and I have to say that it’s perfect for my Redington CT 3 weight. It loads well close in and allows me to get some good distance too. I really like the color of it too. It’s called melon/gray dun. Roughly about the front 45’ is melon and the back 45’is gray so I can have a reference point as to how much line is out. Being colorblind, I like the contrast between the melon and gray and I can definitely tell that there is a difference in the colors which isn't the case a lot of the time. I also like that the color is somewhat pale as I think that spooks fish less. It also has a loop at the end where you attach the backing which is pretty handy.

On to the fishing.

I went to Busch Conservation area again to one of their catch and release ponds that I heard has a healthy population of bream. On my first cast I caught a nice, fat bluegill on a Bream Killer.

Subsequent casts I caught several more fatties. They all hit very aggressively.

I turned around to fish down the bank the other direction and over the next few casts I caught several 12" bass. It was remarkable to me that the 12" bass didn’t fight as hard as the 8-9" bluegill. I noticed this and tried to take a picture of the rod with the fish on but both times I dropped my spy phone on the ground so I thought I better just leave well enough alone.

I was experimenting with a retrieve that’s new to me. It’s called the Hand twist/Figure 8 retrieve.

It took a few minutes for me to get the hang of it and I still don’t feel that I have the control I’d like to have to set the hook but it’s a great way to manage line and keep from tripping over it when walking the bank. It also gives the fly a unique action. I’m going to give it some more time to sink in before I make a judgment on whether it goes or stays - so far I think it has promise.

I tried a few of my other ‘go-to’ flies and didn’t do as well on them. The Briminator caught several bass as they were hanging closer to the bottom I think. The Slow Sinking Swimming Spider drew a few hits but I never hooked up on that one. Except a large tree that ended up winning so I tied the Bream Killer back on. Right before I needed to leave to make it to work on time, I noticed some really cool looking clouds rolling in. It started storming immediately so I felt it was best to leave.

I had a great time during that hour before work. I was a little groggy during the rest of the day but I blame that on not sleeping well. I’ll definitely do this again as soon as I can.

Lil' bream bums in the making

2010-06-11T23:15:00.001-05:00

This evening I took Maren and Graeme to the kids only pond at Busch Conservation Area. After yesterday morning's outing with our friends kids Maren was interested in using her own rod (not a cane pole) and her own hooks and bobber. She wanted to let me thread the crickets on the hook.
During Graeme's nap this afternoon, Maren and I got her own box of hooks, bobbers and weights together. I let her choose a few of the "prettiest" poppers out of my fly box to add to her collection as well. When Graeme woke up we took off to the pond. They were very patient as we waited in Friday afternoon traffic. We got to the pond and they wanted to carbo load before we hit the water, which was wise.

After the pre-fishing PB&J's they wanted to inspect the water to see what kind of hatch we were working with.

While they were experimenting with the specific gravity of rock in relation to the surface tension of the water, I Sherpa'd our equipment to the spot.

It was on the first cast the Maren caught her first ever bluegill.

She saw the bobber go under and shreiked at me to do something. I set the hook and handed her the rod.

Anyone who knows Maren knows that she can be a very timid child that sometimes freaks out when she's uncomfortable with a situation. This moment she was calm and perfectly in control.
She calmly played the fish to shore while Graeme was yelling "ISH! ISH!" as best as he could with a mouth full of PB&J.

When we got the little fella in hand, she held on to the line and calmly talked to the fish telling it the we'll let it go soon. Graeme did more shrieking of joy and fear. They touched it and admired the colors and explained to me what they were. (Maren's learning that I need a little help with knowing what colors are what) She blew the fish a kiss after a photo op and we let it go.

We had five or six of those moments in between Jelly Belly breaks, which I discovered were extremely important. Maren even wanted to catch a fish on my fly rod rigged with a little foam spider. It took more coordination but she figured out how to strip in the line after I set the hook.
After both of my bream bums grew tired of the action, we decided to pack it up while the getting was good. We drove around the Conservation Area roads looking at the other ponds. They saw their first deer, about six of them in pairs. This was almost as much of a thrill as catching the fish.
This evening rushed me back to my childhood fishing with my mom and grandma. The growing impatient for the fish to bite, wanting bigger fish, wanting to go, wanting to stay, bug spray, exhaustion, and being carried in the house and put carefully in bed.

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for this evening. I'm tremendously proud of my little girl for being so brave. I'm also proud of Graeme for not launching himself into the water. I think he may have begun to overcome his fear of bugs as well.
One of my best days on the water, ever.

Took the kids fishing today

2010-06-10T21:30:00.000-05:00

This morning:
Two dads, one an avid fisherman, the other has fished once when he was a kid.
Avid fisherman's two kids: 5 1/2 and almost 2 years old
Not avid fisherman's kids: 7, 3 1/2 and 9 months
We met this morning at a neighborhood pond with cane poles and crickets in hand. Along with plenty of drinking water and a few cereal bars.
We caught a few small bluegill (didn't get any pics as I was trying to control the chaos level and didn't want to push my luck),
Overall it was a success. No one fell in the water, I was the only human that got hooked. Everyone left with a smile and a thank you.
Not too bad I'd say.
Later in the day, my daughter Maren (which means water) asked to go again very soon and that my main fishing buddy Will should come along because he always catches good fish.

Semi-regular gear review: Flies

2010-06-09T22:29:00.005-05:00

Fly fishers everywhere say that the most important part of the fly fishing setup is the line, or the rod. I think it's the flies. Without them you'd just be 'fishing'.
I tend to fish subsurface flies exclusively. They seem to get to where the bigger fish are and I really like the challenge of having to use my senses of touch and observation to detect a fish. Fishing on the surface certainly has it's place but it's definitely not my first response to trying to trick a finicky bream into playing with me.
I won't deny, however, that a surface bug is thrilling to catch a fish on. Seeing those sly bream slash at the bug with it's dorsal spines in an effort to disable it and lying in wait for you to make the slightest stitch once after a full thirty seconds before it slurps it is akin to asking a girl out a hundred times in your mind then actually following through and waiting for her response. I'm not intimating that the girl is slimy and has dorsal spines, only that the suspense will raise your blood pressure something fierce and when the affirmative response happens, it's cause for true joy.
Here are a few examples of what I lean toward in a surface fly. Soft and leggy. I don't really like to make a lot of commotion with huge cork poppers. I know a lot of people who prefer cork and balsa poppers and do quite well I might add. I just don't catch many fish on them. It makes more sense to me to use something that squishes a little bit in the fish's mouth. Rubber legs seem to be a given in a surface fly. They undulate and entice the fish. Sometimes the little fellas just grab onto them and take the bug for a ride and never touch the hook. That's okay and a little fun to watch as your bug goes for a swim, seemingly on it's own.
Now for the serious business: subsurface flies.

First up is the Briminator.

I read about these on Warm Fly and Gene Bethea was kind enough to introduce these to me and I've been buying them from him ever since. I've caught more bream and bass on this fly than any other fly. It's my 'go to' fly that I start out with nearly every time I hit the water. They are easy to cast. They ride hook point up and don't get hung up easily so I'm more confident when fishing around fly stealing fish habitat. I consider these to have a medium sink rate and the feathers undulate in the water. At one point, I had Gene tie some with rubber legs. They didn't seem to catch any more fish than the standard non-legged version so I go with the standard issue. I find they work best with a non-slip mono loop. Size 10 or 12 mostly and color doesn't seem to matter all that much.

Next up is the Bream Killer. I found these by accident. I was looking around on ebay at bream flies and found this one. I thought it looked a little familiar but didn't know why. I read more of the description and saw the name Jim Green. Jim was the man that sold me my first real fly rod outfit, second fly rod outfit and kayak in Tyler, TX at a small outdoor shop called Backcountry (RIP). He gave me a few of these flies at that time. I caught lots of bream on them but I was serious about catching big bass so I didn't replace them after they went the way of all flies, to a dark watery, and/or leafy grave. All sorts of nostalgic feelings rushed into my bones when I saw that this was the same Jim Green that set me on the right path of fly fishing back in 1998.

Anyway, I like these because they are slow sinking little spiders that entice big fish to hold onto them until I can tell that they are there. Oddly enough, I caught my biggest bass on fly tackle on the darker one above.
Again, a non-slip mono loop seems to help this fly to excel. It's got a slow to medium sink rate. Size 12.

The last fly is one of Gene's creations called the "Slow Sinking Swimmin' Spider", or something like that. It's got the slowest sink rate of them all and sometimes that seems to be exactly what the fish are keying in on especially when they are holding near the edges of weed beds. Like the Briminator, it rides hook point up so it does not get hung up easily. These are a size 10 I believe.

Years ago, I tried tying my own flies with some success. I enjoyed it somewhat and appreciated the thrill of catching a fish on one of my own creations. Somehow I just didn't really get into it though. I sold off my tying kit and decided that I would not be a do-it-yourself fly fisher. I'm a DIY kind of person in nearly all the other areas of my life and I have had the enjoyment of doing-it-myself dwindle. I did not want that to happen with the recreation I enjoy most. Besides, practically speaking, it didn't really save me any money and there are a bunch of people out there who are willing to tie flies for me for a decent price. Plus I've made some good friends out of it.

Big fish on a little rod

2010-06-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

Earlier this spring, I caught a few 'personal best' fish and I thought I'd share them here.
The first was my first ever catfish on a fly rod. It measured about 28 inches. I'm not sure how heavy it was but I'm sure it exceeded my 4x tippet (4lb test).

It took me a full 5 minutes to bring it in. I caught it on one of Gene's Briminators, size 10 I believe. The rod was my fiberglass 7' 3 weight that Gene built me on a Riffle blank (from Kettle Creek Fly Shop in PA).

My next moment of pride came just two weeks later on another lake at Busch Conservation Area.

It measured about 25" and I caught it on the same setup as above except with one of Jim Green's Bream Killers, size 12. I have a fish mounted from when I was a kid that measured the exact same as this fish and weighed in at 7 pounds even on certified scales.
Both of these fish I thought I'd never get in. Both fish swam away quite willingly. Some may say that light fly tackle kills fish. I don't know about the trouts, but these warm water fish fared quite well. Although, in hindsight, I should have kept the cat. My wife thought I was crazy for releasing it.

I called Will after I caught the bass. He was thoroughly impressed but in true Bream Bum form he asked if I caught any real fish. Nope, only bass that day.
I've met two of my goals for this year. A 22"+ bass and a catfish on the fly.
My other goals include:

a 10"+ redear
a 10"+ bluegill
locate a local healthy population of redbreast
locate a local healthy population of long ear
a smallmouth
at first I wanted to be able to catch catfish consistently on the fly but now my goal is to catch no more catfish as I keep catching them and they keep stabbing me

Pretty manageable I think.

News flash: new name

2010-06-07T21:21:00.001-05:00

I know, I know. Why THREE posts in one day?
Well, I tried to post Saturday, then Sunday but couldn't get through for some reason. I think I just couldn't figure out how to work this thing. So today it worked. If you do the math, you'll see that three posts is really just catching up.
Anyway, I've decided to change the name of my blog to The Bream Bum. I had a few small run-ins with other 'smoke on the water' blogs and wanted a name that more accurately described what this blog is about. I could have said bluegill bum. But that isn't accurate. Bluegill is one species of the sunfish family that I love so dearly. Bream is sort of a catch all term for bluegill, redbreast, longear, green, redear and other lesser known fish in the sunfish family. I realise that bream is a species of fish caught in Europe. That's not what I'm trying to catch, though I'd give it a try if I had the opportunity. And I would write about it here.
I hope this doesn't cause any confusion, and hopefully it may clarify some deep nagging questions for those who read this.
Next time, back to fishing...

Redemption Monday

2010-06-07T20:49:00.000-05:00

I felt that I needed a little remedial fishing success after Saturday so I woke up super early this morning before work and hit a MO Conservation Area pond where I'm usually able to catch some good fish. As soon as I got out of the trusty bluegill mobile I was noticed that mosquitoes were everywhere. Somehow I figured that being closer to the water would improve the situation. Boy was I wrong! I was immediately attacked by hundreds of skeeters and ticks. Yes, I said ticks. I don't like ticks. They freak me out. The first one I saw was about 1/4" around. I grabbed for it and it wrapped it's legs around my ankle and wouldn't let go. After a short wrestling match with it I was able to get it off me. I then layered myself in a deet solution and tried to cast, more like flail, my little hopper at the water. First cast caught me a nice little male 'gill. After ten minutes I couldn't handle it any longer. I decided I had enough blood loss and I was losing the enjoyment of my remedial fishing outing and decided to cut my losses and get the heck out.
I think I may need to check my dedication to the 'gill. If I were a true enthusiast, tiny blood sucking bugs of death wouldn't deter me. I guess I just need to work at it a little harder.
Now for the redemption part...

Later in the day, around noonish, I got an email from my friend Evan at Feather-Craft. He was writing to say that I was one of six winners for this month's Fly Fishing Giveaway from Feather-Craft!!! The prize was that I had my choice of a Rio fly line!!! I nearly wet myself. You see, on Saturday, I was trying to figure out a way to afford a Rio Gold fly line that would pair well with my 3 weight Redington CT rod. (have you noticed that I've learned how to do links?) I was a little frustrated that the cash just wasn't there but I just told myself that I'd just have to be patient and work with what I have (which is still a very nice line - Rio Selective Trout II). This whole thing honestly sounds way too good to be true, but it is true. On my way home from work I picked up my new line and I just finished spooling it up.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to get out to use it as this is a very busy week. But I have to say that I'll have many good outings with this line and that I am grateful to have won it.

That's the end of Redemption Monday.

Some days you just don't have it

2010-06-07T19:59:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I woke up earlyish to fish Bee Tree County Park. I hadn't been there since last fall. I usually don't do all that well there but I'm usually able to land a few pretty bluegill and bass with an occasional black crappie mixed in. I caught a two or three small bluegill in the first half hour on a #8 foam hopper I got from my fly dealer friend Gene down in east Texas. It's a fun fly to fish. Next time I'll remember to take a picture of it if I'm going to talk about it.
There were fish rising everywhere, all the time. I could not tell what they were taking though. I threw everything I had at them - which wasn't all that much as I just recently scaled back on my carry on fly supply in an effort to try to go light. I think I may have learned my lesson. I caught NO rising fish. I bet they were hitting emerging nymphs in the surface film. After a while, I just sat on a nearby bench to watch the action and smoke my pipe while I tried to figure out what was going on. That didn't work so I continued to a part of the lake where the fish weren't teasing me. Still nothing. I did, however, have a turtle chase my fly all over the place. He even got caught up in my tippet but he got free, thankfully.

I was able to eak out another few small bluegill before leaving at 11:15am. Overall I felt defeated. I was thankful that I got out to fish. I think I learned some stuff but won't know for sure until next time I try to tackle Bee Tree Lake.

Tuesday afternoon creek fishing

2010-06-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

Today, Will and I explored. We met at Clydesdale County Park and walked along Grant's Trail until we found what looked like what could have been a thought of a trail toward the creek.

We bushwhacked until we found a real trail and followed that until we heard voices coming from the secluded creek. Then we went the other direction from the voices and then we found it.
It looked like what we've been looking for in a moving water fishery. Picturesque, rustic, urban, fishy, rocky, easily accessed, only 15 minutes from our front doors.
My first cast landed me my very first creek chub. At least that's what Will called it. I think it's a minner.

I caught one on every cast for the next ten minutes. None bigger than four inches. The newness of my most recent species started to wear wear down. They are slimy and make a 'squish' sound when you handle them while unhooking. That kind of freaked me out a little but I was able to get by that as they were pretty ferocious little fellas and struck hard. So hard, in fact, that I set the hook on one or two and they ended up in the trees behind me.

I walked down the creek a little towards Will and he was having the same success but he had mixed some small but extremely fat green sunfish in with his quarry.

He pointed out to me that they were very close to the bank off a deep pool. It didn't take long for me to catch a few as well.

I began to notice that the greenies were in deeper, still water and the minners were in a little quicker water.
Most of the fish we caught didn't approach six inches but their girth nearly equaled their length. Will commented that it looked like they had swallowed an egg.

A little further upstream, we noticed a well placed sign saying "No fishing, swimming or playing in the water. Potential sewage drainage". We felt safe as the water seemed okay and we didn't see any significant wildlife damage from the 'potential' sewage.

I did see my first dead beaver though. That's a rusted out water heater right next to it. A little further out of the frame is a softball.
There were several spots on the creek that were quite beautiful, one of which is this rock formation overhanging the water.

I also caught what I think is a hybrid bluegill/green sunfish. I'm not certain but it looked like it had a little of each species in it. It was a little more cautious like bluegill but was feisty like a greenie.

Some time around mid afternoon, we felt that it was time for a break.

The main fly I used today was a Bream Killer by Jim Green. I bought my first fly fishing get-up from Jim when he worked at a fly shop in Tyler, Texas. I randomly found that he was selling his flies on ebay several months back so I've kept my box stocked with these ever since. (I plan on doing a 'my favorite flies' post later.)

Overall we feel like we had a successful outing and found a decent little stretch of water. Will and I both totaled around 100 fish each, had a beer midway though, caught some beautiful fish and had some good conversation.

Inagural post: The Call

2010-05-29T23:00:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to start a blog on my adventures in warmwater fly fishing around the St. Louis area for a few weeks now but didn't know how to start it and knew I didn't want to force it. This morning I had a terrific time fishing and now I am finally inspired to publish it.
Here goes...
This morning, I met my Fishing Buddy, Will, and at a local Conservation Area lake. I had been out on the water for an hour or so before he got there. I rented one of the jon boats for us (usually, as is the case today, I rent a boat and Will supplies the trolling motor/battery) and was scouting a couple of spots near the boat ramp that have been decent in the past. I wanted to make sure we got on some fish since our time today was limited as Will had to be at work by 11 and I had to be home by noon.
I started out using a 'slow sinking spider' that I recently received from my friend and main fly 'dealer' Gene down in East Texas. It didn't take long to start getting hits and catching fish. In the first hour and a half I caught about fifteen 6-8" bluegill and redears and two 12" bass. I also tried a Briminator (also from Gene) but that seemed to sink too fast.

I was beginning to get antsy for Will to arrive so he could get in on the action then I got the call saying that he was making his approach so I rowed toward the boat ramp to meet him. After strapping his trolling motor on we were off to the good waters. We caught some bluegills, redear, green sunfish, small bass and a few crappie but nothing consistent. Will warned me that he had about 45 minutes until he had to leave for work. We decided to move on to another spot and while we were 'motoring' there, as I was looking in the water going by, I began to see a bunch of large, dark, slabby-looking movement and a lot of pock marks on the bottom in about 4-6 feet of water. Too excited to speak (and not wanting to spit my pipe in the water), I motioned to him ineffectively to go a different way so that we don't run over Bluegill Mecca. We ran over them and they scattered but were able to double back to a comfortable casting distance and wait for them feel safe enough to come out and play. It took about 10 minutes until they came back. We got in some decent casting practice and caught a few stragglers during that time.
Then Will got 'The Call'. It was his employer. His supervisor called to say that he was 'over' in his hours for the week and that he should come in at 2 rather than 11. We couldn't believe it but to seal the deal I needed to call my wife to make sure she would be okay with me coming home after curfew. That more or less went over okay.
If we ever needed additional proof that there is a God and that He loves and cares for us, we would have to look no further than this particular situation. Both of agreed on this.

Then the little dark shadows started to emerge from the depths and lily pads. We started catching one fat bluegill after another - with some redears mixed in there as well. We fished the area for quite a while with the fish favoring a Briminator.
Overall, we both ended up with around 50 fish to the boat, some terrific fishing and unmatched conversation.
I also caught my first mussel on a fly.

That was the second one I caught today but the first one was a long distance release. My daughter, Maren (5 1/2), was pretty upset at me for not bringing one home for her. She made me promise to bring it home next time. I said okay.

Here's Will with a very beautiful bluegill.
Nearly all the bluegill we caught today had magnificent coloration and fought very hard. I never get tired of that.

This is why I'm a bluegill bum.