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Cutthroat Trout
It was already 8pm by the time I finally had my pack strapped on at the trailhead. The sun was low in the sky and the air was brisk. The hike was going to take longer than the sun would light my path. As long as I was able to get close to my destination mountain lake before complete darkness, my headlamp could help me the rest of the way.
Any time fish are rising at a mountain lake, spirits rise. Whenever you fish a new place in the mountains, unless you have solid reports from someone else who has fished the place recently, you never really know if you're going to find fish or not. The sub-alpine weather, short growing season, and lack of rich insect life in mountain lakes make life difficult. So when I arrived at the lake and saw occasional splashy disturbances in the lake's silvery-blue reflection of the dusk sky, my hopes for the weekend's fishing rose.
Go With the Flow
My alarm blared at 3AM and I rolled out of bed, stumbled into the kitchen and made some coffee, filled the thermos and jumped in the truck. A quick stop at a fishing buddy' s house and we were off to fish the Grande Ronde river.
As we drove through the darkness we chatted about where we caught steelhead last weekend, what runs we were going to fish and what flies we were going to use. Our excitement grew as we got closer to the river in anticipation of a good day of fishing. It was still dark as we wound our way down Rattlesnake Grade towards Boggans Oasis. We got to the river at first light and jumped out to check conditions and were horrified to find that the river was completely blown out! Our hearts sank and we knew it was not going to be a good day. We stayed and fished, but with no luck. The water was just too high and chocolate brown.
That was the day when I decided I needed to learn more about water gauges and hydrographs. Over the last 14 years I have learned how to identify some important river conditions using hydrographs that have increased my success as a steelhead fisherman. Here are some conditions every steelheader should know and what their corresponding hydrographs look like.
Fish Swami has adopted a fish for the South Fork of the Boise River 2008 genetic study. The donated money is being used to offset the cost of genetic testing, which is being done to understand the origins of the rainbow trout in the South Fork fishery. This weekend, anglers are floating the river below Anderson Ranch Dam, catching fish, and clipping fins for the genetic study.
To read more about the genetic study and conservation issues regarding the South Fork Boise River, visit southforkboise.org. You can donate to the conservancy project by clicking on the Support button.
A picture of the FishSwami.com fish will be posted when it becomes available.
Trout spawning redds
In the spring, rainbow and cutthroat trout begin their annual spawning process. In rivers and streams where trout are naturally reproducing, it' s important to avoid disturbing spawning fish during this time. These trout are expending most of their energy on spawning. Angling for spawning fish adds undo stress. Additionally, extra care should be taken to avoid damaging trout spawning areas known as "redds". Trout deposit their eggs in a clean gravel bed where they are left to hatch in four to seven weeks. Wading through a redd can crush trout eggs or the trout fry that remain in the gravel for weeks after they hatch. By not fishing to spawning fish or disturbing their redds, anglers can help ensure strong future trout populations. The following tips will help you learn how to identify redds, spawning fish, and the locations where spawning fish build redds in a river.
Midge Pattern Setup, Presentations, and Techniques
I almost always use two flies when fishing midge patterns. The patterns are usually small and the trout are less willing to move to feed, so fishing multiple flies allows you to fish two current lanes, two water depths, or two insect stages at once. These methods will need to be adapted if fishing regulations prevent you from fishing multiple flies simultaneously.
Adult midges collect on a snowbank
When I first started winter fly fishing on rivers, I had a preconceived notion that the rivers lacked winter hatches, so any fishing would have to be done with nymphs or streamers presented down deep to lethargic trout. The thought of insects hatching and trout actively feeding at the surface seemed like a distant memory. Surely no self-respecting insect would hatch when it was 20 degrees outside and the wind was howling. Snowy river banks, iced-up rod eyelets, numb fingers and frozen feet were the name of the game now.
The fly leader is the connection between your fly rod-and-line, and the fly. On a typical 40 foot cast the leader represents 25% of the distance between you and the fish. Having the right leader can help increase your fishing success. Tying your own leaders will help you cast your fly farther and with more accuracy, resulting in catching more fish!
Many people like to use "store-bought" leaders with a smooth continuous taper. Unfortunately these leaders aren't as effective at transmitting the energy from the fly line to the fly and the result is often casts that don' t turn over the fly very well. A properly constructed leader can be matched to the weight of your fly rod and will help turn over big flies such as grasshoppers as well as little tiny flies such as PMDs and midges. Hand tied leaders are also easier to repair and add new tippet. I find that I can use the same leader all year with a few repairs during the season. I also like nymphing with the hand-tied leader; snugging the strike indicator up to a knot, and putting split shot above a knot so it doesn' t slip.
Puget Sound Chum Salmon
Thanksgiving Indeed.
Thanksgiving weekend 2007 not only afforded me a few days to visit Mom in Washington state on the shores of Puget Sound, but also allowed for some time spent fly fishing for SRCs (Sea Run Cutthroats) and chum salmon in the cold, clear, saltwater of the Sound. Being from Idaho I don't get a chance to fish saltwater or salmon too often, so I flew out to Washington not only looking forward to spending the holiday with family, but also in anticipation of a new fishing experience and the challenge of coaxing some saltwater species into my net.
CDC Biot Thorax Dun
The 2007 year was the second consecutive year that I have recorded all of my fishing trips into Fish Swami. One of the benefits of keeping a fishing log for all of my outings is being able to view catch statistics for previous years. Fish Swami has a very powerful statistical analysis tool that lets you query your fishing log for almost any statistic you would like to know. I used that tool to compile the following table for my top 10 fish-producing flies for 2007.
As winter turns to spring, steelhead resume migrating to their spawning grounds. River freshettes (where the water rises) and warmer water temperatures draw fish upstream and into smaller tributary streams. As steelhead get closer to their spawning grounds it becomes easier to spot them, both because of the smaller size of the river, and because they move into more predictable locations. Sight fishing for steelhead is an exciting experience. Instead of blindly fishing mile after mile of water you can actually see your quarry and how it reacts to your fly. Chances of success are greatly improved when you know the fish are present, and you can direct your cast to them. Team fishing, where one partner spots from a vantage point while the second partner fishes will help you hook-up. However, spotting steelhead takes practice and some stealth. Here are some tips on locating migrating steelhead in the river.
Rainbow Trout
Fall is an amazing time to be outdoors - the oppressive heat from summer is gone, the hillsides turn gold and crimson in radiant splendor as trees present their annual parting gifts, and fishing picks up as fall hatches commence and fish gorge before the winter. Fishing isn't always great, however, but luckily when it's not, nature affords a multitude of opportunities to take photographs or simply relax and enjoy the season's diminishing warmth. The photographs that follow are from my autumn adventures thusfar. Enjoy.
Pale Morning Duns
On many rivers, Pale Morning Duns (PMDs) are a relief to both anglers and fish alike. In the West, the hatch of the medium-sized mayfly can occur both in numbers and duration during the summer months. After a winter and spring of fishing miniscule midge patterns or trying to time sporadic drake emergences, PMDs can ease anglers and fish into a fairly consistent daily schedule of hatch and spinner fall. This allows an angler to spend time not only on honing patterns for each stage of the Pale Morning Dun's lifecycle, but also on focusing on specific water types to fish certain patterns.
Fish Swami Fish Videos
Fish Swami is proud to introduce its newest section of the site - Fish Videos. It can be intriguing and entertaining to watch fish when they are active, and one can learn lessons when fishing by spending more time watching fish before he or she actually wets a line. Odds can be tilted in the angler' s favor by discerning if a fish is feeding, how it is taking its food, whether it seems curious or if it is simply lethargically biding its time until the next major hatch to feed. My goal is to take videos of fish in varying situations, sometimes showing a lesson to help the angler succeed and sometimes simply to enjoy watching fish interact with their environment.
Idaho Mountain Lake
Mountain lakes hold intrigue. They're often protected by long drives down dusty, washboard-surfaced dirt roads that recall memories of bouncing on your dad's knee as a child. They're also protected by long hikes carrying heavy packs that bite into your shoulders, making you wonder why you didn't spend the weekend at home enjoying the air conditioning. But it's that euphoric feeling of giddiness felt once the mountain lake materializes out of forest and trail that lightens the pack, soothes the shoulders, and sends you scurrying to ready your fishing gear.
Combat fishing in Alaska
I never thought I would think this, but some aspects of fishing in Alaska make me appreciate what Idaho has to offer. Sure, Idaho doesn't boast chinook salmon that top the century mark, or silver salmon that make flyfishermen's arms ache, but it does offer fish that actually feed on bugs and the luxury of seclusion even on its more well-known waters. Both of these points became readily apparent in my recent two-week excursion to Alaska.
"Don't get eaten by a bear."
Thanks for the advice, I'm not sure I would have known not to get eaten if I hadn't read that. That's the kind of blatantly obvious advice you get that makes you shake your head. Advice similar to: "Don't burn yourself!" when you're putting a piece of wood on the fire.
But it's that sound advice that rings in my head as I prepare for a two week adventure to the United State's largest state. As I've perused web sites for Alaskan fishing adventures featuring galleries upon galleries of fish porn, I've also come across plenty of galleries of bears. Brown bears, black bears, grizzly bears, big bears, bear cubs, and bear farms. While my anticipation for the trip is ready to bubble over, the constant threat of becoming dessert after a salmon main course keeps me somewhat subdued.
Disco Zebra Midgeling
The Disco Zebra Midgeling is a pattern derived from combining the Disco Midge pattern with Mike Mercer's successful Zebra Midgeling pattern. Mercer's pattern is based off of the ubiquitous Zebra Midge, which is about as simple as a pattern can get: a thread base, wire ribbing, and a metal bead head. Mercer modified the Zebra Midge by adding triggering characteristics to the fly to help entice reluctant trout to feed. In my fishing and tying of Mercer's pattern, I've found that I like to make two modifications to the pattern, especially for smaller sizes, that results in the Disco Zebra Midgeling.
The 2006 year was good to me with regards to my outdoor adventures. I was able to partake in several backpacking adventures to mountain lakes during the summer months, while visiting the local rivers and ponds frequently year-round. Overall, I spent more days in Mother Nature and on the water than any other year to date. The following are some of my better outdoor photographs from 2006.
A few years ago I was thumbing through a fly fishing magazine when I came across an interesting article by Gary LaFontaine regarding a sinking-line, floating-fly technique he used for catching bass and trout suspended over shallow weed beds. One of the first things I enjoyed about the article was LaFontaine's writing style and his ability to mix fishing stories with theories and details. But more so than LaFontaine's writing style, it was his creative fishing mind that captivated my attention and did not let go.
One of the simple-to-use features of Fish Swami is its basic statistics page where it breaks down the number of fish you caught in a given year according to month, fish species, location, or pattern. Although the numbers are fun to look at, they don't tell you much aside from some basic information about how you did fishing in a given year according to some simple groupings. I'm going to discuss my top fly for 2006 and attempt to explain why it worked and what factors influenced its relative productivity. The following is my table of top 10 flies for 2006:
I have created a fishing log template for Fish Swami users to print off and use while fishing. The format is very similar to the format used to enter in the fishing log data in Fish Swami, so the transfer should be fairly seemless. The template can be found here:
Fish Swami was born in the minds of myself and a couple college friends (search for users zstroud and splashbuilders) as we would easily remember the highlights of fishing trips past, but would struggle to recall what the weather was like, whether the wind was blowing, or which flies had worked best during those trips. Our initial thoughts turned towards keeping a relatively simple written fishing journal; however, as I changed majors from Civil Engineering to Computer Science and became more adept at programming and web design, it was easy for us to discuss ways to take a written log several steps further. Building an online fishing log was a logical first step where we, as fishing partners, could not only shared our individual fishing logs with each other, we could share them with anyone who wanted to see them.