Thursday, September 29, 2011
Bear's Den
Some new artwork that I designed for Bear's Den Fly Fishing Company...I do believe it will be made into stickers and shirts...
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
9-26-11
With the recent flooding..my usual jaunts are unfishable...It's forcing me to explore waters that are a bit further away. I'm still in search of a good fishable stream to slam some fall smallies, but so far everything looks like a muddy mess...So lakes have been the destination. I went to a new one today...not a very big lake, but crystal clear to it's max depth of 13 ft. I could see every fish in the water..Catching anything required 6 lb flouro tippet and long leaders...I've never really experienced leader shy bass before...Nothing in the monster range, but a good few hours of fishing, 6 perch all over 12 inches and fat and 4 large mouth, a few pickerel mixed in as well. My camera broke half way through the morning so I don't have many pics...
The bite shut down at about 10:30 am and I moved on. Lake number two..This lake and I have been doing battle for the last couple of weekends. It's a huge lake...I tend to stay in the shallow backwaters where I won't get run over by an out of control speed boat. I brought two set ups with me. There are carp in this lake the size of tree limbs. I started out searching for buckets, but by the time I found my first carp the bass rod got stowed and the hunting began. This was a learning experience to say the least. I found carp...lot's of carp...Sunbathing and cruising, not one feeder. They are rather amusing when sun bathing..They ride the current, turning side to ro side, almost looking like they are going to flip over. I tossed flies in front of them, dropped them, twitched them, drifted them, bounced them off of them...nothing...I spent 5 hours stalking carp that I could not get to eat. They were so uninterested in me that several actually swam up to my kayak, looked at it and went under me...at first it was a bit frustrating, watching all of these monsters and getting no response...then it was just amusing...Once the obsession kicked in it didn't matter that I wasn't catching any, I just needed to find more...So that was the day..quietly poling through the flats watching lazy fish sunbath...but it was a fun..humbling and relaxing..As I sit here and write this, my back and shoulders ache from paddling all day...I ponder..maybe the carp had the right idea...relaxing lazily on a beautiful day in the sun before the winter sets in.
The bite shut down at about 10:30 am and I moved on. Lake number two..This lake and I have been doing battle for the last couple of weekends. It's a huge lake...I tend to stay in the shallow backwaters where I won't get run over by an out of control speed boat. I brought two set ups with me. There are carp in this lake the size of tree limbs. I started out searching for buckets, but by the time I found my first carp the bass rod got stowed and the hunting began. This was a learning experience to say the least. I found carp...lot's of carp...Sunbathing and cruising, not one feeder. They are rather amusing when sun bathing..They ride the current, turning side to ro side, almost looking like they are going to flip over. I tossed flies in front of them, dropped them, twitched them, drifted them, bounced them off of them...nothing...I spent 5 hours stalking carp that I could not get to eat. They were so uninterested in me that several actually swam up to my kayak, looked at it and went under me...at first it was a bit frustrating, watching all of these monsters and getting no response...then it was just amusing...Once the obsession kicked in it didn't matter that I wasn't catching any, I just needed to find more...So that was the day..quietly poling through the flats watching lazy fish sunbath...but it was a fun..humbling and relaxing..As I sit here and write this, my back and shoulders ache from paddling all day...I ponder..maybe the carp had the right idea...relaxing lazily on a beautiful day in the sun before the winter sets in.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
A few new Puinks out the door...
Some to Germany...some to Canada....Punks across the world....here's a few new ones off to new homes....
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Clear Cure Goo
The shirts and stickers that I designed for CCG are up and on the all newly designed website... www.clearcuregoo.com go there...check them out...if you are not using CCG on your flies already...you're missing out on a ton of potential...
DEMO
I will be at LLBean in Colonie Mall this Sunday, Sept. 25 from 12-4pm demonstrating the making of deer hair mice and Dahlburg Divers.....Stop by and say hello......
Monday, September 19, 2011
9-19-11...Sick Day
Today was a stay in bed sick day...haha...I'm a bad sick person...I can't stay still regardless of my health or anything else for that matter. I have the cold of all colds...sneezing, snot, cough, body ache and tiredness...you know the drill...I saw the sun shining and couldn't help myself....I mean...really....it's gonna rain again soon...I know it is...off to carp I went...Armed with a small box of proven carp catchers, my trusty 3880 Sage fly reel and a new 9ft 7 wt streamlight from LLBean..it was on sale for 89.00...couldn't pass it up....I strung it up with Cortland Fly Line's Silk line, 8wf...to the carp I went for an epic two hour carp blast...
I walked the lake...not finding any life at first...A little disappointed at first I pushed on....I got to the back of the lake to the other flats...I studied the water...then two shadows appeared....then more....then more still...the fish were acting as if they were spawning again...jumping out of the water, following each other around in groups...I tossed nymphs today....Rubber legged pheasant tails, black stones...the carp chased these flies down as I stripped them across the bottom...10 hookups...8 landed....2 hours of fishing....EPIC to say the least...
I walked the lake...not finding any life at first...A little disappointed at first I pushed on....I got to the back of the lake to the other flats...I studied the water...then two shadows appeared....then more....then more still...the fish were acting as if they were spawning again...jumping out of the water, following each other around in groups...I tossed nymphs today....Rubber legged pheasant tails, black stones...the carp chased these flies down as I stripped them across the bottom...10 hookups...8 landed....2 hours of fishing....EPIC to say the least...
Sunday, September 18, 2011
9-18-11...Laked it up
Hit a big lake today...Phil and I hit the water a bit on the early side I would say....at least for fall weather...8 am and a balmy 39 degrees F to start the kayaking off right...Fog so thick you could barely see in front of you...I am not a big lake angler...not by any means...I don't like trying to find fish in acres and acres of water. I can read rivers, sometimes at a remedial level, but better then huge lakes. I look for the obvious things that everyone looks for...The structure right under you nose. I have begun out of neccessity to study lakes in more depth. Since my rivers are unfishable at the moment I have had to adapt to big water lake fishing. This is proving to be a frustrating endeavor with a fly rod...Some success was had today...but not without it's aggravations...
http://blog.timesunion.com/flyfishing/fall-lakes/1719/
Some of Phil's slam dunks...
A few of my catches for the day....
and for my best catch of the day....
Two new flies were prototyped and tested today...oh my....The first fish of the day was caught on one of them...I post up some pics and description of this when I am 100% satisfied with the design....Stay tuned...
http://blog.timesunion.com/flyfishing/fall-lakes/1719/
Some of Phil's slam dunks...
A few of my catches for the day....
and for my best catch of the day....
Two new flies were prototyped and tested today...oh my....The first fish of the day was caught on one of them...I post up some pics and description of this when I am 100% satisfied with the design....Stay tuned...
Monday, September 12, 2011
9-12-11....Salmon
I never head up to the Ontario tribs this early in the year...I usually wait until there is much more of a mix in the river..Kings, Cohos, Browns and my beloved Steelhead...Usually around Columbus day weekend...
Today was a beautiful day and there was an early run of Kings and Cohos in the river...My Salmonoid chasing buddy Dustin went for a ride with me today....Well....we saw fish...there was a pod hanging in one of the deeper pools with a few stragglers mixed in the river in various locations...I swear these fish nes the limits of where we could fish...They were just on the other side of the closed sections...safely laughing at all of us for even trying....
It was not the run that was built up...Apparently upon asking around we were a day late and a dollar short...To say the fish present in the river were skittish would be an understatement...4lb flouro tippet was shyed away from like it was a piece of rope...The only guys that we saw hooking anything were rocking spin rods and more weight then my shoe would scale in at. I think I even saw one guy toss a grappling hook....The good news..DEC was out in force ripping guys off the river that were wrong doing...We also learned of an access point that I was not aware of...Good find for the day....
I managed to catch three Fall Fish...
which as I sit here and sip on a Guinness is quiet amusing really...2 hours and 20 minutes one way to catch minnows....The good news...Vladi worms work on Fall Fish....I did manage to take an early dunking in the river...I'm hoping that will be all for the season...I stepped on a rock, slipped and went head first into the SR...The good news..It's not November and the water was 69 degrees followed with an air temp of almost 80 today...refreshing really....
I think I will give it a few weeks before tackling this again....It really is my cold weather thing anyway....I had a weekend planned for big things, high fishing expectations...Pike on Sunday and Kings on Monday...I was unsuccessful on both accounts..but had some laughs during the pursuit....That's what it's all about...Head held high, reflect on what was learned and plan another one...
Today was a beautiful day and there was an early run of Kings and Cohos in the river...My Salmonoid chasing buddy Dustin went for a ride with me today....Well....we saw fish...there was a pod hanging in one of the deeper pools with a few stragglers mixed in the river in various locations...I swear these fish nes the limits of where we could fish...They were just on the other side of the closed sections...safely laughing at all of us for even trying....
It was not the run that was built up...Apparently upon asking around we were a day late and a dollar short...To say the fish present in the river were skittish would be an understatement...4lb flouro tippet was shyed away from like it was a piece of rope...The only guys that we saw hooking anything were rocking spin rods and more weight then my shoe would scale in at. I think I even saw one guy toss a grappling hook....The good news..DEC was out in force ripping guys off the river that were wrong doing...We also learned of an access point that I was not aware of...Good find for the day....
I managed to catch three Fall Fish...
which as I sit here and sip on a Guinness is quiet amusing really...2 hours and 20 minutes one way to catch minnows....The good news...Vladi worms work on Fall Fish....I did manage to take an early dunking in the river...I'm hoping that will be all for the season...I stepped on a rock, slipped and went head first into the SR...The good news..It's not November and the water was 69 degrees followed with an air temp of almost 80 today...refreshing really....
I think I will give it a few weeks before tackling this again....It really is my cold weather thing anyway....I had a weekend planned for big things, high fishing expectations...Pike on Sunday and Kings on Monday...I was unsuccessful on both accounts..but had some laughs during the pursuit....That's what it's all about...Head held high, reflect on what was learned and plan another one...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
More Customer Success
I just received these photos in an email from a recent very pleased customer...Success....to say the least....Nice job Dave Q. Glad I could help..
9-11-11...Epic fail
Another day spent on the water chasing the water wolf with no hook ups to speak of. I think the waters that I am trying to do this in are not appropriate...Time for more research. Here's a few photos of the last ditch effort to hook a fish for the day...
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