Lake Michigan: Lake Trout and Salmon

For a long time I've wanted to go deep sea fishing, I have also wanted to go salmon fishing. Both these are likely to cost me a lot of money. Without being too humble, my job rocks. As part of my job I manage relationships with airport management for various cities in the Great Lakes region. So when the Milwaukee Airport invited me up for the day to go fishing on Lake Michigan I couldn't pass it up. We did business too, but to be honest this was a typical boon-doggle. Typically Milwaukee will take our people to a Brewers game but since this was during the post season the next thing they could come up with was fishing.

This was really hard work. I got up at 4am to catch my 6am flight to Milwaukee. I spent the morning touring the facilities, talking to employees and meeting with the airport management about what additional business opportunities exist. Then they took me for a burger (I've developed a passion for blue cheese burgers) and then we hit the lake.

It was cold and choppy but not too cold and too choppy. Obviously they hired a charter to take us out. This is an easy gig as a customer. They drive the boat, they run the fishing lines, they filet the fish--pretty much the only thing you do is stand up when a fish is on and reel it in. Its pretty impressive with about 12 lines trolling behind the boat and fish finders. It was slow at first, but we finally got a strong bite, problem was the fish turned on the hook and we caught him the back. It took off in the other direction and I spent 20 minutes reeling it in all the while worried that it would pull me in and my iPhone would be fried. The fish was so strong that the captain doubted we caught a fish and we expected to pull up a log or tire or something. I was so tired after 100 feet of reeling and 200 to go that I handed it off to one of the other guys that was fishing with us. He generously handed it back so I could pull in the last 100 feet. This is why two of us are in the picture with this beautiful 4 year old lake trout (a.k.a.- Lakie).  I don't normally smile this big!

We trolled a while longer and pulled in a second Lakie with only about a 5 minute fight. After throwing that one back as well, we finally snagged a Coho Salmon (King). You can tell immediately the difference between the lake trout and the salmon because they're more tactical coming in. The trout come straight to the boat, but the salmon move around the back of the boat. This one we kept and took it back to the dock where they cut it up and put it on ice for me. The airport was prepped with a cooler to send it home with me that night arriving back at home just before midnight.  The fish successfully made it home and cooked it for my family a couple days later. My daughter Mackay loves salmon. Kinda of weird for a 5 year old, but she can't get enough of the stuff...and this was probably the most expensive and fresh salmon she will ever eat.

Overall the experience was exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At the end of the day though, I prefer the stream and the excitement of catching a fish on the rise. I would go deep water fishing again, but the sitting and waiting don't compare to pursuit of a perfect hole and gentle presentation.

Poor Man's Popper

Poppers can be some of the priciest flies to purchase, and some of the most difficult to tie if you want to spin your own head. Being a poor Grad student I have been trying to figure out a way I can fill my bass box some more poppers. So I have created the PMP (Poor Man's Popper). Here is the fly and recipe.

1. Head. Memory foam ear plug. Your choice of color. (Dollar store 8 for a dollar)

2. Googly eyes. (Craft store, 99 cents for 50)

3. Legs, (Rubber bands with black sharpie stripes.)

4. Hackle, (Color pack of feathers from Craft store. $1.99)

5. Back legs, (Your color choice bugger hackle, $1.50)

6. Hook, ( The Pricey part. 4 bucks for 25 popper hooks. I am going to try and bend my own hooks to reduce the price even more.)

 This is a size 4 popper. Pretty big. About 3 inches long total. 

 First trip out to a nasty little creek in Spokane called Latah Creek (Hangman Creek). This is the first fish I caught on it. First cast 3 strips later... 18 inch Squaw Fish.

 An idea of how big his fish is. That is my 3 inch fly buried in his mouth.

 Second fish on the line. 14 inch Squaw.

Just messing with some pictures. Thought this looked cool.

So go out to your local Hobby Lobby or Michaels and start tying up your own poppers for cheap. Will post me tying one later if you guys are interested. 

Trout Painting (This guy has vision)

This guy has mad skills!

Bitch Creek!

Two weeks ago I tied 100 flies.... nymphs, drys, and streamers of all variety. Last week I fished a variety of different water in Idaho and loved every moment. I fished the famous box canyon and had little to no success. I saw lots of fisherman floating and wadding as I was but I saw no one catch a single fish. I had heard of Bitch Creek and thought I would try it out. I have heard it was a bear to get to since that is where the name came from. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled of the highway just north of Felt Idaho. I walked about 200 feet and was in the water ready to cast into the most beautiful water. I had a hopper dropper with a 16 prince and threw one of my first casts into an amazing hole. BAAAM! Huge fish 17 to 18 incher. After about an hour of hitting my prince they started hitting my hopper imitation which I would have thought no fish would have gone for because it was rather large and only there to make my dropper easy to see. Boy was I wrong. They were going for both and I was having the time of my life. In one of the pictures you can see some hoppers that look pretty darn close to my large fly. I took some pretty sweet pictures and it would have been even cooler to have one of you boys with me. As the sun was going down I was getting close to turning around. I was in my chacos and I slipped on the rocks, tried to catch my self and after about 10 flailing steps went down. It would have been awesome to catch on video. I saw my fly box come out of my vest and caught it before it went down the river. Close call. I was done for the day and headed back to the car and fished some of the big holes I just couldn't pass up. There was a pretty deep hole right below a bridge and at that point had one of my favorite caddis fly's size 14. Earlier they were going for my nymph and I knew there was a beast in there. I cast the fly and it couldn't have been in a better spot. It sat in the rolling water for about 6 seconds and out of the blue the beast rose from beneath. I jumped with joy as I worked him closer to me with rod bent in half. I pulled him in and knew he was picture worthy. I reached for my camera........ Gone! I was devastated. I put my rod down close to the bridge and ran back to where I thought I slipped and fell. There was the camera sitting in 3 feet of water and had been there for at least 30 to 45 minutes. At least I had the SD card with the many pictures from that day. That was Friday. I just checked my camera and turned it on to see if by any chance it would work knowing it was fried.... It works perfectly. I love my Canon SD1000. I am shocked it still works after sitting for so long in the water considering Ben you dropped yours in the water and pulled it out immediately and it was toast. I will be back to Bitch Creek and this is an invitation to any of you peeps who want to fish it. I caught at least three to four 18 to 19 inch cuts, and a rainbow that was pretty good size. It was by far one of my favorite days on the water.

Sometimes you just need to ask

I have been wanting to get a hold of a William Joseph lunch box for a long time. Every time I get on Facebook it seems one of my friends has posted a link to enter to win one from William Joseph. Needless to say I have not won one yet. I decided to take matters into my own hands. The following letter is a message that I sent to William Joseph on Facebook:

Dear William Joseph Fly Fishing,

I am a principal at a local (Provo) private school. I enjoy working with staff and students and find it very rewarding. I do my best to be a support to all staff in their work and students with the difficulties that they have in learning and growing. Some days can be tough and some can be excellent examples of how great it is to be involved with learning.
As a principal it is a little intimidating to go into the lunch room at times. There are a lot of kids and a lot of staff that look at you either as a threat or a support. When I take my lunch from home (my wife makes a mean ham and cheese) I walk to the fridge in the faculty room and, sometimes a little sheepishly, take my brown paper bag from the shelf and retreat to my office in shame. 
Every once and a while a friend will post a William Joseph Lunchbox give away which I normally respond to immediately. So far I have not been able to win one. In order to lessen the shame of the paper bag at school and fit in with all of the other “Cool” kids I would like to be able to purchase a Willy J Lunch box, however, there is no information on your website as to how I can do so. Please help this principal in his pursuit of the coolest lunchbox ever!
Sincerely,

Ben Parker
Principal Heritage Schools

I received a message a few days later asking to send my mailing information and less than a week after I sent out my request I had my lunchbox. I am now the envy of the faculty room. There was an incident the first day that I took it to work but I will leave that to another post.

So if you are in doubt as to whether or not you should ask about something, just ask. The worst they could say is no! By the way, Check out Willy J on Facebook, they are a really cool company.

The One that got away!

This past Tuesday I headed down to a small pond near an industrial park nearby my apartment that rests between two one-way roads.  This is the epitome of urban fly fishing.  The real purpose of this pond is for rain run-off but I've caught a couple large sunfish with my son Zack on a cheesy Spiderman reel and crappy bait.  I was surprised to catch sunfish in the first place but I have since caught some nice sized LMB as well.  Here's a satellite image of the area via Google maps.  There are various small ponds like this in this part of the city.

The sunfish were active this night and I quickly caught a couple sunfish on an olive streamer Ben tied for me a couple weeks ago.  Just after releasing a catch I had a solid hit...A VERY SOLID HIT!  I knew immediately that this was quite possibly the largest fish that I'd ever hooked.  It slowly swam out to the middle of the pond and after taking my slack it spun out my reel too.  I applied some manual drag.  Then it stopped and wouldn't budge.  I gave it a couple strong tugs, waited a half a minute then tugged some more.  Thinking that it had burrowed into a hold and might need some time to come back out I tried to be patient.  Worried about the flex on the rod I grabbed my line and gave it a firm pull.  Slack!  Dang.  I lost it!...Come on!  Seconds later a beaver broke the surface in the same spot where my fish had disappeared.  A beaver?  I know what you're thinking because I couldn't believe it either, but I have seen something swim across the surface and I have heard them slap their tails down before a dive.  I even checked online and found a couple recent articles about beavers causing some problems in the DFW metroplex.  I'm not sure if it took a nibble on my streamer or if I snagged in the back while I stripped it in--I hope it's the later.  Even if I had pulled it to the surface I'm not sure what I would have done.

 Believe it or not it happened.  I'm not sure if I'm glad this one got away or not.  If it wasn't a beaver it was a freaking huge largemouth that I will catch again some day...

1-2-3 Bass and More

I've now lived in Texas for almost four years and for those four year I've struggled living away from the mountains.  If it weren't for working at an airline I undoubtedly would have moved my family back West.  Recently I determined that if we stay in Texas long term I needed to find something to keep me busy and enjoying the outdoors.  Last spring/summer I focused on trail riding, this summer it has been fly fishing.  Fly fishers are definitely in the minority in Texas.  There are a couple places that stock trout in the winter near Dallas but otherwise it is all warm water fishing around here.

 Last summer I started fishing this culvert not too far away from my apartment.  Its far from ideal but one day while exploring under bridge with my daughter I came upon a depression from which the water had receded and left the carcasses of 10 large-mouth bass.  Being new at fly fishing I later grabbed my 7 weight rod with a couple flies that I could barely identify and caught some small sunfish.  Knowing there was a much larger fish to harvest I stopped by Bass Pro to pick up some poppers.  With the sun-setting I stripped a yellow-fancy popper across the surface, had a big hit and reeled in a small large-mouth.  Beginners luck.  I was hooked!  It wasn't until this spring that I really learned to fish this hole and I now know exactly where the fish hide.  Two months ago I was routinely snagging 2 or 3 1 pound LMB on each trip.  They must have been spawning because its been scarce since.

Occasionally I happen upon a spin fisher named Andrew and his son who recently moved to Texas from Chicago to benefit from our raging economic boom.  The first time we met he said, "You're not from around here are you?"..."How can you tell."..."Nobody fly fishes around here."  Last weekend he set down his spin-caster and watched me strip poppers across the surface.  All I caught were a couple of sunfish and bluegill with eyes bigger than their mouths.  Disappointed that I couldn't produce under pressure I tied on a humpy just to show him the enjoyment catching fish off the surface of the water.  Though impressed I don't think he was convinced, which was even more obvious when he snagged a LMB on a pumpkin lizard and forced me to reel it in to encourage me to start spin fishing.  I landed his 5 pound bass and left reconsidering my commitment to fly fishing for bass in Texas.  That is, until today...

Early this morning I sneaked out door and headed down to the culvert.  I usually fish after the kids are in bed  and was excited to see fish hitting the surface when I arrived.  Reluctant to fish for bass on Ben's 4 weight G.Loomis (my 7 weight recently lost the tip eyelet) I tied on a black fancy popper and began my prowl.  Almost immediately I got a strong strike and landed a small 1 pound bass (numero uno).  Relieved by the size--considering the 4 weight rod--I snapped a couple pics, released the fish and started fishing again.

#1 LMB

That's when numero dos hit the same popper.  This time a little larger.

#2 LMB

Once again I continued fishing the same popper and took a strong hit.  I'm sure Ben is reading this worried about the G.Loomis.  With the rod bent over I knew this sucker was pretty big and that I'd have to be patient.  Having lost a fish and popper to the weeds recently  I've learned to wait it out instead of pulling them through the dense growth.  This guy took his time while I led him to an area with fewer weeds.  He stayed deep and only pulled away a couple times without much fight.  After about 5 minutes he came to me and I landed him in a net, mindful of the G.Loomis.  Numero Tres at 16 inches and estimated 2.5 lbs.  So there you have it, 1-2-3.  I looked around for my spin-casting buddy hoping he'd be walking across the overpass so I could prove my skill but he was no where in sight.

#3 LMB

Having had a decent harvest, I tied on a #12 humpy which was the first fly I tied last week after my wife gave me a vice and tools for Father's Day.  In the previous melee I'd forgotten how peaceful it is to cast flies vs poppers and I realized that although catching bass by slinging huge poppers and streamers is fun, my favorite part of fly fishing is the calculated timing and fluidity of delicately landing a fly on the surface.  I immediately caught a couple sunfish and a bluegill then lost my precious first fly to some grass behind me.  So I replaced it with a #12 elk hair caddis and produced a couple more sunfish--they'll hit anything.

Sunfish on #12 humpy

All in all, it was a great day..and I'm no longer reconsidering my commitment to fly fishing in Texas.

Bamboo

I have been fishing for most of my life and it all started with a bamboo rod on a little trickle in Washington. I don't remember much about the fishing except the fact that the rod was bamboo. Although I was only 4 or 5 years old I somehow know that there was a connection between that rod and my hand that was just cool. Fishing in the salt of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas lakes, Colorado streams, Washington lakes and rivers, blue ribbon Idaho rivers and Utah water has been fun and there have been many many rods that have been to those places. While you can catch fish with just about any rod, some seem to be more compliant to your hands and mind.

A few years ago I became obsessed with bamboo rods. I checked out books from the library, read anything I could find and talked to anyone who would listen about bamboo rods. It wasn't a matter of acquiring rods from makers but actually building a rod.

After accumulating tools and materials I finally got started building my first rod. It was a long process but a fun one. I have only been able to cast that rod on the lawn because soon after it was completed it was given to my grandfather as a gift to show my appreciation for the things that he had taught me about fishing and life so many years ago. I have not seen my grandfather get emotional in the time that I have known him until I presented him with that rod. Not only did making the rod teach me about how to build a rod but it taught me that people appreciate bamboo rods because they are different and there is a lot of work and craftsmanship that goes into them. There is a big difference between getting a rod from the store and having a rod custom made to you and the water you fish!

I seem to look at most rods as long pieces of carbon fiber dipped in plastic and a few guides thrown on. Bamboo is a grass, a very tall and strong grass, that bends and sways in the wind while still a living plant.  When you take that living thing and work it over many hours it still posses the same qualities as it did when it was living. Put that finished rod in a living persons hands and the flow just keeps going. I think that is what I realized a long time ago even though I really didn't know what it was.

I still have a handful of plastic rods and I even won one at a film festival a few months back but only fished it one time. I seem to pick up the bamboo rods every time. Now that I have spent more time on Utah lake with the potential of catching bigger fish I find myself trying to find the perfect taper for an 8 weight so that I do not have to take my Browning anymore. Hopefully once we move I will be able to find some time to start this rod.

 Although I have fallen in love with bamboo it doesn't mean that everyone will love it. I recently completed a trihex shaped rod that I have shown to a number of fisherman and allowed them to even cast it in some cases. The consensus is pretty neutral and most don't see a value or even really care about the time and care put into a rod of this design. I think I have come to the understanding that this will continue to happen and I am OK with them spending six or seven hundred dollars for that new XXX brand rod. You continue to fish your plasticized carbon, I will continue to build rods that inspire people to love every second of the time they spend fishing because they love the rod as much as they love the fishing.

Who Doesn't Like Catching Bass?

I took my Pathophysiology final today and got finished early so I decided to head out to a small lake in Idaho for some warm water magic and celebration time. I spent 30-45 minutes in the water and had a ton of success. The only rod I had in my car was my TFO 4 wt which was already strung up and ready to go so I hopped out of the car, threw on my waiters, and started sludging through the cat-tails, reeds, and lily pads to get out and away from the people fishing on the dock. I was having great success with a green stealth bomber catching blue-gill. I will put some pictures of those at the end of this post. Anyway, lost one side of legs off the green bomber I was using so I pulled it off, stuck him on my hat, and tied on one of my black sparkle flash bombers. I caught a few more gills and then got a strike that I thought was a hefty Gill. I strip set the hook and this "Gill" took off. When you catch a Blue gill they give a huge fight for their size. A lot has to do with the fact that they turn sideways and increase their diameter a ton. Anyway I knew after a few seconds I did not have a blue gill on the line. He took off bending my rod in half and I thought I wasn't going to be able to land it. after a good fight I netted him and couldn't believe this fish would even fit in my net. I had to get proof of this monster so I kept him in my net and made the 1/4 mile walk back trough the reeds and sludge back to the dock to find somebody to take a picture for me. I kept him in the water in my net the entire time I walked back and had to switch net hands often because my wrists were getting tired of holding the net out. Anyway, got some shots here of the monster. Caught on a 4x 7.5 ft. leader with 18 inches of 4x flourocarbon tippet. The people on the dock that took my picture had a measuring tape and weight scale so I have officially a 21 inch 5 lb. Large Mouth Bass.

So here he is. Big fat Large Mouth Bass.

To give you an idea of the size of this Large mouth bass. The hook in this picture is the same size as the one in the picture below. Size 6 Streamer hook.

A small mouth I caught on the Spokane River to show the size difference of the large mouth I caught.

Great colored Blue Gill on the Green Bomber.

More of a shot of the fly than anything else. Thanks to Ben for the suggestion to try these Stealth Bombers out.

Nice size Gill. Love catching these bad boys.

Nothing beats having a fly rod in hand!!!

As Ben said last month, fishing for Blue Gill was a first for me. From the picture you can see we both pulled in a Blue Gill at the same time. Awesome! Even better from a canoe. Thanks Ben. 

A couple of months ago Ben came up to Pocatello where we fished Black Canyon. It was some good trout fishing. Tons of bugs on the water.... but we still fooled them to go for our fly. Good times. As you can see most were Rainbows. They appear so much bigger bringing them in. 

Fly Tying Lot and a Renzetti Vise!

So..... as Ben knows I have been looking for a new Renzetti Vise and have found one thanks to Ben and KSL. On the way to Utah I made a sweet stop in Brigham City and met a guy in a small printing shop by the name of Dale. With cash in hand I was about to make the exchange when I saw 7 or 8 bags of tie flying wonders along with an assortment of hooks... some 500-700 individually labeled compartmentalized and ready for use. Dale asked if I wanted anything and he was more than willing to give it up. I looked it over quickly trying to figure how much this would cost. Each bag had about 40-60 items......Dubbing, antron, crystal flash, dubbing, chenille, an assortment of elk, moose, and deer hair, posts, foam, more dubbing, beads, rubber legs, marabou, rabbit strips, fox tail, squirrel tail, CDC, pheasent tail, popper bodies, duck feathers, and a boat load of expensive hackle each worth 24 buckaroos. After a run to the bank I took it all. 150 bucks! What a steal. It was exhilarating.

For Fathers day Maegs got me some things to stay organized so I could tie for hours. And here it is. I am ready to tie. Enjoy!

Now let tying begin. BAAAAM!

A little after church tying

Logan has been asking to tie stealth bombers after church every week for about a month. Today there was finally enough time between lunch and nap to make his dream happen. Here are the fruits of his nagging.

Some things never change!

Newest Species Caught on The Fly

Had about 30 minutes to kill so I went down to the Spokane River and did some warm water fishing and I caught my first Small Mouth Bass on the fly. As you can see he is a little guy but still fun to catch. I saw some big fish so I will be heading back to this spot when I have more time. I caught 3 fish in the 30 minutes I had which I would call a productive day. I also am including the other species I have caught up here in Washington. I figured I would put the fly I used under each type of fish so you can see what works good up here. And I am proud of myself for having tied all the flies!

Small Mouth Bass

Tri-colored tail, Peacock hurl body streamer Size 10 streamer hook.

Big, Fat, Blue Gill

Dan's version of the Stealth Bomber. "The Flash Bomber" Sparkle Foam, Size 10 1x shank hook, Green and Black crazy legs, Chartreuse buck hair tail with krystal flash. Every cast catches a fish.

Another Blue Gill on a Flash Bomber

Red Ear Sunfish

Orange Panfish Charlie, Size 10 1x shank hook, bead chain eyes, krystal flash body, orange/white antron and krystal flash fins/body. This fly floats upside down and looks like a flashy little minnow. Drags pretty good through reed and lily pads due to the antron covering the hook somewhat.

Giant Cut Throat while still water fishing on Amber lake. That is a seven weight rod with a fighting butt to give you an idea of the size. The fish is 4-5 inches tall. Nice and juicy. That egg on its tail is the size of a pony bead. She was shooting them out everywhere when I caught her.

Black and Red Choronomid size 12 fished with a strike indicator. Retrieved by winding the line around one finger as slow as you can until you hit your leader.

This little olive and silver choronomid dropped off the black and red fly above. This is a size 18 with clear seed bead. I caught fish on both flies so I put them both on here.

Large Mouth Bass

Sparkle Woolley bugger with no hackle. Bass like them and easy to tie. And if I say that. It is easy.