Dog days.....

It is hot and fishing is slow, but now is the time to get ready for steelhead! This season I will be tying up lots of Czech nymphs for steelhead. Every year I fish this style more and more. For the great lakes steelhead angler, it is perfect. Simple, buggy, heavily weighted flies simply produce fish! Fly patterns I recommend include frenchies, the iron lotus, hot spot caddis nymphs. Get cranking on the vice because fall is almost here!
Tight lines

Coil leaders!

I got to fish a spring creek this weekend, and it was the perfect opportunity to fish a coil leader. I first heard of these from PA guide Lance Wilt, and then again from nymph guru George Daniels. These are constructed by winding a high viz leader material on a dowel rod, boiling it, then freezing it to set coils in the leader. To fish it, you attach the coil to the end of a leader, add tippet and then grease the coil. It rides high on the water, and detects strikes in slack water. When a fish strikes, the coil stretches out. It is best fished on suspended fish in slow water where a traditional indicator won't be sensitive enough. For more info, check out George's book Dynamic Nymphing. Just one more trick to have in the bag!

Time is coming to start getting ready for: Spring steelhead, saltwater season, trout and smallmouth! We have been busy! First up, we are headed to Casa Blanca to scout out a trip for 2013. My fish-sassin (I combined the words fish and assassin, how clever) fishing partner Matt G and I are headed out in the middle of March. In the meantime, it is time to start hitting Ohio for spring run steelies. Should be a good year, with plenty of water around to be sure! I love this time of year, we get to heal from the previous guide rush, and get ready for a whole new season. My goal is to wear the finish off of my vice jaws, and I think I might pull it off! Happy fishing to all and tight lines, we will keep you posted on the latest!

Time to stop being lazy! So here goes.... We are getting ready for steelhead already here. The spring was pretty lame, with high water, cold temps and then hot! The good news is that it has been giving us plenty of time to plan for trouble in the upcoming year. Together with Jim over at Yellow Dog, we are putting a trip together for the Yucatan at Grand Slam Lodge... Wicked pumped about this! In addition, we have added Hardy to the line up at the shop. Now I can finally start fishing all those reels I have been collecting for years. As far as current fishing, the Allegheny for trout or the lake for white bass are offering the best games around.... We promise to start posting a bit more, and can't wait to flood the site during steelhead season!

Snow has covered the ground here since about the second week of December, so we are all getting a little bit twitchy around here. We are looking forward to a good spring! The snowfall totals are not really all that impressive, but not horrible either. Many of us are paying attention to this, as water conditions were so low last year, and we really need to recharge the water tables. Many of us believe that this was the primary factor in a low fish return year. With any luck, we will get a couple of nice dumps here before the spring comes, and fishing will pick up! With that being said, we have fished a pretty good amount in 2011 already. Trips to Penns and the Keys have come and gone with mixed success. I will post again with trip details soon! In the meantime, back to the vice!

Above: Mark form CT. with another nice fish from Elk

Low water and tight spots!

Low Water and Tricky Fish....

With the extremely low water, the fish are finding tough spots to hole up in. I had the pleasure of being out with Matt G. this monday, a client who has graced this blog with smallmouth pictures this spring. We had a headlamp early start, and began hiking down river. We caught a few here and there when we came upon this area. We both saw this bucket, and knew that fish would be holding in it. But would it be worth even trying to hook one?
As you can see, the tree lays over the entire hole, which is about 3 and 1/2 feet deep. There is about 6 feet in front of the log, and other 8 or so behind it. The gap between the log and the rock below Matt is about 8 inches. This spot held maybe 6 fish in it, so it was awfully tempting. Matt threw several casts in it, and kept managing to get his line threaded through the mess in a half decent drift. It is some of the best fishing I have seen in years.... Below is a clip featuring a client from a couple of days ago releasing a fish, and Matt threading a fish through the trees!

Above is the SECOND fish Matt pulled out of that same hole... Unbelievable. Below was the first fish he pulled out of it... An amazing bit of angling. On a side note, Matt also rose a fish to a dry that same day.



I just love underwater cameras! A steelie waiting for the release in the net.

Can you say low water conditions?

Despite how tough it was this weekend, fish we still cooperative.

Well, now it is time to get back at the vice, and break out the rain dances!!

Beware of "Steelie Pumpkin"

This is the season, and we have had one filled with ups and downs! The water levels have been all over, from low and clear to up and raging. It seems the creeks can't make up their mind. From a guiding perspective, there is nothing more frustrating. It is not just low and clear water that makes it tough... at times it can be just finding fish. That said, most days we have been getting it done. Here is some fish porn from the past couple of weeks.

Note the clear water above... been pretty much the norm...

A nice buck taken in fast water

Wild baby steelhead anyone? There was tons of water last fall, spring and summer, allowing some rare natural reproduction... Don't get too excited, conditions don't allow for this often, but there is a limited amount.

And last but not least, a bit of shakey video!

This fish cut off at the last minute, but gave a nice tussel in between!!

The steelhead season is upon us!!!

So, it is finally here.... after a summer that included about a ton of rain, plenty of cold temps, and great water levels, the bets were in on an early run. Then late August and September hit... Weeks of no rain... Hot temps.... Creek mouths completely sealed off... (I am looking at you 20 mile) Now we can leave it all behind us...

So, here is my buddy Mike with a nice little brook trout.
Mike goes fishing with me when we are on camping trips, and always does pretty good. I have not, however, converted him over to steelhead yet. So we got all this rain, and I had to go and check things out. I called Mike up to see if he wanted to go. He had some time, so I swung over and picked him up on my way to the creek. We were fishing the east side PA tribs, and there were tons of cars and people, but we found a nice little section and got in with the masses. I proceeded to hook up and lose fish like a pro (yup, going 0 for 3.... pre season bassmaster style hooksetting is always cool, after all, if you don't almost fall on your back when setting the hook, you are doing it wrong... please note heavy sarcasm), and Mike got one on and lost it.

At this stage, we decided to go and check out the pocket water. We checked a nice little hydraulic out with no success and moved down to the next one. It was there that Mike hooked into a nice fish! He kept the pressure on, and it really tried to go back at the lake. We went after it (not too far, but far enough to keep it exciting) and it came to hand after about a 5 minute fight. Here are the results:

So I really have to apologize.... after his experience... I think there is going to be one more steelheader on the water.... Again, my sincerest apologies! Tight lines and see you on the water. I am about to go have a beer to cheers the official start to the season, at least in my book!!!
-Steve B

Random Spring Fun

So, this has been a full spring already.... so far we have gone after just about everything in Pa...
Above, Pete Howard being attacked by a smallie in lower Elk Creek

The trout season is starting out good, and we have plenty of water around, so both fish and fisherman are happy.....Above, Matt on Oil Creek after sticking a nice trout.

The smallies are starting out good, and things are just getting ready to heat up! Above, Matt G holding a beauty!! This one came out deep while fishing with Steve. We were running an intermediate shooting head and a big clouser in about 12 feet of water. Was an awesome hit! This fish was a fighter!

I have begun my sons training for the coast guard. Here he is demonstrating his docking abilities, and petting his first fish.... I know, he is already 13 months, and we are starting his teaching late, but better late than never.....

We have been unable or unwilling to stay away from the State College area, but that for better or worse. Some trips have been kind, others less so, but always a good time. The last trip held good topwater action for caddis on Fishing Creek in the narrows and good nymphing on Penns.

Spring steelhead ended up being insane! It was the best spring I have ever seen. Tons of fish, good flows and great weather. I wish it was that good every year! All in all, this is one of the best all around springs I have ever seen. Time to get out and fish! We have been mixing up our camping and fishing trips. It is a great way to stay near the water, cheap, and have a great time! Nothing like sitting around a campfire at night with your fishing buddies and sharing lies, I mean, reports, about the days fishing! Good luck, tight lines, and I hope you are having a banner spring too!

-Steve B

Fresh fish fun!

Some fresh fishin' video for all to enjoy!!
This one features upper Elk & my buddy Paul harassing the steelies!

Snowy Day Fishin'

Went fishing after the blizzard here with Bob Schoeller, the biggest fish junkie I have ever known. The water was up, but with a little persistence, and the right flies, he was able to get it done. His technique involves poly leaders and tube flies, or fishing shrimp patterns upstream and back. It is deadly, even in high and off color water. I put together a little video footage while we were out. Hope you like it.

Fly Fishing Bristol Bay

Above: A decent Artic Char

Fly Fishing Bristol Bay
August-September 2008

Above: Artic grayling

Above: Fish on!! Silver at the Togiak

Above: Mike Schoeller with an Alaskan Rainbow on the 'Pak

This year, I had the pleasure to fish Bristol Bay with Bob and Mike Schoeller. It was absolutely amazing. The sheer numbers of fish were unbelievable. I have never encountered anything like it in anywhere I have fished. I wanted to share some of the photos from this trip. Picking out which ones was hard, as anyone can take great pictures in Alaska. In particular, I would like to thank everyone at Mission Lodge for making our trip something truly special.

Above: A fresh Silver Salmon

Above: Look at all the eggs in this Chars mouth!!

Above: Evening Ride Coming In
Above: One of the locals...

Above: Bob Schoeller with a pig Rainbow

An average Dolly Varden

The operation was a fly out, meaning that we would take float planes out every morning for our days fishing. It took a little getting used to, but after day two, I came to look forward to the morning fly out. Our days usual started out eating breakfast around 6:00, getting ready, and then flying out every morning around 7:00-7:30. We fished a wide variety of water, from small streams to big water like the Togiak.

Me with a colored up Silver

Above: Our Daily Transportation

We fished a lot of beads and indicators for the rainbows and char, and swung monster streamers for the silvers. We used mostly 8 weight rods with floating lines, although next trip I am going to bring my switch rod! I caught plenty of fish, drank too much beer, ate too much and generally had a wonderful time! Over the course of the week we caught silvers, artic char, dolly varden, artic grayling & pig rainbows. It was like fishing heaven! I am going to start saving my pennies for the next trip out.

Below: the sockeye on the move!!

Bass, Brook Trout and Browns

We have been working all over this month! After a bit of a break because of the arrival of my new boy, Lucas, I decided it was time to harass some fish again. Last week we went to the Penn State area to fish Big Fishing Creek and Spring Creek. Big Fishing is a personal favorite of mine, and it lived up to my memories of it! During our trip down their, we had temps in the 90's and bright skies. Not the best trout fishing weather, but we made the best of it. We would spend the day messing around, and then, around 8:30 at night, get ready for the dry fly action. It would come fast, and give very little time until we couldn't see well enough to fish, but it was completely worth it! We ended up with a mixed bag of brooks and browns, with the best one topping out around 15 inches (brown, not brook... that would be a monster if it was a brookie!!!). Next up, it was time to go after some smallmouth. We have had a tough season with high winds, cold temps going right into a heat wave and storms. Last night looked to be perfect, so me and my buddy Paul met at the boat after work and decided to give it a shot. We checked several spots, but all our action came in one 400 yard stretch. The fish were all hanging near drop offs. I suspect this is because of the rapid water temp change. When we got over fish, we could get them to eat, and within two hours of fishing we had several nice fish come to hand. It is a great time to hit the bay right now, and if the warm trend continues, we probably only have a couple more weeks of good shallow water smallmouth fishing. Flies that worked were bunny strip flies, DNA clouser minnow and standard clousers. Good luck, happy fishing and tight lines!
-Steve B

Ice, flies and bass?

Pups on the loose on the shores of Lake Erie

So far this has been a pretty crazy winter. We have seen the creeks ice up, melt, be open for a couple of days only to freeze right back up. Right now we have a winter storm warning, and when all is said and done this weekend, we will probably have well over a foot on the ground. This week we also had a pretty good ice storm. Those of you from out of town probably saw stuff about it on the news. It really does look cool when the ice is covering everything. In the meantime I am anxiously awaiting the real springs arrival. I don't know how long winter is going to last, but the ten day forecast doesn't really show an end in sight. It is surprising to some, but the thing that really gets me going this time of year is thinking about fishing smallmouth. Damn I love those fish. Either wading the flats, or hitting them from the boat, they are the most fun you can have in the summer. Pound for pound, those red eyed devils fight harder than any fish that swims! With the clear water of Presque Isle Bay you can sight fish for them. They are mean, aggressive fish, eagerly attacking any fly that dare intrude upon their domain.
The standard fly to get them is a clouser minnow, but it is certainly not the only choice. Me, I love rabbit flies. Rabbit strip tail, palmer rabbit fur around the hook, give it a hackle collar, lead eyes and bingo! You now have a 60 second bass fly that is sure to get the job done! On a side note, the fly cannot be too heavy for early season. Before the weeds come in, if you can get your fly to the bottom quicker than you can twist off the cap of a bottle of Labbats, then you have weight just about right. Damn, time to stop typing and go tie up some flies....after all, May isn't that far away...

My homeboy Paul sticking early season in spring '07

Another site to check out

Got another site for you to waste some time on: http://www.itinerantangler.com My buddy Paul turned me on to this site, and it is a pretty cool one. Around here it is catch up time. Tying flies, patching waders and getting ready for real spring! It is supposed to be 18 degrees on Sunday and Monday, but I think that it might be winters last really bitter days
Thinking of tying, and Paul, look at his fly box! He ties all those. A lot prettier than my ugly guide box. Some day when he isn't looking I am going to steal it.

Paul workin' on Elk.

Another good movie site!!

Here is yet another way for you to get through your workday by daydreaming about fishing!
http://www.burlproductions.com/

Some great clips, movies and the like. There are some really cool saltwater fly fishing clips in here. It is giving me tarpon fever again. That is not good, since the last case of it just cleared up. A word of warning to my friends and fishing buddies... It is wicked contagious! Soon you will be day dreaming of 12 weights and tibor reels. All I can do is express my heartfelt apologies.

Enjoy, and may you accomplish little at work today!

Steve B

New website to check out (at least new to me)

Was taking a break from working on fall orders today, and my Orvis rep told me about this website to check out, so I did a little lookin'. If you guys are bored and looking for something to check out, give this a shot: www.fishwithra.com Some great videos!
Enjoy and tight lines!
Steve

07' Guide Season

Since it is frozen up now, I figured I would tell everyone about some more of the guide trips from the fall 2007 steelhead season. In the beginning of December, I took out Mark, who has fished with me in the past. We fished Elk Creek together last year, and it was ridiculous! We nailed a nice 13+ pounder in November of 2006, and he now loves Erie steelhead!

Typically, December is my favorite month to fish. Consistently there are more fish around in the stretches I prefer to fish, and many years, my biggest fish of the season come in the worst weather, in December. This year was hit and miss. There were plenty of fish, but we didn't see as many hogs as usual (at least not in the upper stretches where I fish). They came later for me this season, in January. The trip with Mark was a bit of everything! The first day was high water, and going to the small creeks on the east side saved the day. With high winds, heavy sleet, snow and rain mixing, and within sight of the lake, Mark swung streamers and clean the clocks of several nice sized fish! The other creeks were ripping in the morning, but cleared some during the day.


The next day we hit the bigger waters, and worked for several nice fish. The water was still that high, but green/chalk in color, so as long as you got the weight down, you got into fish. We were tossing egg patterns that day, and bright colors were the order of the day! We finished up down low again, and called it a day. As is typical in Erie, conditions were on there way to low and clear by Friday, so were fishing small nymphs and tandem rigs. The temps were getting a bit colder every day, which contributes to the creeks dropping faster. As the feeder creeks get lower because of runoff and the ground freezing, they contribute to less water going into the creeks. Also, the seeps that you see coming between the shale freeze up. This is why you get so much ice on the shale cliffs. This contributes heavily to water flow, and when it is cut off, you will see dramatic flow changes.

The last day we fished together was tough! The temp in the morning was a balmy 18 degrees, one of the coldest days in December! We had some tackle issues to deal with and more. This is a great time for one of my half a**ed theories for you. When it gets cold, you loose stretch in both your fly line and tippet and are more prone to breaking off, and you also get less effective hook sets because the transfer of power from the rod to the hook in disrupted by ice in the guides, on the tippet, etc..ie, you loose a lot more fish when there is ice around! Mark worked hard for it, and in the end we pulled a few more fish out. By the time we finished at around 1:00 or so, the temps had risen to a remarkable high of 24 degrees... It was a great 4 days, and I look forward to having Mark come back soon.