ffpc-rods fly fishing blog

This Thursday evening, 5/10, I'll be doing a presentation for the Santiam Flycasters at their monthly meeting in Salem. That will be at the Pringle Hall by the hospital, 606 Church Street and I'm supposed to start about 7. Come on down to the meeting.

Join me Saturday, April 14th, 11A-3P, at

Royal Treatment Fly Shop,

21570 Willamette Drive

West Linn, OR 97068

     I'l be demo tying a little Dragonfly "mud emerger" larva that seems to work really well anywhere that there are Dragon flies and is a good "generic" for other waters. Simple and easy with a loop method for the bead eyes so they don't pop off when the bulb on the end of the mono breaks off. Also adjustable to the size of the head section you want to use them on.

     See you there.

Phil

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pests/didymo/cleaning

You may have seen this before, if so, no problem. But, if you're concerned with the problems invasive species can cause, please take the time to stop by the info site frm New Zealand and learn more about stopping the spread of the problems they can create.

     I have done a presentation for a number of clubs, called "Tips & Tricks for fly fishing still waters", that has been well received and appreciated. I call it a "sloped forehead" presentation because so many of the things I point out are the kind that people slap themselves in the forehead and say something along the line of "I shoulda known that!".

     At the request of several of those that have seen the presentation I have been working on writing out the information that I cover during the presentation. The copy is now in the hands of a friend that lives up on the Olympic Peninsula for review and, when he finishes reviewing and correcting my errors in writing, it will be available to anyone that wants a copy.

     I will post it's completion, both here and on my rods website ffpc-rods, to let everyone know and all you will need to do to get a copy is email me a request and I'll send you a pdf file. No charge. Shouldn't be too long before it is available.

     Spent the day, yesterday, with a great group of friends and strangers at the annual Fly Tying Expo by the NWFF in Troutdale. Lots of valuable info available there from folks that have tied longer than many visitors have been around. Enjoyed the day totally! Now, on to other events.

     I'm taking a break, for a few right now, from sewing up some rod socks for the rods I built to take with me to Sequim,WA where I will stay at a friends place for a few nights while there to do a couple of meetings with fly fishing clubs.(Gray Wolves and Olympic Peninsula) The presentation I am doing is  "Tips & Tricks on still water fishing". Do one Monday evening (11/7) and the second one Wednesday evening (11/9), but Tuesday is not a day off.

     All day Tuesday I'll be doing "Fly casting tune-up" clinics for members of the 2 clubs, some more on Wednesday and, if needed, will do a couple more on Thursday before I head home. These clinics are at no charge and are aimed at helping others improve their cast to the point there is no thought in the effort, just great casting results.

     Now, for those that don't want to drive all the way up to Sequim for either meeting, but Portland is workable, I'll be doing the "Tips & Tricks on still water fishing" presentation for the Trout Unlimited club over at the Lazy Labrador in SW Portland. That will be on December 14th. You can contact them for more info on time and location.

     Now, fishing thoughts:   

      Do have my eye on a spot on the Sandy River that I want to spend a little time in. Will watch the weather and river flow and, if it stays flowing like it is now, will probably go out and try next week. I'll post it here as far in advance as I can so if you want to come out, join me on the water, see up close my stream nymphing technique, you're more than welcome.

     Beautiful day, despite the shifting winds. The morning wind was more breeze like and was blowing down the lake from the dam and, after lunch, it did a 180 and created some whitecaps, but it was still a beautiful and sunny day.

     Worked my way down to the dam early on in the morning. Bit brisk in the breezy areas so wanted to get in the "shade" of the dam and be out in the sun. It was worth the travel!

     Got there while using my AirFlo Intermediate tip line and hit a couple. Watched the water and noted no hatch and only a few rises so I went to my full Type 3 line. Best choice by far.

     Changed over to my small, size 10 2x long, grey Cashmere, leech pattern and all hell broke loose. Lost count on catches in about 20 minutes but had a few stand out. For instance 7 casts in a row with immedite hookups and landings. Favorite cast? Hit the water and was letting the line sink when the first one hit. Played that for a few seconds before it got off, Let the line settle again and on the 2nd recovery tug hit another one. Another "LDR" after about 3 pulls. Let it settle down again and on the 1st tug hit another one. Was close enough in I went ahead and landed that one. Everything ranging in size from about 10" up to about 16". (Hope these carry over well as they would make some nice bigger ones for next year.)

     All fish looking well fed and healthy. Most darkening up in preparation for the spawn. Obviously hatchery fish that have been "reprogrammed" to spawn early so, at the hatchery, they can release them eariler.

     About 10 members of NWFF there for the outing and lunch. Just about all left the water about 3 when it became a little tough to stay in place against the wind and gusts. Besides, it only made it up to about 45 degrees and the wind made it seem a little cooler than that.

     Remember, this was the last weekend of the year on Laurance and it closes for the winter  tomorrow at dark.

     OK, it's posted on the video page here. Only took about a week to edit the video I shot, and another half dozen or so attempts to post it, but it's now available.

     I first did this method by accident when I was watching an Eagle make the effort to grab some lunch from the stream just down from where I was fishing. As I watched him do his thing my line was pulled under and I immediately had a fish on. Once I released that one I dried the line and fly, by false casting, and did another drift.  The current pulled the line under, along with the fly, and I got another one. This caught my interest.

     I spent several days repeating this line sinking before I finally decided to try using a dry fly on a sinking line and working the same area. My fish catch count went up dramatically as soon as I did this. I then spent the rest of the summer and fall "fine tuning" this method until it worked all of the time.

     Over the years I have continued to improve this method until it finally got to the point of working just about anywhere, on any fish that are there, with minimal effort.

     A member of the Central Oregon Flyfishers (who shall remain nameless unless he wants to do a post about it here) heard me talking about the method one day. You could tell by the look on his face he thought I was either making up the method as I talked, or totally crazy, but he still tried it when no one was around.

     A couple of years ago, at the Bamboo Festival in Camp Sherman, he showed up Saturday morning and marched right thru the display area to where I was set up. He looked a little "tight jawed" as he approached and I wondered what I had done to upset him. He got right in my face and said he had 2 things to say to me:

     "First, I want to apologize. When you were talking about your stream nymphing method I thought you were either making something up, or greatly exagerating what you were describing as results. I tried it anyway."

     "Second, just thought you might want to know that I'm picking up a Type 3 sinking line and headed over to the Crooked to try that. I still can't believe how well that works!"

     Take the time to practice a little and you'll be surprised with how many fish you can catch. When applied properly the fly rises and falls, much like the emerger on its way to the hatch, and that hits the "genetic stimulation" effect you want. It is a well known fact that fish will by-pass everything to grab the emerger after it has schucked its larval case. Try it with dry flies and see what happens.

     Once you have used it, and have gotten over the surprise at how well it works, feel free to take the time to register and post info here.

     Warm night so didn't get a lot of sleep, woke up about 5:30, had a quick snack and put everything together for the video shoot. Realized it was the 10th anniversary of the Twin Towers destruction and stopped everything for a few minutes while reflecting on that. When you have the life, living conditions and choices we have, it's hard to imagine the life of the attackers.

     About 7 I went up to the first gravel bar to do the video shoot but couldn't get a good camera placement, with the little tripod I had with me, so moved on down to the area about even with the upstream end of the Big Bend parking lot. Have always done very well there, and there is some flatter surface to place the little camera, so went to shooting there. Tried to pick the least likely fly to get a hit on so I could just do a demo of the technique and not have to stop to release anything. Took a couple of tries before I found a size 18 Grey w/tan hair wing pattern that didn't attract attention. Spent a few hours working on getting some good shots before I put the camera away and went to work on the fishing.

     Used my technique with an interemediate and Pheasant Tails, GRHE done in grey, the Little Black Bogus, a standard Elk Hair Caddis submerged, and had a blast. Caught a lot in the 15-25 range (ODF&W measures in cm not inches so it looks bigger). Actually caught some in the 12" to 15" range too, but spent more time laughing at the 3"-4"ers that attack anything that moves in the water.

     I had never given the technique a name but some folks watching me hit fish after fish asked what I was doing was called. High speed, very sharp brain, answered with the "ffp stream nymphing" technique, so I guess I'll call it that from now on. Fished from Big Bend down the the curve next to the highway until I got tired of catching and headed back to the trailer and something to eat.

     After dinner walked over to another trailer there to give some spare copies of the Little Black Bogus to a guy I had talked to earlier on the water. Chatted with him and his Dad until about midnight. Turned out that Dad is Wally Backman of MLB who lives in the area. Made for a very pleasant evening to chat with somebody that is totally relaxed outdoors and isn't out to prove anything about how good they are at fishing.

     Currently working on the video and will post that as soon as I get it cut down to a reasonable length and write out the narration to make it easy to follow. I'll post here, and on Facebook, when it's completed and posted.

     Arrived at Big Bend about 4 and set up the trailer in space 1. The back end of the campground is closed and being used as a staging area for the crews working on the "100 year flood plan" for Bowman dam. They said that they are raising the holding level of the dam, as well as the overflow outlets, and would be there up into early October. The 6th I think the sign said. If you want to get to the Crooked from Bend you have to go through Prineville as the dam is closed to traffic.

     Real warm, about 90, so took a stroll to check out the river flow and conditions. Lots of smaller fish rising to the evening hatch, river is about as cloudy as normal and lots of aquatice plant growth. Decided not to fish because it was so warm.

     Walked back to the trailer, dug out the recliner lawn chair and relaxed for a bit in the breeze blowing up the canyon. I had spent enough time there, when I still ived in Central Oregon, I had gotten used to the rugged beauty of the canyon. Couldn't set still so took a walk enjoying the scenery. In the process talked to a group of motorcycle riders that were taking part in the "Run to the Cascades" memorial rally in Prineville about the road closure, some areas worth visiting and the beauty of the area. Nice group.

     I'll do the video shoot tomorrow morning before it gts too warm.

     Went over to Davis this morning and lauched about 7 at the lava flow. Worked my way all the way down to the reed beds, at the end of the lave flow, 2/3rds of the way across the reed beds, then started zig zagging back towards the ramp.

     So many shucks and spent flies on the surface that, when the sun was  at the low rising level, that the surface looked like a really dust covered computer screen, or speckled over spray on a window from spray painting. Covered with those everywhere you looked.

     Worked with just about everything I had from dry to leech. Used floating, intermediate and Type 3 lines, varied recovery speeds from barely moving to 2 handed stripping, went from surface to snagging in the bottom growth and never even had a bump. My fish finder went as long as 3 minutes between reading fish. I know they are in there, just didn't find where they were hanging, or maybe they aren't "gathering" in a particular feed area and are spreadout all over the lake. It's good and high so there is plenty of area to cover and, with the schucks and spent on the surface, there is no lack of food whatsoever.

     Gave up about 1 and headed back to camp. Decided to load up and head over to the Crooked to shoot a video on my "stream nymphing" technique. I never gave it a name until Sunday.