Sunday, May 31, 2009

Beaver Creek Reservoir Revisited


Nick caught a delicious bass

Here's a quick update on some of the official VMFF trips over the past few weekends.  We've seen some new faces out at Beaver Creek Reservoir lately, all of them members of SMD12 (that's fancy talk for UVa Med School's class of 2012).  We've been catching the usual bass and TONS of bluegill, but we've missed the crappie lately.  In fact, I haven't seen a crappie at the reservoir since March when Kyle and I had our fish fry.  Hopefully we didn't eat all of them...

Anyway, on to uplifting fish stories.  I took Jon, a fishing virgin from New Jersey, along with Lee and Benji to the reservoir a few weeks ago.  It was a blasting hot day, but we did manage to land some pretty fish.  Benji, Lee, and Jon all picked up fly fishing very quickly, but it was Jon who became hero of the day by catching the first fish of his life.  Unfortunately, I think I scared him by telling him about the spines on a bluegill's dorsal fin, so it took Lee a couple tries to convince him to just go for it and grab the thing.   






Having learned my lesson in the afternoon heat the week before, Cameron, Kyle, Angie, and I went back to the lake early this past Saturday morning.  We could not have asked for a more perfect day.  The weather stayed a bit cooler and the fish responded by chowing down on Kyle's favorite spider/water bug immitation, and silver rapalas. The fish weren't even the most interesting part of the day.  Angie managed to attract some attention from a reporter from The Hook, a weekly Charlottesville publication.  He just started taking pictures of her while she fly fished from a boat dock, and only later introduced himself to ask for her name for the story he was writing.  Creepy much?  Actually, it turns out that he does work for The Hook and wrote a story about Western Albemarle High School's new boat house for their crew team.  You can see the story here (be sure to check out the slide show link for Angie's 15 minutes of fame).

Aside from paparazzi excitement, Kyle and Cameron figured they would try on their Jeff Corwin shoes and went on the hunt for some water snakes.  After multiple near misses, they succeeded in capturing one and getting some cool pictures with it.  

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Apparently Sperm Whales Enjoy Fishing As Well

Just saw this video from Nat Geo and thought it was amazing. Researchers found that sperm whales, in order to get an easy meal, will approach cod fishing lines and shake them to release the hooked fish.


I guess I'm thankful I'm not fishing in deep oceans. I'd be furious to lose a fish because a whale outsmarted me.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Fishing Report: Smith Mountain Lake


I hope everyone got to go out and fish a little this past Memorial Day weekend since the weather (at least here in Virginia) was perfect. Water levels had calmed down significantly allowing for some killer action all over the state.

For my three day weekend, I headed down to Smith Mountain Lake to fish/relax with my frat brothers. We stayed in an awesome condo courtesy of Matherne. Early in the morning on Saturday before a trip to Bojangles for some artery clogging breakfast, Matherne and I hit up the lake in search of striper and largemouth. Without a fishfinder, it became pretty clear that we'd have a hard time finding the striper unless they started actively feeding on the surface. We then resorted to throwing plastic worms (my favorites being the Gary Yamamoto 5 inch worms in green pumpkin, watermelon, and pumpkin). That morning we ended up hooking two good sized bass and losing one of them. I'd guess that they were about 3 lbs each.

After about 9 a.m., the action pretty much died off as the speedboats and jetskis hit the water.
At about 6 p.m., however, the fishing got better. The bass, as far as I could tell were still in their spawning beds close to shore so I headed out on my kayak and caught several more decent bass.
Probably some of the best fishing was done at night off of the dock. The first night, Dylan and I caught a couple bass and brim (I was using bass poppers and my fly rod). The second night Dylan showed up everyone and caught a huge largemouth. Finally, the last night, after Dylan caught a large crappie using a senko, we decided to catch some of the huge carp that pooled up around the dock lights. Using just some plain old hooks, bobbers, and balls of bread, we caught 6 of these mammoths. I'm not going to lie, they are some pretty gross fish but they sure do fight hard and long.

Overall, SML is a great place to fish. It's got a very healthy variety of fish and plenty of space for them to grow large. Thanks again to Matherne for letting us stay at his place.

Fly Tying Instructions: CK Nymph

C.K. nymphChuck Kraft, the Charlottesville local who invented my personal favorite fly, the Kreelex, has also made a very successful nymph pattern, the C.K. nymph. This fly is extremely easy to make. I t can be made in several ways and with different materials. It seems to imitate multiple types of insect life (and perhaps even some minnows). I haven't found many good explanations for how to tie this fly online, so I thought I'd help everyone out and make a tutorial for it.


Materials


Thread: I usually use just a black 70 denier thread, but feel free to mix it up


Tail: Any kind of feather. I tend to use whatever left over feathers I have laying around


Body: Whatever you choose. Microchenille, heavy dubbing, and my favorite, several strands of peacock herl will work just fine


Hackle: The is the only part of the fly that I don't think should change very much. I use grizzly saddle or cape hackle, but it doesn't matter how big the gauge is on them as you can trim them down to size afterwards


Instructions





I recommend using streamer hooks in sizes 8-12.








Add some weight to the hook. I prefer to use 0.025 round lead wire.








Start your thread and tied the lead wire securely down. Be sure to cover the lead wire with thread well so that the color of the fly won't be changed by any oxidation of the lead. Bring the thread to the back of the hook.







Collect a bunch of barbs from the sides of a feather such as this one. I prefer to use the sides of the feather.







Tie in the feather. It doesn't have to have too much length to it. Try and get it to be a little shorter than the hook shank.







Attach the grizzly hackle to the rear of the fly








Tie in the body material and then bring the thread to the eye of the hook. Here i'm adding black microchenille. I'll show farther down examples of putting in dubbed bodies and peacock herl bodies.






Wrap the body material forward creating a fairly even body. Tie off with the thread and remove any excess material.







Wrap the grizzly hackle forward. Don't make it too tight together. Tie off the grizzly hackle and then trim the hackles so that they are about even with the width of the hook bend.






Form a fairly large head with the thread and then wrap finish to tie off.






Alternate Versions


Peacock CK nymph


Everything is the same for this version of the CK nymph except that instead of microchenille, you can add about 10 strands of peacock herl. When wrapping the body, be sure to twist the herls to keep them together.





Here's the finished fly. It's hard to tell the difference, but with the peacock herl, you can definitely tell there is more of a iridescent shine to the fly.





Dubbed CK nymph


For this version, I add a lot of dubbing to the fly instead of chenille. I prefer to dub my thread by make a dubbing loop and then moving my thread to the eye of the hook.






Here is the finished dubbed version. I prefer dubbing with yellow or red.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Fly Tying Instructions: Snowshoe Humpy

So lately, I've been a huge fan of using snowshoe rabbit's foot fur (SSRF) in my flies. It is a tough material. I've caught a ton of fish conseculatively with SSRF flies and they continue to withstand the rough treatment. It also is EXTREMELY hydrophobic material. Personally, I prefer to not have to continually be drying off flies or switching up flies because they get waterlogged. SSRF continues to by water resistant fish after fish. Also, compared to other materials (CDC for one) it's ability to float isn't hampered by any mucous from the inside of a fish's mouth. One more thing about it is that despite being tough, it's still very delicate and light. So, while I love using the classic humpy flies tied with elk hair, my version of the fly with SSRF seems to land softer than the somewhat heavier elk hair humpy.

So I've decided to put together a very short tutorial on how to tie this fly.

First, I prefer tying it on size 12 to 16 dry fly hooks.

Start the thread and bring it to the back of the hook shank.

Cut out a good clump of SSRF. For those of you unfamiliar with SSRF, I think the best way to get at the best hair is to split the foot in half first. The best hairs are the ones that are in the middle of the foot. Cut out a clump about the same size as you would use to put in any wing on a fly. Remove any shorter hairs and don't worry about stacking the hair, just be sure that the hair is relatively even.

Tie in the SSRF with the tips as the tail of the fly. I don't make a very long tail, probably a little shorter than the length of the hook shank. Give it a few good wraps to ensure the hair is well secured on the top of the hook.

Bring the thread forward of where the tail was tied in. Add a good amount of dubbing to the thread and form a pretty fat body to the fly that starts from the tie in point for the tail and ends at the 1/3 point of the shank from the eye of the hook.


Pull the SSRF hair forward over the belly formed. Pull it together tightly and then wrap several wraps to secure the hair down. Leave the rest of the SSRF hair intact for now.

Secure a hackle to the fly where the SSRF was just tied down. Then bring the thread forward to the eye of the hook. On the way forward, I like to make a bunch of wraps just in front of the SSRF to push the wing up from the hook.


Make several turns behind and in front of the wing with the hackle. Tied down the hackle at the hook eye and then whip finish.

Clean up the fly a little bit. I usually trim the extra SSRF of the wing so that it's about the same height as the hackle. I also usually trim the hackle on the bottom of the fly to make it even with the width of the hook curve.

Here's the finished fly:



I'll tie this fly in practically any pattern. My favorites right now are one that matches a sulphur mayfly: medium dun SSRF, grizzly hackle, and sulphur yellow dubbing, and a caddis: tan SSRF, brown hackle, and olive dubbing. Feel free to experiment of course.

This fly is ideal for fishing in fast rough water, like that seen in some of the Rapidan's pools. I don't think the fly needs to match the body color or shape of a specific fly necessarily when the water is moving so fast. Instead, I think it's important that your fly remains floating and visible. This fly will definitely remain both floating and visible. Good luck. I hope it helps you catch more fish.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Two Flies, 6X Tippet



Not twenty-four hours after my two day stint in the Appalachians crouching underneath the new spring foliage making sidearm casts with a two-weight rod to fish no greater than my hand, I found myself in a quite different set of circumstances. No longer were backcasts being snagged by twigs and thornbushes. Casts of only a few feet were no longer adequate and to throw out line with a two-weight would quickly be looked upon as amateur and ridiculous. And to say I had previously been tortured by trying to match a hatch now just sounds silly.


I stood with one foot in New York and the other in Pennsylvania making casts with my new San Juan 5/6 weight rod from Fly Fishing Benefactors, with 9-10 feet of leader and tippet, trying to convince a trout, big enough to eat a small child, that my fly looked just like or hopefully more enticing than the other thousand that cruised through his feeding lane. I was on the West Branch of the Delaware and the fly fishing was awesome.


Three years ago, my friend, Scott, convinced me to follow him up into the Shenandoah Park to learn how to fly fish. This past week, he and his dad were kind enough to let me tag along on their yearly trip to where American fly fishing started. He told of tales of huge fish, expertly thrown casts and fly hatches that make the water surface look like a miniature regatta. I thought I understood. It was only when we started driving by the river did I realize what he meant. Through the bug splattered windows I could see the hoardes of flies and a river alive with trout gently sipping insects off the water's surface.


Within thirty minutes we were out on river staking claim to shallow pool of water with at least twenty trout feeding simultaneously. On the trip up from Virginia, I had been taught the Rusteikas West Branch of the Delaware mantra by Scott's dad: "Only two flies, 6X tippet." So when I was finally on the river, I resisted grabbing for my 4X and my kreelex streamers, and instead heeded their advice hoping it would bring me good fishing karma.



The two flies we used for the extent of the trip were a Hendrickson comparadun tied in several ways (with CDC wings, CDC loopwings, snowshoe rabbit's foot wings) and rusty spinners. Within minutes of being on the water, Scott was able to tell the majority of the fish were sipping on the duns. So we set to work trying to fool these leviathans into taking our imitations as apple caddis flies swarmed above us and the sun slowly started setting.


It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes before the master had a healthy 18 inch brown
trout in hand to show the apprentice that he knew what he was talking about. "Two flies, 6X tippet." "It's all about presentation." "He has to see your fly first, not your line."


Still, it was hard for me to break some bad habits. A fish started sipping bugs just upstream from me and the temptation was too great. A few casts later, my flies gently disappeared. I set the hook and *snap*. The hook was set, but the wrist action that would have sent a Rapidan brookie flying straight out of the water didn't have quite the same effect on this fish. A fly was lost but a lesson was learned.


Two more lost flies due to snapped tippet later, I hooked a large brown but hardly even knew it happened. With the sun starting to hang low over the Catskill Mountains, our artificials became lost the masses of other flies as the spent Hendricksons finally laid their eggs and died. So when my fly was taken amidst the others, my only indication was a flash of the trout's belly and a sudden whirring of my drag. I successfully stifled a yelp of excitement and tried to act like I had fought a fish of this magnitude before. Five minutes later, however, when Scott took the picture of me with my first brown trout on the Delaware, it was quite difficult to hide my excitement and surprise. See below:



Later in the evening, the dead flies started to finally clear from the surface of the water and in the dim light, Scott caught another trout, this time a fat rainbow.


Obsessed, we continued to throw line out as we walked slowly back to the car through the ever-darkening evening. Silhouettes of trout could still be seen rising, disturbing the water in the slow stretches of water. But eventually it became impossible to see where you were casting or what you were casting to. At the car we found out that Mr. Rusteikas had caught two trout on rusty spinners right near where we parked the car.


The forecast for the next two days looked ominous. Sure enough, the next day brought with it clouds and a blustery wind that swept upstream at over 15 mph and a chill that kept the fish down and prevented any significant hatch of flies. The river seemed completely different than the lively river we had fished the day before. It was hard to imagine there were scores of huge fish waiting patiently for the next batch of flies to hatch.


Thankfully, the third day's forecast turned out to be quite inaccurate. After a few light showers in the morning, the clouds broke up and the wind died down just in time to allow for a heavy hatch of caddis and Hendricksons. Having held off on lunch until the hunger pains were too great, Scott and I decided to leave our favorite hole to grab a bite to eat around 3 p.m. only to return to find out that the Hendrickson hatch had picked up just after we left allowing Mr. Rusteikas to pull three good sized trout out of our section of river. The day continued to be successful with the occasional fish breaking off the fragile 6X tippet. I tricked a big brown into taking my dun in the slow shallow waters that left me with a sore forearm after he was set free. Scott also hooked a big brown in the evening on the first cast into the fish's feeding lane.



The final day was perhaps the best. The weather had settled down and the hatch was heavy. As the apple caddis started to come off the water, Scott started stalking a fish in the upper parts of our section of river. Mr. Rusteikas and I sat on the shore humored by the intensity with which Scott was inspecting the water planning his attack. We hadn't seen any fish actively feeding yet as it was still early. Less than a minute after a sarcastic remark from me about how ridiculous Scott looked trying to catch a nonexistent fish, suddenly his line became taut and a healthy rainbow started jumping. Eating my words, Scott continued to pull in six fish the rest of the day. I, on the other hand, continued to stalk the large browns sipping spinners in the shallows and had a successful day pulling in four brown trout.



Later in the day, as I'm casting to a fish on the far bank, I hear distant conversation between Scott and his dad about a fish Scott had just landed whose mouth had not one but three flies in it. After inspection and debate, it became clear that Mr. Rusteikas had in fact hooked the same fish the day before and had lost his now found (and still in good condition) CDC comparadun to the fish. Seeing as it was quite the fish tale, I have no doubt that it will continue to be told in the future, except perhap the size of the fish will continue to increase as will the number of flies in his mouth...



Overall, it was an amazing trip. Unfortunately, Scott and his dad have gotten me hooked on fishing for large trout now. I'm going to have to restrain myself from trying to head back to the Delaware for the sulfur and green drake hatches and instead fish Mossy Creek in the hopes of pulling a big brown of the waters there.


Thanks again to Scott and his dad for taking me on the trip!


Tight lines.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Rapidan Camp

Last week I decided to spend two days out on the Rapidan in the upper portions just past the Rapidan Camp. The Rapidan Camp was where the senior members of Hoover's staff stayed while Hoover and his family resided in the main cabin during summer trips. Today, the Rapidan Camp is a cooperative campground while Hoover's main cabin is a tourist attraction in the park.

Back in the day, I was researching the history of Rapidan Camp and came across some awesome footage of President Hoover fishing the Rapidan. He allowed a bunch of reporters to come and videotape him. Impressingly, he was still able to catch fish. Of course, I wouldn't say his one-handed technique is the best i've ever seen.

Pretty amazing footage. This video comes courtesy of C-SPAN's Presidential Libraries. To check out more videos of him fishing and hanging out around Camp Rapidan, check out the C-SPAN site.

Now on to the fishing report. Temperatures were high. During the afternoon, the air temperatures soared to around 95 degrees. This really pushed the brookies deep. But once the heat broke in the late afternoon, fishing really picked up. Each hole started producing 4-5 brookies of average size with a couple 10 inchers feeding in the back eddys. By the end of the first day, I'd probably pulled in over 30 fish.


The next morning, due to poor sleeping conditions (it was too hot for a sleeping bag) I woke up and started fishing around 6 a.m. I now intend on getting out to the river that early on my future trips as the fishing was on fire. The upper portions of the river above Rapidan Camp held many more fish than the lower sections in my opinion. The fish were all about 7-9 inches but I didn't see any of the lunkers (a relative term) like the ones you can find in the lower sections. They were all actively feeding on top and quickly took to my improved parachute adams (I started using a two-toned parapost on my parachute adams to help make then even more visible).

The particular highlight of the morning was one pool where I remained sitting on a boulder at the back end of the pool and from there I pulled in 5 9" brookies quickly from each of the feeding lanes that were present.

Great trip overall. I highly recommend you camp in the upper regions in order to get an early start on the fishing.

Of course, for now, the Rapidan is highly unfishable. All of this rain we've been getting (and will continue to get the rest of this week) have pushed the water levels dangerously high for fishing. Check out this USGS map of Virginia:

As you can see (the purple, blue, and light blue represent high, 90th percentile, and over 75th percentile respectively) the water levels in much of the state are extremely high. The Rapidan is running around 350 CFS, which is way over the 80th percentile.

So it's time to hold off on the fishing for a while. Perhaps studying pathology and pharmacology would be more worthwhile.