Monthly Archives: December 2009
Dec 31, Fly Fishing Videos
New Twist on an old Bass Fishing Favorite
With all the success of the Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper and other paddle tail swimbaits, this was just a matter of time. This looks like a great little bait, that will catch a ton of fish around vegetation and schooling fish.
The Zoom Swimmin’ Super Fluke has a paddle tail akin to a hollow-body swimbait, but it swims upright without the aid of a weighted hook and has an action only the cousin of the original fluke could have.
It’s That Man Again
This lacklustre season continues with little to show for the (little) effort I'm putting in. A trip out to the big lake produced nothing at all for Denis and I and I was dismayed to see that the lake was packed with pikers despite the fact that we were fishing midweek. I did hook a fish, on a yellow replicant, but it came unstuck very quickly and that was that.
I've approached my fishing in a rather casual manner this season and the results have certainly reflected that. We've fished lots of different waters too. Some I've fished before, though not for years and some are quite new to me. The 18lb pike I had at Blithfield remains my biggest for the season so far but one of the new waters was kind to Denis with rather nice 21 pounder.
The water in question is a sand pit, of which there are many in Cheshire. I fish sand pits quite a lot through the season and find them very productive for big fish. Over the years I've taken roach to over 2lbs, bream to over 12lbs, tench to over 9lbs and chub to over 7lbs from sand pits but never a twenty pound pike. I reckon I must be trying too hard, a problem Denis doesn't have it seems.
While I was busy moving swims, trying different baits, chucking lures about etc. etc., Denis sat tight with his two deadbaits. Six hours after casting in, his bait was taken and he reeled in his prize. It fought well and gave him a few heart-stopping moments when it almost reached the sanctuary of an overhanging bush to his left but all's well that end's well.
Denis has outfished me on almost every trip we've had together this season but he won't be outfishing me for a while now. Two days before Christmas he slipped on the ice and broke his ankle quite badly so it's a few weeks in a cast for Denis I'm afraid.
Get well soon mate.
The Post-Solstice Fly Fishermen (or, A Short Essay Designed to Prevent Madness)
Yesterday was the Winter Solstice – that day when winter officially begins, and the sun shines the least it will all year long.
It’s a day you notice not because it promises any immediate relief from the cold and dark, but because it offers the faintest hope; from now on, each day grows a tiny bit longer instead of a tiny bit shorter.
With winter’s worst yet to come, progress of any kind makes a real impression on those of us who think light and warm and Green Drakes are better than dark and freezing and nothing.
Me on a small stream last summer. A repeat is many months away... (photo courtesy Jim Troyer)
And while surviving a mountain winter from the heavily insulated, nicely heated Trout Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters doesn’t exactly qualify me to write a Jack London-esque short story, sunsets at 4:30 in the afternoon do eventually take their toll.
If you’re a short-horizon type like I am – someone who tends to focus on the near-term situation instead of the long-term picture – milestones are the tools that keep you going when the light at the end of the tunnel is dim indeed.
Some fish even when the river’s too high (and going higher), and others decide that writing about something interesting is almost as much fun as doing something interesting, and hole up in their office and type.
Chris Raine – being neither – is (typically) scattered across a half-dozen different bamboo fly rod building projects, while the local guides either work hard on their businesses, or essentially take a few months off.
Others tie flies like obsessed shamans – wielding fly tying tools like talismans meant to ward off madness – and some fools even clean their fly lines and oil their reels for next year.
That we look to January as the start of the year is nothing more than a convenience borne of rigid thinking.
The real fly fishing year begins (and ends) yesterday, and what are you doing to get ready – or simply make it to – next season?
See you in the (growing) light of day, Tom Chandler.
AFFTA Goes It Alone On Trade Show: Hires Industry Veteran to Lead Effort
Though our previous post heaped truckloads of snark had bit of fun at the fly fishing industry trade group’s expense (AFFTA), it’s clear AFFTA’s serious about going it alone with a new, independent trade show for retailers, manufacturers and other fly fishing industry insiders (pretty much everyone except for the folks who actually buy the stuff).
From their press release:
(Louisville, CO. December 18, 2009) After evaluating every available option and in response to input received from fly fishing industry retailers, manufacturers, sales reps and media, the AFFTA board of directors unanimously voted Tuesday December 15, 2009 to endorse the formation of a new independent fly fishing trade show. The International Fly Tackle Dealer (IFTD) show will debut at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado during the 3rd quarter of 2010.
AFFTA Chairman Alan Gnann stated, “Throughout our careful and deliberate evaluation it became abundantly clear that a general fishing tackle show (ICAST) or a general outdoor show (Outdoor Retailer) would not serve the best interests of the of the fly fishing trade. It was also very apparent that the new found interest in fly fishing by these organizations was not aligned with AFFTA’s mission, making the decision very clear.” Gnann continues, “The entire AFFTA board is incredibly energized and motivated to make this the best show the industry has ever seen. The support of key exhibitors and retailers for AFFTA to sponsor an independent fly fishing industry trade show has been nothing short of overwhelming. We look forward to hosting the most dynamic and exciting trade show in years; and importantly – the only show focused exclusively on the sport of fly fishing.”
You can power your way through the entire release here (a cup of coffee might help).
AFFTA’s claiming the support of the fly fishing industry insiders and heavy hitters on this one (Scott Fly Rods, Sage, Redington, Rio, Orvis, Umpqua, Ross Reels USA/Ross Worldwide, Scientific Anglers, R.L. Winston, Solitude Flies, Cloudveil, Lamson/Waterworks, REC, Nautilus Reels, Smith Optics, Yellow Dog Fly Fishing, Frontiers International, Fly Fishing in Saltwaters magazine, The Drake magazine, and Fly Fisherman), though the Underground’s Crack Investigative Reporting Team (whose advanced techniques include calling and asking) knows at least two of the names mentioned are supporting the show more from a sense of duty than any real hope of a return on investment.
Regardless, unenthusiastic support is still support, and on the surface, it appears AFFTA has stolen a march on Outdoor Retailer, Furimsky’s planned Florida show, ICAST and a everyone else with a spare room.
To make sure it happens, AFFTA’s hired fly fishing industry insider (as if they’d hire anyone else) Randi Swisher, who was involved in running ISE’s trade shows.
Kirk Deeter at Angling Trade magazine suggests AFFTA’s wagering the future of the organization on getting this one right, and there’s a grain of truth to that, though given the tiny budget and occasional need for capital infusion to keep the operation running, the risks aren’t exactly titanic in nature.
Sadly, AFFTA’s prior attempts to turn their own fly fishing show crashed and burned, and to a certain extent, we wonder why AFFTA – who is clearly hungry for a revenue stream – doesn’t combine a two-day dealer show with a three-day consumer show. That gets them in the consumer show industry, yet keeps them out of everyone else’s hair.
It makes a certain sense, yet one industry veteran simply made clucking noises (that phone thing again) and suggested the industry’s insiders would never endanger their “exclusive little three-day industry party” by allowing the public entry.
Ouch.
What’s true about the fly fishing industry is that it’s tiny compared to most others, and while AFFTA’s releases suggest a duck serenely gliding over the water, we remind you that the real action takes place under the water, where our outwardly serene duck is paddling like mad.
(This kind of stuff is why the industry loves the Underground.)
See you anywhere but at a trade show, Tom Chandler.
The rest of the ice fishing trip
After we took the kids back inside to their mothers and their eventual naptimes, I headed back out with my mom and dad to try and figure out how to fill up a 5 gallon bucket full of them pesky little bluegills. The bluegill were hugging tight to the bottom (according to my good friend Vexilar) and werent moving around or interested in eating much. Typically when we dont mark fish up in the water column it means they arent moving around much. Most of the time when I can spot a fish a few feet off the bottom, I can catch it! Not so with bottom hugging fish. Your best bet to catch a mess of bottom huggers is to drill as close to structure as possible and move to a new hole every few minutes to grab the most active fish. Basically if the fish arent moving, you need to. Since we were marking quite a few fish in our spot, I knew if we could stick it out till about 3:30 on a day like yesterday that the bite would pick up real strong for about an hour or so before sunset. The dilemma we faced was that there were just too many good college basketball games on this saturday afternoon, and I didnt feel like moving around at all and the wind just kept on picking up as the afternoon progressed. Basically what I am getting at is that I didnt dress warm enough and was too lazy. While we didnt fill up the 5 gallon bucket, we did manage enough for a nice meal or two.
Mom will kill me if she sees these pics online, but she was sporting some new camo overalls and highly insulated rubber boots.
About 2 pm and the geese got up out of the field and wanted to come get a drink of water at our aerator. There were about 1500 geese sitting in our corn field all day long.
They had to go find somewhere else to drink, they didnt want to land with us being on the other side of the pond. Above is a pic of the hole of water our aerator leaves open. I wait until the ice forms thick and then turn on the aerator so it doesnt mess up the safety of our ice fishing on the other side of the pond.
A Couple Ice Fishing Babes….
Literally. It wasnt but just a couple years ago and I was changing their diapers and rocking them to sleep. Now I am baiting their hooks, removing their fish, snapping tons of photos, and just having a great time fishing and exploring the outdoors with these gals! Yesterday we spent about an hour hiking down to the pond, drilling and scooping out numerous holes just for fun and even did a little fishing while out there as well. Since the fish were hugging tight to the bottom and not biting well enough to keep the attention span of 5 year olds, I had to get creative to keep their appetites wet. Just a few simple distractions and a couple rehook jobs and we had the priviledge of catching the same 3 fish over and over again. By the time they each caught a few fish (all by theirselves I might add) those bluegill barely had any life left in em. About an hour is maximum for a young kids ice fishing trip and only about 10 minutes of that time is actually spent fishing, the rest is spent just adventuring and exploring outdoors! Here are a couple more photos of our adventure.
As you can see in the pics, I got the boys out there too. We have just as much fun with the boys, however they just dont make nearly as catchy of a title or story line as the girls do!
More Tying With David – And RodMaker Magazine
Excuse The Mess
-------.. Hindsight should teach us much: like avoid bottom fishing for financials! Thank you Eric Fry.
.. Now then, why won't the trout eat my fly?
The Underground’s Short Casts for 2009-12-18
- Victory for cutthoat trout in Northern Utah – Overgrazing permits repealed: http://bit.ly/7neEOE #
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