a great summer dry fly for Salar on the Miramichi:
Saturday, May 19, 2012
A Pile o' Burdocks
For a forum friend and customer in Brunei for his time in Nova Scotia, a dozen Burdocks,
a great summer dry fly for Salar on the Miramichi:
a great summer dry fly for Salar on the Miramichi:
Sunday, May 13, 2012
20,000 Pageviews!
Just hit the milestone mark of 20,000 pageviews of the blog since my first post on March 13, 2011. It's a lot of fun to do, and I hope you all continue to enjoy!
Gary
Gary
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Early May on the Miramichi
Headed up to Boiestown, New Brunswick at 5am on Friday, May 7th. Ostensibly, the trip is so I can be the auctioneer for the Miramichi Salmon Association's IceBreaker fundraiser at the Woodmens' Museum in Boiestown. I (you knew this), of course, have other motivations.
Made it to Boiestown in a record ten and a quarter hours. Moved into camp, arranged the refreshment section of the cabin, and went looking for my friend and host Vin Swayze, whose home is a hundred yards away. We enjoyed the trip's inaugural glass of single malt and had dinner with Vin's lovely wife Hazel. Back to camp. Nine p.m.......hmmmmmm....no water. Stroll back to Vin's; he's on the phone with a plumber, who can make it over on Sunday (a plumber on Sunday? my wallet screams at the thought).
Enter Vin's nephew Jason, stopped by with a few cold beers to say hello. Jason also happens to be a plumber. Vin also happens to have a new pressure tank to replace the one that was about to die any day and just did. Couple beers, shoot the breeze, what the heck, let's change the tanks. Jason did the heavy lifting, I did the moderate stuff, and Vin, ever the supervisor, held the light. All is right with the world once again. But is was a darned long day.
Saturday broke windy and cold. My great friend Renate Bullock had volunteered to take me out fishing, but I wouldn't make my worst enemy take me out in that weather (well, I can think of one or two guys, maybe). So we decided to go sightseeing and headed up river in her car. I love seeing places I've never visited before, and Renate treated me to some special sights. Our first stop was on Bloomfield Ridge above the river. A lovely view:
Our next stop was at Porter Brook just up from where it enters the Miramichi. What a great place. Renate told me that if you hit it just right, you can watch salmon jumping the falls less than 5 feet away from you in October. I am going to see this someday! Would have been a kayaker's dream this day, though:
Lunch was back at Renate's, with husband Fred and friend Peter C. in attendance. The soup was perfect for a day like this:
By the way, the view out the window behind me is of the Miramichi and Fred and Renate's Home Pool. What a place to live!
The IceBreaker was Saturday night. Sold out crowd and tons of fun. It's my favorite auction to do.
The "after party" was at Jason's, also right on the river. A great time, I stumbled back to camp (maybe a quarter mile away) in the dark. Only fell once.
Much of Sunday was spent recovering from Saturday, a situation not unfamiliar to me. I did get to meet a New Brunswick Salmon Fishing forum friend, Brian C., who had hooked me up with a friend of his, Kirk G., owner of a camp on the river at White Rapids that Kirk had agreed to let my fishing partner Wally and I use during the Miramichi Classic in July. I've made some good friends through salmon fishing forums, and it was great to meet Brian face to face instead of electronically!
Late in the day, the river beckoned, and Vin and I finally went fishing after supper for an hour or so. Landed a salmon and a grilse and lost what of course had to be another salmon. All on the Deep Green Beauty - a great start to the fishing aspect of the trip!
It was a fine night for fishing with a lovely ending:
Monday morning Vin and I headed down to White Rapids to meet Kirk and learn about the camp. Turned out he and Vin had been to many river conservation meetings together over the years. I swear Vin knows just about everyone on that river. We had a great visit, and headed back to camp to fish.
Renate came along for the ride, and brought her camera. You'd think with a beautiful river in front of her, she'd find better things to photograph than the two of us!
When the sport (that would be me)rests, the guide (that would be Vin) grabs the rod and routinely shows the sport (again, that would be me) how to do it. Often. Fish on, as usual.
Happily, she also got a shot of a tight line and a nice fish, one of several we made the acquaintance of that evening:
She made me take my very expensive Simms superduty beanie-thingy off for the next shot. Said I looked like some weird river gnome in it. Who's to argue? (not much of an improvement, though):
Tuesday morning Vin and I met with Renate's son Dan to check out a leaky wood stove chimney in the camp next to her home. A replacement of parts was in order; Dan had to drive to Fredricton (an hour away) to get the parts, so Vin and I naturally volunteered to go fishing while he was gone. The score for that little adventure ended up at salmon 3, Gary 0. Dan got back with the parts at the same time we got back to shore; we spent the rest of the day doing that chimney thing. My back needed a rest from that job, so it was an early night. And by the way, so far the week has been very windy and cold...but that's good for keeping the fish around!
Wednesday was tree cutting day at Renate's. Her friend Harding has year's of experience at this; his skills were needed because the big old aspens were threatening the home and usually leaning the wrong way. We even brought Vin's Kubota along to cable the trees in the right direction. Lots of good work got done, and Renate provided the crew with our first outside lunch of the year:
I've always been a sucker for a pretty face, in this case Harding's pretty girl:
After lunch, Vin and I hit the river for one last time before I had to leave for home the next morning. The weather had come around and warmed with just an easy breeze. Nice afternoon for it.
The salmon thought so too, they cooperated with abandon. At one point, around three in the afternoon, a caddis hatch came off and I got to see what, sadly, will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime treat: salmon rising to the right of us, salmon rising to the left of us...in front of us, behind us...it was incredible to see that many big salmon snouts poking up out of the river! We even hooked two on a little baby bomber Vin dug out of his fly stash. Mostly though, they just loved the Deep Green Beauty. We hooked nine fish in just a couple hours. The fish were incredibly athletic; I lost a nice salmon when he tossed the barbless fly at the apex of a three foot leap. What a way to end a trip!
Back you go, big boy!
As it has been every time I've gone to Boiestown since 1998, it was a grand trip. My deep and abiding thanks especially to Renate and Vin for their great hospitality and friendship. Renate took most of the photos in this post. Man, that is a tough place to leave.
Made it to Boiestown in a record ten and a quarter hours. Moved into camp, arranged the refreshment section of the cabin, and went looking for my friend and host Vin Swayze, whose home is a hundred yards away. We enjoyed the trip's inaugural glass of single malt and had dinner with Vin's lovely wife Hazel. Back to camp. Nine p.m.......hmmmmmm....no water. Stroll back to Vin's; he's on the phone with a plumber, who can make it over on Sunday (a plumber on Sunday? my wallet screams at the thought).
Enter Vin's nephew Jason, stopped by with a few cold beers to say hello. Jason also happens to be a plumber. Vin also happens to have a new pressure tank to replace the one that was about to die any day and just did. Couple beers, shoot the breeze, what the heck, let's change the tanks. Jason did the heavy lifting, I did the moderate stuff, and Vin, ever the supervisor, held the light. All is right with the world once again. But is was a darned long day.
Saturday broke windy and cold. My great friend Renate Bullock had volunteered to take me out fishing, but I wouldn't make my worst enemy take me out in that weather (well, I can think of one or two guys, maybe). So we decided to go sightseeing and headed up river in her car. I love seeing places I've never visited before, and Renate treated me to some special sights. Our first stop was on Bloomfield Ridge above the river. A lovely view:
Our next stop was at Porter Brook just up from where it enters the Miramichi. What a great place. Renate told me that if you hit it just right, you can watch salmon jumping the falls less than 5 feet away from you in October. I am going to see this someday! Would have been a kayaker's dream this day, though:
Lunch was back at Renate's, with husband Fred and friend Peter C. in attendance. The soup was perfect for a day like this:
By the way, the view out the window behind me is of the Miramichi and Fred and Renate's Home Pool. What a place to live!
The IceBreaker was Saturday night. Sold out crowd and tons of fun. It's my favorite auction to do.
The "after party" was at Jason's, also right on the river. A great time, I stumbled back to camp (maybe a quarter mile away) in the dark. Only fell once.
Much of Sunday was spent recovering from Saturday, a situation not unfamiliar to me. I did get to meet a New Brunswick Salmon Fishing forum friend, Brian C., who had hooked me up with a friend of his, Kirk G., owner of a camp on the river at White Rapids that Kirk had agreed to let my fishing partner Wally and I use during the Miramichi Classic in July. I've made some good friends through salmon fishing forums, and it was great to meet Brian face to face instead of electronically!
Late in the day, the river beckoned, and Vin and I finally went fishing after supper for an hour or so. Landed a salmon and a grilse and lost what of course had to be another salmon. All on the Deep Green Beauty - a great start to the fishing aspect of the trip!
It was a fine night for fishing with a lovely ending:
Monday morning Vin and I headed down to White Rapids to meet Kirk and learn about the camp. Turned out he and Vin had been to many river conservation meetings together over the years. I swear Vin knows just about everyone on that river. We had a great visit, and headed back to camp to fish.
Renate came along for the ride, and brought her camera. You'd think with a beautiful river in front of her, she'd find better things to photograph than the two of us!
When the sport (that would be me)rests, the guide (that would be Vin) grabs the rod and routinely shows the sport (again, that would be me) how to do it. Often. Fish on, as usual.
Happily, she also got a shot of a tight line and a nice fish, one of several we made the acquaintance of that evening:
She made me take my very expensive Simms superduty beanie-thingy off for the next shot. Said I looked like some weird river gnome in it. Who's to argue? (not much of an improvement, though):
Tuesday morning Vin and I met with Renate's son Dan to check out a leaky wood stove chimney in the camp next to her home. A replacement of parts was in order; Dan had to drive to Fredricton (an hour away) to get the parts, so Vin and I naturally volunteered to go fishing while he was gone. The score for that little adventure ended up at salmon 3, Gary 0. Dan got back with the parts at the same time we got back to shore; we spent the rest of the day doing that chimney thing. My back needed a rest from that job, so it was an early night. And by the way, so far the week has been very windy and cold...but that's good for keeping the fish around!
Wednesday was tree cutting day at Renate's. Her friend Harding has year's of experience at this; his skills were needed because the big old aspens were threatening the home and usually leaning the wrong way. We even brought Vin's Kubota along to cable the trees in the right direction. Lots of good work got done, and Renate provided the crew with our first outside lunch of the year:
I've always been a sucker for a pretty face, in this case Harding's pretty girl:
After lunch, Vin and I hit the river for one last time before I had to leave for home the next morning. The weather had come around and warmed with just an easy breeze. Nice afternoon for it.
The salmon thought so too, they cooperated with abandon. At one point, around three in the afternoon, a caddis hatch came off and I got to see what, sadly, will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime treat: salmon rising to the right of us, salmon rising to the left of us...in front of us, behind us...it was incredible to see that many big salmon snouts poking up out of the river! We even hooked two on a little baby bomber Vin dug out of his fly stash. Mostly though, they just loved the Deep Green Beauty. We hooked nine fish in just a couple hours. The fish were incredibly athletic; I lost a nice salmon when he tossed the barbless fly at the apex of a three foot leap. What a way to end a trip!
Back you go, big boy!
As it has been every time I've gone to Boiestown since 1998, it was a grand trip. My deep and abiding thanks especially to Renate and Vin for their great hospitality and friendship. Renate took most of the photos in this post. Man, that is a tough place to leave.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Took an Old Friend Fishing Today....and got goose-egged. Literally.
I took my longest-running partner fishing today. Headed up to the Mettowee in Middle Granville, New York. Beautiful day!
I built this old friend in 1981, while a grad student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Three decades plus a little ago. First rod I ever built, and rarely fish anymore. During my summer research on whitetail deer in western Kentucky and Tennessee, it got fished every day on Kentucky Lake. It has caught hundreds of bream, crappie and largemouths. Eight feet long, a 6 weight. Its action makes you slow down and enjoy the day, something I needed to do today. I just wanted to spend a day swinging streamers and soft hackles.
But there was nothing doing on the Mettowee, other than a gear fisherman that pestered me for half an hour about fly fishing. Man, did I want him to go away. I know, I know, coulda shoulda made a convert, but sometimes I just can't go that extra mile. My bad.
So we...my old Orvis friend and I, headed down to the Batten Kill to finish the day. There were two gents enjoying lunch in the shade where I wanted to park, so altered the plan a little. But had to walk past them to get into the river. From out of state and very friendly, they even gave me a big pretzal. Enjoyed the chat. But needed to get into the river.
Started wading, heading downstream. An island splits the river; I took the right fork. Flood-piled debris everywhere, as I clambered over a big stump, a canada goose jumped up squaking. I almost stepped on the reason why:
Obviously, she and her partner aren't choosey about the neighborhood! They hung around, she honking at me as I fished through:
I finally got around them. She made her way back to the nest while the gander stayed behind in a little back eddy. All is right with the world again, I thought.
Wrong. I was jerked back to reality with a great thrashing in the water behind me. It was the gander. He did it a couple times, and I thought he was just having a great old bird bath. As I watched, I couldn't see his head. He got out into the current, would thrash about for a second, then float 10 feet towards me. Again, I couldn't see his head...it was like he was locked in a sleeping posture...with his head underwater. Not good. What to do?
I have handled hundreds of live birds in a couple of my past lives, from woodcock to grouse to wild turkeys to...canada geese. Time to get involved. I laid my old Orvis friend down along the shore and got out into the current anticipating the bird's likely float line. He would still thrash, and finally saw me and really thrashed. But kept losing ground to the current (and likely a lack of oxygen since his head was underwater more than it was above it). I got to him and saw the problem:
That piece of shit lure had his face pinned to his leg. There was space between his body and where his head and leg were "attached". I jabbed my wading staff into that space, locking him next to me. One thing I learned about handling birds long ago was: be decisive. Tentative has no place here. Reached down, grabbed that sonofabitch Rapala, and yanked.
Bird flies away. It's all good again.
Mini-rant: If you need that many goddamn hooks to hook and land a trout, take up golf and get the hell out of the river.
Rant over.
Oh, as I was leaving - after a long day on two rivers - fish started rising to big caddis in the deep pool near where I parked my truck. Thirty years ago, when I built my old friend, I would've wadered back up and gone for 'em. Not anymore.
Water was incredibly low and clear. Nothing happening, so I thought I'd take a photo of my old friend:
I built this old friend in 1981, while a grad student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Three decades plus a little ago. First rod I ever built, and rarely fish anymore. During my summer research on whitetail deer in western Kentucky and Tennessee, it got fished every day on Kentucky Lake. It has caught hundreds of bream, crappie and largemouths. Eight feet long, a 6 weight. Its action makes you slow down and enjoy the day, something I needed to do today. I just wanted to spend a day swinging streamers and soft hackles.
But there was nothing doing on the Mettowee, other than a gear fisherman that pestered me for half an hour about fly fishing. Man, did I want him to go away. I know, I know, coulda shoulda made a convert, but sometimes I just can't go that extra mile. My bad.
So we...my old Orvis friend and I, headed down to the Batten Kill to finish the day. There were two gents enjoying lunch in the shade where I wanted to park, so altered the plan a little. But had to walk past them to get into the river. From out of state and very friendly, they even gave me a big pretzal. Enjoyed the chat. But needed to get into the river.
Started wading, heading downstream. An island splits the river; I took the right fork. Flood-piled debris everywhere, as I clambered over a big stump, a canada goose jumped up squaking. I almost stepped on the reason why:
Obviously, she and her partner aren't choosey about the neighborhood! They hung around, she honking at me as I fished through:
I finally got around them. She made her way back to the nest while the gander stayed behind in a little back eddy. All is right with the world again, I thought.
Wrong. I was jerked back to reality with a great thrashing in the water behind me. It was the gander. He did it a couple times, and I thought he was just having a great old bird bath. As I watched, I couldn't see his head. He got out into the current, would thrash about for a second, then float 10 feet towards me. Again, I couldn't see his head...it was like he was locked in a sleeping posture...with his head underwater. Not good. What to do?
I have handled hundreds of live birds in a couple of my past lives, from woodcock to grouse to wild turkeys to...canada geese. Time to get involved. I laid my old Orvis friend down along the shore and got out into the current anticipating the bird's likely float line. He would still thrash, and finally saw me and really thrashed. But kept losing ground to the current (and likely a lack of oxygen since his head was underwater more than it was above it). I got to him and saw the problem:
That piece of shit lure had his face pinned to his leg. There was space between his body and where his head and leg were "attached". I jabbed my wading staff into that space, locking him next to me. One thing I learned about handling birds long ago was: be decisive. Tentative has no place here. Reached down, grabbed that sonofabitch Rapala, and yanked.
Bird flies away. It's all good again.
Mini-rant: If you need that many goddamn hooks to hook and land a trout, take up golf and get the hell out of the river.
Rant over.
Oh, as I was leaving - after a long day on two rivers - fish started rising to big caddis in the deep pool near where I parked my truck. Thirty years ago, when I built my old friend, I would've wadered back up and gone for 'em. Not anymore.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Double Duty Pickup Rod Rack
A Rod Loft Pro rod rack for your vehicle costs about $129.99 at Cabelas. It holds six rods, and is supposed to work in just about any vehicle using a variety of attachments on the end of the rods that support the whole deal. Great. But I didn't have $129.99 and I don't tote 6 rods around and I drive a plain old very long F-150 with aluminum cap. Hmmmm, what to do?
I've had one cargo bar to keep things from heading all the way up to the front of the 8-foot bed for a long time. But I've always put it down low. I got it at Tractor Supply for $24.99. Surfing around at Cabelas some more, I found that they sell just the 3-rod holders without the bars and clamps and ratchets for $29.99 the pair. See where we're going with this?
So, back to Tractor Supply for another cargo bar, order the rod thingies online from Cabelas, and I now have a 3-rod rack in the making for $79.97 plus some tax and wicked high shipping from Cabelas. Let's call it 90 bucks.
The rod thingy attaches to the cargo bar with a couple hefty zip ties:
You may notice that both my cap and my truck's cab have sliding windows. And its a crew cab truck with an 8-foot bed. In fair weather, I can haul 13' rods fully assembled.
In crummy weather (admittedly that seems to be most of the time) I move the forward bar back towards the rear bar and break the rods down into two pieces, no problemo.
And I still have my cargo bar!
By the way, you math whizzes out there have probably already figured out that you can buy the two cargo bars and two sets of rod thingies for about 110 bucks....cheaper than the Rod Loft Pro gizmo, but you don't get all the hanger doo-dads. You just have a nice heavy duty set-up that might work in other vehicles, too. Happy rod racking!
Oh, here's the beast at rest:
I've had one cargo bar to keep things from heading all the way up to the front of the 8-foot bed for a long time. But I've always put it down low. I got it at Tractor Supply for $24.99. Surfing around at Cabelas some more, I found that they sell just the 3-rod holders without the bars and clamps and ratchets for $29.99 the pair. See where we're going with this?
So, back to Tractor Supply for another cargo bar, order the rod thingies online from Cabelas, and I now have a 3-rod rack in the making for $79.97 plus some tax and wicked high shipping from Cabelas. Let's call it 90 bucks.
The rod thingy attaches to the cargo bar with a couple hefty zip ties:
You may notice that both my cap and my truck's cab have sliding windows. And its a crew cab truck with an 8-foot bed. In fair weather, I can haul 13' rods fully assembled.
In crummy weather (admittedly that seems to be most of the time) I move the forward bar back towards the rear bar and break the rods down into two pieces, no problemo.
And I still have my cargo bar!
By the way, you math whizzes out there have probably already figured out that you can buy the two cargo bars and two sets of rod thingies for about 110 bucks....cheaper than the Rod Loft Pro gizmo, but you don't get all the hanger doo-dads. You just have a nice heavy duty set-up that might work in other vehicles, too. Happy rod racking!
Oh, here's the beast at rest:
Thursday, March 29, 2012
17,000 pageviews as of this morning!
This blog is a lot of fun for me, and I want to thank every one that checks in to see what's new. My first post was on March 13, 2011, so we've been up for just over a year, and just a few minutes ago the actual pageview count was 17,003 views. Pretty neat! By far the most popular post has been the rod rack step-by-step, with more than 560 views. I posted it back in January. Coming in second is the most recent post about landlocked love for the Deep Green Beauty; 304 page views.
Where do blog visitors live? The majority - more than 9500 - live in the U.S. More than 4500 come from Canada. Its always fun to see where viewers live...Russia, Italy, Latvia, Brunei, Sweden, Argentina, you name the country, seems like someone from there visited the blog.
Some folks come to the blog from forums I frequent. The following send lots of visitors here, and if you haven't checked them out, you should!
www.speypages.com
www.nsflyguy.ca
www.salmonfishingforum.com
www.classicflyrodforum.com
Thanks again for stopping by!
Gary
Where do blog visitors live? The majority - more than 9500 - live in the U.S. More than 4500 come from Canada. Its always fun to see where viewers live...Russia, Italy, Latvia, Brunei, Sweden, Argentina, you name the country, seems like someone from there visited the blog.
Some folks come to the blog from forums I frequent. The following send lots of visitors here, and if you haven't checked them out, you should!
www.speypages.com
www.nsflyguy.ca
www.salmonfishingforum.com
www.classicflyrodforum.com
Thanks again for stopping by!
Gary
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