fishing with my son

I am sure that fishing with my son is one of the most important reasons why I love this sport. My older son Jon likes to fish and is good at catching fish. There’s that moment when you no longer have to help them while at fishing, where they know how to bait their hooks, change lures, and know how to release fish by themselves. He’s finally at that point, and he continues to ask for more of his own equipment, and no longer wants to fish with the Batman rods. This year I will teach him to fly fish, and we plan on spending time up in the creeks of western Wisconsin. When I ask him what is his favorite fish, he answers that it’s a trout, but he doesn’t forget to mention that he’s never caught one in the wild (he’s a caught a few in the trout farm). I hope that this year he will be able to catch his first wild trout, and I plan to be there to guide him. My younger son still has a few years before he catches up to fishing with us, but I am sure he will have a wonderful time, being in charge of netting the fish when it gets close enough. My wife is still unsure about fishing, but she’s promised to give it a try this year. I hope that this season is the one where our entire family shares time on the water, with fishing rods in out hands.

line in the air

Fly fishing is one of the few sports where the action itself is sometimes much fun the intended result. My favorite fishing author John Gierach once wrote that fly fishing is the best fishing, especially when you are not catching fish. I recently went out to a trout pond in Korea and saw a lot of people there basically there to just cast. Loooong super double haul casts. There was a lot of fish (enough for my friend to catch 26 fish in 3 hours) but these guys were interested in one thing only, making that super long cast. Distance is important when fly casting, however there’s a fine balance of elegance with performance. At least for me, without elegance - a sort of graceful easiness to the cast, it starts to look pretty ridiculous. Below are some images professionals launching their lines in the air ... mixed in a some our own photos, because newbies also sometimes make good fluke cast ;-)

outcast

Nice range of float tubes and pontoon boats. You’ll find me around the lakes on these. My plan is to do a season long series of photos called "view from a tube".

http://www.outcastboats.com/outcast/

super size me

Bigger fish want bigger meals… so they say. Bigger bass, pike, trout and many other predator fish adhere to the rule. Mice are often menu items in the meal plans of predatory fish, along with frogs and other smaller rodents. I have always found the mouse pattern very effective for bass, and eagerly wait for the day when I will catch a trout that’s sized to take a larger pattern as such. I did a quick search on line and found a bunch of mouse fly patterns & lures… some very cute, some not, and some just very funny. This year is the year that I plan to meet some bigger fish, so I better tie some of these furry creatures.

Charlie's Tuna

Feast for Fish

It seems Charles has been busy stocking up for the coming season. A lot of flies for a lot o fish. Knowing Charles, he will put all of them to good use.

SURF FLYFISHING PLANS, phase 1- Mexico

Getting Ready for Puerta Vallarta , Mexico vacation with my family. 

Three things I have researched for pacific coast fly fishing off these beaches, just north of the city are as follows:

1) Follow the baitfish balls, and birds- and roosters like to feed at early, early dawn.

2) The depths off the rocky shores north of Puerta Vallarta, and far south, seem to hold more promise of foraging predator fish running up schools of sardines to the shore.

3) Keep moving, and aggressively strip your streamers for feeding fish.

I have tied three food groups- 

Sardine patterns, which i feel will work well for bass and pike.

Saddle hackle provide the par marks, or bars of baitfish, but i have also used permanent marker on a few patterns.

Shrimp patterns, larger for the pacific shrimp, based on some great sites, research, and bonefish patterns.

Pacific squids- which look like a tarpon fly, with eyes located back on the shank or body of the squid.  Clear body wrap works well.

I wrap, tie in hard, and place head cement between the fly elements and components. This is due to the toothy nature of these predators shredding flys, if not tied with quality.

Do a search on "rooster fish, beach fly fishing" and tell me that you don't get passionate about hunting, catching and releasing this amazing fish. 

Keep up the passion, research, match the forage food/ hatch, etc  and fish. 

Remember my Korean friends- nymphs live 80% underwater before they hatch- what do those beautiful cherry trout eat when there is no surface hatch? 

I look forward to the next trip. As always- keep dreaming.

Your pal, kingfisher