Fish Somewhere Else, The W.B. has been invaded by NJ

The new access point across the river has led to a new phenomenon on this formerly uncrowded stretch, elbowtoelbowitis.  The only known cure, who knows, I mean I'd want to get out of NJ too...

We don't camp out on the best water in the Musconetcong, Raritan, Tom's River or even the Flatbrook.
Why you go and dis' me like this?

By the way, there are now confirmed reports of viral hemorrhagic fever being contracted by anglers cleaning the didymo from their wading boots after fishing here.

Penns Redux...

Some early March Brown action.

The dry was a hit with this fish.

The bugs were so thick you were breathing them...

Epic!

Oops, I did it again!

Did you see any while you were under?  Oh, you got water in your wading boots, I thought they naturally got water in them when you wade?

Redeemed by a nice feesh!

The One That Got Away

The one I lost must have been THIS BIG!

Events: Project Healing Waters 2-Fly

Follow this link for more info

From the mailbox: "freshwater fish of the northeast"

Currently in the review queue, because you can never have too many pictures of fish on the coffee table... more later.

Prep The Fleet for Battle!

The weekend weather is looking fine.

Maine Striper Fishing Season Highlights: Super Fly Charters

Check out some of our awesome highlights from the 2009 Maine Striped Bass season...The 2010 saltwater fishing season is right around the corner...Book your trip today...dates are going fast!!!

Colorado Reflection

Westcountry sea trout flies - now available

Online Shop - Sea trout flies

A range of our favourite flies for Westcountry sea trout fishing is now available at our online shop. Stingers and surface lures will be available very soon. Here's to a summer of nocturnal activity and screaming reels...

Meeting room window view

It's going to be hard to get much done today.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Trout Season Opens with a Splash

Trout Season Opens with a Splash

Check out the latest about this seasons trout opener from About.com.

I found this moderately humorous...

Mission 2010 - The Road To Coburn from South Branch Daddy on Vimeo.

What's Hatching You Ask?

Why Hendricksons, Blue Quills, Chimmara Caddis and Olives.

A lovely Hendrickson and a well groomed hand model show off at the Barking Dog Pool.

The Hendrickson dun which refused to "fly and be free" mostly due to warm hands as opposed to attraction to my manliness, poses on the old man skin next to my thumb.

Saturday and Sunday both had fish rising with abandon.  Today's cold weather, including snow, put things off somewhat.

HOHW @ The West Branch Resort

Though the weather kept the crowds away, the Come Hell or High Water event was a success in my book.
The rods tested include, Orvis Hydros, Winston BIIX and Scott S4.  The Hydros 9' for 5 wt. was quite nice.

If you click on the photo of the NEWP booth above you'll be able to more closely examine the snappy New England Wood Pellet banner hanging on the rear of the restaurant.

This photo shows our booth, pellet stove provided by Tall Pines Farm, in all of its green and renewable glory.
As is obvious from the disheveled appearance of the canopy, it was incredibly windy.

Our man Stew, doing his best Vanna White impression, asks for a vowel while displaying the New England Wood Pellet banner in the theater room just prior to the showing of The Fly Fishing Film Tour, the premier event at Hell or High Water.  Several high quality short films were viewed by the good sized audience.  My favorite of the evening was Metalheads.

All in all, the event fell slightly short of expectations due to the weather, including calls for an ark late Friday afternoon, but several stove sales were generated and the wood pellet fuel gospel was spread to many who stopped by to warm up on an unseasonably cool weekend at the "gateway to the Catskills."

VFG Sticker

To get your own, click the the PayPal Buy Now button at the top of the blog page and we'll get you your sticker in 5 to 7 days. Keep checking back, we will be adding more products to the VFG Store.

Maine Saltwater Fishing Reports 2010

Maine Striper Fishing Reports

















Well...I spent the day working on the "Super Fly", the hull has been cleaned & waxed...twice!!! The brand new blingin' color Raymarine electronics installed. Just a few more loose ends to tie up and she's ready to splash!!!

For those of you who don't know, the " Super Fly" is our Beaufort, NC built 21' Parker CC Special Edition. Parker has building boats for well over 30 years, built & designed to run the treacherous waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Parker has built a legendary & well deserved reputation among top east coast guides.
After running several smaller, able, yet less capable, skiffs, off the coast of Maine & Florida, we think we've found the ultimate fly & light tackle fishing skiff for fishing the rugged New Enland coast.
With it's 10 inch draft the "Super Fly" can easily fish the skinny water of the flats. With it's elevated casting platform on front deck, our anglers can easily sight & cast to their quarry...on the platform the anglers eye's are almost on the same level as your guides, no more worrying about casting to the numbers of a clock, you'll see your target.

Safety, client comfort & fishability were all qualities that drew me to Parker boats. The wide beam and Carolina flared bow will keep you dry & comfortable when that afternoon seabreeze kicks up a tide chop.

Our boat is as capable chasing " Football" Bluefin Tuna off the Maine coast as it is on the flats. With its mid thigh gunnels you'll be able to brace yourself as we race to intercept a school of "Blitzing" fish to get you in posistion to make that long cast to the boiling tuna.
For the livebait enthusiast, We have rigged the "Super Fly" with two massive forty gallon livewells each fed by dual high capacity raw water pumps. We can carry all the live bait necessary for a full day on the water. Those Maine stripers wont stand a chance when we drift down over that ledge with some live "swimmers" in the water. Also ask about our "Bait & Switch" techniques for Fly & Light Tackle anglers...you wont believe how well it works!!!



Reservations continue to come in for the 2010 Maine Striper fishing season

Call us today to set up a time before all dates fill!!!

Capt. George Harris
207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com

Check back often for Maine Striper & Tuna fishing reports!!!

Bass Fisherman?

Does this officially make me a Bass fisherman?

Gear: The Future of Fly Rods?

Could your next fly rod be in the shape of a triangle? The Angling times says it just might be:

This unique property is the result of Chris having based his design on the fact that an equal-sided triangle has more integral strength than a circle, a factor incorporated into the unique ‘extended Reuleaux’ shape of D-Flex’s cross section.
“I first developed the idea when learning to Spey cast while salmon fishing a few years ago,” explained Chris, whose 30-year career has been spent designing artificial blood vessels.
“A triangle isn’t practical for rolling rod blanks, but the shape I have come up with - a unique piece of geometry called a curve of constant width - is perfect for fishing rod manufacture,” he claimed.

Industry News: Far Bank Hires Hard Goods Planner

Far Bank Enterprises, Inc. Welcomes Ryan Cade as Hard Goods Planner

Far Bank Enterprises adds to its team to expand expertise in hard goods categories.

04.14.2010 – (Bainbridge Island, WA) – Fly-fishing industry leader, Far Bank Enterprises, is pleased to announce the addition of Ryan Cade as the new Hard Goods Planner. Bringing years of prior product planning experience, Ryan will be working with Sage, Redington and RIO to further develop the planning process and help attain marketing goals.

“The addition of Ryan to our team will bring a new focus to product planning and marketing and will help us expand our expertise to all hard goods categories,” says David Visnack, Director of Marketing & Merchandising. “Ryan brings valuable experience to the Far Bank team, and his skill set will allow us to take our established and successful categories to the next level.”

Peeping 'Wiggle' Caddis - Olive

A variation to the very neutral, tan coloured wiggle dubbing, here is an olive version:


A 'gaggle' of peeping caddis:


It is also worth a try mixing the dubbing. Also, leaving sections of patchy colour also help suggest alternative cases. It's interesting to see how the cases can vary from river to river. This weekend, whilst down in Devon I found a few caddis with very scruffy cases made from sticks and other detritis, whilst in other streams they tended to be more stone-based.

~Dave

A Bear On Fishing Creek?

Bear hooked into a nice Brookie in a secret spot!!! The caddis were out last week but the Hendricksons were all but done before the season even started. When will the Fish Commission learn, SPECIAL REGULATIONS ON FISHING CREEK.

more brazen indifference than ninja tactics

bass fruit

The suburban camouflage of collared shirts, buttons and khaki could only conceal our position for so long, and the level of contempt in the HOA woman’s eyes could have drowned a rat. She didn’t give a shit about the fish, only that we weren’t one of them. Even her dog looked mad. But it’s fine, she was three hours late to the party and our buggers and streamers had already yanked a few specimens of forbidden fruit out of her chemically treated pond.

“Do you live here?”

“No, but I got permission from, uhhh, Sandy... Sandy Johnson? Maybe you know her?”

“The homeowner has to be with you if you are going to fish. You are trespassing. Please leave.”

Aaron the trespasser.

It’s okay, I’m no anarchist and I don’t generally get off on breaking the rules, but I will when I feel it's necessary for the keeping of sanity. She wasn’t telling us anything that we don’t already know but sometimes you just have to go catch some pond slobs to prove that there is more to fly fishing behavior in Tucson on a weekday afternoon than organizing gear, hanging out at the fly shop or sitting at the vise on the couch watching TV... even if I have to endure Miss I-walk-my-dog-around-the-lakes-every-day-to-drive-out-leaching-scum-like-you and her judging eyes.

It’s okay, she looked divorced.

Fly Fish Southern Arizona

April 23, 2010: On the way to Parker Canyon Lake.

The weather cleared and it was a nice day away from the office.

The fishing was good too!

our savior!

'nuff said.

(starring Aaron's ass)

Parker Canyon Lake, AZ Bluegill

Happy Birthday to England's premier fly fishing school!

The Arundell Arms celebrates 75 years as England's premier fly fishing school in 2010. The landmark year was marked by a week of 1930s-themed events, culminating in a Murder Mystery dinner this coming weekend.

Over the years, many thousands of anglers have taken their first casts under the guidance of Arundell Arms instructors. It's a wonderful privilege to often meet three generations - grandfather, son and grandson - who have all learnt to fish at the hotel. To put it into perspective, we asked Roy Buckingham how many people he taught in his time as senior instructor (between 1969 and 2008): "I worked it out to be in the region of 16,000!"

Here's to another 75 years and many thousands more new recruits.

(Left to right: hotel instructor Tim Smith, director Adam Fox-Edwards, manageress Heather Measey, hotel instructor David Pilkington.)
The photo above shows current hotel AAPGAI instructors David Pilkington dressed in typical 1930s attire and Tim Smith in modern fisher's dress.

Fire and Ice

One last salute to winter with a fly fishing photo of a snowstorm on the Firehole River.

Peeping 'Wiggle' Caddis

The Peeping Caddis imitation can be a superb way of exploring deep, fast runs in the stream. It lends itself to be fished deep and often on a short line. There will soon be a tutorial on the River Fly Box for tying this version of the grub.

Here I am using the new Wiggle Dubbing from Funky Fly Tying for the body... more soon:





~Dave

Barns Rotation

If you plan to fly fish the Madison River just inside the West Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, there are rules to abide by. The locals have established a mechanism to share a popular fly fishing area. Here's how it went a few years ago.

When we arrived (with our guide) at Barns, we were quickly instructed on the rules.

1. Get in line.
2. When it's your turn, step into the river upriver of the other fly fishers when the upriver person get's to a certain point of the river.
3. In between every cast, take one step down river.
4. When your are the last person in the line down river, you will step out of the river when you reach a designated stop.
5. Then get back in line and wait your turn.


I still don't know how I feel about this "local system".  But if you get into fish like this, then it may be worth it.

The 2010 Can-Am Trout Tour - Missouri & Bow Rivers

Dave Brown Outfitters and Head Hunters Fly-Shop   will be conducting the First CAN-AM Trout Tour on Montana's  Missouri and Alberta's  Bow Rivers .

     Montana's Missouri river looks and fishes like a giant spring creek

This trip has been 1 year in the making and  is long over due.The short version of the trip is:
Fly-fishers will fly into Great Falls Montana, fish the Missouri River for two days ,drive up to Calgary on the travel day then fish Bow River for two more  days.Flying  home out of Calgary.
  
   18 inch browns like this  are the "norm"  on these  two rivers 


 
With the best Guides,Dry Fly Fishing on the Bow and Missouri Rivers is generally "off the charts "

       
The dates of the trip are   - July 26 -Aug 1  the cost is $1750 per-person double occupancy.

 This first ever  trip is limited to 8 anglers who will be fishing  the best Tailwaters in the Rockies during prime Dry Fly - Hopper time.
Although these two rivers have different personalities  they  have  a lot  in common,namely prolific wild trout populations made up of  BIG browns and rainbows that eat Dry Flies . 
The  Guide staff is  excellent .The guides working  this trip are the most enthusiastic and experienced guides on these two  rivers.
The Ownership of Head Hunters Fly-Shop  has  been Outfitting on the Missouri River for the last 15 Years. Since 1988 Dave Brown has been guiding on the Bow River and Outfitting since 1992.
You will be guided by the best Fly-fishing  Guides On the Missouri and Bow Rivers.The Outfitting experience ensures a detailed trip like this runs smoothly .

   The trout that call these two rivers home are described as" Hot"  or on "Steroids".

       Both rivers are "big"so floating from spot to spot is the drill .

                 
           For more information on this trip .....contact me .