Talk about Determination......

Sometimes in my fly fishing I let the little things get to me- - - less than perfect weather, a little too dry, too wet, too sunny, too cloudy, you name it ...its very easy when things are slow to find lots of things to get frustrated with and about.

Being a fly fishing guide for a living has its set of challenges...always at the mercy of the weather for one. One day the river is perfect and your clients do well, then a two or three inch rain comes in the night blowing all possibility of fishing. A lot of times we call it well before the day arrives, mostly based upon my past experiences with certain areas, the way they respond to heavy precipitation and runoff, a knowledge of the watershed and how much it is developed....all these variables go into it. But then there's determination....and also a 'hunch.' Its that 'gut feeling' that, you know what, for some reason I feel like we might be able to make a go of it today . So I call my client and explain to them the conditions, explain forthrightly about my opinion about our chances of doing well or poorly, and then propose either 'go' or 'stay.'

Occasionally where determination meets a hunch you catch things just right and have a banner day. Such was the case when Mark White and I went on May 27, 2009. Mark and I had communicated by phone and email and we rescheduled a time or two- - -and before our trip we got one of those 2-3 inch rains in the mountains.....and here too, and wow , were things high and muddy almost everywhere. But I had a hunch that if we went exploring on some water I knew of , water that sometimes ran high but clear during weather like this, I thought maybe, just maybe we could catch it just right. I picked Mark up at his place in Germanton, and we headed up into VA and onto 58 West. We headed toward Mt. Rogers and everything we crossed on the way over was high and the color of Campbell's tomato soup. It was ugly. And with each mile I crossed my fingers a little harder that we wouldn't find the same thing where we were headed.

We arrived at the stream, and at first sight we came alongside it .....it was high but it was a nice color, ...."just perfect" I thought to myself. Inside my head the thoughts were going just like so many, many times before... I kept telling myself "when its like this we can have the day of days...". I knew fish not only fed during runoff like this, but that if you know the water well, where the fish hold, and how to rig and how much weight to use and so forth, the fish were not only very willing, but also quite aggressive and forgiving....much more so than at lower flows.

The result? We whacked 'em. Mark caught a lot of fish, probably 30 or more, including a couple of large fish, one of which was a citation rainbow. And to think....everyone else stayed home today.....and we had the whole place to ourselves! We both had a great time, and Mark not only got into a lot of fish, but gained experience in less than perfect conditions......adding to his bag of tricks for the next time he encounters a river in this condition and he's fishing on his own. Will he be able to do well? I'd say yes, as he did real well on this day.

So, sometimes when you get a lemon you can successfully make some lemonade. Yes, sometimes you'll get blown out and shut out and will have to concede that its a no go. And yes, it happens all times of the year and happens to everybody eventually. But often you get an unexpected break, as we did, and when you do it can be incredible...........sometimes so much that you won't dislike big weather systems when they come through but will be looking forward to them.

When you are a fishing guide, you have to find opportunity where you can. Fortunately its not like the guys above in the photo, that's real determination!!!!!

How To Successfully Spook more Trout.....

You don't find articles like this much, but here goes. Here's a funny how to on a very interesting topic: spooking fish. I can think of 10 ways you can become more successful at spooking trout. They are tried and true methods and work with near 100% effectiveness when done properly. Here they are:

1) Wear blaze orange clothing, like a nice orange hunting hat or toboggan and a long orange jacket. Make your clothing as bright as possible.

2)Run into the tail of the pool in such a way that it creates a ton of noise and sends a wave or waves into the rest of the pool.
3) False cast twenty five times, and only after 25 times do you let the line touch the water.

4) If #3 fails, allow several of the forward casts to slam the water or better yet, rip through the surface making maximum commotion.

5) For maximum effect, do #'s 2, 3, and 4 simultaneously, and hope no one is watching, at least no one who might know you. If #2, 3, or 4 doesn't get their attention this one, #5, certainly will. They will leave the area, leaving the fishing all to you. Of course the fishing is over, but now you have the solitude you wanted all week long anyway.

6) Get at one end of the pool and do #5 and have your fishing buddy go to the head of the pool and do the same, with each on of you trying to out do the other.

7) Have your fishing buddy throw a few large rocks and a handful of gravel into the water. But don't do this over stocked fish, they like the sound of gravel because it sounds like trout pellets smattering the surface and you'll fail to spook them properly.

8) Start at the tail of the pool hastily and noisily wading as quickly as you can through the pool, seeing how quickly you can make it to the head of the pool. The bonus with this is you'll get some great exercise, just like Sylvester Stallone in some of the Rocky movies.

9) Wear some of those new non-felt soled boots and fall in. Don't make it a half fall, the goal is to make it - - - as they say in the hills - - -a good 'un.

10) Have your fishing buddy get at the head of the pool and have him run back and forth, taking care to stir up as much sediment as possible, turning the pool into a nice shade of brown for you. One word of caution, if he takes the word 'run' seriously and takes you up on it, he may fall . ....but that's not all bad, he's fulfilling #9.

There are very few times that I'd say anything I do I would always 100% guarantee results but this one comes close. I promise that if you faithfully do one, a few, or all of the above you will be very successful at spooking trout!...............



In all seriousness, I am kidding. But you'd be surprised how many of the above things are the very things people do....I mean some of them are the most common errors in fly fishing. The goal is not to do them, of course. And the result is you'll spook fewer trout.....til next time

Wow.....That's All I Can Say.......

Fly fishing DVD Video - 2009 Drake Flyfishing Video Awards Winning Clip




This is incredible.......too bad we don't have this around here......apparently they get mice the way we get jap beetles.....they could only be so lucky. Imagine throwing mice flies on the SoHo in TN?......How awesome would that be?

Enough Already.......Right?

I was doing some web updates to our sites and going over the coming weeks' schedule of guided trips when an email came through to me from a customer Kevin Frank. A relative of his in Galax, VA, Tracey Snow had taken some photos of the New River in the Galax area of the ice jams and it was incredible. I asked him if I could share some of the photos with customers and he said that was fine.

You don't see this much around here, and except for a brief period last winter of a week when it was really cold the last time the New was like this was five years ago. I had a guided trip scheduled, if you can believe it, and the temp when I met the guys was 9F....yes 9F. And the river looked just like this. I had been hired by a group of guys, one of whom was getting married, and for whom this was a 'bachelor party' so to speak, one last hurrah .... For that reason it was do it now or not at all. So I met them at the Riverhouse cabins and we stayed in until 11am after the temperature had risen to a balmy 22F. We rigged rods and then we went to a remote stretch of Helton Creek...surprisingly there was enough unfrozen water to fish. We ended up doing ok, catching about 25 fish in truly bitter conditions. By 4pm, the guys called it a day.....and another great day was in the book. But it doesn't always work out that way.

This last month's cold is record setting for sure....much of the NC mtns and VA were below freezing for weeks....that is below freezing......and as low as single digits at night. Hard for anything to remain liquid in that. The picture above of the New River was just before 3 inches of rain fell on top of all the snow and ice.....and what a nice messy result came from that. Just downstream of this area, where I do smallmouth fishing in the summer a lot, the flow is normally 900 -1200cfs....it peaked at just under 60000cfs, yes sixty THOUSAND. That is 25000 more than the previous high.....wow.

But at least now its not solid like the photo above....

2009 Goes out with a Bang.........

Buster Lewis and I spent a day doing a Guided Fishing trip and we had a great day, and not only caught a pile of fish but also several 20 inchers, and including one fish that was near 10lbs.....a real beast. A great day, and it snowed on us all day which was great, and also a great way to put an exclamation point on a great fishing year and also usher in what we hope is another one.

I spotted this large rainbow holding in a shallow run, and pointed out to Buster where to cast his fly. He put the perfect toss and drift on the fish, the fish lifted up slightly and took the fly in, Buster set the hook, then it was off to the races and we eventually ended up in the next pool downstream before I finally slid the net under the fish. The fish filled my two handed net up, and I estimated it at close to 10lbs. Nice work Buster!

Good Eats...........

I must say that I love traveling, you couldn't do what I do for very long and not like it. Its the reason some quit. I must admit in those travels you always find good eats no matter where you are....funny how either before a trip or after one you always stumble across something that tastes good. Amazing how many of those places over the years get included in your fishing memory bank- - -so much so that they become a part of the trip too. Some of my Escatawba road trips might include a stop at one such place....Dodges Store. Chicken, Biscuits, Taters, etc., you name it and it all tastes good. Not sure what it does to one's cholesterol level, and I am not sure that I'd really want to know, but man it sure tastes good. Just like in the photo, add a box of flies fresh from the vise, a few strike indicators, all your other gear and you're all set.

There are many such places, and if you've never tried some of the local stuff man you are missing out. Near Escatawba there's the Eagles Nest, run by the Nesters. On the South Holston, I can do just fine with an unbelievable cheeseburger from Webbs Store ....they might get title for best burger in the lower 48. I mean you are licking the plate afterward and contemplating ordering another one (which you'd probably do if no one were around). Trap Hill Grill, Stone Mtn Store, Helton Creek Country Store, Mtn Rogers Store, The Bait Place on the Jackson run by Larry Andrews, ....there are so many great places.......

Its delicious......now where's my Prilosec and Statin medication...? Just kidding of course .

You Can Always Learn Something ....

When I met Chris and his 8yr old son Billy in Boone, NC on the moist morning of October 10 little did I know what a great time I was in for. Chris and I had talked several times on the phone and via email, his 8yr old son Billy I'd never met but been told of his excitement of fishing and his overall enthusiasm.

That was right on the mark too for enthusiastic he was, and a really good caster and good fisherman, an testimony to Dad and the time spent and investment in bringing him to that point.

We rigged up and got in the water. I saw pretty quickly that Billy could cast very well, I mean really well, I mean its just not that often that you have an 8yr old that can put the cast exactly where you say and do it the first time. I was stunned. Only minutes into our fishing I realized I had a real angler on my hands......and his potential is unreal if he sticks with it - -which by the way, won't be an issue given his obvious passion for what we were trying to do.

There's a famous quote, though I love it, I am not sure who's words these are, but the effect remains the same. It goes like this: "Its what we learn after we think we know it all that counts." Ouch. And how true.

With the sound of the bubbling riffle in my left ear and Billy waiting patiently to my right, I took out my fly box and started to reach for another pattern to try. Honestly, the fish were being a little tougher than they usually are and quite honestly I could not figure out why. It was then that Billy stated with authority and confidence- - unlike that you'd expect from an 8yr old- -"...hey those smaller flies right there, I usually catch my fish with flies like that. Maybe we should try one." When you are a guide and hear that there are some choices to be made. Conceding to trying a fly, I mean come on its like admitting defeat or that something isn't working.....but given how the fish weren't responding I was willing to change the game and honor Billy's request. I replied, "so you think we should use a small fly like this one?" "Yes..." Billy replied. So I picked the fly out of the box, tied it on, and I mean if it wasn't the next cast that Billy's fly drifted right down the trough we were just fishing and that I knew held fish--- - and his line dashed upstream and indicator went under. With the quickness and poise of an angler way beyond his years he set the hook, played the fish, and I netted the fish for him. He was happy and I was stunned.........I was thinking maybe Billy needs to be the one guiding me! Needless to say that whole moment impacted me a great deal and I'll never forget it.

I guess we all need to eat some humble pie and learn to be a good listener. It paid off for both of us today.....and Billy was right! Hmmmm.............I'll bet if my lovely bride reads this she'll agree that I need to be a better listener too.........! Oh well, there's work to be done so why don't I finish this up and go eat another slice of pie.

Billy, you can come with me anytime!